by Perrin Briar
“I doubt it,” Bryan said.
“Try anyway,” Zoe said.
Bryan reached into his pocket. He frowned, and then tried his other pockets. He looked at Zoe and shrugged.
“You had it on you this whole time and now you lose it?” Zoe said. “What about your other gear?”
Bryan sat his bag down on the floor and opened the top flap. He rifled through the items inside and came out with his laptop and internet device. He connected them up and turned them on. Somehow, they still worked.
“No signal though,” Bryan said.
“Big surprise,” Aaron said.
“How far down do you think we fell?” Zoe said.
Aaron shook his head.
“A long way,” he said. “I’m not sure how far.”
“There must be a way out,” Zoe said.
“I hope so,” Cassie said, “because we haven’t got much time left. We’re inside a giant hourglass.”
They all turned to look at what she was facing. In the other room, where Zoe and Bryan had been but a moment ago, sand spilled through a hole in the roof, caused by knocking the partition wall down. Large mounds were already forming.
“Great,” Zoe said. “Just what we need.”
“We need to figure out a way of getting out of here and back up onto the surface,” Cassie said. “Zoe, you’re a seismology thingy. You know about different types of rocks and dirt and stuff. Is there any way we can get back up to the surface?”
Zoe shook her head to clear the cobwebs.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t think of anything.”
“Well, think fast,” Cassie said. “I don’t know how long we’ve got in here, but I don’t think we’ve got long. The amount of oxygen will soon run out.”
“I’m sorry,” Zoe said. “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t insisted on going on a camping trip we wouldn’t be here.”
“It’s not your fault,” Bryan said. “This could have happened to anyone, anywhere. We just need to focus on getting out of here.”
Aaron stood at a wall.
“What is it, Aaron?” Bryan said.
“There’s sunlight on the other side of this wall,” Aaron said. “Come look.”
They rushed over and peered through the holes.
“He’s right!” Bryan said. “I can see greens!”
“And yellows!” Zoe said.
“And this wall,” Aaron said, rapping on it with his knuckles. “It’s like the dividing wall we just knocked down. Made up of these pebble-like rocks. If we could knock it down…”
Bryan looked back at the sand filling their tiny living space.
“We’ll have to hurry,” he said.
Bryan and Aaron moved the rock over to the front wall and placed the lever under a stone that stuck out farther than the others. Bryan and Zoe leapt onto the lever and pressed their weight against it. Aaron and Cassie added their own weight. The stone shifted and then fell through on the other side. Warm sunlight spilled across the floor.
“It’s given way!” Aaron said.
“But the wall hasn’t yet,” Bryan said. “Try again.”
They threw their weight against the lever again. Snap! The lever broke, but not before another rock gave way, and then, slowly, a third, and a fourth, a fifth, and then the whole wall collapsed, threatening to bury them alive.
“Hurry!” Bryan said. “Get outside! Quick!”
37
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, likely 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 anythi
ng 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.
