Chapter 10: Dark Dreams
As Quaid and Melina made their way through the network of tunnels behind the Last Resort, they heard the warning klaxons sound and one-by-one the breach doors slamming closed behind them. The dim light that had been filtering down the tunnel vanished.
Quaid heard Melina rummaging in her pouch. Then a tiny beam of artificial light flashed on.
"This way," said Quaid, but even with the small light, the passageway was still so dim he had to feel his way along. The walls were dry, crumbly dirt which smelled ancient. He bumped into one of those big tunnelers, and felt his way along its dusty, metallic megatreads, and then passed the carbonized crystal multiblades. He was back to the dirt wall now, and moved quickly for about 30 meters until the dirt wall made an unexpected 90-turn right in front of him. But it was no longer dirt here; it felt more like permacrete. "Melina, bring your light here!"
Her footsteps crunched up quickly behind him, and the weak light crawled over the permacrete wall. "Cohaagne's sealed off the mines," she declared.
"Get back," said Quaid. "I'm going to use the tunneler to dig through."
They both stumbled back through the darkness. Quaid found the tunneler without too much trouble. He fumbled around for the door latch, found it, clicked it open, and the cab light popped on. He climbed in and left the door open so he could find the ignition patch. Damn, its biometrics required an authorized thumbprint to start the engine.
Quaid searched out for a manual, which might tell him how to reset the biometrics, or an e-tool with which he could jumpstart the ignition, or something. What he found were several sticks of dynamite, good old fashion, 19-Century, Alfred-Noble-invented dynamite. And a very beat-up flamer.
He gathered up three of the sticks of dynamite and the flamer, and clambered down from the cab. "Melina, where are you?"
"Right beside you," she said, flicking her light back on.
"Give me the light, take the flamer and take shelter behind the tunneler." He herded her over to where he wanted her. "Give me a light with the flamer."
There was a snap, a pop, and then the flamer produced an inch-long tongue of flame. Melina held it up.
Quaid turned the beam of light on the wall so he could judge its distance, put the fuse of the dynamite into the open flame until it sparkled, hurled the stick at the wall, and shoved in beside Melina behind the tunneler.
BAR-RRROOOOMMMmmmm!
He shined the light back at the wall to check the damage. There was a lot of swirling dust but not too much damage. So Quaid repeated the process.
BAR-RRROOOOMMMmmmm!
He looked again. A little better, but still not enough. So he lit and third stick and threw it.
BAR-RRROOOOMMMmmmm!
With a clatter, a small section of the wall collapsed.
Quaid, holding the light, led Melina forward. When they got to the wall, Quaid could see that the hole was large enough for him to squirm through. He handed the light back to Melina and then clambered up the pile of rubble. He put his hands through the hole first, and then used his legs to push himself through.
The other side was pitch darkness, but Quaid new that there'd be solid ground just beyond the wall. And so he dropped. He landed on the tunnel floor and smelled the dust as it swirled up from his landing. "Melina, come on through."
She came through the opening, shining the light around. "Get out of the way. I can make it on my own."
She dropped down, landing softly as a cat.
Quaid took her hand, and with her dim light shining before them, they made their way out of the tunnel.
Alien technology, which may well have been older than mankind itself, sensed their movement and politely switched on thousands of ceiling lights.
An impossibly large cavern stretched out before them. Their tunnel ended at the beginning of a bridge that spanned a wide chasm. The chasm itself was a thousand meters deep. Beyond the bridge was the alien command complex.
Quaid and Melina hurried forward.