«Yes, they don’t give a damn about the public, haven’t you figured out yet?» Yu is close to a nervous breakdown.
I feel very uncomfortable. Until this moment, I almost did not pay attention to Leeloo. She sits against the wall of the grotto and sways slightly from side to side, looking into the distance, as if piercing with her eyes a wet stone wall – where the exit to freedom is. At least her expression is calm. I will help her. Later. When I understand how…
Planck intervenes in the conversation. It happens so unexpectedly that I jump a little in my place.
«This doesn’t sound like a bluff,» he objects thoughtfully. «Look here. We are in an erosional grotto. The walls are smooth, polished with water, which seems to regularly affect them. It is impossible to say exactly at what latitude we are, therefore, it is difficult to predict the time and strength of the ebb and flow. But I assure you that there was water here. And it was quite recently.»
«Anyway, I want to get out of here as soon as possible.» Alex rises to his feet. «Where do we start, «coherent minds and bodies’? Any thoughts?»
He never gives up. It is a shame to sit next to such a person with folded arms and whine about your unhappy fate. Therefore, I stand on wadded feet, outwardly full of determination and trembling with fear inside.
«This system of caves and grottoes is a communicating vessel. Accordingly, the water will go up under the pressure of the tide. Thus, we are either at the beginning of the entire system, or most likely somewhere in the middle. In this case, the caves below the coastline are already fully or half flooded. We need to go up,» Planck says firmly.
I catch myself looking at this elderly man with admiration. I am amazed at his imperturbable calmness and ability to formulate thoughts so competently and clearly. Years of teaching at the university take their toll. And his outstanding extraordinary mindset, of course. If anyone here deserves the victory… What am I thinking about? The only thing that still matters now is to get out of this dark and foul-smelling tomb as soon as possible!
«And how do we know where this «up’ is?!» Joleo asks busily. He seems to have calmed down. Even his voice sounds different now:
«I examined the walls, there are three exits: one dark tunnel and two light grottoes like ours.»
«I have an idea,» Planck takes the flashlight and puts it in the middle of the mainsail. At first nothing happens, then the lantern rolls a few centimeters to the right side in the direction of two light exits.
«To our left, into a dark tunnel,» Planck says.
«Sounds good,» Angel sounds worried, «but what if you’re wrong and this road leads to the rocks? Are we going to get lost and just waste our time? What if the road down takes us faster to the sea?»
«Indeed, how can you be so sure that you are right, Planck?» I ask warily.
«Intuition plus common sense. And they rarely let me down,» the elderly man replies calmly.
«And we must rely on your intuition when it comes to our lives?!» there is such genuine fear in Yu’s tone that I begin to suspect that something is wrong with the girl.
«I agree with Planck. Look in the lower exits, the floors are wet. Although the grottoes are also open, and the sun’s rays enter them. But unlike „our“ grotto, they don’t have time to dry after ebbs. There will be even more water below, so we definitely need to go up,» Martha suddenly intervenes in the conversation. For me personally, her argument sounds more than convincing.
«I propose to vote, after all, almost all of us represent democratic countries,» Alex offers, «who is in favor of going up?»
Everyone raises his or her hands. Joleo, after a little hesitation, also votes in favor. I sit down with Leeloo and whisper to her ear, not sure if she can hear my words in her delirium:
«How are you? Can you walk on your own?»
Surprisingly, she immediately turns to me and answers smiling:
«Don’t worry about me, Lavina. I’m a great swimmer.»
Alex and Runner each take a flashlight and we head into a dark passageway leading into the unknown.
We’ve been walking for several minutes, carefully examining the walls, in fear of missing a vital exit. A couple of times there are forks on the way, but they all turn out to be only dead-end grottoes.
Suddenly, a light appears at the end of the tunnel. We are significantly accelerating our pace in the hope of getting out of this place as quickly as possible. Despite the fact that the height and width of the cave allows you to move around quite freely, the absolute darkness is depressing. Every now and then someone stumbles over the ledges of an uneven surface. Sounds of drops from all sides seem to press on consciousness. It’s no wonder the players were filled with excitement when they saw the long-awaited release!
Our disappointment is endless when the exit turns out to be a grotto similar to the one in which we came to our sences in the morning: the same high walls, light falling through a wide opening at the top, and two exits at the end of the hall: a light and a dark one. A metal echo meets us in the grotto:
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: five hours and thirty minutes.»
«It’s pointless to walk with the whole team and examine every pass,» Alex rightly notes,» too little time. Runner and I are the most physically tough of all those present. Each of us will explore one passage and return to this location. Everyone else stay here waiting, stay strong and calm. Heaven knows what else we will have to face. There is not a minute to lose!»
Nobody objects, and Alex disappears into the light tunnel. Runner runs into a dark cave. Less than ten minutes later, both messengers return with impressive results. Alex ran into a dead end, Runner, on the contrary, found out that his tunnel leads to the next dark cave with two branches. None of us like the idea of being back in dark corridors, but there is no other choice.
The tunnel we are running through is longer and narrower than the previous one. Once in the next cave hall, Planck quickly checks the angle of inclination with a flashlight, which no longer lingers in place, but immediately slowly rolls in the direction from which we came.
«I hope we’re on the right track,» Planck wipes the forehead with his sleeve, obviously feeling the full weight of responsibility for his decision.
Our plan works according to the old scheme. Runner and Alex disappear into the tunnels with two flashlights. Both are gone for a while this time. The minutes drag on for an agonizingly long time. We are sitting in pitch darkness with our backs close to each other. The players try to talk about something in order to drive away the fear of the unknown in the impenetrable darkness of the cave. I squeeze Leeloo’s hand tightly. Yu is sobbing nearby.
«Yu,» I whisper to her quietly, «everything will be fine, we’ll get out of here. But you have to be strong!»
«I… I’m scared to death of closed spaces. I’m afraid that breathing may stop at any moment,» she whispers plaintively in response trembling all over.
«Yu, this isn’t a closed space, there is definitely a way out from here, otherwise the organizers wouldn’t have put us here!» I assure her.
«Don’t leave me, please, Lavina! Don’t leave me here alone! Promise me!»
«I promise!»
At this moment, an eerie voice is heard again. In the dark, it sounds even more merciless and makes the blood freeze in the veins:
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: five hours zero-zero minutes.»
Finally, a panting Runner shows up. His appearance from