Francis chewed his lip and waited. His eyes widened with surprise when, tense seconds later, the sound of static crackled from the tiny speakers of their radios.
They were at the far side of a vast subterranean chamber. Standing upright, their heads were inches beneath the average height of the ceiling, but the beams of their lamps were not powerful enough for them to make out a wall opposite them. The floor was effectively a winding, many-branched path about a yard wide that traced its way between sheer-edged holes in the ground. The holes were unevenly shaped and of varying sizes, ranging from roughly two yards across to much larger. The chamber was not pitch-black; from somewhere ahead, there was a wavering and ghostly glow that just barely illuminated the outlines of the holes. Lamont guessed that it must have come from another pool of faintly phosphorescent water. Here and there, a column joined ceiling and floor, perfectly straight, but with an organic slope at each end.
It was also not entirely silent. There was a clacking, rattling sound that echoed quietly and with no discernable pattern against the ceiling and the columns.
“I doubt there are any knockers growing down here,” Lamont said to Carter.
The captain looked at him questioningly and then, with a spark of comprehension in his eyes, nodded. Lamont had not used his own term for the reed-like plants out loud before.
Slowly, Carter lifted his wrist radio and pressed a button on its side. “Carter to Wells. Rosemary, can you read me?” The eyes of both men were flickering over the path that they could see, looking for the white reflection of an aspirin tablet.
Francis chewed his lip and waited. His eyes widened with surprise when, tense seconds later, the sound of static crackled from the tiny speakers of their radios.
“Rosemary?” The captain repeated into his wrist.
“Captain! Are you—are you in the caves?” Her voice was thin and weak, but the Nottingham accent was immediately recognizable to Lamont, who felt momentarily faint with relief to hear it.
“We’re here,” Francis answered eagerly. “We followed your trail to an underground chamber.”
“I passed out while I was following them down the ramp,” The young medic said apologetically. “I have a concussion.”
“You must be nearby,” The captain reassured her. “Without the elevator, the range of these radios isn’t—wait. Did you say, ‘They?’”
“Did you say, ‘Following?’”? Lamont added.
“The ones who live down here,” Rosemary replied weakly. “Don’t be alarmed if you see them. They haven’t hurt me.”
“Who should we be looking for?” Francis asked urgently. “Can they take us to you?”
Lamont reached out to touch the captain’s arm. “I think we can ask them ourselves,” he said, his voice quavering. “That is, if we can overcome our alarm.”
Next: We Come in Peace