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

the power level; there isn’t one marked on the diagram but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a natural fissure leading down to it. Do you recall having seen one?’
    The Senior Engineer scratched his chin while he thought about it. He looked doubtful. ‘We did a lot of blasting in that area when we were constructing the chamber, opened up a few cracks here and there, but I don’t remember breaking through to the lower level.’
    â€˜Perhaps there’s no real cause for alarm,’ Professor Friedmann said hopefully. His eyes were vague and frightened behind the blue-tinted spectacles. ‘They could very well be safe on the gantry, it’s thirty feet high.’
    His voice betrayed the bland reassurance of what he was saying; it reminded Frank of a schoolboy telling a rather unconvincing fib that he doesn’t expect anyone to believe.
    â€˜There are four men underground,’ the Senior Engineer said, spacing the words deliberately. ‘If that isn’t cause foralarm, what the hell is?’ He spread his hands on the table and stared down at the diagram as if by sheer concentration he could make the fissure appear, its position magically marked.
    Frank said, ‘There’s nothing to be lost by checking it out. If we get there and find there’s no access point, we come back. But maybe in a mine as old as this there’s a reasonable chance we could get through. Wouldn’t you say so?’ The question was addressed to the Senior Engineer. There didn’t seem much point in soliciting Professor Friedmann’s opinion.
    â€˜We need somebody with experience.’
    â€˜I’ve been underground before now.’
    â€˜A mile deep?’
    â€˜No,’ Frank said.
    â€˜I guess we can’t be choosy. What would you say – a team of four?’
    â€˜Five plus a doctor.’
    Professor Friedmann seemed to wake out of a trance. ‘There’s no doctor here. We have a medical orderly, will he do?’
    â€˜As the man said, this is no time to be choosy.’ Frank straightened up and looked at his watch. ‘I reckon it should take us two to three hours to get down and along the tunnel to within reasonable proximity of the chamber. Is there anyone who’s familiar with the workings and can estimate our position underground with a fair degree of accuracy?’
    â€˜I’ve got two men who know that area pretty well.’
    â€˜I’ll take them both.’
    â€˜And me.’
    â€˜If you insist on coming but I think you should stay on the surface. We can relay any messages via a land-line and you can keep us informed on the weather situation. I wouldn’t like to be caught down there during another freak thunderstorm.’
    The Senior Engineer nodded briskly. ‘All right, that sounds sensible to me. I’m Lee Merriam by the way.’
    â€˜Frank Kersh.’
    â€˜Okay, Frank, I’ll have one of my men get the equipment together. Thank God that’s one thing we’re not short of.’ He turned to go.
    â€˜If there’s a member of the scientific staff called Fawbert who’d like to come along, tell him he’s welcome,’ Frank said.
    Lee Merriam glanced back at Professor Friedmann, who said stonily, ‘That won’t be possible; Fawbert is one of the men underground.’

SIX
    He half-expected to see bones gleaming in the beams of the lamps – the remains of prospectors long-dead calcified in the final rite of clawing at the rock face, their fleshless fingers clutching emptily at the dank musty air.
    There were no human remains but there was other evidence that men had been scrabbling here in the darkness, seeking the elusive yellow grains which speckled the rock in the wild dream that tonight they would go to their beds rich men. Warped and rusting tracks, splintered and rotting beams, buckled iron trollies – the detritus of greed and abandoned hope littered the tunnels like