“Oh my God,” Samantha managed to stammer in return, shock and fear etched on her face.
Miller stood speechless, eyes staring blindly towards Lewis. “Okay,” he finally whispered.
Lewis dropped his gear to the ground and sprinted back down the tunnel, turning his headlamp on as he went. It took only a few turns to get back to where a pile of rubble now completely filled the tunnel. He began throwing rocks to the side in an effort to find a way through, but soon found that this was a massive collapse, effectively creating a permanent roadblock. “Can anybody hear me!” Lewis shouted multiple times without a response.
Lewis stepped back from the pile, realizing that Miller and Samantha were standing behind him. Samantha had been quick to recover from the initial shock, and was first to speak. “That felt like an explosion.”
“It certainly was intense,” Lewis agreed.
“No.” Samantha quickly elaborated. “I mean that the cave-in was caused by an explosion. I could swear there was a small pop preceding a second cracking sound, just before the rumble of the rocks. That’s a textbook detonation sequence.”
Lewis looked from Samantha to the rock pile, and back again as he pondered the ramifications of an intentional explosion. “Who would do that?” he asked. Shrugs from both Samantha and Miller were his only answers.
Miller asked the obvious question. “What do we do now?”
There was only one answer. “We move on and hope to find a way to the others, and then a way out,” Lewis stated calmly, as if he were discussing his plans for a typical Sunday afternoon. “We should probably get moving.”
“We should leave a note in case the other group gets through,” Miller offered.
Lewis picked up a softball-sized rock, scratching it against the wall. It left white streaks against the dark gray in this section of the lava tube. “All right, Doc, what should the note say?”
Miller looked to Samantha then said, “Maybe list our names and put an arrow pointing that way.” He pointed down the tunnel in the only direction they could possibly go.
Samantha giggled. Lewis cracked a smile as well then started to laugh. Soon all three were laughing uncontrollably at the absurdity of the whole situation. Lewis could barely breathe when he added sarcastically, “Maybe we could draw them a map too. It would be easy: just a line.” They all held their stomachs as they laughed even harder. Lewis was liking these two more and more all the time — they were turning out to be his kind of people. Running from death like a scared chicken would only make you die tired; better to embrace your situation and make the best of it.
Once he regained control, Lewis did inscribe Miller’s suggested message in the cave wall. It was better than nothing and would at least let the others know they were still alive — if they did somehow manage to get this far…
The trio returned to their gear, gathering it up before continuing along the passage in silence. All three took turns lighting the passage ahead, following the twists and turns for the next two hours. There were no forks or side passages, just a monotonous ten-foot wide tube winding left and right, waving up and down. The numerous turns and slopes had Lewis far too disoriented to even guess their overall direction of travel.
Finally they came to an area where the tunnel widened and formed another domed room that was a near-perfect circle, almost 50 feet in diameter. More important than the size was the presence of two exits on the opposite side, one stacked on top of the other. About the same size as the passage they’d been in for the past few hours, the top exit was nearly twenty feet off the ground, angling gently upward. The lower exit was narrower, and was right where the floor began curving to meet the wall.
The other obvious feature of the room, and the one that held Lewis’s attention, was a thirty-foot crevasse separating their side from the side with the two exits. Samantha had salvaged a 100-foot section of rope from Lewis and Gonzalez’s pool dive, but they didn’t have any way to get it hooked to anything on the other side. The ceiling was much too smooth to climb across, even if Pierre was here. Miller joined Lewis and they both looked over the edge into the crevasse. It looked to be bottomless and actually extended sideways beyond the walls as far as their lights would shine.
“Hmm,” Lewis grunted, his eyes focused on the chasm. Neither Samantha nor Miller said a word, but fear was spreading on their faces as they looked at Lewis. They stood in silence, watching the beam from Lewis’s light dance around the room. After three agonizing minutes, Lewis finally spoke again. “Either of you hold any world records in the long jump?”
Samantha slowly shook her head. Miller mumbled weakly, “None that are good.”
Lewis grinned. “Okay, I see only one option given our resources — hopefully we don’t run into any more underwater swims.” He chuckled at the confused looks on his companions’ faces then disassembled his dive gear, laying the tank to one side. As he worked, he explained. “The air in this tank is under extreme pressure. I’ve heard stories where a tank falls over, hitting something that knocks the valve off; then the tank becomes a missile as the compressed gas shoots out the back. I remember a story of one going completely through a fire truck.”
Samantha’s eyes grew wider as she began to understand. “You’re going to try to launch that thing across, letting it pull the rope. Do you think it will embed itself in the wall over there?” She was beginning to talk faster as fear took over. “What if it just bounces around in here until it kills us?”
Lewis put his hands up in a calming gesture then elaborated. “No, I don’t think shooting the tank across and hoping it sticks is a good idea, although there is a reasonable chance of getting it lodged in the narrower tunnel over there…” Samantha breathed a small sigh of relief before Lewis continued. “That is why I’m going to ride it.”
Samantha looked as if she might pass out. Miller reached to steady her as he exclaimed, “That is insane!”
“Possibly, but I don’t see any other way.” Lewis paused, almost hoping for a good reason not to do it. Nobody responded so he went on. “We need to dig some kind of trench to control the initial launch. We’ll also need to build a ramp near the edge to help make sure I get to the other side.”
Samantha still looked worried, but seemed resigned to this crazy plan. All three got to work building a launching track. The dirt on the ground wasn’t very deep, but they were able to gather enough to construct a two-inch trough leading up to a sloped jump that was maybe 12 inches higher than the ground. It would have to be good enough — everything else was solid rock.
While Lewis positioned the tank for launch, Miller found the biggest rock he could lift. Lewis then tied one end of the rope around his waist, handing the other to Samantha. She gave him a quick but firm hug then stepped back, saying nothing. Lewis gave Miller’s rock a quick inspection then looked the older man in the eye, saying, “Hit the valve as hard as you can. If it just cracks, we’ll lose all the air but won’t go forward much — there are no points for making it halfway.”
Miller swallowed hard then simply said, “Good luck, Quinn.”
Lewis could not think of anything poignant to say so he just shook the professor’s hand before climbing onto the tank. Like a giant trying to ride a little kid’s bike, he gripped the base with his hands while clamping his feet to the sides the best he could. “Okay Doc. Do it!”
Miller hefted the beach ball-sized rock over his head and heaved it down with all his might. Lewis gritted his teeth at the sound of Miller’s grunt as he powered the projectile downward. There was a loud bang as the rock reached the bottom of its flight; and then, nothing happened. Miller had missed the tank valve.