The aperture widened further, and I could see a darkened corridor, lined with elaborately carved pillars.

As ornate as it was, I couldn't see any treasure. It was hardly King Tut's Tomb.

"I don't see any gold," Gina frowned.

"This whole structure indicates an intelligent civilization," Dennis said. "And, more importantly, an economy."

"Economy means treasure," said Rick.

Si was grinning ear to ear. "And that means gold must be hidden in there someplace."

"Economic systems are based on scarcity," said the android. "If anything, judging by the low availability of hydrogen and oxygen on this planet, their treasure troves may be filled with gallons upon gallons of water."

Dennis looked unperturbed. "If there's only water in that vault, I'll take it. Abolishing water rationing would be a great boost to morale."

"To have a real bath!" Gina moaned. "Or a swimming pool for that matter!"

"Water's bullshit," said Will. "If I can leave this dried up rock with some gold statues, I'll happily pass on drinking and showers until I get back."

"How can you live a day without drinking water?" Si asked.

Will lives on carbonated soft drinks and beer, and he's given a lot of thought to why it's disgusting to drink water. He doesn't get to make his speech.

"If you do that," Gina said with disgust, "I'll happily spray your filthy ass with a fire hose."

"You need to scrub your dirty ass first."

"Children!" Dennis scolded.

The gate rumbled to a stop at the upper arch of the door, making a secure sounding clamping noise.

The boss marched up to the opening.

"Team, once we're in there, spread out. If there's anything that looks remotely dangerous, I want to be notified ASAP. All claimed treasure will be reported to me immediately. Failure to do so will result in punitive measures and a dock in pay. Understood?"

He mostly got "Yes sirs".

"I thought a dock in pay was punitive," said Rick.

"Believe me, you don't know the meaning of the word."

Tarnisha returned to the cavern clutching two large metal colanders, panting and gasping for breath.

Dennis turned around and faced the team.

"This expedition is completely voluntary."

Glancing at me, the indirectly at our group, he continued, "You're welcome to return to crew quarters. Rest up. Regular mining schedules will resume in seventy two hours."

Nobody moved.

I thought about going back to bed, or checking on Brett, but I did neither.

I wanted to know.

I wanted to see if my foreboding dreams were genuine warnings or merely murmurings of a troubled subconscious.

So when the team moved in, so did I.

The first fifty yards of the tunnel was a straight line. What we thought were side passages were actually blocked by tall sheets of glass.

Really, `glass' isn't the best description, for it rippled like water, and when Si tried to smash one, it didn't break.

When Venn examined it, he muttered, "They've developed their own bulletproof glass. This stuff is actually made out of a gold derivative, which explains the yellow-orange shimmering you saw when you first opened the door."

"Is it valuable?" Si asked.

Venn chuckled. "Sure. If you can pry it out of its Haddanium frame!"

As Si left to go get an AE, I stared at the `glass', watching it shimmer like a lazy pond.

Beyond I could see a small chamber with a door, containing the mummified remains of a headless four legged beast in a fetal position, vaguely horse-like in its skeletal structure, surrounded by what I presumed to be food and water dishes.

I looked through the windows on the other side and found more of the same.

Seeing Rick peering through the `glass' opposite to mine, I called, "What do you see?"

He gave me a shrug. "Looks like they've pulled a decapitated horse out of a bog."

Will pressed his face against the clear gold.

"They didn't waste any money on their animals."

"Any guesses about what this place is?" I asked.

"It appears to be a stable," said Venn. "Though the stable boy seems to have abandoned his post."

The corridor came to a stop in front of a giant door, and tunnels forking away from it in two directions.

Without a word, Tarnisha marched off to the left with her metal strainers, Bruce to the right. The rest of us stood staring at the door.

Si squinted at the runes for a moment before shouting, "Pregnant-Key!"

When the others failed to understand his clever joke, he said, "Someone, anyone, go get that thing from the outer door. Looks like we'll be needing it again."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Rick said. "Ever watch Indiana Jones? You might cause a collapse."

Dennis thoughtfully stroked his goatee for a moment.

"As silly as that sounds, he's absolutely right. If we pull out that icon, there's a chance the outer door could close us in here forever. We'll have to figure out another way."

"Do we have a Jaws of Life around here somewhere?"

"We have a Cave-In Assist Tool," Gina said. "But it's way over at Cavern 72M."

Rick sighed. "I still don't understand why we don't have one of those in every cavern."

"Because it's expensive," said Dennis. "Because we're careful. Because it's Haddanium, not granite or limestone. Because we have evac drills to limit the need to use the CAT340."

"The CAT has all terrain wheels, early warning systems for chasms and dangerous formations, and it can travel at speeds upwards from sixty five miles per hour."

We all stared at the android.

I was unimpressed. "How do we know that door won't just slice the CAT in half?"

"It can withstand Haddanium collapses," Venn shrugged.

"Can you make it come here, at a speed upwards from sixty five miles per hour?" Si asked.

"You know how poorly radio waves travel underground," said Dr. Venn. "I can try, but I can't guarantee we'll get its attention."

Gina frowned. "Then how would it save us in a cave-in?"

"You activate it with microwave radiation," said Dennis. "The transponder is in my office."

Will laughed. "So you're going to cook a burrito and make it come over here?"

The boss groaned, rubbing his face in frustration.

"The sun can broadcast energy waves through entire planets without interference," said the robot. "While the technology hasn't been developed enough to send messages through this media (the energy requirements would be, pardon the pun, astronomical), we use the energy waves to activate machines. Of course, we don't have an unlimited supply of power like the sun, so we can only manage a distance of thirty miles. Cavern 72M is only twenty, so you should be good."

"So who's going to get the microwave?"

No one moved. My team looked like a bunch of cutthroat pirates hovering over a locked treasure chest.

After a long, tense staring match, Rick rounded his shoulders and said, "All right. I'll do it."

Dennis handed him a key, and off he went.

As he slowly shuffled out the entrance, I noticed Tarnisha running back to us.

"There's nothing back there," she said. "Just a bunch of shit."

"What...kind of shit." Dennis asked.

Dennis claims to be a Christian, though his behavior doesn't do the faith any favors. One thing to his credit, though. He very rarely cursed, and I never heard him swear. This is why it amused me when he got flustered and tried to act like he hadn't used profanity.

Steamrolling over his verbal faux pas, he quickly blurted, "What exactly did you see, Ms. Powell?"

Tarnisha shrugged. "Nothing much. Some empty rooms with a bunch of dead bodies, the back of the rooms with those shriveled horse things, mostly a lot of junk."

She dug one of those stone icons out of her jumpsuit.

"Oh, and I found this."