The Caverns of Kronos

The Old Mines - Part 5

     After a few hours they stopped for a bite to eat and a drink. The trail rations were rather dry and they needed to take a sip or two of water to moisten their mouths first, all the while trying to stop quivering droplets of water from floating out of their bottles like soap bubbles. None of them were feeling very thirsty, though, so they decided to ration their water, having no idea how long it would be before they were able to refill their bottles. In such low gravity, the water in the tunnel no longer pooled on the floor but formed a thin film of dampness all over the mossy walls, spread far too thin for them to be able to collect it.

     Sanitation also presented a problem, as they discovered when they tried to relieve themselves, an experience that turned out to be unpleasantly like standing too close to a waterfall except that the droplets were bigger. After some thought and head scratching, they carefully transferred water from one bottle to another until they had an empty one, which the men then took turns to fill, taking it some distance back down the tunnel to empty it on the moss, shaking it out as carefully as possible so that as little as possible of the contents were left floating about in the air. It was more difficult for the women, but they took the bottle out of sight to the other side of an airlock and came back a couple of minutes later saying they’d solved the problem. Thomas was curious to know how they’d done it, but thought it better not to ask.

     They set off again shortly afterwards, all of them keen to get to wherever they were going as soon as possible. They came to several more closed and locked airlocks, blocked by vacuum, and were forced to take a rather circuitous route to get past them.

     "I'm not sure we're still going in the right direction," said Jerry, frowning with concern. "I'm worried we might have gotten turned around."

     "You mean we might be going back to the city?" said Matthew, his eyes widening with fear.

     "I'm just saying it's hard to keep my sense of direction straight," the nome replied, looking both ways up and down the tunnel. I think we’re still heading away from the city, but I think we ought to be prepared for the possibility that... You know."

     "Just do the best you can," said Thomas. "Nobody's expecting miracles from you."

     Suddenly Lirenna came to a dead stop, and the tiny nome bumped his head on the shae’s feet. “What is it?” he asked.

     “I can smell something!” she said, angling her head and taking long sniffs. “I think it’s a forest. Some kind of greenery anyway. I can smell damp and wet leaves and moss. A forest!”

     A dawning delight was spreading across her face, but the others shared concerned looks. They’d thought she was getting better. Could this be a symptom that her condition was getting worse? Had she actually begun hallucinating now?

     “Actually, I think I might be smelling something as well,” said Diana, though. “Can’t really place it… It might be damp forest, or something that smells like it.”

     “We’re on the smallest moon,” said Thomas carefully. “In an underground tunnel…”

     “Yes, yes!” snapped the cleric angrily. “I know it can’t actually be a forest, but there’s something…”

     “It’s just the power of suggestion,” said the wizard doubtfully. “One person says they smell something and everyone else can suddenly smell it as well, but it’s just in your head.”

     “I’m not imagining it!” insisted Lirenna though. “Let’s go, see what it is.”

     She hurried ahead and the others hurried to keep up with her. A moment later, though, they stopped again, all frozen in fear. There was a light up ahead. Something, hidden by a curve in the tunnel, was illuminating the tunnel wall.