When the farmer had left, Anders posted a short list of names on the wall. “Five farmers are missing,” he said. “We have to get word out to their households. I’ll go talk to the junior secretary.”
Vanja scanned the list. The second name from the top was Jonids’ Ivar Four.
Vanja and Nina sat at the kitchen table with a rapidly cooling evening meal between them. Vanja hadn’t been allowed to go home and tell Nina herself. Everything had to be done according to protocol. Anders had sent a courier to inform the households of the missing workers. Toward the end of the day, the courier had returned to the office and informed Vanja that her housemate was missing. It was almost enough to make her laugh.
When the workday was finally over, Vanja went home to find Nina at the kitchen table and Ulla pacing the room with a look of either fear or excitement on her face. Nina had finally asked Ulla to stand still or leave, and Ulla had walked out into the fading afternoon light. Vanja had made a quick stew that neither one of them had touched. Nina sat with the tip of her thumb between her teeth, slowly chewing the nail down to the quick.
It was very late when the door opened to reveal Ivar, leaning against the doorjamb. He had washed his face, but his forehead was black around the hairline, his curly hair matted with dust. He was wearing someone else’s coat. Nina rushed over to him and took him in her arms. He leaned his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes.
After a moment, Nina took a step back, bent down slightly to look him in the eye, and put a hand on his cheek. “Are you hurt? Do you feel sick?”
Ivar shook his head. “They’ve already checked me. All that’s wrong with me is a scrape on my hand.”
He let Nina steer him to a chair, slumped down on it, and stared at the wall. Nina filled a cup with water and placed it in front of him. He emptied it in one gulp and rested his head in his hands.
Nina put a hand on the back of his neck. “What happened?”
It took a while before he answered. “One of the chambers collapsed. The one with the cave polypores. The floor just fell away.”
Nina moved her hands to his shoulders. “Were you hurt?”
“No, no,” Ivar replied in a muted voice. “I already said. Could I have something to eat?”
Vanja reheated the evening meal and put a bottle of liquor on the table. Ivar shoveled food into his mouth and swallowed almost without chewing. The others waited until he pushed the empty plate away. He rested his head in his hands again.
“The floor caved in,” he muttered between his fingers. “I fell through with it. It was a long way down. I landed on my back, had the air knocked out of me. Got covered in dirt.” He rubbed at his eyes and looked up at Vanja and Nina. “Torun and Viktor were standing next to me when it happened. They just disappeared. I couldn’t hear them. The others say I’m the only one who made it out.”
Ivar poured liquor into his cup. His trembling hands made the bottle clatter against the rim. “There are tunnels. Under the mushroom farm. I don’t know how long I was down there. What time is it?”
Vanja told him. Ivar nodded. He drained the cup, then filled it back up. He stared at the bottle. The muscles of his jaw flexed under his skin. “Somehow I was still wearing my headlamp,” he said suddenly. “So I could see there was no way back up. The whole tunnel behind me was filled with debris. So I thought I’d try to find another way out. I couldn’t see very far, but it was a big place. High ceiling. The walls and the floor were made of some sort of stone that sparkled. It was smooth, smoother than concrete. Maybe the others hit their heads on the floor, maybe that’s why they haven’t come out. Or… maybe they suffocated.”
Nina stroked his arm. “Try not to think about it. I’m sure they’re all right, you were just lucky to get out first. What happened next?”
“The tunnel. It ran in both directions, I think, but one way was blocked by soil and rocks. So I went the other way. I walked for a long time, and then the tunnel split into two. One of them sloped upward, so I chose that one. And then… then there was like a gust of air from below. And noise. At first I thought it must be rescue workers, so I headed back. I called out so they could find me. I shouted, ‘It’s me, it’s Ivar.’ And then.”
Ivar had turned pale. He made several false starts before he spoke again. “And then someone answered. But something was off about it. The same words came back: ‘It’s me, it’s Ivar.’ At first I thought it was an echo, but then the words, the words changed places. ‘Ivar me it’s, me Ivar it’s, me me me.’ And then more voices joined in, until it was like a choir, shouting the same words over and over again: ‘It’s Ivar, it’s Ivar.’ It was like when children copy you, like when they do it to be mean.”
He shuddered. “I didn’t stop to see what it was. I just ran the other way. The tunnel kept branching off. I just picked whichever one, at random. But then I found a ladder, just like that. I ran straight into it and banged my shoulder. I climbed it, it was a very long ladder, but there was an opening at the top. I had to squeeze out. It was a pipe—I’d crawled out of a pipe. Then I saw Amatka’s train station in the distance, straight ahead. I had ended up all the way out there. They found me when I reached the station. And then they examined me, and tomorrow I have to go in for a hearing.” He slumped back in his chair, as if all the talking had spent the last of his remaining strength.
“A pipe,” Vanja said.
Ivar sighed through his nose and closed his eyes. “They found me at the edge of town. They said I must have gotten confused and wandered out of the farm without anyone noticing.”
“What?” Vanja said.
“If you were hallucinating, that could be indicative of brain injury,” Nina said.
Ivar raised a hand. “I wasn’t hallucinating. The tunnels are there. The pipes are there. I didn’t wander out of the farm. I came from across the tundra.”
“Could it be like at Essre?” Vanja asked. “I mean, like what I’ve heard anyway. The remains of people who lived here before us.”
Nina frowned. “We don’t know that. And I’m certain that I’ve never seen any pipes out on the tundra.”
“Like you’ve been out on the tundra a lot?” Vanja asked. “What do you know that we don’t?”
“Let’s just leave it,” Nina said. “Please.”
Ivar got to his feet. “I need some sleep.” He left his coat hanging on the back of the chair and went up to his room.
Nina remained at the table, her arms crossed. “What do you think—” Vanja began.
Nina interrupted her. “No. That’s enough.”
THIRDAY
Vanja woke up as Nina got out of bed and went downstairs. She could hear a stranger’s voice in the hallway. More footsteps, and Ivar’s voice on the landing. A short conversation. Footsteps. A door slamming shut. Then silence. When Vanja stuck her head out, the house was empty. She quickly got dressed and checked the time. She was late for work.
When Vanja arrived at the office, Anders was already stamping the forms that had been delivered that morning. He took a step back, smiled, and handed her the rest of the stack.
“You’re thirty-two minutes late,” he said. “How is your housemate?”
“He’s back,” Vanja replied. “He’s all right.”
“Great,” Anders said. “He’s upstairs.”