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Chapter
18
Pelucidor
“What do we do now?” asked
Lemaire. “Five
tunnels. They could have taken
any one of them.”
“If I know Larra,” replied Sawatis, “she will have left some
sort of clue as to which one she took.
But it would have to be a clue that Featherstone wouldn’t pick
up. Let’s look
around.”
Sawatis began to check out each cave entrance, while Lemaire checked farther
back. They found
nothing. After awhile, Lemaire
sat down in frustration. “If
there is I can’t find it. Must
be pretty obscure.”
Sawatis joined him. “I think
you’re right. Maybe she
didn’t have time to leave a clue.
We’ll have to toss a coin and take our
chances.”
Lemaire began to sort through his pack.
“May as well eat here and then
proceed. I’ll get some water
for tea. I brought a few sticks
of wood. It might be the last
time we have a fire for awhile.”
Sawatis nodded, but kept on looking for some indication as to which tunnel
Larra had taken. A call from
Lemaire made him move toward the big Metis.
“Look over here. Could this
be it?”
Lemaire was standing by a pool of water, the metal pot he was going to use
to scoop the water, in his hand. He
was pointing to the pool. Sawatis
followed the direction of his hand.
In the bottom of the pool were a number of stones arranged in
rows. It was clearly not a natural
formation. “I think it is
a message, but I’m not sure how to figure it
out.”
Sawatis studied the formation carefully.
There were five stones arranged in a
row. First one stone by itself,
then two touching, and then two more, each separated by a small
space. Below the first line of
stones was a second line. In
it was a single stone, then a space then eight stones arranged in pairs so
that each stone of the pair touched the other.
. .. . .
. .. .. ..
..
“Doesn’t make any senses,”
said Lemaire.
Suddenly Sawatis’ eyes widened.
“Yes it does.
It’s Morse Code. See
the first line. One stone
that’s a dot. Then two touching
that’s a dash. Then two
more dots. That’s the letter
‘L.’ And on the next
line there is the number
‘1.’”
“So L1,” said Lemaire.
“That must stand for First tunnel on the
left.”
“Damn rights,” agreed Sawatis.
“Smart woman that
“OK, I’ll brew the tea.
We know where she went. We
better get moving. Featherstone
might have seen this sign
too.”
“Don’t think so,” said
Sawatis. “he would probably
have destroyed it. The fact that
the message was still there probably means he didn’t notice
it. But you’re still
right. There is no need for us
to delay more than
necessary.”
“Well,” said Featherstone.
“She sure as Hell didn’t come this way.” He was standing
in front of a sheer wall of stone.
The tunnel had come to a complete dead
end. “Five hours of walking
and we hit this. We’ll start
back and then stop for the night after three
hours.” He
sighed. “Complete bloody
waste of time. Damn that
woman. Should have brought her
down here and beaten her and that little whore of a companion until they
told me which tunnel to take. Then
I could have screwed their asses.
Next time I won’t make the same
mistake.”
“How long do you think we slept?” asked Melissa, buttoning up the
front of her shirt.
“As I recall,” answered Larra, stretching, “we didn’t
do much sleeping at
all.”
“No, I guess not,” said Melissa, a blissful smile on her
face.
“I think we ‘rested’ about eight
hours. But there is no way of
telling for sure. It might have
been twelve hours for all I know.”
Larra got to her feet and began to pull on her long woolen
underpants. “Is it my
imagination, or is it getting warmer?
I really don’t think I need these right
now.”
“I think it is warmer.
Isn’t that a bit strange?
I thought that temperatures in deep caves were supposed to be
constant.”
“I think they should be. But
maybe we are just imagining things.
We were pretty … active for
awhile.”
“Yes,” smiled Melissa remembering.
“In any case, I’m hungry.
We seem to have plenty of water, but I’m going to fill my canteen
just in case. Never can tell,
we might run into a dry stretch.
Then we better get going. We
can last a couple of days without food, but we will soon be getting pretty
weak.”
Melissa nodded. She wondered
where they were going to find food in these endless caves and suspected that
Larra was still holding something back.
She was not offended by this thought,
however. It was Larra’s
way of protecting other members of her
expedition. Larra had once told
her that if any of her companions were ever captured that the less they knew
the better. Interrogators had
a way of getting what they wanted out of people they
captured. On occasion, Larra
confessed, she had told everything under
torture. The less one of her
companions knew the better. Larra
only took the most trusted of her friends into her complete confidence, and
the adventuress had only known her for a short
time.
Still, they should be pretty good friends by now, especially after their
night together (or perhaps it was a day).
Larra was moving off down the
tunnel. Melissa gave a
shrug. Perhaps one day Larra
would take her into her complete confidence.
The tunnel descended steadily, the strange light increasing as they went
deeper underground. The light
source was a mystery. It seemed
to be coming form the very walls of the
cave. “Perhaps some microscopic
algae or fungi,” said Larra, sharing her thoughts with
Melissa. “I’ve heard
that there are luminous animals in the
sea. Why shouldn’t there
be something similar in caves?”
“Could be.” answered Melissa.
“But do you mind if I ask a
question?”
Larra gave her a deep look. From
the tone of Melissa’s voice she could tell that it was something
important.
Without breaking her stride, Larra
answered. “Go ahead, I’ll
try to answer if I can.”
“When you told me about
Larra glanced at Melissa, then continued
walking. “No, I
didn’t. But it wasn’t
because I don’t trust you. It
is because it is just too fantastic.
If any of it is true we shall know about it soon
enough. If
not. Then we will be heading
back the way we came, very tired and very
hungry.”
“But to assuage your curiosity, I will
explain. Have you ever heard
of Pelucidor?”
“No, I’m not familiar with it.
Is it a place?”
“Yes, it was a place in a Jules Verne
novel.”
“Jules Verne. I’ve
heard of him. Wasn’t he
a nineteenth century writer?”
“Yes,” continued Larra.
“His most famous book was
20,000
Leagues Under the Sea, but he wrote many more including one called
Journey
to the Centre of the Earth.
In that book he wrote of a strange underground world called
Pelucidor. Well,
“That’s incredible,” exclaimed
Melissa.
“You see why I didn’t bother to tell
you. It’s not because I
don’t trust you. I would
trust you with anything, especially after last
night.”
Melissa found herself blushing.
“Yes, well that was special.
I’ve never done anything like that
before.”
“Neither have I. Anyway
you are special.”
Melissa blushed even deeper. She
was beginning to feel quite warm, and it had nothing to do with the air
temperature of the cave.
“Time for a drink break,” said
Larra. She stopped and took off
her parka. “I don’t
think I need this. Maybe we should
cache some of our clothes here. We
can pick them up on the way back.”
“Good idea,” agreed Melissa.
Rivulets of sweat were running down her
forehead.
The two women stripped off the outer layers of their
clothing. “I’ll just
take these sweaters in case we need them later,” said Larra stuffing
them into the pack. “Now
we better get going.”
Melissa had to agree. The gnawing
feeling within her stomach was beginning to occupy her mind more and
more. If she didn’t get
food soon, she would be in serious trouble.
They walked on for another two hours.
The tunnel got brighter and brighter as they proceeded and the temperature
continued to rise. They removed
more of their clothing until they were down to their thin
vests. They had no
underclothes. Their bras and
panties had been removed when Featherstone and his men had had their way
with them, and they never got them back.
What use Featherstone or any of his men had for their underclothes
was left to their imagination.
It was clear now that Larra’s guess had been
right. The strange glow came
from a variety of fungus that coated the walls of the
cave. It was quite obvious at
the lower levels and reached a thickness of several inches in some
places. With her gut burning
with hunger, Melissa wondered if it might be
edible. If she went much longer
without food, she was going to suggest that they find
out.
Larra had stopped. She held up
her hand. “There’s
something up ahead. It may be
the end of the tunnel.”
“How can it be the end of the tunnel?” asked
Melissa. We must be hundreds
of feet underground by now.”
“Look at the light,” answered
Larra. She pointed down the
tunnel.
Melissa looked. Several hundred
feet away a light as brilliant as sunshine flooded into the
tunnel. There was also something
more. Strange scents came to
her nostrils. And there was a
mysterious roaring noise.
Slowly the two women moved toward the
light. After the dimness of the
tunnel, Melissa was almost blinded.
Larra shaded her eyes against the glare and proceeded even more slowly,
finally she stopped.
“Let’s wait here a few
minutes. I don’t fancy walking
into the light until my eyes adjust.
We don’t know what might be waiting
there.”
Melissa agreed. “That roaring
sound,” she said, “it sounds like a
waterfall.”
Larra nodded. “We’ll
know in a few minutes.”
They waited. After a short time,
both women’s eyes had adjusted to the change in
brightness. “Let’s
go,” said Larra.
Cautiously, both women moved toward the intense
glare. They had run into too
many ambushes to rush forward carelessly.
The sound of falling water increased, eventually becoming so loud
that communication was impossible.
They stepped into the light.
Directly in front of them was a thundering sheet of falling water,
its spray filling the space between the cave and the sheet of
water. For a minute they just
stood there, taking in the amazing sight.
From behind the falling water looked like a ribbon of crystal as the
bright light radiating from beyond shone through
it.
Then Larra put down her pack and took off her boots, and
socks. Clad only in her trousers
and light vest, she cautiously moved toward the veil of
water. Melissa emulated her and
together both women approached the edge of the ledge past which the cascade
roared.
Larra pointed to her left and Melissa followed her
hand. Just where the ledge met
the water was a narrow path offering a way past the falls without forcing
them to move directly beneath it.
Slowly, so as not too fall on the slippery surface, both women edged
their way along the path and out from behind the
cataract.
For a few seconds both women were too preoccupied with maintaining their
footing to take notice of their surroundings, but when they were finally
clear the view was breathtaking.
They were standing on a high mountain
ledge. To their right a giant
waterfall crashed down a mountainside into a deep
valley. Stretching away before
them was an amazing world the like of which they had never
seen.
There was no sun, only an endless sky.
And it was s sky unlike anything Larra or Melissa had ever
encountered. Instead of the blue
sky of the surface world, this sky was a brilliant white, and seemed to radiate
a light of its own. Floating
below it were large white clouds, and below them was the greenery of a dense
forest that stretched off into the
distance. The cascading water
plunged into the green world and created a narrow ribbon that reflected the
white of the sky. As far as they
could see there was not sign of
civilization.
Astonished at the spectacular beauty of this new world, both women simple
stood there and stared. Finally
Melissa spoke. “Well,
you’ve found Pelucidor. Now
what do we do?”
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