Tunnels 06 - Terminal

what we’re getting ourselves into here,’ Will prompted Elliott.
    Elliott immediately began to speak to the bushman in Styx. After a couple of exchanges, she turned to Will. ‘He says he doesn’t know, and I believe him. He keeps using that sameword – destiny ,’ she said.
    ‘Well, there’s one way to find out,’ Will said. ‘Let’s go!’
    With Woody leading, they all began to race up the circular stairs.
    ‘These are exactly like the ones inside the pyramid,’ Elliott noted.
    ‘Yes, the dimensions are quite odd. Almost as if they weren’t meant for people,’ Jürgen pointed out; they were all finding the steps very awkward to climb. In order to negotiate them at any speed, the trick was to attempt two at a time, although that meant taking inordinately long strides. After a while the action became automatic, and they would only stumble when they lost the rhythm.
    As Woody continued to lead everyone upwards, the steps seemed to go on for ever around the central columns. Finally they came to a landing with another circular opening. They were all out of breath but bursting with curiosity as they entered it.
    ‘I assume we’re in the wider structure at the top now,’ Jürgen panted.
    ‘Yeah, but there’s nothing in here. So what’s all this for?’ Will asked.
    Nobody could give him an answer. They completed a full circuit of the space, ending up where they’d begun. It was completely empty – just the curved external wall with four console-type blocks of the grey material rising out of the floor at regular intervals around the central well.
    Jürgen knocked exploratively against the outer wall. ‘Feels cold,’ he said.
    Elliott had moved towards one of the blocks on the floor and seemed to be about to touch it, but then stopped herself.She looked rather flushed, although Will wasn’t sure if this was simply because she was recovering from the rapid climb up the stairs, or if something else was bothering her.
    ‘Everything okay?’ he asked.
    ‘Sure. Yes,’ she mumbled, already moving towards Woody at the entrance.
    With a shrug, Will began to do the same when he stopped abruptly. ‘Hold on,’ he said.
    ‘What is it?’ Jürgen asked.
    Will had been examining his hands, then began to peer at the ceiling above them. ‘There aren’t any windows or lights in here,’ he said. ‘So how come we’re not in complete darkness?’
    Jürgen also held up a hand and was moving it around to examine it from different angles. ‘You’re absolutely right,’ he said. He seemed to be even more flummoxed as he lowered his hand towards the floor. He suddenly got down on his knees to rub the dust from an area of the floor.
    ‘What are you doing?’ Will asked him.
    Jürgen stood up again. ‘The light seems to be omnidirectional – there are no discernible shadows.’ He raised his outstretched hand with the palm parallel to the floor. ‘Notice that the underside of my hand is illuminated even though the floor is coated with dust, and there are no obvious sources of illumination down there anyway. Or anywhere, for that matter. You’re right, Will, this is extraordinary.’
    Jürgen wasn’t finished. ‘And unless this is some kind of engineering feat and light from outside is being channelled in, there must be an energy source to do this.’
    ‘Yeah, I think we know that. It also opened the door for us downstairs, and blew the old pyramid apart, and raised this whole tower from the ground,’ Will reeled off.
    Jürgen nodded a little sheepishly as Will noticed how impatient Woody was. ‘Let’s try the next floor and see what we find there,’ he suggested, still watching the bushman carefully. Will really didn’t trust him any more.
    ‘Well, there’s nowhere else to go now. We must be at the very top of the tower,’ Jürgen observed as they came to the last of the stairs and emerged into one large circular area, this time without any obstruction in the middle from the twin columns.
    Instead, right in the centre there was a circular podium some twenty feet across, on which stood a tall central block-like console surrounded by smaller blocks.
    Again, the walls, floor and ceiling were of the same material as the rest of the tower, and the same uniform light lit the whole space.
    ‘Whoever built all this, they liked to keep things simple,’ Will commented.
    Jürgen was walking around the wall as Will stepped onto the central podium to inspect the different blocks, running his hands over