Substance of Fire

By A M Russell

Davey escapes with his friends and finds a way back home. But more mysteries await as Jared’s diary comes into his possession. He reads the story of escape from a future world and becomes embroiled in a murder case. And Jared after rescuing Marcia, time travels to the past under suspicion as a wanted man. There he teaches others his skills and finds himself drawn to a trainee who he suspects was born in a future place. Will the two friends be able to help each other and will Davey’s belief in his friend stand up to other people’s doubt?
Part Four of the Cloud Field Series

• Language: English
• Publisher: A M Russell
• Release date: Mar 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370317783

A M Russell

I write science fiction novels with themes of time travel and alternate realities. I live in Yorkshire; the middle of Britain. A life long fan of fantasy and science fiction - a geek who has read "Lord of the Rings" several times. My passion writing stories began early on after hearing "The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe" at Junior School. I have a persistent curiosity that keeps me writing. It is my passion, my obsession, and the way I keep my mind focused and calm. I have a breakneck speed for writing, but edit much more slowly! I love films, The Time Machine; Matrix Trilogy; Inception; anything that bends the mind. I would love to see one of my creations turned into a film; I explore the world space in my books as if it is a movie. Best thing about writing? Being an Original. Best drink? A nice cup of Yorkshire tea. Best Moment so far: Getting my first book on Smashwords!

Book preview

Substance of

Fire

by

A.M.Russell

Copyright © Anne Russell 2016

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Dedication

For Antonia

Belief is Everything

Contents

Part One, David

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Part Two, Jared

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

The End

Part One:

DAVID

One

There is a gap below that is big enough to kill me if I fall. I am swaying in space. Suddenly there is a deafening noise of a metal hammer striking repeatedly against stone! The reverberation echoes into the distant space, building on and on. I hear the space above my head as well. I am telling my body to move. I am telling myself I must put a foot forward. But I’m swaying and swirling, and I don’t want to fall. I gasp, seeing the water boiling below us in the shadow of the rocky walls. There is light from somewhere. It’s ten o’clock in the morning and I’m terrified I’ll die before lunch. Best to die after lunch, don’t you think? I must get up. I want to rise from a crouched position and go forward to relative safety, but something inside won’t obey my will. I think I will never eat again. I’ll give up chocolate. I’ll babysit my sister’s mini brat. I’ll even go to the harvest supper with Gran’s friends and play partner whist; just please… dear God, get me off this bridge!

The clatter of sharp metal is something in a movie. A sound I know my mind is about to identify, but right now I’m a bit preoccupied. Salvation comes in the form of Oliver Reece, a man of considerable physical force, that is emphasized rather than not by a soft accent from across the border of Tolkien land. But he doesn’t look like an elf. I realise that terror has its own delights and I will feel the let down from the razor sharp expression of contracted awareness, as soon as we are no longer being shot at and the party is safe… Safe in this case being a relative term, that rather abuses the definition that any dictionary would care to give it, much as Oliver is ripping my arm from its socket to make my death grip unlock from the rope cross knot. The sound is suddenly there again and Oliver shows no subtly in throwing me forward. I’m moving again. Lorraine is scrambling furiously to the end of the bridge and skitters rather drunkenly it seems to the rocks on the left. The bridge is swaying wildly but I am moving, and am almost halfway. We reach the other side and Marcia is shouting. Oliver slams me in the back to the ground as the hard splintering noise breaks out again. By that point my brain actually takes a gasp and registers the fact that it is gun fire. I think that I was blanking; blocking it out. We run, and I am breathing so hard I can’t speak.

‘Keep down!’ Marcia orders; and flattens herself to the gritty ground before sliding round to get a look. I can just see the other end of the bridge. Janey and Jared are visible pressed against the rock. Above them the gallery of interlaced gaps helps us see that there are men advancing on their position. I find Oliver helping himself to the gun I am still carrying. He growls something at me and then slithers round the other side of the rock with Joe. There appears to be a standoff. Then suddenly two shots ring out. I hear a cry of indignation, and another volley rattles and grinds up the rock near our position.

‘Joe! Joe!’ Janey is screaming from her side, ‘Help them Joe! You know how.’

‘The code for the door.’ Lorraine mutters, ‘But….’

Just then another set of shots ring out. And someone cries loudly. It rises and then recedes to a groan. Everything is confused for a moment then Oliver pulls Joe round. Hanson pulls the fabric and immediately presses on the wound in Joe’s leg. Joe is staring at me. ‘Say the code…’ he manages to gasp.

‘What now?’ asks Oliver quickly.

‘Rose scented, minty taste.’ Joe says.

A moment later, Oliver is yelling at Jared in Welsh. I know why they won’t cross. I can see it. For reasons that need more explaining than my shattered intellect can cope with at the moment there is a fair to even chance that they will be dead before they reached the other side. Our side.

‘It doesn’t work!’ gasps Joe, going even paler.

‘Stay still.’ Hanson says, ‘Lorraine. You be ready to press hard when I lift him.’

‘We can get straight to the transport?’ she asks.

‘I’ll open up. You get the med pack okay?’

‘Yes, alright Andrew; You lift; I’ll keep the pressure on.’

‘Just grab my belt,’ he said to her, ‘so we don’t get pulled apart.’

I looked up at Jared. I saw him with his knife in his hand. I thought irrationally for a moment he was going to take a stab at himself; but no… he had it poised above the rope bridge.

‘Davey! Get Joe’s pack,’ Marcia shoves it into my hands, ‘you get to the driver’s seat.’

‘Okay.’ I said automatically getting ready to move.

The doorway shimmered in the half-light of this partially illuminated cave. I had no time to wonder at the strangeness of it before Marcia pushed me hard so that I plunged through the gap without the enemy being able to take a pot shot at me.

We were on the edge of the banana leafy plants. The transport was twenty feet away. Talk about magic doorways! I ran across and pressed the panel open in the side. I stabbed in the code and got the door open. Hanson and Lorraine got Joe in the back. I slammed it shut behind them and scrambled in the side door, chucking both packs into the back as I did so.

‘Start up code!’ I yelled to Hanson.

‘A6295E7410M8.’ He rattled off.

‘Thanks!’

‘I thought you had it!’ Lorraine said.

‘Just having a bad day.’ I said as the engine roared into life. We just needed the others and we were ready to roll.

I saw Oliver and Marcia emerge from behind the banana plant thing. But they weren’t running. They backed away from the spot where the door was. Marcia ran her hands through her hair. I knew that…. exasperation. I waited. Oliver and she were talking. The urgency was gone. Clearly we weren’t going anywhere. I waited a minute more then stopped the engine and climbed out.

‘They shut it!’ Marcia was saying, ‘Where are they now?’

Oliver, who had just fetched the powerful field glasses, was already climbing onto the roof of the machine.

‘I see them.’ he declared a moment later, ‘Get my head set.’

We spent the next few minutes tensely waiting for a reply from Jared and Janey. Marcia stood with arms folded. Suddenly there was a response, she clambered up onto the roof with Oliver; and took the headset. I saw her face. She was looking pained. Marcia clearly knew what was happening, and Oliver seemed quite calm despite the unfortunate events of the day. He took the head set off Marcia, and talked to Jared evenly. Marcia slid downwards and slumped on the dusty ground.

We were at last out of immediate danger. Oliver ended the call, and came to join us.

‘They should meet us at the anomaly.’ said Oliver.

‘No.’ said Marcia, with some finality, ‘They won’t do that. Janey told me what she would do. We just need to get home. They’ll meet us there….. Eventually.’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked; my freedom from being shot at and potentially drowned, boiled over into nervous relief.

Oliver put a hand on my arm; ‘Peace, Milnes. We need to tend to the injured and check ourselves too. If anyone feels sick; then lets deal with that.’

‘Sick?’ I asked.

‘You’re no good if you go into shock. It might be delayed. Just get yourself some meds on that instance. I have the pack here.’ Oliver squeezed my shoulder in a note of reassurance and then went round to the front of the vehicle; ‘I’ll drive’, he added, ‘as soon as we have a stable dressing on Joe.’

‘Yeah; done.’ said Hanson, ‘Better get going. Those goons might still want a piece of our hides.’

‘Okay.’ I said.

A few minutes later we were edging slowly back up the trail. The transport hummed softly. I climbed into the seat next to Marcia. She had her head in her hands. She looked up at me.

‘How do you do it?’ she asked me.

‘Do what?’

‘Get out of jail free?’

‘Janey.’ I said.

‘Yeah; Janey.’ she stared at me, and rubbed her palms together.

‘It was already over before this ever happened.’ I said.

‘You are one hell of a good actor.’ she said, ‘I was totally convinced.’

‘About the copy?’

‘About you and Janey.’

‘I wanted it to be true.’ I said; ‘Even when I knew it wasn’t going to happen.’ I looked down at the floor.

‘Shit!’ said Marcia, ‘Jared has the case with the codes. Drat!’

‘But we will see them soon.’ I said. ‘How many other people’s cards were in there?’

Marcia said nothing. So I looked to Oliver, who glanced at me in the mirror for a moment.

‘There were at least six others, including Adam.’

‘Oh, so….’

‘We’re on our own Davey.’ Oliver stated, ‘Don’t you get it?’

‘No.’

‘Tough.’ Oliver said, and fell into a deep concentrated silence I was afraid to break. I climbed into the back to see how Joe was doing. He was sleeping.

‘Knockout drops.’ said Hanson, ‘Plus excellent pain relief.’

I looked to Lorraine. She had gone white, ‘I think I….’ she mumbled. We caught her before she collapsed into a rather attractive heap. Hanson gave her the dose to bring her back to normal. Oliver looked round once. ‘Someone check that Marcia is okay will you.’ She was slumped in the seat. I went to her, expecting the same as Lorraine. But when she lifted her chin and looked at me, her eyes were swimming with tears. I just hugged her, and then got a hanky. For once I didn’t need any translation.

Two

We reached the shore as the sun was setting. Oliver had driven all that way, refusing any changeover. Marcia, myself and Hanson put up the midi dome. We couldn’t manage anything bigger with the three of us. Oliver was sleeping in the back of the transport, exhausted. Lorraine kept watch over Joe. But she seemed very pale. We managed to make camp in a pared down form within the hour. Marcia was unusually distracted. I felt the radiation of her sadness. We were all tired, and poor Joe was in a really bad way. There didn’t seem much point in wasting time discussing the options. We were only going to tire more easily.

In the early morning light I woke to find Hanson pacing up and down.

‘How’s Joe?’ I asked rubbing my face.

‘Stable.’ he turned to me and smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Something was working in my mind, and I found that I was perhaps getting a little more perceptive in matters of the heart. He was missing her; that unexpected, half afraid emotion. Andrew was struck in that time with something that even I could see. I never saw it quite that way before. How some people who seemed to hate each other were actually on the strange journey to love. But this was my heart ache too. Janey and I had agreed some weeks before to be friends only. For my part I would honour the deal….but I did not fool my heart into believing that it was equally felt on both sides. I would love her just as I did at first. I would remember the first time I met her. And this man, Andrew Hanson, who had seemed so arrogant; his antagonism to Janey was revealed as a passion for her. But she had played with his devotion, and taken her share. He was quite unstrung.

‘Hanson….’ I said softly, but he still paced up and down.

‘Andrew?’

He stopped and stared at me. ‘Davey? What is it?’ then he sat down heavily on the nearest camping chair.

‘Do you want some tea? Will that help?’

‘Yes….thanks.’

I made two mugs of strong tea, using the small stove, and brought them into Hanson. He looked up vacantly, and then took the mug. We sipped silently for a while.

‘You don’t need to pretend that I’m not in the way.’ he said suddenly.

‘What?’ I was brought back to the present with a jolt, ‘No….I mean, it’s not like that… about Janey that is. We’re just friends.’

‘Yes; of course.’ he said, ‘You are really telling me that you don’t want her?’

‘Yes, no. It’s not that at all. She, well we decided…..’

‘I understand.’ said Hanson, ‘There’s always a way for her to get you to agree. It has to be mutual doesn’t it?’

I was still staring at him when Marcia came in; ‘I need coffee, and I need it now.’ She looked terrible and winced as she sat down.

‘I’ll get it.’ Hanson said. He seemed glad of an excuse to do something practical.

‘You keeping it together Dave?’ Marcia asked me.

‘Yes. But please call me…’

‘David? Davey? Which is it? I really need to know. There are too many versions of everything.’

‘It’s Davey.’ I said slightly perturbed, ‘It always has been… you know that.’

Marcia wrapped her hands round her head and leaned forward as if she was afflicted with some pain that could not be dislodged from within. But when she uncurled herself a moment later her expression was blank. I must have looked shocked. But Hanson came in with the coffee, so I had a reason to move out of the way. I went to Joe.

He was conscious. His eyes followed me as I climbed into the back section of the transport. Curled on one of the bench cushions was Lorraine, her reddish hair tangled and ragged, and her arms clutched the coat around her from last night.

‘She watched over me.’ said Joe in a slow rasp. Lorraine was ashen and seemed unusually still. I leaned closer, and saw her eyes flicker as she travelled through dream sleep. The light had increased a little. She would wake soon.

‘Anything you need?’ I asked Joe.

‘Just a quadruple whisky.’ he said, ‘But tea will do.’

‘How’s the leg?’

‘I’m not about to die. If that’s what you’re implying.’ he joked weakly.

‘I see that you know what’s up doc.’ I said.

He grinned at me, then rolled his eyes. ‘It bloody hurts,’ he said, ‘will you ask Andrew to get me another shot. I’m past the time for a top up.’

‘Right away.’ I went back into the tent, told Hanson. Then I made Oliver and Joe coffee and tea respectively; took the tea to Joe. Went and made a herb tea for Lorraine, and started on the breakfast.

‘Take it easy.’ Oliver came and helped me, ‘We need you to do some driving today.

‘I’m good.’ I said and handed out another portion of rehydrated scrambled eggs. Marcia seemed a little better and quickly made flat bread that we cooked in the hot pan.

‘We need the energy today.’ she said, ‘We’ll break camp in quarter of an hour.’

Andrew cleaned all the plates and packed away the few kitchen items; ‘Orders Annie?’ he said to Marcia.

‘Help get the tent down. Then you take the transport into the tunnel. Oliver can take over on that tricky bit; then we’ll have Davey come out on the path between the mountains. And I need the water bottles filled.’

‘Right.’ Hanson set on it with a will.

‘You talk to Joe.’ she said to me, ‘Oliver! I need you to get the swiftest route laid out in ten minutes. We won’t be stopping when we get to the other side.’

‘Sure thing Captain. What about the ice suits?’

‘Yes. Get everyone to suit up.’ Marcia put her hand to her head for a moment, ‘We still have the bottles don’t we? Enough for all?’

‘Yes.’ said Oliver, ‘We’ll get them hooked up.’

‘And someone check on Lorraine. I’m worried about her.’

I went to the back to the vehicle again. Lorraine and Joe were there. Lorraine seemed waxy pale, but she had eaten something. I told them about the suits. Between us Lorraine and I got Joe into his; just a precaution. But I felt it was the wisest course. There was no knowing what strange unnatural or even supernatural weather we might meet.

At ten we departed the little encampment of subtropical forest, and plunged into the darkness of the mountain. I saw the lights reflecting off the minerals inside the cave systems, we continued downwards, away from the air and the light. Out of reach of the signal. We would pick up the relay with a little luck once we got out from between the looming peaks. I saw the lights of our little cabin at the back reflected in Joe’s eyes. They rolled shut and he coughed uncomfortably. Lorraine lay down and curled on her bench again. Hanson was driving with Marcia in the navigator’s seat. Oliver rested directly behind. Within the hour he would take over.

A little while later we bumped to a stop.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Lorraine, who was now awake.

‘I’ll find out.’ I said, and went forward.

Oliver was spreading the map on the camping table. I waited for them to tell me what was happening.

‘There’s a slow trickle.’ Marcia looked at me directly, ‘We need to see if the charges have been blown.’

‘Do you want me to go and take a look?’ I asked.

‘You and Hanson.’ she said. ‘Head set on open channel at all times. I’m taking no chances.’

We got out. Oliver climbed back into the driver’s seat and eased the transport slowly forward with us walking in front.

We could see a little dampness just below. I held up a hand. The machine halted and we walked slowly forward. It was getting cooler in here but was still tolerable without the hoods. Hanson knelt down and was still for a moment. ‘The water is flowing from somewhere to the right.’ He traced the trickle with his torch, ‘there. Look!’

There was a crack in the wall through which this small streamlet issued.

‘Report Milnes!’ said Marcia in my ear.

‘We can’t go this way.’ I said, ‘there’s a leak in the rock wall. I think it’s where they set those charges.’

‘Got that Milnes. We’ll back up and take a left. You two follow us round and inspect that route too.’

We backed up and walked along this new tunnel. The route proved felicitous, and we made some time. The only problem was that the direction of the tunnel seemed to keep turning slightly to the left, taking us deeper into the mountains rather than towards the cleft between them.

A little while later Oliver called a halt.

‘We are on higher ground,’ he said; ‘but I’m worried that we will have trouble finding our way off the mountain. We need to get some direction soon. We’re circling round and round and rising. There must be a route to the top of the peaks from here.’

‘Isn’t that what we want?’ Hanson tapped his teeth with a fingertip.

‘It’s good…. We can get a true bearing and maybe get contact with the relay. But also we will need to find our way off the peak by night fall.’ Oliver folded his sheets away then. He seemed kind of craggy and old. No one wanted to say it. No one dared. Perhaps it would be easier on the land below where we could travel in reasonable safety. There was a day’s travel behind us and no sign of Rimmington’s cronies. I was feeling a little better, which disappointed me enormously. I supposed that I was getting what they call a second wind. My youth, and can do attitude were getting the better of me despite wanting to be artfully wallowing in misery with the rest of the gang. But to be honest the only two of us who seemed anything like were me and Oliver. He was okay, as long as he could be sat behind the wheel. When he was forced to rest he was silent and dour, unless he was asleep. I hoped that this part of our journey would soon be over, so that I could ask the question that I dare not ask at this moment: Where did Jared and Janey go?

Ten minutes later, I put this line of questioning aside. We had come to another internal gallery, cut into this was a deep channel through which water could be heard roaring deep down in the bowels of the mountain. I guessed that we must be above that wall of the charges set by now. This gallery showed us some faint hope, as shafts of light pierced the gloom. We rounded a corner and were treated to a remarkable sight: a huge cavern of crystals and bubbled shapes of stalagmites and stalactites, and the glittering night in the soul of the earth. But there, Oh Joy! Was the piercing shaft of purest sunlight that illuminated the mineral aquamarine of a hollowed pool. A river could be seen flowing into the pool and out again. And our road, narrow and rocky continued straight and slightly upwards now curving to the right; rising on a dangerous road towards the light.

I felt my face, something leaking out of me; how much would Jared have loved to see this! And Janey would have been entranced by its natural force and the science that held sway at the heart of the world. How much I missed them both! It was silly and yet not. We would not see them… until who knows when. And then there was no certainty. I was afraid for them. If the road they had taken had a safe passage that would meet with ours in space and time, I could accept it. But I feared that it was not so. And so I gritted my teeth, shut it from my mind, and tried to think of the long drop into the pool below. For some reason it didn’t bother me now. Oliver drove us steadily upwards. And we all began to relax just a tiny bit. Tiredness started to come back.

We stopped. Lorraine tumbled out and was violently sick. It took several minutes of Marcia’s ministrations to get her pale trembling form back in the vehicle. Marcia sat her on the right side, next to an open window. But his made her feel worse so they sat her on the left, which was next to the wall of the cavern. She seemed to calm down, and didn’t say anything for a long time, but just stared ahead on our road.

We stopped and drank some water, and at Marcia’s insistence swapped drivers. Hanson continued and picked up a bit of speed. Marcia told him to take it easy after the wheels seemed to slip a little on the turns. We were perilously close to the edge. By the middle of the day we could see the gap above us clearly. And then within a few more minutes it had grown larger and we were rumbling up a slope out onto the top of the mountain.

There it was; those cliffs and peaks that we had seen from below, they seemed not black, but many shade of browns and greys, and dark indigo. Faint streaks of shimmering wetness could be seen. And beyond there were higher ranges. I had been so used to the world as I saw it; a world of rooms and small things that this distance made me feel that for the first time I was really outside… the air was clear, cool and contained the faintest hint of the damp stream water. A mineral fragrance from these outpouring that then disappeared back inside the mountain.

‘Look!’ Oliver pointed to the line of green. A tiny drawn thing pencilled in the distance, ‘That is our road. And so we may make it yet.’ he smiled and seemed hopeful for the first time today. I didn’t understand but then in half an hour I did.

A mist came down; thick, cold, and moist. We decided that two must go ahead slowly, tethered to the front of the vehicle. And mark our steps. We had a true bearing before the weather had changed and we proceeded slowly but with reasonable confidence towards our goal; a distant line of a road that we might take off this precipice. After two more hours we stopped.

‘This is getting bad.’ said Marcia, ‘We must make more progress than this.’

We came up with a plan. One person would ride on the top of the vehicle fastened on a tether and keep scanning ahead with the binoculars and by eye. They would stay on the open channel, and keep talking about the terrain and what they could see. We would take half hour slots and then swap. Oliver took the first lookout. And we made some distance with Hanson driving. Then they swapped and I drove. I trusted Hanson’s lookout. He wasn’t someone who would lose concentration on task. He did know how to stay focused. And he seemed to have nerves of steel when he wasn’t rattled by some immeasurable thing he didn’t understand. We were perhaps we more alike than I cared to admit. In my own way I had presumed on Janey in much the same way that Hanson had. But in his case he was still on the hook. I understood what we were doing in the group. We were trying to keep our minds afloat. Our reality was changing around us all the time. When the mist lifted it might bring us new memories that we did not want. We might be cursed with things we could do nothing about. Whatever we did, we would have the certain knowledge that something was coming back to us piece by piece and we could not guess when something might rise to the surface unbidden and make its presence felt.

Hanson hammered on the roof then. I stopped the transport and waited for him to report to Marcia. The mist was thicker colder and wetter than ever. And it was beginning to be a little darker too. I looked at my watch; three pm; must be the weather above us. Hanson came in; ‘There’s a sink hole in front of us.’ he said, ‘But I can’t see whether we should go round left or right.’

‘Advice please.’ said Marcia, ‘Reece. Milnes.’

‘We need to go out there and investigate.’ Oliver concluded after a ringing silence, ‘If we pick the right route, I calculate we will be very near to the road down.’

‘Is there any chance that this fog will lift in the next hour?’ Marcia looked to Hanson.

‘Maybe. But it’s a long shot. It could on the other hand lift in the next five minutes.’ Hanson was looking worried. He took off a glove and stretched his fingers, ‘It’s very cold out there.’ he added.

‘I think it would be worth taking a look.’ said Oliver, ‘Hanson can defrost, and Davey and I will have a peek at the monster.’

I didn’t like the way he described it; but I thought some fresh air might wake me up a bit.

It was bitingly cold and quite unpleasant. I followed Oliver as he reeled out the line. We clipped ourselves to it with carabineers. After ten yards we found the slanting edge of the sink hole. We skirted it to the right and discovered that it continued to curve round and away from us. We returned to Marcia with the news. She was quite pleased; we continued with Oliver driving and me walking slowly in front. It was eerily quiet, and I could help feeling quite alone, even though I was on the open channel.

After that, we continued straight, and there were no more obstacles. Then suddenly and quite without any warning the mist began to break and it lifted revealing a slickly wet land of uneven rocks. We were heading towards the right ridge of the mountain, and looking for a way downwards all the while. The place had a few more surprises for us just yet. Clouds boiled and moved above us. We were quite near now to the point where we could start to drop down. We saw the weather that was rolling in and we needed to get off the mountain really badly. I suppose that was what led to this happening. We picked up a bit of speed. And now we could see them, these sink holes were easily avoided. But one was in our way. This one was lower and the water was filling it to within ten feet of the edge. I watched fascinated. The vehicle was crawling carefully round to its right with Oliver at the wheel. Suddenly the wheels started to slip. Oliver eased it to a halt. Just at that moment it started to rain.

‘Something’s stuck.’ Oliver said, ‘I can’t swing round it, we’d be too close to that pit.’

‘Can you back up?’ Marcia asked.

‘I need a spotter.’

‘Davey. You’re on it.’

I went to the back and paced it out. There was a lot of room to back up. Oliver managed to swing it though, there were a few moments like that. And we still had a moderate distance to run, when the rain came. It was so heavy; it could have been a river itself; just not quite as dense as the water below. I could see what was happening. We were entering a place where these pots of deep water filled and overflowed and the rivulets off water began to run across our path. I could sense that everyone was getting edgy. Hanson got out and I got in. I dried off the surface of the ice suit with one of our high tech towels. ‘I might need you outside again.’ Marcia looked hard at me. Was she remembering something more? Hanson was stepping carefully. And he spoke precisely on the intercom.

‘It’s getting a bit hairy out here. I think that the next bit is too wide a side flow for me to cross.’

‘Come in.’ said Marcia, ‘Time to get off this rock.’

Hanson was just turning when a surge of water knocked him off his feet. I cracked the side door and jumped out. ‘No you don’t!’ Marcia got stroppy, ‘Back inside.’ She clipped her carabineer onto the tether and walked out slowly to where Hanson struggled. He slipped a little and I heard a rush as another blast of flow swirled around the front of our transport as one of these sink holes overflowed. I glanced backwards, then forwards again.

‘Secure the tether! Get the fucking rope back on the clip!’

Oliver was scrambling for the side door and I followed. He jumped and managed to grab the end of the snaking clip before it was washed downward. The bend was sheered clean through. We clipped a secondary line and clamped the first, working fast. I could see the others through the hammering rain. I could barely breathe. Oliver edged down the line.

‘Shit!’ he breathed down the intercom. There was a pause.

‘Can you see?’ it was