Continuum

MARY R147 - PART FIVE

by Roger Born

Mike carefully lowered the last of the anchored rope into the pit. A thousand feet of it. The top of it was anchored to a steel stanchion in the abandoned Gates Habitation garage. The floor had been carefully swept and dusted clean except where a three foot core had been carved from the concrete.

Excavation had gone down twenty feet before finding another layer of concrete. This layer was three feet thick. After vacuuming out the dirt and dust, and sealing the sides of the hole with plasticine, they were ready to make an opening in the top of the dome below.

Using their laser cutter, they had carefully managed to cut a cone shaped hole. attaching steel pinions deep into the plug, they pulled the plug out with an electric wench. Air rushed out of the hole momentarily as Mike and the other intrepid explorers braced themselves for the descent.

An old man lay on a rescue pallet, pale as the color of the curious concrete plug they had lowered to the floor near him. He looked out of place of course, but the fire in his eyes belied his fraile appearance, as he watched expectantly all the labor of his three sons.

Mike came over to his father. "What now, Pops?"

Stevo raised his head to look at his son, who was chewing on his lip ring thoughtfully. "We go down now. The sonics told us the floor of the cavern is eleven hundred feet below, so we take more rope with us to reach the bottom."

Mike's eyes widened a little. His pop was really serious! They all had humored him over these last few months, but now, at this point, even his curiousity was becoming aroused. What was down there?

Mike had gone down ropes before, and tying off was an easy task, but he had never racheted down that long a rope before. He got himself ready to go. Jeff and Harry would remain up here. Only his dad would go down with him. He marveled again at his dad. Crazy old man, weak as a kitten, who had some steel hidden in him to do this nutso gig.

"So which of us goes first?"

"Mike, like I explained before, we go together. The rope has tensile of 800 pounds, if you bought the right kind. It will hold us and our gear. We will take the 200 foot rope with us and tie off at the end to go the rest of the way."

Mike absently rubbed his chin in the manner of his father. "We have the backpacks ready with a supply of food and water. The lumi-lanterns are powered, so what keeps us from doing this? You want me to go down first and look around? I can radio link to you." Concern for his elderly father was evident on his face.

Stevo sat up on the pallet with effort. "Mike, for a year now we have discussed this. You ride my pallet down, just like I do. You know where to sit above it. We practiced and practiced this. Why do you want to change it now?"

Mike shrugged, brushing his greying mohawk in frustration. No arguing with the old guy who was bent on his foolishness. "So we go."

* * *

They were down to the end of their last bit of the rope they had carried. Mike, sitting almost on top of his dad, who was still strapped to his pallet, realized that he was stuck. Getting down this thing was easy. If they had to go back up, he did not know if he had the strength to do it, to climb over a thousand feet of rope. He would have to leave his dad at the bottom and pull him up afterward.