When we first breached the cavern, the pressure difference was very noticeable. I was using some plasma to melt the way down when it was breached. As soon as I had made a small hole, it sucked in the plasma I had been using and almost me as well. I managed to make a temporary barrier with ice, but I would need more water to make a better barrier.

"Ben! Send me some water! Quickly!" I yelled.

"On it!" He replied. A few moments later, he was sending down water. I managed to make a plug that would hold as long as I maintained it. I headed up to the main area, making sure to keep the plug in place.

"Everyone, into the airlock. Get your suits on. I breached a cavern, and the pressure difference is big. I don't know if the air down there is breathable or not yet, but I don't want to take any chances. " They all obeyed, and I put on my suit as well, but I stayed out of the airlock. "When I open it back up, wait until everything settles down before exiting the airlock. I'm not sure if we'll be able to repressurize here again. Try to keep everything from flying around if you can. " I walked back down to the plug and made bands to keep myself from being sucked away. The other Atlantians had used our water supply to freeze the living area in ice to keep everything from flying around.

"I'm about to open it. Be ready, " I said over the comms. I stopped maintaining the plug and cracks began to appear immediately after. A few seconds later, it broke and flew into the cavern. It was hard to keep myself from flying away, but I managed it and remained in our mine. "Done. Come on down. "

I could see no bottom or walls to the cavern. There was more water in there than on the surface, but the air was still unbreathable. The others arrived besides me and looked into the cavern as well.

"It goes down for a long time. I can't see a bottom, even with water sense, " May said.

I left the others and grabbed a laser measurer from upstairs. The laser had a range of 5000 feet, and it couldn't sense a bottom. I held it there for a while, hoping something would show up. Nothing did. I pointed it to the sides and got no readings in all directions. I returned it and got a glow stick, which I cracked and dropped into the hole. It fell out of sight, and we never heard it hit the bottom.

"ARC, any suggestions?" I asked

"None, sir, " ARC replied. "I find no records of anything similar to this in any files I have access to. "

"Great. ARC is stumped. Everybody, upstairs. We need a plan. "

A few hours later, we had a plan, but not a very good one. Half of us would go in while half of us would stay. Once we hit the bottom, If there was one, we would radio to the surface, who would radio back. Our ARCs would then use some kind of formula to detect lag and decide how far apart we were. Then, from there, we would have to figure out what to do next. I would be going down, along with Trudy, Gabe, and Catherine. We all grabbed a light rifle and pistol, flares, grenades, combat knives, and spare power packs. We didn't know what to expect, and the last thing we wanted to be was unprepared.

"Ready guys?" I asked before we entered. They all nodded, and we descended. Trudy couldn't go down like we could, so I had to fly her down. ARC said it took us only four hours to reach the bottom, but It felt like days. We traveled with our headlights off, but brought a large lantern with us that spread light for a long ways around us. We say nothing on our way down until we reached the floor. When we got there, we contacted the others. "May, Abigail,and Ben. This is John, Gabe, Catherine, and Trudy. We have reached the bottom. Sending the timed signal now, "I said. A few seconds passed.

"Good work. We have received the timed signal. ARC says you are 100,000 feet down. That's a long way. Should we come down now?" They responded.

"Yes, come on down. Bring camp supplies as well please, and mark the entrance with a radio beacon. We don't want to get lost down here. "

"Affirmative. " A pause. "On our way now. "

The others traveled a lot faster than we had, and free fell most of the way. Once they arrived, we set up camp and a second radio beacon. We recharged our suit batteries and then set out to explore. We could find no end to the cavern, which seemed to extend in all directions forever. After a few hours of exploring the nothing, we found something.

"Guys, I found something. It's a village, " Ben said.

"Stay put Ben, do not approach or engage. Stay out of sight of any inhabitants there. We're coming to your location, " I replied. I was the second one there, and what Ben had found was indeed a small village. He had turned off his headlamps so they wouldn't see him, and I did the same as I approached. Once the others arrived, they saw the village too. It was surrounded by something that made yellow light, but it wasn't fire or electric lights.

"ARC, what's down there?" I asked.

"The village has about twenty buildings, each capable of housing about five individuals, assuming the individuals are human. I can't see much from here, but based on the door height, the creatures who live or used to live here are about the same height as you. The technology seems to be rather primitive, and the light seems to come from some kind of fungi, but all of this is only guesses. "

"Any sign of recent activity there?"

"I cannot tell from this distance. "

"Allright, I'll go down with Gabe, the rest of you, stay here. Charge the light rifles for sniper shots and be ready for anything. " I said. They nodded and I began to approach the village. We had been on a ledge about a half mile away from the village, and now we approached it. Me and Gabe had turned our headlights back on as we approached. We stopped outside the line of fungi.

"ARC, analyze, " I said.

"It's definitely humans. The building on the left, third down, has a piece of technology from before the time machine disaster. They've been here for a long time. "

"Have they been here lately?"

"Yes. They are here now. "

Somebody leaned out from behind a building. "Who are you?" He asked.

"We are John and Gabe. Who might you be?"

"What are you doing here?"

I sighed. Maybe once we answered his questions he would answer ours. "Some of our friends are stuck in this planet. They arrived here several years ago. Do you know where they might be?"

"Did they come in a ship?"

"Yes. "

"We will help you if you get us out of here. " More people came out of the buildings. "We've been stuck here for centuries, living in the dark. "

"How many people do you have?"

"About a hundred. Can you take us all?"

"Yes, but it will take time. "

"Good. You can rest here, later I will take you to your friends. "

"There are five more of us here as well. Can they stay here as well?"

"For now. "

"Thank you, " I said to him. "Come on down guys, and discharge your weapons. They'll help us, " I said to the others over comms. "You never told me your name, " I said to the man.

"Fredrick. "

"Frederick what?"

"I don't know. "

The others arrived at the village. The villagers cleared out a building for us, and we thanked them for their hospitality. Once we had rested and recharged our batteries again, we were ready to set off. Frederick was waiting for us.

"This way. Follow me, " he said. We walked for several hours, and then we arrived at a portion of the cavern that was different from the rest. The floor here was rougher, and in one section I saw a small piece of metal that was stuck to the ground. Frederick stopped. "Here is where your friends will be. "

"Thank you. Will you be heading back to the village?" I asked.

"No, I do not want you to get lost down here. "

I nodded my thanks and got to work. ARC located where the main cargo hold should be, and I began to melt my way through. The rock here was harder to melt away, and it took an hour to get to the metal sheeting on the ship. Once I saw it, I hesitated.

"ARC, I'm worried about the air in the cavern. Will they die when we open it up?"

"The suspended animation modules are airtight and will withstand the pressure difference. "

"When we breached at our camp, It almost sucked me out. Will it break some of the chambers and kill some?"

"I don't think so, but I am unsure. The best thing to do is a pinpoint breach. "

"Allright, I'll try that. " I made a small globule of plasma and got down to the metal, then I made it just a drop. I pressed it very quickly against the metal several times. Once I knew I would breach it the next time, I made it as small as I could. Then I touched it very lightly to the metal and drew it back. The breach was about the size of a pin, and air began to hiss out of the ship.

It stopped fifteen minutes later, and then I widened the hole so I could jump in. Inside were seventy-five suspended animation chambers. I widened the hole more to be able to fit the chambers through. I found the captain and turned off his chamber first, making sure not to open the chamber. He woke up and looked at me through the glass. His ARC still had the visor attached, and it flashed to life.

"This is John Smith to Resilience captain, can you hear me?" I asked over my ARC's radio.

"I can hear you. Thank you for coming. How long have we been here?"

"Almost a decade. Ready to get out?"

"Yes. "

"Alright. It will take a while to get everybody out. The air here is toxic to us, and we can only do a few chambers at a time. We'll get you a suit later, the rest of the crew will listen to you for sure. "

"How many of you are there?"

"Me and five others. "

"What happened to the rest?"

"Crash landing on a planet. That's where we'll be taking you guys. "

"Okay. Thanks for rescuing us. "

"Alright. We'll get you to the surface, give you a suit, and then start unloading others. It'll take a lot of fuel, but we can manage it. " I levitated his capsule through the hole and set it down. I got two other capsules out as well and we got them all the way to Hope. Once there, we let them out and began to get ready for a return trip. It would take a month or so to get everyone from Resilience and the village, but then we would be able to get back to Pandora with a better chance at survival.