Tunnels

The animal twitched and arched its head in the direction of Chester 's voice. Then, the next instant, it was gone, diving into the water and swimming to the opposite bank, where it scurried away.

'Great! He's probably gone to get his friends,' Chester said. 'This place will be swimming with them in a minute.'

Will laughed. 'It's only a stupid rat!'

'That was no normal rat — whoever heard of eyeless rats?'

'Come on, you big baby. Don't you remember the Three Blind Mice?' Will said with a wry grin as they began to move around the crescent bank, playing their beams into the nooks and crannies in the walls and up to the ceiling above them. Chester was stepping apprehensively between the rocks and iron debris, constantly peering behind him for an imagined army of sightless rats. 'I hate this,' he grumbled.

As they approached the shadows at the far end of the grotto, Will increased his pace. Chester did likewise, determined not to be left behind.

'Whoa!' Will stopped in his tracks, Chester bumping into him. 'Just look at that!'

Set into the rock was a door.

Will's flashlight flicked over its dull, scarred surface — it looked ancient but substantial, with rivet heads like halves of golf balls spaced around its frame and three massive handles down one side. He reached forward to touch it.

'Hey! No!' Chester fretted.

But Will paid him no heed and tapped lightly on the door with his knuckles. 'It's metal,' he said, running his palm over the surface — shiny, black, and uneven, like burned molasses.

'So what? You're not thinking of going in there, are you?'

Will turned to him, his hand resting on the door. 'This is the only way my dad could've gone. Dead straight I am!'

With that he reached up, grasped the topmost handle, and tried to pull down on it. It refused to budge. He thrust his flashlight at Chester and then, using both hands, tried again, heaving down with all his weight. Nothing happened.

'Try the other way,' suggested Chester resignedly.

Will tried again, this time pushing upward. It creaked a little at first and then, to his surprise, swiveled smoothly until it clunked decisively into what he assumed was the open position. He did the same with the other two handles, then stood back. Retrieving his flashlight from Chester, he placed one hand against the center of the door, ready to push it open.

'Well, here goes,' he said to Chester, who for once did not raise any objection.

Part Two The Colony

19

The door swung open with a subdued metallic groan. Will and Chester paused for a moment, adrenaline coursing through their veins as they directed their lights into the dark space beyond. They were both ready to turn and flee in an instant but, hearing and seeing nothing, they stepped carefully over the metal lip at the base of the door frame, holding their breath while their hearts pounded in their ears.

Their flashlight beams licked unsteadily around the interior. They were standing in an almost cylindrical chamber, no more than ten feet long, with pronounced corrugations along its length. In front was another door, identical to the one they had just come through except for a small panel of misty glass held within a riveted frame, like a small porthole.

'Looks like some sort of air lock,' Will observed as he moved farther into the chamber, his boots thudding on the grooved iron flooring. 'Get a move on,' he said unnecessarily to Chester, who had followed him in and, without being asked, was closing the door behind them, turning the handles so all three were engaged again.

'Better leave everything as we find it,' Chester said. 'Just in case.'

Having tried to see through the opaque porthole with no success, Will cranked open the three handles on the second door and pushed it outward. There was a small hiss, as if air were leaking from a tire valve. Chester threw Will a questioning look, which he ignored as he ventured into the short adjoining room. About ten feet square, it had walls like the keel of an old boat, a patchwork quilt of rusting metal plates held together with crude welds.

'There's a number on here,' Chester observed as he locked up the handles on the second door. Peeling and yellowing with age, there was a large figure 5 painted on the door beneath the murky porthole.

As they moved cautiously forward, their lights picked out the first details of something in front of them. It was a trellis of interwoven metal bars, running from floor to ceiling and completely blocking the way. Will's light projected jerky shadows against the surfaces beyond as he pushed on the trellis with his hand. It was solid and unyielding. He tucked his flashlight away and, gripping the damp metal, pulled himself as close as he could.

'I can see the walls, and I think I can see the roof, but…' he said, twisting his head around, '… but the floor is—'

'A long way down,' Chester interjected, the brim of his hard hat scraping against the trellis as he tried to get a better view.

'I can tell you there's nothing remotely like this on the town plans. Do you think I'd have missed something like this!' Will said, as if to dispel any self-doubt that he might have indeed overlooked something so remarkable on the maps.

'Wait, hang on, Will! Look at the cables!' Chester said loudly as he spied the chunky matte lines through the trellis. 'It's an elevator shaft,' he added enthusiastically, his spirits suddenly buoyed by the thought that, far from being something inexplicable and menacing, what they had encountered was recognizable and familiar. It was an elevator shaft. For the first time since they had left the relative normality of the Burrowses' cellar, Chester felt safe, imagining that the shaft must descend to something as ordinary as a railway tunnel. He even dared to let himself think that this could mean the end of their half-baked expedition.

He looked down to his right, located a handle, and, yanking on it, slid the panel across. It grated horribly on its runners. Will took a step back in surprise: In his haste, he'd failed to notice that the barrier was in fact a sliding gate, and he now watched as it opened before them. Once Chester had pushed it all the way back they had an unobstructed view of the dark shaft. Their helmet lamps played on the heavy greased cables running down the middle of the shaft into the darkness below. Into the abyss.

'It's one heck of a drop.' Chester shivered, gripping the edge of the old elevator gate tightly as his gaze was swallowed up by the vertiginous depths. Will turned his attention from the shaft and began to look around the iron chamber behind them. Sure enough, attached to the wall at his side he found a small box made of dark wood with a tarnished brass button protruding from its center.

'Yes!' he cried triumphantly and, without a word to Chester, pressed the button, which felt greasy beneath his fingertip.

Nothing happened.

He tried again.

And once more, nothing.

' Chester, close the gate, close it!' he shouted, unable to contain his excitement.

Chester rammed it across, and Will jabbed the button again. There was a distant vibration, and a clank reverberated from deep inside the shaft. And then the cables jerked into life and began to move, the shaft filling with a loud, whining groan from the winching equipment, which must have been housed not far above them. They listened to the clanging echoes of the approaching elevator.

'Bet it's the way down to a subway station,' Chester turned to Will, a look of anticipation on his face.

Will frowned with annoyance. 'No way. I told you there's nothing here. This is