Chapter 3

Abby stumbled, her breath coming out in a sharp hiss as her knees made contact with the uneven tunnel floor yet again. Connor had gone down once in the darkness, landing painfully on his bad knee and letting out a yell that seemed thunderous in the deep silence that surrounded them. After that, he'd been the one to pick her up. She'd lost count of her falls. A combination of the darkness, the stifling silence, the thought of what might be quietly creeping up behind them and the throbbing pain of a cut on her brow from one of her many earlier falls were all starting to get to her. Her hand tightened on Connor's arm as he lifted her to her feet again.

"Why are you so calm?" Abby whispered, hearing her voice being sucked into the echo-less depths of the earth walls around them. "I thought you were claustrophobic?"

"That's small spaces, not darkness," Connor hissed back. "I might not be able to see the edges, but I know this isn't a small tunnel. And for the record, I'm not calm, I'm concentrating."

"On what?"

"Where to put my feet for starters!" Connor's arm moved round Abby's waist, catching her as she started to fall again.

"Any sign of any creatures yet?"

"I don't think they've evolved bioluminescence yet."

"How about a light at the end of the tunnel then?"

"You can see just as much as I can," Connor shrugged, his arm still around Abby's waist. "The air does feel fresher though."

"And that's a good thing, right?"

"Means we're getting closer."

"Thank goodness."

XXXX

Danny lifted his head slowly. He winced as a stab of pain shot right across his forehead. His mouth was dry. His tongue felt like sandpaper. He rolled over tentatively, vaguely aware of the pack on his back. It took him a few moments of painful contortion to wriggle out of the pack and fall, gasping, onto his back. The air around him was cool, cooler than the insistent furnace of Africa, anyway, and the sun wasn't beating down so brightly on his closed eyelids. He risked opening them, first one eye, then the other. The sky above him was green. He blinked, then frowned.

Green?

Pushing himself up onto his elbows, and wincing at the renewed pain from his sunburn and headache, Danny looked around him. A blur of greens, yellows and browns surrounded him. He frowned again and rubbed his eyes. The world around him started coming into focus. He was lying in the middle of a small clearing, surrounded by verdant shrubbery, trees and vines. The ground beneath him was covered in a spongy, yellowish moss that continued up the sides of the trees, getting greener as it went. He pressed a hand into it and brought the hand up to his face. It was damp. Any moisture that had made it through the green canopy above him was obviously caught and stored in the moss.

Drawing the hand across his lips in thought, Danny remembered how dry his mouth was. He reached for a water bottle and remembered they were empty. Dragging the nearest one out of the pack, he removed the lid, looked about thoughtfully, then half rolled, half crawled to the nearest tree. Pressing the bottle into the damp moss on its bark yielded a little water, but not much. Pressing his free hand to the bark above the bottle, Danny ushered more water out of the moss and into the container. A scant mouthful gathered in the bottom of the bottle. Danny brought the bottle to his lips and drained the contents, then moved on to the next tree to start the whole process again.

XXXX

"Sarah, please tell me you're not serious!" Becker sighed, his head falling as he counted the myriad small ways the doctor's plan could fail. It had taken him long enough just to prise the idea out of her. Presumably, her reticence on the subject was at least partially due to the fear that he would react exactly as he had done. Now he could only hope that reaction didn't push her to keep even more dangerous details to herself!

"Okay, I admit there are a few things that need ironing out," Sarah held up her hands in supplication.

"A few!"

"Well, what do you think I've been sat here working on?"

"Sarah..."

"Look, Becker, the model is finished, okay. It's done. At least as far as Cutter had completed it, anyway..."

"Sarah..."

"All the data we have points to those crossing points..."

"Sarah!"

"If we can just take a closer look at the future technology..."

"Doctor Page!" Becker's voice rose to a shout.

"What!" Sarah shot back.

"You are not going on some harebrained, high risk jaunt into a known death trap just on the off chance that..."

"That is not your call, Captain!"

"Don't try and pull rank on this!"

"I'm the highest ranking scientist left!"

"You're the only ranking scientist left! There is a difference! I will put you under house arrest if I have to!"

"Lester would overrule you."

"No, he really wouldn't."

"He needs his team back."

No, he needs A team. He's not really that picky about who it contains right now."

"Right, so he doesn't need me."

"Don't even consider doing this alone, Sarah: you wouldn't stand a chance!"

"Then come with me!"

"No," Becker folded his arms and stepped back towards the doorway. "It's suicide. I'm not going. My men aren't going. You're not going either. That's final."

"You can't stop me!"

"Do you really want to bet on that?"

Before Sarah could reply, Becker had stepped backwards, closed the door and turned the key. She rushed forwards and hammered on the door with her fists.

"Becker! Becker, let me out of here!" Sarah watched through the glass as Becker smiled, waved and turned away. "Don't you walk away! Don't you dare walk away! Becker!"

XXXX

Becker stood by the catwalk bannister, surveying the work going on down below on the atrium floor.

"Captain is there any particular reason why Doctor Page is locked her laboratory with two of your men on the door?" Lester drawled from somewhere over Becker's left shoulder.

Turning sharply to face his boss, Becker tried to hide the startled expression on his face. When he wanted to, he thought, Lester could walk as softly as a jungle cat. The man did it deliberately, he was sure.

"A temporary measure, Sir," Becker replied smoothly. "To make sure she doesn't do anything rash that could put her or the project in danger."

"And she is screaming blue murder and calling you every name under the sun because...?"

"She feels very strongly about said rash decision."

"I see," turning, Lester looked up and surveyed the roof of the atrium, looking from one security camera to another. He didn't turn back to Becker when he continued: "Go and fetch her. I want to see you both in my office immediately. I don't care if you have to put her over your shoulder and carry her, but I would prefer a better first impression to be made upon our new colleague than that of Doctor Page's backside."

"I'll try to bear that in mind, Sir," Becker replied, a slightly raised eyebrow the only change to his expression.

"Yes, well," Lester drawled. "As soon as you like, Captain. I do believe the word I used was immediately, not next week!"

"Of course, Sir," Becker inclined his head and turned in the direction of Sarah's lab.

XXXX

"I thought you said we were getting closer," Abby was appalled how whiny her voice sounded.

"We are, Abs, but like Einstein said: everything's relative!" Connor sighed. "Are you sure you're okay? I mean we can stop here and rest for a bit if you like."

"I'm fine! I just need to get out of here!" Abby moaned through gritted teeth. "I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, my head hurts and it's really hot in here!"

In the silence that followed, Abby felt Connor's arm, still wrapped around her waist, pull her to a stop.

"Abby, sweetheart," Connor's voice sounded hesitant. "What do you mean it's really hot in here?"

"What do you think I mean, Connor!" Why did he have to choose now to be pedantic? "I mean it's hot in here! I'm boiling alive here? Aren't you?"

Silence again.

"No, Abs, I'm not."

Abby felt Connor's free hand find it's way to her forehead. It was so cool, she wanted to reach out and grab that coolness back when he pulled away from her.

"Oh, that's all we need!" Connor muttered quietly.

"What?" Abby asked, her tone grumpy. "What is it?"

"Abby, darlin', I need you think really carefully for me now."

He was using that tone, Abby thought. The one he'd used with Jenny when she fell in the canal. The one he always used when he was worried.

"What?" Abby muttered.

"How long have you been feeling hot for?"

"I dunno..."

"Since before we fell into the tunnels?"

"No," Abby shook her head, then immediately regretted it and staggered. She felt Connor's arm tighten around her, keeping her upright.

"Most of the time since then?" Connor persisted.

"No," she replied, feeling her legs start to sag. "Not quite. Connor..."

"Woah!" Connor's knees bent as Abby turned into a dead weight in his arms. Out of options, he lowered her gently to the tunnel floor. "Abby? Abs?"

"Conn?" Abby felt like she was floating , disconnected from the world around her. Connor's voice seemed to be further away than it had been.

"It's okay, Abs, I'm here," he said, brushing her hair back from her brow softly. "You're burning up, love. You've got some sort of fever."

Connor stood up and looked around him. What way had they been facing? That way, surely: he could feel the breeze on his face again. He knelt back down and cupped Abby's face in his hands.

"Okay, listen, Abby, we need to get you out of here. Now I think I can see a light up ahead, so I'm going to go check it out. I won't be long, I promise."

There was no reply. Swearing silently, Connor held his hand over Abby's mouth and nose, waiting with baited breath. After the longest moments of his life he felt a movement of air there and breathed a sigh of relief. Pushing himself to his feet, he turned back in the direction of the breeze and hurried forwards, hoping that the light he had told Abby about would be just around the next bend.