Chapter 14: The youth group and the cave

[April 2373 AD – POV Timotheus Sinterguth – Bayern]

Recently I had offered my assistance when Heike, the youth group leader in my church community, had asked for help to run the group for preteens. I had not fully understood why I had actually done that, not really feeling that this was something I could do well or even liked to do, but it had happened. Being shy and all, I had barely talked at all during the main part of the first youth group session I had been in and had just quietly observed and have Heike lead the group. Towards the end, though, after the official part had been finished, I had been asked about my surname, and that had initiated a discussion about the name itself and the Sinterguth family cave. The kids seemed to be very interested, and I had gladly promised to get a visit to the cave organized.

When I had talked to my relatives who were in charge of the cave and preparations and planing had been done a few weeks later, I told the group that I had arranged for all of us to visit the family dripstone cave, and that we only had to talk about a proper date. Of course we needed to get parents' permission and get transport organized, too. We – the Sinterguth family – had built a small narrow track railroad connecting the cave area to the next station long ago, and we'd be able to use that. The railroad line not only connected to the cave, but also to the Riesenwald town and facility. Heike was concerned about the cost of the excursion, but I was able to tell her that everything was covered. While I did not reveal our family's status in full, I found a compromise in telling her that the family had some wealth and that it was going to be a pleasure to invite the group.

We got all parental permissions without problems, and the date was finally set for last Saturday in April. About a week prior to that date I received a long and interesting letter from my cousin. He wrote that he had been on one of his beloved nature trips in the Appalachian Mountains with his dog, Rex, and he had observed a plane crash.

"You can imagine my surprise," he wrote, "when I found a single survivor, and it was a young girl. Something was odd about her; she looked like Ruth's age, like eight or nine, but claimed that she was thirteen. She dropped a few hints that something was wrong with her, but did not say what. Well, of course I was a total stranger for her, but still. Anyway, we were totally in the middle of nowhere, and she did not have a bedroll or anything. I needed to take her in my own sleeping bag with me to keep her warm during the nights, and to my own surprise, I really enjoyed that. When she woke up from her almost coma or so, she seemed to be comfortable around me, and I liked to have her around. It felt like I had Ruthie with me, and I really enjoyed my time with her. We had to stay for a few days as she had a sprained ankle, and just when I thought we might be able to walk back to civilization, a helicraft came to search for the plane, and they took her to the next hospital for a full check up."

Wow, my cousin certainly had interesting things happening to him. But of course, the girl dropping on him could not be an adult girl, suitable for romancing, it had to be a young kid. Why did that not surprise me?

My twin cousin also wrote: "There is something very odd about this girl, above and beyond her age. She's got super sized eyes with slit pupils, like a cat, long pointed ears, maybe three times as long as normal human ears, extra long canines and dense hair, almost like short fur, on some parts of her body. When I found her, she was only clothed in shorts and a tee shirt, so that I could easily see that. She's not been willing to talk about it, but I wonder how this is possible. But please, don't talk about this to anybody; there appears to be some kind of secret behind this."

Wow, that was odd indeed; my cousin had very interesting encounters. What he wrote about the girl's looks made me think, and although I was not an expert in this area at all, I wondered what the chances might be for the girl to be the result of a spontaneous genetic mutation. I did a little related research in the Internet, but failed to find a good explanation or similar references. There were stories about human beings with lots of hair on their bodies, sure, but nothing even remotely combining that with long ears and slit pupils. My twin cousin also hinted that she looked somewhat like a Half-Khajiit in a computer game, and when I thought about this, I could very well understand why he'd consider this cute.

Saturday was finally here, and the entire group – four boys and six girls at that time, two of the girls being sisters, together with Heike and myself – got on the train, rode on it for half an hour, and got out in the middle of the nice 'Fränkische Schweiz', at a station next to a village with the antique name of 'Behringersmühle'. We found the connection to the narrow track railroad, where two guides already waited for us. They were a young couple, distant relatives of mine, actually, and they introduced themselves as 'Sabine and Daniel Sinterguth'. Sabine said:

"Hello and good morning to all of you! I hope that you are all looking forward to seeing our cave! Both my husband and I love caves; speleology, interest in caves, has been our big hobby since many years ago, and that's also how we met. We are really looking forward to showing the cave to all of you!"

Soon after we had all stepped into a car, the small train started to move. Departure times were coordinated with the arrival times of the trains on the regular line, and other cars had several people traveling to the Sinterguth site in Riesenwald. While the train slowly navigated the narrow turns and the incline, our guides gave a few safety instructions, although in reality the whole tour would be entirely safe. The engine pulling the train was made to look like a steam engine of old times and even generated some noise like a steam engine, but actually operated electrically, powered by a fuel cell and hydrogen, our guides also told the group. Since the population had been decreased drastically during the apocalypse, almost all of the energy we needed – at least in central Europe – was created by green energy, and some surplus electricity was used to provide 'green' hydrogen for fuel cells and such.

Our guides and I used the opportunity to explain that to the kids, and some of them actually had a few questions on the topic, like asking what the term 'green energy' actually implied; I was taking those, as they were in my work area. There was also a question on the narrow-gauge railway and what made it different from a regular one, and I patiently explained that it was better suited for tight turns which were required in this area due to the very uneven ground and the winding valleys. Yes, a full size railroad could have been built with some extra effort, but the existing one was more efficient and kind of fit better. In earlier times, I explained, before the Great War, sections of narrow-gauge railway had been used for touristic entertainment in various places in former Germany and other countries, and except for upgrading the engines and electronics – the trains were moving by themselves, computer controlled, without a human operator – existing technology could be used. Also, the relatively slow speed gave everybody a chance to watch and enjoy the scenery; even for me, who had seen the area multiple times before, it was always nice to look out and see it again, with the variations of trees, hills, rocks, and the occasional animal. Over the decades, many animals had become used to the trains passing several times a day and did not run away any longer from them, so that we could once see a herd of deer grazing not more than about ten meters away, right at the edge of a forest.

Soon we reached the station next to the cave and the small train stopped. Our guides led us to the cave entrance and double checked that we all had proper shoes and clothes, before the main door was unlocked. I knew that sometimes tourists came to visit one of the other caves in high heels and shorts, and that would not do at all for the uneven ground and low temperature inside of the cave. I had of course instructed my group beforehand on what to wear, and they had all followed my advice to have sturdy shoes, long pants, and either a sweatshirt or a light jacket. I also got a hard hat to avoid hitting my head in some passages with a lower ceiling, but for Heike and most of the kids this was not needed, as the minimum ceiling height was indicated to be 175 cm, and almost none of them was even close to that. Only Christine, one of the oldest girls in the group and the tallest, had already reached almost 170 cm, and she got a hard hat, too, to be on the safe side.

Once we were all in, the door was closed behind us, and we found ourselves in semi-darkness, illuminated by dim and unobtrusive LED lighting. In order to give our eyes time to adapt, the guides started to talk about the history of the cave and those who had discovered it:

"Many centuries ago, at least from the 16th century on, our ancestors lived in this area, which used to be southern Germany. Most of them owned and ran farms, and contrary to now, this was real hard work, like with ploughs drawn by horses or oxen rather than machines. At that time, combustion engines and electrical motors had not been invented yet. They were not rich, but at least they could grow most of their own food and never went hungry. They feared and respected God and did not hesitate to help out neighbors in need."

"That is good!" one of 'my' girls shouted out.

Sabine, the young female guide, smiled and said: "Yes, indeed, and we still believe in that, too. The entire Sinterguth family has been Lutheran since even long before that time, actually. During those times, this was actually difficult, as Bayern used to be almost completely catholic, and our family was excluded from some benefits because of that. Religious freedom did not really exist at that time; maybe you are going to learn more about that at school at a later time, too."

She cleared her throat and continued the story: "Now, the family grounds included an area with a few hills, mostly made of limestone. Those hills were useless for farming and did not have any significant resources a farmer could use, but as the children liked to play in the hills and the forests around them, they were never sold off. On one fine summer day in the early 18th century, one of the family farmers went around to check on the fields; the farmer's dog was chasing a rabbit into the hills, when suddenly the rabbit was gone, and soon after that the dog was also no longer visible. While a dog following a rabbit underground was known to happen, the farmer's dog was a big one, a German Shepherd dog, and a dog of this size does not usually fit into a rabbit hole at all."

Another girl interjected: "Maybe a giant rabbit?"

Daniel, the young man, chuckled and replied: "No, not really – it wasn't a rabbit hole at all. The farmer heard the dog barking and thus could find it again; it was all dirty, and it was pushing through a hole which did not really look like a rabbit hole. The hole had been hidden well behind a bush and was probably only visible due to erosion, but it was there. The farmer was a curious type, and he probed the hole, just to find out that is was deeper than he could put his arm in. On the next day he came back with one of his boys, and they brought a few torches – the real wooden ones, not the battery operated ones! – and ropes. After days of careful probing, enlarging the hole, and careful investigation, they found out that the hole was the entrance to a cave, and it seemed to extend far into one of the hills also owned by the family."

Another interjection: "A cave? Just like this one?"

"Yes, exactly this one in fact," the story went on. "but at that time a cave was something which was considered mythical by most. A lot people would have turned around and just closed the hole, but not our ancestor. In winter time, when he did not have to tend his fields, he spent many days exploring the cave together with one of his sons, carefully marking his way to make sure that they could find their way out again, and at some distance from the entrance they found very beautiful stalagmites and stalactites. Come on, let's go and see some of those."

Not all of the kids were familiar with those specific terms, and as our eyes were now fully adapted, we slowly moved on, followed a short and narrow passage, low enough that my hard hat hit the ceiling a few times, and eventually we reached the first larger room with dripstones. Most of them were stalagmites, growing from the bottom upwards, but there were also some stalactites, growing down from the ceiling; some of the limestone formations were illuminated by strategically placed LED lights and spots. The guides carefully explained how dripstones came to grow, and the young man told the kids:

"You better remember the proper terms, boys and girls: Stalagmites growing up and stalactites growing down. At the exit we will ask you, and only those who know the right answer will get out again!"

I could hear some heavy breathing and could imagine concerned faces, but Corinna, one of the youngest girls in the group, called out:

"You are kidding! Timotheus is with us, and he will not allow that!"

The guides and I laughed, and the young woman replied:

"Of course you are correct, young lady; that was quick thinking!"

After following another winding and narrow passage, we came into another cavern. This one showed a huge and beautiful limestone artifact, quite thin and partially translucent in some parts, and illuminated carefully to highlight it.

"This is what we call a 'sinter' formation, where water and limestone did not form a column, but an almost flat area" Daniel explained. "Our ancestor had started to show the cave to some friends, and one of those friends had another friend who knew the king of that time personally. Thus, the king of that time, Ludwig I., heard about the cave. At that time, a cave with dripstones was very rare, and none had been found yet at least in this region here. The most known dripstone caves in the area were only discovered in the early 20th century, and we are talking about a time more than two hundred years before that. Now, the king got curious and came to visit, and he was enthusiastic to see the natural art. Looking at this sinter formation here he supposedly said something like 'I would love to have a curtain like that for my bedroom', and since that time the formation has been called the 'King's Curtain'."

The kids were given enough time to look at the curtain in detail, and once we had moved on to more dripstones, the story was continued:

"As Timotheus may have already told you, King Ludwig I. overlooked the fact that our family members were not Catholic and rewarded our ancestor with some money, the ownership of more of the land around here, and a new name, 'Sinterguth', which we have preserved until today and still wear with pride."

"Wow, you got your name from a king?"

"That we did, yes, and we are still a little bit proud of it."

"Why don't we have a king any longer?"

"Wow, that's a loaded question, young lady. Kings and queens have a tendency to sometimes abuse their powers, and in particular people have come to realize that a king or queen inheriting their title is not a good idea; a country's leader should rather be elected. Most of us believe that the current system is better for all, but you will sure learn more about our history and the various types of government at school."

There was some grumbling and muttering, and a few minutes later Michael, one of the boys in the group, had a different question:

"What happened to the cave during the dark times?"

"Good question, young man!" Sabine, the female guide, replied. "First of all, this area is not close to any significant industrial centers and was not affected much by the war. Of course, most people were drawn away, but a cave does not need any maintenance. Also, as the area's elevation is high enough, flooding during the apocalypse did not even get close. When the rebuilding had started, some of our ancestors had persevered and stayed in the area all of the time, and some others eventually moved back; they reclaimed the land, and later on opened the cave again. Naturally, for a long time people had other priorities than to visit dripstone caves, so that very few people were inside during those times."

Another one of the kids asked:

"Why did people have other priorities?"

I took this question: "After the flooding and the war, some of the infrastructure and most of the industry was destroyed, and multiple pandemics had decimated the population practically everywhere; for some time people had to worry about finding enough food and just survive. Rather than relying on ultra modern technology, most farmers had to fall back on old fashioned ways to tend their fields, and eventually this worked, as the total population had been much reduced during and after the war. Only later, when the most important needs had been taken care of and some critical aspects of modern technology had been rebuilt or even reinvented, the locals had a mind to think about art and nature's beauty again. Once electricity was restored and available in most places again, once the water supply and the sewer systems were properly working again after decades of neglected maintenance, the way of living slowly recovered."

While we continued the tour and walked through the next passage, a follow up question came up:

"But why is the cave not open for everybody to visit nowadays?"

"You see, too many visitors damage the cave over time, even if only with their breathing, which changes the ratio between oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air. Besides, there are always people who do not pay attention to the rules and touch the dripstones, and this is bad."

"Why is this bad?"

"You see, even a light touch leaves some grease from the skin there and inhibits further growth for years. Thus, we decided to only allow special tours from time to time, but not regular visits. However, we had artisans create a few replicas, like in the 'Deutsches Museum' in München, next to the replica of the Altamira cave there, and anybody is also invited to go on a virtual tour in the internet. If you have a good holographic display or a virtual reality set, this is almost as nice as the real place."

We had now reached some kind of balcony, looking down on a small lake a dozen meters or so below us. Daniel explained:

"From below the water surface down there, a few more passages lead to more caverns further on, and some of them are flooded. Occasionally some cave divers go there and explore and investigate, but this is very dangerous business, in particular when following longer flooded passages."

"Why is this so dangerous?"

"When you dive in caves and there is a problem, you can not always get to the surface quickly. Some of the passages are also very narrow, and it takes effort and dexterity to get through, specifically when the passage is submerged and you need to have air tanks with you."

"So, why do people go there?"

"Curiosity and a yearning for adventure, I guess. Some people are like this, and a little bit of curiosity is in everybody, I believe. If our ancestor in the 18th century had not been curious, he would not have found the cave and the dripstones."

We followed a shortcut back from the balcony to the exit, and our guides also pointed out a side passage:

"This passage here leads to the original entrance. At first, everybody used it, but access from there is cumbersome and demanding, so later on we decided to create a new entrance in a better location; that's where we got in today."

A few times now and before we had already seen passages branching off to the sides, some of them narrow and just roped off, some of them larger and with a sturdy looking door in them. One of the kids also asked about them, and Daniel explained:

"The entire cave is much larger than what we have seen so far, and the other areas need to cordoned off to make sure that none of you get lost. We have had a few events in the past with kids exploring on their own and getting lost down there, and years later we only found their bare skeletons."

"What? Skeletons?"

"Just kidding, young lady. Of course we have always made sure that nobody could really get lost here in the caves. Above and beyond that, the tour includes the most impressive dripstones; the other areas of interest only to scientists and such."

I knew that there was more behind some of those doors than what most of us could imagine, but that was a family secret, kept well for centuries already.

Soon the tour ended, and we were invited to a quick lunch outside with our guides, where more questions were raised and answered.

[Author's Notes: 'Teufelshöhle' and 'Binghöhle' are real dripstone caves in the 'Fränkische Schweiz' in Germany, a beautiful area with many hills north of the city of Nürnberg (Nuremberg). The 'Sinterguth family cave' is fictional, of course. The 'Deutsches Museum' in München (Munich) indeed has a fantastic replica of the 'Altamira' cave. The original cave is in Spain and has some of the best preserved stone age wall paintings known today, as I have been told.

Central Europe uses the metric system and the 24 hour time system. Tim's height at 195 cm is about 6'4", and Primrose's current height of 184 cm is about 6'0". The mentioned cave ceiling height of 175 cm is about 7'9".]