breath. Her right leg seemed to have part recovered but the left was cramping painfully. The petty officer still had a supporting arm round her waist, which was all that was keeping them moving.
“ Until we reach the bottom, ” the PO replied. “ Or start to smell feet! ”
Alice wanted to ask the woman what was happening but at that moment, simply didn’t have the breath to do it with.
Even with the PO’s help, her progress was slower than the people ahead and a gap would open. Then every so often a group of fleet personnel would come pushing up and they’d have a chance to catch up. One of the groups was a squad of marines, fully armed and dressed in responsive armour. With the dull lighting and their lowered visors, their faces weren’t visible, which to Alice somehow robbed them of their humanity.
After an indeterminate period they reached a landing where another petty officer was directing people off the stairs, into a large cavern. The floor had been roughly smoothed and lights fitted to the ceiling, but it was still very obviously a cave. There were already a couple of hundred people milling around. The petty officer who ’ d helped her left as soon as they reached the cavern. She’d fallen behind the rest of her group on the stairs and it took some time to find them among the teeming masses. People kept stopping her, asking whether she knew what had happened. Somewhere in the cavern it sounded like someone was having a hysterical episode. Finally she found her own party. They were on the far side from the entranceway, where the smooth floor ended and the cavern beyond remained in its natural state. As she approached them, Alice found herself hoping she didn’t look as shell-shocked as they did. Leah was sitting on the ground, visibly shaking. Alice sat down beside her and put a comforting arm around her friend.
“ You okay sweetie? ” she asked softly.
“ I don’t like it here, ” Leah whispered. “ I don’t understand. Why are we down here? ”
“ I don’t know Leah, but they must have a reason. ” Alice stroked her friend’s hair gently. “ Look on the bright side, you might run into your boyfriend down here. ”
Leah smiled weakly and rested her head on Alice’s shoulder. She glanced up at the rocky ceiling and shuddered.
“ I never met him underground, ” Leah whispered. “ I don’t like being here. I don’t like feeling rock over my head. ”
“ I know, ” Alice said. “ I don’t like it either. But think of it this way. These caves have been around for centuries …”
“ More like tens of thousands of years, ” Leah cut in. “ At the very least. ”
“ Yes, which means they aren’t going to fall down today. Anyway, I’m sure this is some kind of mistake. Once they realise this is a false alarm we’ll be gone again. ”
“ I hope they let us use the lift this time, ” Leah sniffed.
___________________________
Eulenburg ran his hand through his hair leaving it in spiky tufts, before ramming his cap down over it. He was waiting impatiently in Four C’s main communication suite. On the table in front of him, his screen was showing that while the communication connections he wanted had been established, only seven of the seventeen had the right person at the other end of the line ready to talk. There were about thirty odd national colonies on Landfall, plus one independent. Of those, seventeen belonged to major industrialised countries, making their governors or governments the ones Eulenburg paid attention to. There was an old precedent from the early days of Landfall’s settlement that when a senior Battle Fleet officer needed to communicate with the colonies, he spoke to them all together. With so much national prestige tied up in the colonies, it tended to cause trouble if one or more got the idea they were being kept out of the loop. Certainly the head of Douglas needed to minimise friction with the colonies, but in these kinds of situations it was a
“ Until we reach the bottom, ” the PO replied. “ Or start to smell feet! ”
Alice wanted to ask the woman what was happening but at that moment, simply didn’t have the breath to do it with.
Even with the PO’s help, her progress was slower than the people ahead and a gap would open. Then every so often a group of fleet personnel would come pushing up and they’d have a chance to catch up. One of the groups was a squad of marines, fully armed and dressed in responsive armour. With the dull lighting and their lowered visors, their faces weren’t visible, which to Alice somehow robbed them of their humanity.
After an indeterminate period they reached a landing where another petty officer was directing people off the stairs, into a large cavern. The floor had been roughly smoothed and lights fitted to the ceiling, but it was still very obviously a cave. There were already a couple of hundred people milling around. The petty officer who ’ d helped her left as soon as they reached the cavern. She’d fallen behind the rest of her group on the stairs and it took some time to find them among the teeming masses. People kept stopping her, asking whether she knew what had happened. Somewhere in the cavern it sounded like someone was having a hysterical episode. Finally she found her own party. They were on the far side from the entranceway, where the smooth floor ended and the cavern beyond remained in its natural state. As she approached them, Alice found herself hoping she didn’t look as shell-shocked as they did. Leah was sitting on the ground, visibly shaking. Alice sat down beside her and put a comforting arm around her friend.
“ You okay sweetie? ” she asked softly.
“ I don’t like it here, ” Leah whispered. “ I don’t understand. Why are we down here? ”
“ I don’t know Leah, but they must have a reason. ” Alice stroked her friend’s hair gently. “ Look on the bright side, you might run into your boyfriend down here. ”
Leah smiled weakly and rested her head on Alice’s shoulder. She glanced up at the rocky ceiling and shuddered.
“ I never met him underground, ” Leah whispered. “ I don’t like being here. I don’t like feeling rock over my head. ”
“ I know, ” Alice said. “ I don’t like it either. But think of it this way. These caves have been around for centuries …”
“ More like tens of thousands of years, ” Leah cut in. “ At the very least. ”
“ Yes, which means they aren’t going to fall down today. Anyway, I’m sure this is some kind of mistake. Once they realise this is a false alarm we’ll be gone again. ”
“ I hope they let us use the lift this time, ” Leah sniffed.
___________________________
Eulenburg ran his hand through his hair leaving it in spiky tufts, before ramming his cap down over it. He was waiting impatiently in Four C’s main communication suite. On the table in front of him, his screen was showing that while the communication connections he wanted had been established, only seven of the seventeen had the right person at the other end of the line ready to talk. There were about thirty odd national colonies on Landfall, plus one independent. Of those, seventeen belonged to major industrialised countries, making their governors or governments the ones Eulenburg paid attention to. There was an old precedent from the early days of Landfall’s settlement that when a senior Battle Fleet officer needed to communicate with the colonies, he spoke to them all together. With so much national prestige tied up in the colonies, it tended to cause trouble if one or more got the idea they were being kept out of the loop. Certainly the head of Douglas needed to minimise friction with the colonies, but in these kinds of situations it was a
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