by Perrin Briar
They rushed through the dust cloud and out into the light. Cassie tripped and fell, but was up in an instant, followed by the others. They spun around, watching the last of the cave wall as it collapsed in upon itself in a terrifying rush, blocking the sand and locking it down like a dam. The dust billowed around the family, making them cough and wheeze.
“That was close,” Zoe said, slapping the dust off her pants.
“Wow,” Aaron said.
He had his back to them, to the collapsed wall, and was looking out in the opposite direction. When Zoe turned and looked, her breath caught in her throat too.
An incredible vista spread out before them; a jungle of yellows and greens and reds and purples, the variety of nature under a huge domed ceiling with a bright light emanating from a giant floating globe in the center.
Birds flew over the jungle in a flock and descended back down into the trees. On the right, from a fissure in the roof of the wall, a waterfall cascaded down into the basin. A thin spray of water drifted over the jungle creating a mist.
“Where are we?” Cassie said.
“Nowhere I’ve ever seen before,” Aaron said. “Except on the cover of an Arthur Conan Doyle novel.”
“This is impossible,” Aaron said. “How can this exist underground?”
“Open your eyes,” Cassie said. “It’s clearly not impossible.”
“But how can an ecosystem survive like this?” Aaron said. “And where is that light coming from?”
“It’s not a sun,” Zoe said, holding her hand over her eyes. “They’re glow bugs. Like the ones in the cave. They joined together to form a sun, one really bright light.”
“Do you think maybe someone built it?” Bryan said. “The government, maybe?”
“For what purpose?” Zoe said.
“To carry out secret tests,” Bryan said. “Or store DNA in case there’s an apocalypse.”
“A small shelf in a lab seems a better use of time, space and money to me,” Zoe said.
“Then what is it?” Bryan said.
“An underground ecosystem,” Zoe said. “Previously unknown. This is an incredible find.”
“It’s better than our cave prison, at least,” Bryan said. “And you got what you wanted. We get to go on a real adventure.”
“This wasn’t quite the adventure I had in mind,” Zoe said.
“I need a wash,” Bryan said. “Do you see any pools around here?”
“No,” Zoe said. “Looks like the land slopes inwards. We’re going to have to head into the jungle if we want water. Food too.”
“The jungle?” Bryan said, turning pale. “What if someone comes to look for us? Shouldn’t we stay here?”
“Who’s going to come for us?” Zoe said.
“My assistant might,” Bryan said.
“Rosetta?” Zoe said. “Why would she come?”
“I don’t know,” Bryan said. “But she always seems to know what’s about to happen in my life before I do. I’m surprised she hasn’t rescued us already.”
“Not this time,” Zoe said.
“Then, no one is going to come for us?” Cassie said. “But… But I’ve got appointments with friends. I can’t… We can’t…”
Cassie ran at the sheer cliff wall and beat at it with her fists.
“I can’t stay down here!” she said. “I’ve got a life!”
“We’ve all got lives to be getting back to,” Bryan said.
But this did nothing to appease Cassie, who sniffled. Bryan wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders. They were still hunched, but she seemed a little comforted.
“We could stay here, going into the jungle only to get food,” Bryan said. “Play for the long term.”
“And wait for what?” Zoe said.
“Rescue,” Bryan said.
“No one knows we’re here,” Zoe said. “And even if they did, how are they going to tunnel through God knows how much earth to reach us? Believe me, I don’t like the idea any more than you, but we’re going to have to go into the jungle.”
“We don’t know how far we came,” Bryan said. “We might be near the surface.”
“Look at this place,” Zoe said. “Do you really think we’re just beneath California?”
“It’s possible,” Bryan said.
“Our fall earlier certainly felt farther than a few meters to me,” Zoe said.
“It was dark,” Bryan said. “It’s hard to judge distance and time in darkness.”
“You’re welcome to try and make the climb and dig your way out,” Zoe said. “But I say we don’t sit around and wait for them to find us. We have to save ourselves.”
Bryan arched his neck up at the sheer cliff wall they had just emerged from. It curved all the way up, and then bent inwards, forming a dome, the jungle in the center. The trees were pressed up tight against the left and right-hand sides, sloping down at an angle from where they stood, so they could see right to the opposite wall. It looked to be a copy of the one they had just come through.
“How far would you say the opposite side is from us?” Zoe said.
“Twenty miles,” Bryan said. “Maybe twenty-five. Hard to say. Why?”
Zoe peered through her camera at the opposite wall.
“Because that’s where we have to head,” she said.
“Why?” Bryan said.
“Looks to me like it’s the way out of here,” Zoe said. “There’s a bunch of holes. The rocks look different to what we have on this side.”
“Can I have a look?” Bryan said, gesturing to Zoe’s camera.
Bryan peered through it using the zoom function. The wall became large, rearing up before him. He had to hold his hands steady. The slightest movement made the camera veer wildly to one side. When he managed to hold it in place he could see the markings Zoe had mentioned. They were big black holes like deep pockmarks, craggy and worn.
“What makes you think they’re the way out?” Bryan said.
“It’s not over here,” Zoe said. “It has to be there.”
Or there’s no way out, Bryan thought. He could see Zoe thought the same. But neither of them uttered the words in front of the kids.
“We have to head somewhere,” Zoe said.
“There could be anything in there,” Bryan said.
“What’s the matter?” Zoe said. “Scared?”
“Terrified,” Bryan said. “Sorry I’m not the hero type. I’m just a regular guy. If we’re going through this thing, I want to get through as quickly as possible.”
“You’ll get no argument from me,” Zoe said.
“What if there isn’t a way out and we’re stuck here forever?” Cassie said.
Bryan and Zoe exchanged a look. So much for not scaring them.
“Then at least we have each other,” Zoe said.
Cassie seemed horrified at the prospect.
“When is someone most likely to notice we’re missing?” Zoe said.
“As I said, if Rosetta doesn’t notice, then not until next Monday,” Bryan said. “You?”
“Same,” Zoe said. “Though they’re unlikely to take much action besides a few phone calls to my cell for a few days. Then my boss might go to my house, check up on me, find I’m not there. Then he might call the police. And when they search for us there’s unlikely to be much of us left to find. The sinkhole swallowed everything.”
“My laptop and phone have GPS,” Bryan said. “They’ll be able to find where the signal last was.”
“But what if they decide you actually turned your phone off to be with us?” Zoe said.
Bryan had no answer for that.
“And when they turn up, there’s nothing there?” Zoe said. “And if the sinkhole doesn’t give way again, will they really dig however deep we’ve fell to find us? I don’t think so. We’re just going to have to save ourselves.”
They stood on an outcrop of rock looking into the dense foliage, welcomed by sounds from the beaks, snouts and lips of various invisible creatures, like
ly never heard before by human ears. The family shared a hesitant look.
Zoe hesitated. Then she took the first step into the jungle.
38
Thick vines covered the ground, engulfed the trees, and hung from branches like unkempt bunches of electrical cables. It was an entirely different beast than the forest they’d been walking and camping through on the surface.
A bizarre bird with a large curved black beak clacked its jaws together before flapping its wings and taking flight, joining a flock of similar-looking creatures.
“Where are we?” Bryan grumbled. “Wonderland?”
He came to a bright purple flower with blue spirals worked into its center. He lowered his nose to it and breathed in its heady scent. The flower petals opened wide. Bryan opened his eyes to see a vine twist through the air, dancing toward him. It touched him delicately on the cheek, feeling his face, and then pulled back. Razor-sharp teeth flew out and snapped at him. He backed away, just far enough so the vine couldn’t reach him.
Zoe sliced the flower’s stem and it fell to the ground, writhing like it was in pain.
“Don’t touch anything,” she said. “This is an alien world. We’re the trespassers here.”
“Yes, sir,” Bryan said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Yes indeed.”
Zoe bent down to inspect the flower.
“This species of plant hasn’t been on the surface of the Earth for the better part of a hundred million years,” she said.
“They should never have existed at all,” Bryan said, still shocked by what he’d seen.
Zoe pushed the leaves of a bush aside and bent down to peer closer at a pool of stagnant water. It had a thick white skin on top, like custard left out for ten minutes.
“I’m not sure we should be washing in that,” Bryan said.
“It’s not water,” Zoe said. “It’s primordial slime. It hasn’t changed in billions upon billions of years. It might well be the origin of life on our planet. I have to take a sample.”
“Don’t touch it,” Bryan said. “You don’t know what it might do to you.”
“I know what it’ll do to my career if I don’t,” Zoe said. “This is the Holy Grail.”
She reached into her backpack and took out a small plastic bag and scooped up some of the goo. She tucked it away.
“This place is incredible,” Zoe said.
She appraised every plant, looking it over, touching it in true hippy fashion. She unsheathed her camera and snapped pictures of everything they came across.
“Are we at a garden center, or are supposed to be trying to find a way out?” Bryan said impatiently.
“I’m just making the most of our time here,” Zoe said. “Who knows when the next person will be here?”
“You’re taking too much time,” Bryan said. “You’re going too slow. Now who’s the one addicted to work? What’s so amazing about them anyway?”
“Nothing,” Zoe said, “besides the fact that some of these plants haven’t existed above ground for millions of years.”
“Neither will we if we can’t get out of here,” Bryan said. “Then you can take all the pictures you want.”
“How is all this possible?” Aaron said, poking a grasshopper with a superfluous leg sticking out of its head. “How can so many creatures and plants have ended up down here?”
“Probably the same way we did,” Zoe said. “Think about it. The Earth has a long history. All manner of animals have walked its surface in that time. The chances are that some of them would have come down here via a sinkhole at some point. After all, we have, so why wouldn’t any other creature or plant? These sinkholes have been opening and closing and spewing out life since the dawn of time. Look at this plant. It’s more recent. A type of pansy. My aunt used to grow them. At some point they were brought down here too. Isn’t this incredible?”
“Yes,” Bryan said flatly. “Amazing. Can we get out of here now, please?”
“Everybody, come look at this,” Zoe said, bending over a leaf and pointing to a giant caterpillar wriggling along a plant stem.
Bryan threw up his hands.
“Isn’t it amazing?” Zoe said.
“Not really,” Cassie said. “I’ve seen hundreds of the things.”
“But not this particular variety,” Zoe said. “This caterpillar was brought down here and managed to survive. Its ancestor would have lived with Ice Age creatures like the woolly mammoth and sabre toothed tigers. It makes you wonder what else might be here, doesn’t it?”
“Have you ever seen anything like this place before?” Aaron said.
“It reminds me a little of the Amazon jungle,” Zoe said. “But on steroids. There’s so much diversity here. Look at this tree.”
“Yes,” Bryan said. “Why don’t we?”
“You see these fungi?” Zoe said. “They’re called agaricus taeniatus. They’re native to China. While this tree they’re feeding off is a kind of redwood, like from our very own backyards in California. They should never have mixed like this in the wild, and yet here they are. Sinkholes don’t only occur in North America. In fact, some of the largest recent ones occurred in China. These things happen all over the world. And if that’s the case, then they could have sucked down anything from anywhere at any time.”
“Anything,” Bryan said to himself, peering around at their surroundings with wary eyes. “Anywhere. Anytime.”
Dragonflies hovered above their heads, gazing down at them through their compound eyes, before whizzing through the air. Humming birds floated like futuristic aircraft. The birds high in the trees sang beautiful songs like an orchestra, while small balls of feathers in the form of quails scampered about their feet. There were whistles, high and free and complex, and muffled popping sounds like gunshots going off in the distance, and honking noises like a tone deaf donkey.
It was a wonderland all right, Bryan thought. He wondered when the Queen of Hearts would show up.
39
“I’m dirty, I’m hungry, and I’m thirsty,” Cassie said.
“Really?” Aaron said. “I almost forgot after the first thousand times you told us.”
“And I’m tired,” Cassie said.
“Here,” Zoe said, reaching up into a tree. “It looks like an apple tree.”
She plucked a few and handed them out.
“Look, pears are growing on it too,” Zoe said. “And lemons.”
They bit into the fruit faster than they could breathe, each of them starving hungry. They choked, but the fruit was so sweet and delicious they didn’t care. After eating half a dozen each, they relaxed, tossing the stripped cores aside. Then Cassie’s eyes widened at something she saw.
The pool of water was crystal clean, the floor visible, like the water on a remote Caribbean island, unblemished. Cassie ran toward it.
“Yes!” she said, dropping to her knees in front of it and preparing to dip her hands in.
“Wait!” Zoe said.
Cassie froze in place, fingertips centimeters above the surface.
“Don’t touch it,” Zoe said.
“Why?” Cassie said. “It’s water.”
“We don’t know what it is,” Zoe said. “It’s a new place, a new system. It could be anything.”
“Then what are we going to do with it?” Cassie said.
“Probably nothing,” Zoe said. “Look. There’s nothing on its surface or inside it.”
“So?” Cassie said. “That just means it’s clean, doesn’t it?”
“So clean nothing living can survive in it,” Zoe said.
“Maybe there just aren’t any fish down here,” Cassie said.
“The oceans are seventy-five percent of the surface of the Earth,” Zoe said. “I’m certain there are fish down here, but not in this pool.”
She snapped off a thin branch and tossed it into the pool. The branch floated. Nothing happened.
“See?” Cassie said. “You’re worrying about nothing.”
Smoke rose from
the branch and it began to hiss. The wood cracked and whistled like it was on fire. The leaves shriveled up until they were small and black, disintegrated crisps. Within moments the branch was gone and the pool was perfectly clean again.
They all just stared, aghast.
“What was that?” Bryan said.
“Acid,” Cassie said.
“Cassie, get away from the edge,” Bryan said.
Cassie, body shaking, leaned back on her hands and shuffled away.
“Is there anything in this place that won’t kill us?” Bryan said. “Carnivorous plants, deadly pools of acidic water. No wonder tales of hell exist.”
“The things that are here were never meant to be put together like this,” Zoe said. “Their worlds weren’t meant to mix. They were meant to be separated by millions of years of gradual change, of progress. And now here they are, forced together. It makes for a potent mix. They’re fighting for the right to survive, to reproduce. It’s the Lost World, like Conan Doyle’s famous novel. We’ve stepped back in time. And around every rock there could be danger.”
40
The tree branch had floated in the water for the past ten minutes. So far, nothing had happened.
“Looks like it’s safe,” Zoe said.
“Wait,” Bryan said. “Are you sure?”
“As sure as I can be,” Zoe said, taking off her boots. “It’s not like I have my lab here to test it. But it hasn’t disintegrated the tree branch. That’s an improvement over the last lake.”
Zoe put her hands into the water. It was cool and refreshing against her skin. She splashed it over her arms and shoulders. The others stood there watching, like starving men before a banquet.
“Aren’t you going to wash?” Zoe said.
Cassie and Aaron headed a little farther down before entering.
“Don’t go in too deep,” Bryan said.
“I won’t,” Cassie said, rolling her eyes.
Zoe took off her top, wearing just her bra. She washed all the gunk and dirt and sweat off her body. She had never been so grateful for a bath her whole life.
She looked around at the world around them, alert for an attack at any moment. She cupped her hands and briskly washed her face before stopping and peering at her surroundings again.
