by Derek Haines
‘Well, let’s go and check it out. See if there’s been any activity there. A27 D is also close to the highest point in the entire system. Only A28 is higher. Did George mention where he met these men?’ Anne asked.
‘Not really. He just said, on the edges of Sootere.’
‘Doesn’t help much,’ Anne replied.
‘George did say it was a building project just above us,’ Milo interrupted. ‘So if A27 is close to the highest point of the system, and the collapse you inspected was caused by some form of weakening or pressure from above, then maybe it’s the closest point. I think we’re looking for a building, or something similar, just above our heads. He said it was something that was, just above us, and surrounding us.’
‘That’s right, he said it was some kind of machine,’ Michael added.
‘So, we dig, up,’ Anne concluded.
It only took thirty minutes to arrive at A27 D. It seemed nothing had been touched since Michael’s inspection. Anne and Michael inspected the cavity above, and then looked for space near the collapse that could be used to store debris from the excavation they would need to do to begin an ascent. They found an unused duct that looked as if it had been closed many years before. It was large enough, level and headed back towards Sootere. It was also only meters from the collapse at A27 D. They went back again to survey the cavity.
‘Well, up is a good start Michael, but how do we know which direction to take? We’ll have to excavate at a shallow angle,’ Anne said.
Michael was thinking, but Milo beat him to the answer. ‘Why don’t we listen?’
‘Sorry Milo?’ Anne asked.
‘You know, like putting a glass to a wall. George said they were building a machine. Machines make noise.’
‘I think you’re onto something, Milo,’ Anne said. ‘Maybe we’re starting to find out why George chose you now,’ she smiled.
‘Well, let’s see if can find something to use,’ Michael said with intent, and started to look for anything possibly useful. He pulled a long metal rod from the pile of debris that had probably been a supporting rod for the duct. It was straight and about a meter and a half long. ‘If we can drive this into the soil in the cavity far enough, it might let us pick up any vibrations. Is there a mallet in my sack there, Anne?’
Michael heaved himself up into the cavity, and cleared out enough soil so he could position himself on the undamaged duct roof that was stable. It took him nearly half an hour to clear enough space and adding more height to the pile of debris below. Anne stood back until he had finished. She then climbed the pile to see where Michael would drive the rod.
‘I think I’ll try directly upwards first. Probably the best chance to hear anything.’
‘Yes. Good idea,’ Anne said, as she passed the mallet up to him. He placed the end of the rod at the top of the centre of the cavity and started to drive it into the soil.
‘It’s very soft, Anne. The rod is going in very easily.’
‘Okay, well let me know if I can do anything,’ Anne said, and knew immediately she was just being supportive, as there was nothing she could really do to help. Within minutes Michael had driven nearly a meter of the rod into the cavity above. He then tried to get his ear to the end of the rod, having to perform gymnastics to get his body in a position where his left ear was near the end of the rod. He listened.
After a minute or more Anne couldn’t help herself. ‘Anything?’
‘No. Can’t hear anything at all. I’ll try on my left and at an angle this time.’
It took Michael a lot of pulling, twisting and heaving to dislodge the rod from his first attempt. Finally managing to pull it out, and another load of soil fell from the roof of the cavity. He then aimed at a point on his left and at about forty-five degrees. This time he hit something solid and could not drive the rod in further than half a meter.
‘I’ve hit something. Probably rock. I’ll try again.’
‘No Michael. Try listening first. It might not be rock. If it’s part of any type of structure, you might get something.’
‘Okay, I’ll try,’ Michael replied, as he tried to reposition his body to get to the end of the rod, which was now much lower.
‘I think I hear a slight hum!’ Michael said excitedly. ‘Watch out, I’ll try and expand the cavity. It’s not too far.’
Anne stood back as soil tumbled to the floor of the duct as Michael dug away with his hands and a screwdriver.
‘Anything?’ Anne asked.
‘Not yet. It’s hard and compacted.’
Another twenty minutes or more passed as Michael dug away in search of what was solid and emitting a hum. Finally he could see it.
‘It’s a pipe of some description,’ he yelled down to Anne. ‘Looks like a water pipe. It goes straight up.’
‘Can you hear anything?’
‘Hold on.’
Michael put his ear to the pipe. ‘Yes, there’s a hum. Like a pump or a turbine. It’s not very loud though. I’m coming down.’
‘Okay.’
While the pipe proved that there was something above them, it was impossible to know how far. Anne and Michael wondered if they should keep digging upwards, until Milo interrupted their planning.
‘If there is something above us, surely there must be an entrance. A lift or a shaft. I was thinking about what George said. If we are an experiment, surely someone would be monitoring us. From above.’
‘But even if there is, Milo. How would we find it?’
‘Where does our air come from?’ Milo asked.
‘Now that’s a good question, Milo,’ Anne said.
Michael and Anne considered Milo’s idea silently. Michael studying his maps and Anne looking into space.
‘It obviously won’t be marked on your maps, Michael, but there must be an entry point into the duct system. Mark the intake and exhaust ducts. Is there a pattern that could indicate a possible area?’ Milo said and gave Michael food for thought.
‘Anne. Give me a hand here. Can you mark all the major exhaust lines? And I’ll track back all the main oxygen and inlet ducts.’
Michael started at A sector, and Anne at G sector, and worked towards each other looking for any pattern that could indicate where there may be unmapped ducts.
‘This may be a silly idea, but maybe fresh air comes in one end, and then it goes out the other,’ Mary chimed in, while they were all concentrating on the maps.
‘No. Not a silly idea at all, Mary,’ Milo replied. ‘Maybe a bit of a guess, but the fresh air must be pumped or pushed, so that would have to come from a supply system. Maybe this CERN place. But the used air must be sent out an exhaust. Away from the supply system.’
‘Away from whatever is above us?’ Anne reasoned.
‘I think you have something, Milo,’ Michael joined in. ‘We’ve been thinking about getting to what is above us. Whoever they are, probably wouldn’t be too welcoming if we just popped up there and said hello.’
‘I think George made it clear that we were controlled from above. So, I’m sure they wouldn’t be happy about that,’ Milo said.
‘The exhaust would have to be some distance away from any structure, otherwise it would contaminate the fresh supply,’ Anne said, as she continued studying the maps.
‘Wouldn’t it be logical for A to be the beginning and G the end?’ Mary asked, but with little conviction about her logic.
‘We’ve been missing the obvious! You might be right, Mary,’ Michael said. ‘George mentioned the collapse he witnessed was at the edge of Sootere, plus this recent one was also. The deeper a structure, the less chance there is of a collapse from above. So, just perhaps we’re closer to the surface than we think. So if G sector is the exhaust, there must be at least one duct leading out of the system.’
‘But how do we find it?’ Anne asked. ‘There’s nothing on the maps to tell us.’
Milo pulled a hair from Anne’s head.
‘Ouch!’
‘Sorry!’ Milo said, as he
held the single hair and watched it move with the small amount of air circulation in the duct. ‘The air goes out that way, I think.’
‘Agreed?’ Michael asked, and Anne and Mary nodded their approval of Milo’s simple logic.
‘It might be some way, so we’d better get all our supplies first.’
‘Yes.’ Anne agreed, and they walked back to collect their food and supplies.
Within an hour and a half, Michael and Anne were following a duct line that was now not on their maps. It was hard going, as the duct was rising slightly and it made it difficult to walk on the slippery metal. Then they faced a choice.
‘Left or right?’ Anne asked, as they reached a junction in the duct. Either way, the duct narrowed and would mean crawling on all fours.
‘Ouch!’
‘Sorry Anne,’ Michael said, as he pulled another hair from Anne’s head.
‘I wish you would stop doing that! I’ll be bald soon.’
‘Well, my hair’s too short to be of any use.’
‘Just get on with it.’
Michael held up the hair at the junction. It was fluttering and pointing towards the two directions, but after watching it for nearly a minute it was noticeable that it fluttered right far more often.
‘Right?’
‘Fifty-fifty chance I suppose,’ Anne said, and made her way towards the right hand duct. ‘Follow me then.’
Now on all fours, crawling in a narrow duct that was more like a small square tube, it was very slow progress. With a slippery surface, and nothing firm to grab, it was hard work and both needed to rest every ten minutes or so.
‘Do you feel that, Anne?’
‘Yes. The air current is slightly stronger.’
‘I don’t think I need anymore of your hair to check.’
‘That’s a relief.’
‘Okay, let’s keep moving.’
The duct’s upward angle increased and they had to brace themselves with their feet to gain any traction and use both hands against the walls to force themselves forward.
‘Are you all right, Anne?’
‘Yes,’ Anne said, breathing heavily. ‘I’m fine.’
The perspiration on Michael’s hands was making it more difficult to gain traction. He wiped them on his trousers before every push forward. He could hear Anne grunting with the effort of moving forward. Both wondering how far, how long and would it lead anywhere? There was no way to stop and rest, as they had to brace themselves against the incline, just to stay still.
‘I’m not sure how much longer I can keep going, Michael.’
‘Yes, I know,’ Michael said, almost breathlessly.
Anne pushed on, slowly. Grunting louder with every move that only produced a forward movement of a few inches. Michael keeping the same pace, but knowing they were running low on energy.
‘There’s something ahead!’ Anne said, excitedly and almost lost her traction.
‘What is it?’
‘There’s dim light and it looks like a level junction area.’
Although only a short distance, it took another thirty minutes of grunting and extreme physical effort to reach the junction, and a small level area just large enough for the two of them to lie flat and recover from their physical exertion. Both feeling their chests rise and fall as they struggled to regain their breath. It took a few minutes before they could even find the energy to drink some water. They stayed quiet, as the strain of climbing the inclined duct had sapped so much of their energy, it was difficult to even speak.
Michael sat up first and looked at the two possibilities. One duct was circular, reasonably large in diameter and looked level, while the second was smaller, square and on an upward incline. The air current was definitely heading up the smaller duct with more force and there was a hint of light penetrating down the duct.
‘I’ll be back in a minute, Anne. I think the smaller duct is the way to go, but I just want to see if this larger duct leads anywhere first.’
‘Okay. But don’t waste all your energy. I think we’ve still got a long way to go.’
The duct was large enough for Michael to make rapid progress by crawling on his hands and knees. Within ten minutes he reached the grill face at the end of the duct. He recognised what he saw, and turned to return to Anne.
‘I found it Anne!’
‘Found what?’
‘The large machine. It’s a huge tunnel area with a large sort of pipe running through the centre of it. Lots of electrical equipment and pipes and cables running around the walls of the tunnel.’
‘So we’ve made it up one level. The next is this CERN thing.’
‘Well hopefully, outside this CERN thing,’ Milo interjected.
‘Me too,’ Mary replied.
There was no debate. The duct to the machine would take them nowhere, or worse, an unfriendly welcome, so they decided to prepare themselves for another physically demanding climb by resting, eating a little and getting enough water back into their system. After two hours, they felt they were ready.
Even though the duct was smaller that the one before, it wasn’t as steep an incline and with the benefit of a little light seeping in, there was no need to hold torches any more. That gave them easier movement, as both their hands were free to push their bodies upward. Michael was leading this time, and tried to temper himself not to rush, as it was still physically draining to make progress.
‘How are you doing there, Anne?’
‘Oh, I’m fine,’ she relied, but noticeably breathing hard. ‘Anything interesting up ahead?’
‘No, nothing yet. Sorry.’
‘Well, it’s probably a better view than I have right now.’
‘Yes, well not my best angle, Anne.’
‘You’re right about that!’
Both tried to have a small laugh, but it was weakened by their lack of energy. They grit their teeth and pushed forward on what seemed like a never-ending tunnel of aluminium.
‘There’s a turn to the right coming up.’
‘Okay.’
It was a sharp ninety-degree turn in the duct and Michael had to squeeze his body through the restricted area created by the junction. There was so little space; he had to push his sack in front of himself and breath in deeply to get his torso to follow his head and shoulders. At first he felt he was stuck and with nothing for his hands to grab, he couldn’t pull his body through the space. Anne waited patiently and silently as she watched Michael struggling to free himself. He turned his body slightly to his right and breathed out fully then pushed against the walls of the duct with his feet. He made a few inches of progress. After five more pushes he finally got his chest around the turn and could then use his hands to pull his body forward. Exhausted from his efforts, he breathed hard, but was pleased to notice that the duct was now level and he could see light ahead.
Anne wriggled her body through the turn a little easier than Michael, and had the added luxury of having Michael’s foot to grab hold of, and as he pulled his leg forward, she got a little extra help as she navigated the sharp turn.
‘Are you all right, Michael?’
‘Yes. Fine,’ Michael replied, but he was breathing very hard. ‘I just need a minute or two to catch my breath.’
‘Right. No problem. Only when you’re ready.’
Once Michael started forward again, the going was much easier as there was no incline. It was still a small space to move in, but the light ahead kept them moving forward with hope. After a little over an hour of inching forward Michael thought he heard a faint noise ahead.
‘Do you hear something, Anne?’ Michael asked, as they both stopped and listened.
‘No. I don’t think so.’
They started moving forward again and after another ten minutes they could both hear the noise.
‘It sounds like a motor.’
‘Something like that. I don’t think it’s too far now. The light is getting brighter.’
‘Okay.’
Finally the en
d was in sight.
‘Only another few feet, Anne. I can see the junction. It’s large and the light is coming from above it.’
‘Right behind you.’
Michael popped his head out of the duct into the junction and immediately saw where the noise was coming from. The floor of the junction was a steel grate covering a large fan about ten feet in diameter that was spinning and forcing air upward. He recognised it immediately as an exhaust fan that was helping circulate the exhaust air towards its exit point. As he got the rest of his body into the junction area he looked up and saw a round vertical shaft above him with light streaming down. There were small metal hoops going up one side of the shaft forming a ladder. Anne followed, and they both looked at the next stage of their climb from Sootere.
As there was still a long climb ahead of them, they again rested a little, but the forced air from the fan was becoming uncomfortable.
‘Ready Anne?’
‘Yes. I suppose so. It’s just what’s at the top that I’m not sure I’m ready for.’
‘We’ll all find out soon enough,’ Milo piped up. ‘You okay Mary?’
‘Thanks, Milo. I’m fine.’
Chapter 11 - Day Break
‘Can you hold this while I try and turn from the top?’ Michael asked Anne, as he tried to unfasten the bolts that held the grill cover in place. He had forced his right hand through the grill that had obviously been bolted in place from the outside. Anne held a wrench around the nut under the grill, while Michael turned the bolt from the outside of the grill. They continued with the other seven retaining bolts.
‘They look like three quarter inch hex bolts. Never saw them that big at work,’ Milo said.
‘Very informative Milo. Thanks,’ Michael said, as he tried to release the bolts.
‘Nickel coated too. Made to last.’
‘You know a lot about these things, Milo,’ Mary said.
‘Thank you, Mary.’
‘Oh no. I was wrong. They’re metric,’ Milo said, on inspection of a bolt Michael had removed.
‘You’re really so smart, Milo,’ Mary said.
‘You are too, Mary.’
‘Okay, enough you two,’ Anne snapped. ‘Let’s keep our mind on what we’re doing.’
