by Cari Cole
"Now that's settled let's study that map and see if we can get some idea what we're up against," Jane said.
The study session was short. The map was more of a diagram than a detailed map. It gave directions, presumably at decision points showing the tunnel going up or down or straight, connecting larger rooms, but no distances were marked and there weren't any notations about how difficult the climbs were or how long it would take to reach their goal. Lucy pictured something like a mine with large smooth tunnels between room-sized openings. Who knew what the reality would be?
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Lucy spent the rest of the night gathering up more obscure information about caving than any human could possibly need. Especially a human who had no intention of ever going back into a cave after today's adventure.
Still, some of the information was helpful. They should be careful not to disturb natural rock formations any more than absolutely necessary since clumsy humans can snap off decades of nature's work with a single heavy-handed gesture. It was bad form to leave anything behind in a cave including marks to show direction. And if one came across marks left by cavers in an earlier time they would point the way out of the cave not further in.
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"This GPS is the greatest invention since sliced bread," Lucy said. She double-checked the coordinates of the cave and let the arrow do its work. "We should make good time since we know exactly where we're going this time."
"Unless we run into another bear. Or a wild pig," Jane said.
"Pessimist."
"What if we really need more supplies? Like those carbide lamps?" Mae said.
"If we get in there and find we need more equipment or preparation we'll leave." Lucy tied her last boot knowing damn well they couldn't turn back. Belle's life was at stake. "Everyone ready?"
Mae and Jane chorused an affirmative and they were off.
The hike back to the creek went without a hitch. It's amazing what a pair of hiking boots and appropriate clothes could do to for a girl's comfort level.
The downside was the weight of the extra equipment.
For Lucy, the result was a slight net positive.
"You sure you don't want to wait here?" Lucy asked Mae as they stood looking up at the rock formation.
"I'm sure."
"Just remember not to look down," Jane said. She started up first.
Lucy waved Mae to the hill. "You next. Just follow Jane. I'll be right behind you."
"Piece of cake," Mae said. She started up the hill.
Lucy ignored the fact that Mae's voice was a little shaky and watched while she got started. Lucy was impressed. Mae wasn't going to break any speed-climbing records, but once she started up she kept moving at a steady, careful pace.
"You're a champ," Lucy said as she started to climb after Mae.
Jane, on the other hand, slowed then stopped altogether near the top. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what? The only thing I hear is Mae muttering under her breath and you sounding a little paranoid."
"I heard something and it sounded bigger than a squirrel."
"Well, I didn't hear it. Maybe it's a deer. There are supposed to be lots of them up here. Whatever it is, it can't be all that close. Not enough cover for anything too large to hide in."
"Fine, I just hope you're right."
"Mae? Are you okay?"
Mae's nose was even with the heels of Jane's hiking boots. She wasn't moving and she hadn't contributed anything to the conversation.
She didn't respond to Lucy's question.
"Mae?" Lucy said it a little louder hoping to snap her out of her trance.
"Wh-what?"
Lucy breathed a sigh of relief when Mae answered. Her voice was soft and hesitant, almost a whisper but at least she was speaking.
"Are you okay?"
Lucy saw Mae's shoulders rise and fall as she took a deep breath.
"Can we just keep moving? If there is another bear around here I'd rather not meet it while my butt's hanging over eternity. I'd rather face a bear than stay on the side of this hill with my ass in the breeze one second longer than necessary."
Jane snickered from above. "Glad your cheerful button still works."
"She has a point, Jane. You're holding up the works. Move it," Lucy said.
Rappel
First Jane and then Mae stepped up onto the ledge that formed the lover's forearm.
Lucy heard a rustling in the underbrush downhill and to her right just as she climbed up after them. She ignored it. There'd already been enough bear discussion. Plus, she found Mae hugging the rock wall and looking anywhere but down so she figured the last thing Mae needed was to hear any more worrisome news.
Hell, the last thing she needed was more bad news. Unfortunately she was afraid the worst was waiting for her in the dark.
She gave her head a shake and focused on the moment--the dark would come soon enough.
"We're going in now right?" Mae asked as soon as she saw Lucy.
Lucy figured Mae's fear of heights trumped her tiny touch of claustrophobia. At least she supposed it was claustrophobia. It wasn't so much the small space in the cave as the thought of all the weight of the rock and earth just hovering over her head in a cave that gave her a little twinge.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad in this cave. Not like the feeling she'd had at Ruby Falls where they went down in an elevator--deep down.
"Yes, we're going in now. You'll have to take off your pack to squeeze through the opening," Lucy said.
"Suits me. Anything to get off this ledge," Mae said.
"I still don't know how you think you're going to maneuver in the dark," Jane said.
Mae shrugged. "We'll see. I promise not to hold you up."
"We're not going to be in any hurry. We're going to be very careful," Lucy said. "We won't be helping Belle unless we come out in one piece--with the Declaration."
"Careful is fine as long as it doesn't paralyze us," Jane said.
Mae was shrugging out of her pack. "Let's just get inside. I'll go first." She handed Lucy her pack. "Hold this and pass me all three when I get inside."
She squeezed into the opening. "Boy, you weren't kidding about the tight fit." She grimaced, sucked in a deep breath and wriggled inside. "Wow. It is dark in here."
Instead of replying, Lucy shoved Mae's pack into the crack. Mae took it. Lucy handed hers in and moved back for Jane to do the same.
"After you," Jane said as she stepped aside with a sweeping gesture.
"Gee thanks. If I didn't know better I'd say Mae wasn't the only one with a little phobia." Wouldn't it just suck if they all had some fear to deal with inside? Who would be the cheerleader?
"I'm fine. You want me to go next?" Jane said.
"No. I'll go." The sooner she went in the sooner she could come back out. Lucy sucked in a deep breath and squished her way into the cave.
Jane followed close behind.
Mae had already put on her helmet and headlamp.
She blinded Lucy with the lamp. Lucy threw a hand up in front of her eyes. "Look down. I'll have spots dancing in front of me for hours."
The beam shifted to the floor. "Oh, sorry. I wasn't thinking."
Jane squeezed into the cave and winced when the light on Lucy's helmet zapped her in the eye. "Damn, that could be a real pain in the ass," she said.
"We'll just have to make an effort not to look each other in the eye." Lucy pulled the map out of her pack and looked it over yet again. There wasn't anything new to see and the lack of detail made her nervous. She had a feeling things weren't quite as simple as the map made them look.
"Well? Are we ready?" Jane asked.
Lucy pointed to the opening at the left side of the small entrance room. "The first hole is right through there. We should probably put on our climbing gear here and have the rope and pitons handy."
The next five minutes were comic relief as they struggled to get into their harnesses. The damn things seemed to defy attempts to untwist and refused to go on
smoothly. The small space didn't help either, but after a lot of cussing--from Jane, nervous laughter--from Lucy, and muttering--from Mae, they were as prepared as they were going to be.
They'd divvied up as much of the heavy stuff as possible but Jane was still the main beast of burden. Since she was the only one with any experience handling the ropes and gear, she'd been designated the lead so she had to carry the most hardware.
It only took them a few seconds to reach the hole in the first passage.
The map indicated they had to go down the hole to the next level of the cave. Lucy was afraid this was going to be the end of Mae's journey to the Declaration. As much as she wanted to believe Mae would overcome her fear, it just seemed too big.
They stopped a few feet from the hole.
"I need to get a look at what we're dealing with," Jane said. She stepped up to the hole and looked down.
"Don't say anything about how deep it is," Mae said.
Lucy seconded that. The less she had to think about tons of rock above her head, the better she'd like it.
"Okay, I won't. I will say the first part looks easy. Enough room for a comfortable rappel without worrying about getting stuck or hitting anything." She looked in Mae's general direction. "You could do it with your eyes closed."
Mae's laugh was more nerves than humor. "Now what's the bad news?"
"The last part looks like a free rappel." Meaning they would be dangling in space with nothing to brace against.
"You still want to try?" Lucy asked Mae.
"Yes. By the time I get to that part it'll be too late to change my mind."
"So, how do we want to do this?" Lucy asked. She figured Mae had probably spent a lot of time thinking this through.
"Well, obviously Jane has to go first. When she gets to the bottom all she has to do is turn off her lamp and steady the rope for me," Mae said.
"You want me to stand down there in the pitch black all alone while you rappel down?" Jane said in mock horror.
Mae looked crushed and put a hand to her mouth. She backed away from Lucy and Jane. "You're right. I don't know what I was thinking. I can't ask you to do that. I'll just wait here."
Jane made an exasperated sound. "For God's sake, I was joking. Have some balls and ask for what you want. It won't kill me to be in the dark for a few minutes."
"Don't be mean," Lucy said.
"I wasn't being mean, I was being honest. I thought she was past letting herself get bullied," Jane said.
"Hey," Mae said. "I'm right here. Don't talk about me like I'm an idiot."
"Better!" Jane said.
"So, what do you want to do?" Lucy asked.
"I want to rappel down that hole in the dark," Mae said.
"Then that's exactly what we'll do," Jane said. "Lucy do you want to bring up the rear?"
"Sure." Lucy wasn't in any hurry to drop into that hole. Mae might be worried about the journey. Lucy was worried about the destination.
Jane didn't have to resort to using pitons or cams to secure the rope. There were plenty of places to tie off the rope at the side of the passage near the hole.
She chose her anchor, tied off the rope and hooked on. "Double check this for me," she said to Lucy as she tossed the end of the rope into the hole.
Lucy checked the hardware, the harness and the rope. "You're good."
Jane backed to the edge and started lowering herself into the hole. "See you at the bottom."
Mae stayed back from the edge and watched Jane disappear from view.
Lucy leaned over the hole and watched as Jane made her way down.
It took her less than two minutes to reach the bottom and unhook.
"Let me know as soon as Mae's on the rope," she called up to Lucy.
"You got it."
Lucy turned to Mae. "Still want to do this?"
"Absolutely," Mae said. She checked her harness one last time and hooked into the rope.
Lucy checked Mae's equipment and it occurred to her for the first time that by going last, she wouldn't have anyone to check her. She shook off her nerves and smiled at Mae. "All set." She stepped back to the hole and called down, "She's ready."
"Going dark," Jane said. She grabbed the rope and turned off her light. "Don't mess around Mae."
"Believe me, I plan to spend as little time as possible hanging on this rope." She turned off her light and backed up to the hole.
She looked down.
"Don't look down," Lucy reminded her.
"It was a reflex. I can't see anything anyway." She started to lower herself over the opening.
She reached the tipping point.
And lowered herself beyond it without getting dizzy or panicking.
"Good job," Lucy said.
"You okay up there?" Jane asked.
"Just fine," Mae said and started walking her way down the wall. She moved much more slowly than Jane had, but she kept moving.
Lucy listened to her progress unable to watch from above since shining her light into the hole would ruin the whole illusion Mae was shooting for.
"Oh shit," Mae said.
"I guess you reached the free part of this little rappel," Jane called up. "That means you're almost done. I'm going to reach up so you can feel my hand and you'll know you can drop the last couple of feet."
Jane's hand closing around Mae's ankle steadied her. She let herself slide down the last four feet.
She touched down with a shout of triumph. "I did it!"
"You sure as hell did. Let's turn on some lights," Jane said. "Lucy! Come whenever you're ready."
Lucy checked her equipment again and hooked onto the rope. "On my way." She stepped to the edge and lowered herself into the hole.
If it wasn't for the fact that she was in a dark hole trying to find a lost treasure with Belle's life hanging in the balance, rappelling would be fun.
Lucy's feet touched bottom and she got her first look at this "untouched" part of the cave. "Whoa."
"You're not kidding, whoa. Do you really think we're up to this?" Jane asked.
"We have to be up to it," Lucy said. "I refuse to think about failing. Belle is counting on us."
"This" was a world so unlike what any of them had envisioned they were all disoriented. This wasn't a "tour" cave with smooth floors and tunnel-like passages. This was a wild place with tumbled rocks and boulders on the floor. More were hanging suspended overhead in ways that didn't bear contemplating. Some of them nearly car-sized.
Stalactites and stalagmites sprouted from ceiling and floor creating more obstacles. Not the colorful, fantastical formations of a mystical wonderland cave, these were shades of brown, black, and tan some tending toward white but never quite reaching that pristine color.
This "room" was large, allowing them to stand with several feet of empty space above their heads. It was roughly square although the walls were nothing close to straight or smooth. Lucy thought it looked to be about thirty feet to the far side and maybe a little more from side to side.
"Looks like a dead end to me," Jane said. She was looking a little wild-eyed as she stared at the bewildering angles, slopes and shapes of the earth around her.
Lucy could relate. If it weren't for the fact that she'd have to rig the ascender to the rope they'd rappelled down, she would have made a break for it. As it was, she found herself concentrating on keeping her breathing even and repeating a mantra of "Belle needs me to do this" under her breath as she looked around for the most likely direction for the other exit.
The view made her dizzy as if it didn't match the information the rest of her senses were processing. Like one of those fun houses where the floor seems to slope in the wrong direction and things get smaller or larger even though they look the same.
"There must be a way out. The map shows an opening on the other side of a large pile or formation," Lucy said.
The hole they'd dropped in from was located in a corner of the room and the walls nearest the opening were solid. Even the combined
light of all three of their lamps didn't penetrate to the far corner of the room.
"It must be over there in the dark," Lucy said. There was an obstacle course of fallen, broken, dripping and growing rock between them and the hidden part of the room.
"I'll go check it out if you want," Mae said.
She didn't seem the least bit intimidated by the chaos around her.
In fact, having conquered the rappel down the hole, Lucy thought she seemed stronger and more confident here in the dark than she ever had in the suburbs.
"I think we should stick together," Lucy said even though she had no idea how she was going to get through the next few minutes without hyperventilating.
"Maybe I should wait here until you make sure it's safe. One of us should be ready to go for help," Jane said.
Lucy shook her head, making shadows dance crazily around the room. "None of us should be alone. We have to do this for Belle."
"Forward," Mae chirped.
Jane rattled the hardware draped around her waist and then nodded. "What the hell, it can't be any worse than dealing with Timmy and Bambi."
"I thought her name was Missy," Mae said.
"How in the world did you remember that?" Lucy asked.
Mae shrugged. "Remembering names is something I learned to do so I wouldn't embarrass myself."
"You're both nuts," Jane said. "If we're going, let's get it over with."
"I'll go first," Mae said.
Jane and Lucy didn't argue with her.
Mae crossed the five feet of relatively clear space avoiding fist sized rocks and a couple of shin-high stalagmites and stopped in front of a four foot high boulder the obstacles on either side were larger, more jagged or both.
She looked over her shoulder. "Piece of cake."
All Lucy could do was shake her head and pray. Maybe if they stayed in here long enough she'd find some new nerve of her own.
Jane rolled her eyes. "I'm glad one of us is freaking happy about this."
Mae put her hands on top of the boulder. She jumped and tried to get the top half of her body up with her hands.
It didn't work.
"Okay, it's a little challenging," she said. "Maybe one of you should give me a little boost."
