CHAPTER 20
R&R
By the time I awoke, the roar of water was gone and all around me was quiet. Wrapped in blankets, I felt warmth like I hadn’t in days. Wang Sichuan and the rest had fallen fast asleep. They were pressed close together and looked much more comfortable than they had ever been sleeping alone. I carefully sat up and looked around. Through the hazy lamplight, I discovered I was sitting on a pebbly shoal. Blankets had been laid to suck up the groundwater. Nearby a very small fire flickered in the dark. Several indistinct shapes sat beside it, evidently the sentries on watch. As soon as one of the figures saw I was awake, he came running over. It was one of the engineering corpsmen Old Cat had brought along. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
Stretching out my limbs, I noticed my hands and feet felt unusually stiff . Reaching down, I discovered they’d been tightly bandaged. Except for this I felt all right. I’m fine, I told him.
The corpsman helped me to my feet and I walked with him over to the campfire. “Where is this place?” I asked.
He told me we were still beside the river, on a piece of jutting rock. We had floated for four hours after I fainted. He wasn’t sure where exactly we were either. Saying this, he handed me a plate of food. I looked around the cave as I ate. The ground was terraced like rice paddies, like steps climbing out of the river till they met the steep walls. Originally, the rock would have been smooth and sloped at a gradual angle, but over the last ten thousand years it had eroded into these angled formations. We were camped in the middle of one of the terraces. The upper levels were driest, so that’s where our belongings were stacked. Though the terraces were not wide, they ran for a very long way. The rafts had been run aground off to the side. I discovered that the bumps beneath my feet were not pebbles, but rather tumorlike protrusions in the rock that jutted sharply upward. It was lucky we’d been able to fall asleep at all. I shined my flashlight across the water, but it failed to illuminate the cave wall opposite. The river had widened significantly. Those still awake staggered about in a daze, while snores from the sleepers rose and fell. Except for the sound of our voices, everything here was quiet. Even the burble of the river had been silenced. It was rare to come upon such a tranquil place. It would be a waste to not rest up here. Gradually, I felt myself relax. After eating my fill, I took a piss and curled up beside Wang Sichuan. After a moment I was in dreamland once more.
This time when I awoke everyone was already up. Water for tea and food was being boiled on three vigorously burning bonfires. Several of our group sat around the flames tending their wounds. Our clothes had also been toasted more or less dry. Old Cat was over by the fire, sitting across from Pei Qing. Wang Sichuan was there too. Rubbing my eyes, I walked over and joined them.
Wang Sichuan clapped me on the back. “Goddamn if you don’t enjoy a life of ease and comfort!” he said. “You passed out at just the right time, giving me, your close comrade in arms, a chance to render great and meritorious service! Do you know who hauled your ass all the way up here yesterday? It was me. So remember to tell the higher-ups I deserve a third-class merit when we get back!”
I nodded my head in embarrassment. It’s not like I wanted to faint, I thought to myself. I was born this way. To be honest, my body was never suited for this line of work. When it came time to enlist, I forced myself to drink three big bottles of water and just barely managed to make weight. The recruitment officer thought I had contracted some stomach-swelling illness. Normally I was so thin my ribs stuck out like piano keys. But whenever I was ordered to go all out, whatever I lacked in physical power I made up for in spirit. This is where my strength has always lain. Fortunately my body has also become much hardier.
Fainting from exhaustion was very shameful. I tried to change the subject and asked what they’d been talking about. Pei Qing said Old Cat had drawn a contoured map of the cave. Now they were figuring out what the rest of the river might look like and how best to proceed. Hearing this, I was perplexed. “Why are we continuing?” I asked. “Aren’t you all the rescue team?”
They were silent. Old Cat continued to smoke his cigarette, the ember glowing brightly in the dark. Then he sighed. I asked again. At last, Wang Sichuan responded. His voice was dry and constricted. “Old Cat said we’re not the ones they’re here to rescue.”
CHAPTER 21
The Real Rescuees
The bonfire flickered before me, crackling as a light breeze fanned the flames. The firelight distorted the faces of those sitting around it, Old Cat’s most of all. I could make out no more than a dim outline of his features, their expression a mystery to me. We weren’t the ones they were here to rescue?
At first I didn’t quite understand, but when I thought of Yuan Xile, a slow realization crept over me. Still, I had to be sure. “Then who are you here to rescue?” I asked, looking over at Old Cat, hoping he would give a clearer explanation.
The two new prospectors had been chatting a short ways away. As soon as they heard my question they stopped talking and turned toward us. Wang Sichuan and Pei Qing stared into the flames, not making a sound. Evidently, this question had already been asked.
Old Cat regarded me from across the fire. Tossing his cigarette butt on the ground, he said in a low voice, “It’s not up to me to say. You’ll know when we find them.”
Silence descended once more. No one spoke. At last, Wang Sichuan whispered, “This time, I don’t agree with the military.”
Old Cat responded brusquely. “It’s a soldier’s duty to obey orders. If you have a problem, take it up with Rong Aiguo after we’re out of here.”
We all sighed. It wasn’t that Old Cat didn’t want to tell us. He just couldn’t reveal such confidential information in front of so many people. That kind of slip could lead to a court-martial. In any case, we were all military men. Though we might serve in a relatively unusual capacity, we had to obey orders. Every aspect of the military relies on this basic tenet, and we knew that when we enlisted.
So Wang Sichuan cursed once and said no more. The two prospecting specialists who had been looking over at us went back to their conversation. To lighten the mood, I spoke up again. “Well, never mind all that. So what have you figured out so far? I’d like to hear it.”
Pei Qing also wanted to ease the tension. He handed me the map Old Cat had drawn. “We just showed him where the iron door was located,” he said. “We were discussing what might be hidden beneath the door.”
I thought once more of that strange door. By now, it must be deep underwater. Old Cat’s map was a long, hastily sketched passageway. It was easy enough for me to identify the places we’d been. Old Cat had drawn a big question mark where the iron door was. Pei Qing said they’d asked the engineering corpsmen about it. The engineering corpsmen had replied that there were two possibilities. The first was that it wasn’t a door at all, but rather the cement base of some temporary crane. Should it be necessary to lift some relatively large airplane component—an engine, for example—a heavy-duty crane would probably be required. The iron door might very well be a remnant of the crane’s concrete-and-steel base.
I paused for a moment to recall the place. Bullshit, I thought. It was definitely some kind of door.
“What about the second possibility?” I asked.