“Watch it.” Yang grabbed at him, but missed. The table-sized boulder that Shenjung stood atop began to skate down the pile and Soong screamed. Yang knew the rock would flip soon, and the scientist would be crushed.
People scattered… all but one. Mungoi planted trunk-like legs as the huge boulder came towards him. It caught on the edge of another stone and lifted. Shenjung was thrown to the ground, as the eight-foot slab rose up like the lid of a trap about to close on top of him.
Shenjung rolled and ended up at Mungoi’s feet, and the huge man lifted his arms, and leaned forward. The immense rock came down, and was stopped by the giant’s hands. Mungoi’s feet sunk into the debris to the ankles, and he grunted from the strain. The scientist stared up at him with his mouth open.
Yang smiled and nodded. “Good work, Mungoi.” He looked down at Shenjung. “I suggest you watch where you walk, comrade. We cannot be holding your hand every second.”
He watched as the scientist got to his feet and dusted himself off. The scientist turned to thank Mungoi, who looked down at him with disinterest, and then simply flipped the huge rock to the side.
Shenjung carefully clambered back up the debris pile, sucking in huge breaths.
“Okay?” Yang raised an eyebrow.
Shenjung nodded, calming himself. “Your man is strong.”
Yang turned away. “You have no idea.”
Shenjung then pointed. “It is clear that the drill broke through here.”
“Maybe.” Yang sniffed deeply. “I smell salt.” He lifted his flashlight a little higher. “Maybe the ocean. But we are miles from the shoreline.” He turned. “What is your opinion?”
Shenjung inhaled deeply. “Maybe mineral salts?”
“No, I know seawater when I smell it.” Yang panned his flashlight around at the debris and then behind them. He noticed that the rubble was inside their tunnel, and not the old cave.
“Strange, the wall was pushed inwards. If I was to make an educated guess as to what occurred here, I would say that the miners didn’t break through into this cave, but instead, something broke through in on them.”
Shenjung pointed down at the debris. “Maybe when they retracted the cutter head, they drew the entire wall down on top of themselves.”
“Once again, where are the bodies?” Yang climbed inside, and lifted his flashlight.“Zha-aaaang!”
Zhang — zhang — zhang — zhan — zha… The echo receded to a whisper and then vanished.
Shenjung grimaced. “It’s big.” He turned his face towards the darkness. “And deep, but there is a breeze — I can feel it.” He carefully stepped in and down along the debris, and then walked a few paces into the new cave. He stopped suddenly, lurching. “Careful, a drop off.”
Yang quickly joined him, grabbing Shenjung’s shoulder and pulling him back. He too peered over the edge. They were standing on a shelf of stone, and his light refused to penetrate the dark more than fifty feet into the pit. He picked up a fist-sized rock and let it drop. There was nothing for a few seconds before it struck a wall — once, twice, three times, and again, this time far away.
Shenjung exhaled. “We do not have enough rope.”
“Neither did they,” Yang responded and turned to several of his men. “Go, scout around. Find how Comrade Zhang Li descended.”
Shenjung saw that the soldiers and now his own team of engineers and scientists had crowded into the ancient cave. Yang took him by the arm and walked him several paces away.
“Well, Comrade Shenjung, with the cutter destroyed, it looks like one of our tasks is already at an end. There can be no repair, only replacement — and this will not happen easily.” He lifted his chin towards his engineering team crowding into the new cavern. “And so, their usefulness has expired. We don’t need to bring them any further on our mission.” He paused. “But you must stay.”
“Our mission?” Shenjung Xing paled, and then shook his head. “I don’t think…”
Yang held up a hand, and the smaller man wilted under his gaze. “We only need one geological specialist… and that will be you. That is an order.”
“You can’t order me.”
Yang snorted. “Comrade, the engineering part of the mission is finished — the part you were in charge of. The priority remaining now, is finding the source of the signal from below the ground — the military mission — my mission. This is where I take the lead, and you follow. And that is an order you will obey.”
“The part you were in charge of” — Shenjung Xing could have laughed; he never felt in charge. He held up a hand. “I am an engineer, geologist, and mining specialist, not a cave expert.”
Wu Yang’s eyes closed, and Shenjung waited, but after a few seconds he exhaled, knowing further protest would be wasted on the man.
“I will tell them.”
He carefully picked his way around the fallen boulders, and gathered his small team. He felt their eyes on him, and spoke slowly.
“There is no machine to repair, recover, or restart. Our work here has completed early.” Their faces were blank, waiting. Shenjung cleared his throat. “Until we receive further instructions, we will head back to the surface.” He smiled. “Drink tea, relax, and stay warm.”
There were murmurs about work, pay, departure, but he ignored them. There was only one person’s face he sought out. “There is one more thing; I will accompany Captain Yang a little further into the caves… alone.”
Soong came closer. Her lips held a fragile smile. “Calling for volunteers?”
He shook his head. “Not this time, my Soong. You take them back up.”
“I’m not a good babysitter.” Her smile fell away. “I would prefer to be down here with you.”
“I’m sorry, this is not a request. These are Captain Yang’s orders, and this time I agree with them. The less people we have down here the less chance more will get injured, or disappear. If we find anything significant, then we can return and decide what we need to do.”
“And if you find Zhang Li or his team? What if they are hurt, and need to be carried out?” Soong asked. “We can be extra hands.”
Shenjung shook his head. “And what if there is another rockfall, and more are hurt? All we do is create more people needing to be carried out, or more people vanished. We have twenty strong soldiers.” He gave her a weary smile, and leaned in a little closer. “I would also like you with me, but maybe in other circumstances.” He reached out to take her hand. “Get a message home, and tell them that the rock cutter cannot be repaired. Take our team back to the surface; wait for us there.”
“No,” she said softly. “I will wait for just you there.” She turned away and seemed to shiver. “My grandfather used to say: Heaven has a road, yet no one travels it; Hell has no gate but men will dig to get there.” She looked up at him. “And Yang is digging you deep now.”
His weary smile lifted into something stronger. “We must learn what happened to our lost colleagues.” He held up a finger. “And my grandfather also had a saying: learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” He grinned. “You see, two wise old men gave good advice to their grandchildren.” He squeezed her hand. “I’ll be fine. But only if I know that you are safe.”
Soong looked at her feet momentarily, before the words rushed out. “Shenjung, I did not come here because of the project.” She squeezed his hand hard in return. “I will be waiting for you.” She paused, looking like she wanted to say more, or lean in close to him. In the end, she clicked on her flashlight, stepped back, and then turned to the dark tunnel, following the others.