Read Online Earth Cult by Trevor Hoyle - Free Book Online Page A

the vicinity of the detection chamber. After a moment he interrupted the man and said, almost fervidly:
    â€˜Are they organizing a rescue team? Are they on their way?’
    â€˜No on both counts,’ Frank said. ‘And they don’t intend to either.’
    â€˜They have plenty of air,’ the Senior Engineer said, continuing his technical resumé of the installation. ‘As far as we can tell the system is still functioning. If they managed to stay on the gantry above the water-level then there’s better than a fifty-fifty chance that they’re okay. The drainage tunnels were only checked a couple of weeks ago and they were in good working order, so by now the level should be falling. I estimate—’ he looked at his watch and calculatedsilently —that within ten hours, fifteen at the outside, the chamber should be clear.’
    â€˜Aren’t you in telephone contact with them?’ Frank asked.
    Professor Friedmann shook his head. He looked grey and ill. The line’s dead,’ he said in a quiet voice. ‘We lost contact at midnight.’
    â€˜How many men are down there?’
    â€˜Four. They went on duty at ten o’clock, just before the storm began. I was about to recall them—’ his voice faltered ‘—but couldn’t get through.’
    Frank moved up to the table and studied an elevation diagram of the detection chamber; it took him a moment to get his bearings, and when he had he said to the engineer, ‘Are these the ventilation shafts?’
    The Senior Engineer looked at Professor Friedmann as if making sure that it was all right to speak, then he nodded. There are three in the roof, two for inflow, one for extraction. We can’t be a hundred percent certain but we think they’re still operational.’
    â€˜How big are they?’
    The Senior Engineer raised one grizzled eyebrow and shook his head. ‘I know what you’re thinking and the answer is no: they’re too small. And if they weren’t too small it wouldn’t do those four guys much good anyway – they’re seamless aluminium, there’s not a handhold anywhere. You can forget that.’
    â€˜This is the main tunnel leading from the shaft – is that right?’
    â€˜Yeah, that’s the one.’ The Senior Engineer’s voice had quickened in response to Frank’s queries, as if at last there was someone prepared to take an interest in the problem and make a constructive suggestion. He was a broad thickset man with the kind of hands and wrists that can twist steel bars. He looked too as if he had been in the wars: there was an old deep scar across his forehead and the tip of his right index finger was missing.
    â€˜Have you been down to check the height of the water?Perhaps the tunnel isn’t completely flooded. It’s possible.’
    â€˜There’s no need to go down. There are sensors in the main shaft and we know from them that the lower level is flooded to the roof. There’s just no way to get through until the water starts to drain off.’
    Frank said, ‘The lower level? You mean there’s more than one level in that area of the mine?’
    â€˜Sure, the place is a regular warren of them.’ The Senior Engineer pulled another chart forward and traced a blunt finger along a series of interconnecting tunnels. ‘The workings extend in every direction, some of them beyond the detection chamber—’
    â€˜Which is how far from the main shaft?’
    â€˜A helluva long way,’ the Senior Engineer said dourly. ‘Mile and a half, maybe more.’ He looked into Frank’s eyes. ‘You’re thinking of trying to reach the chamber by another route?’
    â€˜You’re the engineer, you tell me. If we went down as far as this level and worked our way along we’d be within striking distance of the chamber. But it would all depend on there being an access point to