The Caverns of Kronos

The Old Mines - Part 4

     The tunnel passed several more large, open caverns where rich lodes of iron had been mined by the Agglemonians, and Shaun’s sword felt out several more wide shafts leading down to even deeper tunnels and passages.

     Half an hour after leaving the shallow pool, though, they came upon an airlock that was different from any they’d seen before. It was the same in its essentials, as they saw when Thomas took the glowbottle out again. It had the same large, circular wheel with a smaller wheel, an air pressure equalisation hole and a window. Unlike the Agglemonian airlocks, though, which were simple and plain in design, this one was covered with ornamental flourishes and decoration, turning it into a work of art. What was more, it was very similar to a form of art they’d seen before, in the abandoned trog village of Darmakarak.

     They stared in excitement. “I would venture to guess that this airlock was made by the moon trogs,” said Shaun.

     “They really exist then?” said Lirenna in delight.

     “So it seems,” replied the soldier.

     “Hey, there’s some kind of sign up there,” said Thomas, lifting up the glowbottle to see it better. It was metal, in which words had been engraved, but it was almost hidden beneath a layer of moss. He wiped it away and read what it said.

     “’You are at the edge of the Kronosian gravity sphere,’” he read. “’Beyond this point, gravity is only 1/500 that in Kronosia, growing less as you descend. Take care if you have little low gravity experience.’" He looked around at the others. "Looks like we’ve finally reached the official city limits,” he said.

     “Good,” replied Matthew. “Maybe the Konnens won’t pursue us any further.”

     “I wouldn’t count on it,” replied the wizard. “Lord Basil’ll want his ring back pretty badly. I doubt he’ll ever give up.”

     “Let’s not hang about then,” said Shaun. “Come on, let’s go.”

     There was gravity inside the airlock, but it stopped abruptly at the second door. Shaun stood at the threshold, reached his hand out, and found that the normal weight pulling it down had gone. He stepped carefully over the threshold and gave a squawk of alarm as his feet left the ground and he drifted up to the ceiling. The others watched in amusement as he bounced gently off the ceiling, drifted slowly down to the floor again, touched the floor with the heel of one foot and began to slowly tumble end over end.

     Then, suddenly, the soldier was screaming in terror. "Falling!" he cried. "I'm falling!" He thrashed around in wild panic while the others shouted reassurances at him, but gradually sanity returned to the soldier as it dawned on him that he'd hardly moved. He was still floating in the corridor, bouncing gently off the walls and ceiling, and he tried to grab hold of something to steady himself. “Don’t just stand there!” he yelled as the others collapsed in helpless laughter. “Do something!”

     “There are handholds in the wall over there,” said Thomas, pointing. “See if you can reach them.”

     The soldier turned his head and saw them, but couldn’t reach them from his position in the middle of the tunnel. He was forced to float helplessly, unable to move or stop his slow rotation, until Kronos’s feeble gravity gradually brought him back down to the ground. As he touched the floor, however, the contact was enough to send him slowly up into the air again and he suffered another bout of slow, lazy bouncing between floor and ceiling, each bounce lasting a full twenty seconds in which he could do nothing but wait for the next contact.

     This time, though, he was also moving sideways towards the left hand wall and eventually he was close enough to grasp one of the handholds with his outstretched hand. Anchored now by one hand, he swung slowly around to face the wall, and when he managed to grab another handhold he was finally able to stabilise himself. The others clapped and cheered, and the soldier breathed a sigh of relief.