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PART EIGHT(8)
~~~~~~~~~~
In his moment of miscomprehension, One Dash One hurriedly switched the
heating system off, his eyes fixed at the point at the bottom to the
windshield, where the heap of stones had disappeared. They didn't reappear.
Instead, he heard a thunderous roar, and a sheer wall of water shot
upwards, just about five feet in front of the bluntly rounded nose of the
hovercraft.
Following closely were vibrations which would
become tremors beyond his position.
Startled by the noise and sight, and slightly off-set by the close-in
vibrations, he recoiled in the pilot's seat and yelped in his fright.
All that water had descended back to earth, five seconds later, as he
unclipped his Lowi-light from his E-belt, and moved to exit the hovercraft,
thinking, 'What the hellion was that all about?'
He had a good idea, after seeing all that water burst skyward, that
wasn't the hovercraft that had RISEN ~ of course ~ but he still checked to make
sure there was something to step out of the hovercraft and directly onto.
From where he stood on the step-up of the HoCra, he could see that there
was jumbled ruin for him to step out upon ~ Right in front of him.
Just twelve feet farther on to his right, maybe three of them beyond the
nose of the HoCra, the ruin field abruptly ended, and he could clearly hear the
churning of settling waters, somewhere beyond and obviously below that point.
Figuring that 'what was gonna go had gone', he made his way to the lip of
the newly formed cauldroneous zone, and peered downwards with the aid of his
Lowi-light, to inspect its depth and surface dimensions.
The collapse's depth was at least twenty-five feet, he judged with fair accuracy.
Then he swept the light's beam to the far, side-wall of the sunken area ~
adjusting it to its widest 'pinpoint' setting ~ and he realized the immensity
of the collapse's zone. It was better than thirty yards wide, and fifty long.
'Oh Sheowti,' he thought with wide-eyed awe, 'that could not
have been good for OLie and Co.!'
He turned to skip quickly back to the hovercraft, and leaped up into it.
Reaching for the comm. mike, he thought grimly, 'OCley is DEFINITELY going
to hear about this ~ Posthaste!'
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There was a stunned silence amid the four near the four near the passage
entrance, as the unexpected spout died a quick death.
OCley realized after several seconds, that the comm. unit was still on,
but there was no sound from down below, to be heard from it.
He looked at the unit. feeling numb in his heart, and saw what he fully
expected to see, but wished he didn't. The 'link attempt' light was blinking
and the 'link established' light ~ which had been on just moments before ~ was
darkened. He knew that meant the Operation Leader's unit was out of commission.
And if the circuitry of OLie's unit had been compromised, it was because of
unexpected ~ or unexpectedly HIGH ~ levels of down surging waters in the lower
depths of the passage.
Still shocked,
There seemed little point in finishing the needless observation, so he
stopped himself from doing so, and amended silently instead, 'But there was
no water...'
They were all having visions of those down below, floating unconscious in
the deepest chamber, or trapped in scanty pockets of air, completely surrounded
by the deadly volume of water which must have flowed down the passage.
Certainly, OLie and the others must not have been prepared for the sheer surge
there was little doubt had occurred.
OCley turned on Rendal suddenly and ordered despairingly, "Do a
track ~ Find out if they are still alive!"
But the tocus shook his head sorrowfully and replied, [I am deeply sorry,
Master, but rescuing One Dash Two has tapped my energy out dangerously. Even if
I risked my own life to try and detect any of the survivors there may be, they
are most certainly too deep.]
OCley's open mouth snapped shut, and he reminded himself silently, ' 'No
needless or useless risks'.'
And then he said aloud, raging in impotent
fury, "What bloody went wrong?"
The obvious answer was that there had been some hidden pressure-zone, or
a large amount of water that had been released from somewhere.
But none of them were thinking with any clarity, and only
The answer to OCley's rhetorically spoken
question was not long in coming.
The second link-indicator came on for the second time in five minutes,
and they heard One Dash One make his grimly succinct report; *\"ODO, Sir.
About a fifteen hundred square-yard area of the ruins in front of me, has just
caved downwards, to a seemingly settled depth of about three stories."/*
There was a pause, and then the man inquired hopefully, *\"Has there
been any word from OLie?"/*
OCley couldn't snap at his subordinate for being concerned ~ besides
there was no chance of OLie's successfully contacting him ~ so he replied
mildly, "No, no word. But I will inform you when there is."
*\"Thank you, Sir,"/* One Dash One responded in guarded tones,
and then the link indicator went out.
There was a moment's silence, during which they all factored in the news
they had just received, and then Everett began to ask, speaking to OCley Two,
"So what should--?"
He cut himself off, as they became aware of someone rapidly approaching
them. It was Two Dash Two, who they realized was agitated, when he got close
enough so they could see his face in the whisper of Penny's Lowi-light.
"I won't ask what the tremors were about," he said anxiously ~
obviously unaware of the waterspout that had been ~ "but I can't promise
the same of those in the camp, over yonder."
He hitched his thumb over his shoulder, and added, "Most of the
tents are lit, and there are a couple of flashlights bobbing around, on the
ruin side of the encampment."
That meant they had no time, but that didn't stop OCley from not wasting
it. He grabbed Penny by the shoulder of her rain cover, and said in his
'command' voice, "Three Dash One, I want you to--!"
She knew what it was he intended, that he didn't want her to do, and
didn't let him finish. "HECK NO!" she interrupted him determinedly,
"I'm coming with you."
Not surprised by her words, but chagrinned nonetheless, OCley unclipped
his Lowi-light from his waist, and tossed it to Rendal, who caught it deftly, despite
being unprepared to do so.
"The YOU go and flash the 'all clear' bait," he master ordered
him shortly. "Set the Lowi on 'median pinpoint', 'whisper', and send the
signal from the top of that look-out we've been using."
[I take it the rest of you are going down the passage as far as you are
able,] Rendal stated with his usual insight into his master's mind. And then he
added before he turned to perform his assigned task, [Be quick, but be even
more careful.]
"I hope you're up to another run,"
OCley said to
"I'm still standing, aren't I?" the
young man responded grimly. "Let's get moving!"
Only three of them did.
"Sir." Two Dash Two didn't have to shout; his voice held a
magnetism which made the trio of the others hold back from taking more than a
first step towards the passage entrance.
"What TDT?" snapped OCley impatiently, and informed his
subordinate with careful stress, "Time is short!"
The thick-set man's face darkened, and he hissed through clenched teeth,
"I swear that I will follow you down into that passage, if that is where
you shall lead me."
He paused and took a breath, then continued in the pained tones of a man
doing his duty as he saw it, but not liking it. "But there IS no time! We
CANNOT get down below fast enough to accomplish anything useful, and we can
rightly expect company from next door shortly. OLie and the others won't waste
time getting topside if they are still alive, so the most helpful thing ~ but
not necessarily the only thing we can do ~ is buy them the time they need to
get clear." He finished with an interrogative, "Sir?", and
lifted his eyebrows.
"Potshots at them?" OCley ventured in response, speaking of
those that might approach the ruins uncomfortably close. He raised his own
eyebrows right back at Two Dash Two.
The man nodded confirmation and pointed out, "It will make them duck
their heads and stay away, I'll wager."
"Little doubt," OCley agreed dryly.
He turned his head with a decisive nod, from Two Dash Two, and ordered
Penny and
All three of his teamers began to move, but he stopped them with an
urgent sounding, "Wait!"
"You go ahead, Three Dash One," he told Penny quickly, and she
did, as he held out his hand to Two Dash Two. "The binoculars," OCley
demanded of him.
The man set them into his superior's outstretched hand, and OCley
signaled he could leave.
"I guess I won't be needing them," Two Dash Two observed
humorlessly. "They'll have flashes I can't miss." Then he took off
for the look-out position.
OCley passed the binoculars to
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