[snip]

M’Mera waited until Sharp made it down with them before quietly moving over to him.” Crrewman, check yourr weapon and be ssure it iss only on sstun.” She ordered. “Arre you alrright, crrewman? Arre you claustrrophobic? I had not thought to assk. I need you at the end of ourr line as you arre ourr back line of defensse. I am needed at the frront as that iss wherre the dangerr is at the grreatesst.”

The look of relief on his face was evident ,nothing devoured him up there but M’Mera seemed she was about to do so .

” Crrewman, check yourr weapon and be ssure it iss only on sstun.” She ordered.

‘’Yes Ma’am ‘’ the security responded as he did as he was told ‘’No ma’am I’m not claustrophobic ‘’ in fact if he was ordered to cramp into a hole he would have been more at ease ‘’Yes I understand I’m the back line of defense ‘’ he replied in a steady tone.

M’Mera looked at him for a moment, puzzled at his behaviour. She didn’t know if he was afraid of her, didn’t like her, or what? Well, she wasn’t here to win any personality contests but to keep everyone safe. She nodded once in response to Sharp, then headed back to the front where the Captain was.

“I ssee cut sstone herre to ass farr back ass we can sssee. The map sshowss that thesse worrked tunnelss go forr sseverral miless beforre we hit the juncturre of the old tunnelss.” She showed him on the map. “If you like I can lead til then, then we sshould brring the Doctorr up frront for the olderr tunnelss. I think we arre going to find things morre challenging then.”

“I agree,” Glen replied. It was a good plan. A plan that he had already agreed with, and nothing had altered except for whatever was eating the Security officer. “Do we know what type of rock this is? Is this a kind of rock where dilithium diallosilicate heptoferranide [actually 2<5>6 dilithium 2<:>1 diallosilicate 1:9:1 heptoferranide] would be found?”

‘’Unfortunately its not my expertise , on Earth sure but here I do not know ‘’ Hunter replied in all honesty ‘’But you can count on me as we walk further into the unknown’‘.

“I’m not a geologist either, but I don’t think it’s found any place on Earth,” Glen replied. “I just thought M’Mera might know. It’s not really important. I only wondered why all the new tunnels were dug and they didn’t open the mine nearer to the old tunnels instead.”

M’Mera began to walk as she answered over her shoulder, “I would imagine it iss becausse the olderr tunnelss werre mined out. Ass to the rock configurration, if ourr trricorrderrss werre working we could confirrm it but without that we jusst need to asssume ssso.”
The Away Team made their way through the well formed tunnels. The rocks on either side were not entirely smooth but rough hewn which told of rock that was extremely hard. A good thing really, as it meant that it would unlikely to cave in.
Along the roof there were hanging lights, currently not working. Perhaps because no one was working at the moment. All mining had come to a standstill.
The magnetic rails on the floor of the tunnels were wide enough that it was easy to walk in between them, with enough space on either side of the rails that there was enough room to get out of the way of any ore cars coming down the rails.
It was a 3-4 hour walk to the ancient tunnels at walking pace.

Having been walking to get to the ancient tunnels for some time Hunter asked ‘’Maybe we should rest a bit before proceeding? ‘’ he suggested. For apparently they still had hours to arrive at their destination.

“Seriously? You need a rest?” Glen was incredulous. “You haven’t even broken into a sweat yet! That kit must be weighing you down because you were very keen to go first earlier.”

‘’Suggesting we rest a bit has nothing to do with me being tired ‘’ Hunter replied ‘’We still have a long way to go before reaching the ancient tunnels, I rather sit down here then becoming exhausted later on especially since we don’t know what awaits us ‘’.

After the COS’s orders Sharp now kept his phaser in hand, since she told him to stand at the end of the line , the security’s nerves were all over the place,even a crack of a stone that someone had stepped on made him jumpy .He thought it was not fair that Eros was in line with the others instead of being next to him but kept his thoughts to himself for he knew he had already not made a positive impression to the Captain and M’Mera.

“Anyone else want to stop for a rest?” asked Glen. “There is maybe… like a few hours yet, but we’d need to find a place to stop where we aren’t too near these ore cars coming down the rails in the darkness. My own preference would be for us to press on ahead and then stop later. I rather stop than have someone collapse!”

‘’Captain we have enough light ,any cars coming our way would be the least of our problems ..do you have any idea the noise they make on the rails ‘’ he looked around ‘’Not to mention there is enough space by the sides for us to sit down safely ‘’.

Hunter reasoned if a cart came their way they would know they were not alone down there.

Glen wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about stopping in this location, and while they did have torches, he would have much preferred that the overhead lighting was working before making any claim about having enough light. And the ore trains did make a lot of clatter, but they were automatic, running on magnetic track with minimal staffing if any at all.

However, Glen was not the kind of unbending Captain who only gave you two choices - it’s my way or the highway! - but he was instead, willing to listen to his crew, and flexible. and so he would stop if that was what the majority wished. He had found in the past, that being stubborn and unrelenting in his plans, often created a disastrous outcome. So, he would listen to Hunter.

M’Mera paused when the others did and waited while they had their discussion. She wasn’t winded in the least and had no need of a rest but she reckoned that Hunter was more then likely not as fit as she was.

“You want us to save our energy for what might come later,” Glen rephrased. “I understand. Is there anything else that concerns you? What do you think waits us? And couldn’t it meet us just as easily if we stayed here?”

‘’You can say that’s one of the reasons ‘’ the doctor replied while taking out a bottle of water ‘’Captain I have no idea what awaits us ..maybe nothing and yes we could face God knows what ,though I would definitely prefer if it happened here then in the ancient tunnels .As for the automatic track do you think it would work when every thing else has no power ? ‘’.

“Yes actually,” Glen replied. “This does look like a waggonway with magnetic rails that relies on gravity to send the loaded trucks along in this direction… Then they’ll have to return all the empty trucks back again under some kind of power, that’s true… but we don’t know, maybe they could use the local megafauna to pull them along? There isn’t the best light here to see but… I can’t see any power supply cables to these tracks. Unless they have some self-propelled locomotives that burn fossil-fuels… hmm! That would result in very poor air quality from the exhaust gases… They wouldn’t be fusion or antimatter powered… I guess we’ll just have to wait until we see one go past!”

Hunter shoved his bottle back ,that was one of the things he had learned..save the water.With a hint of humor in is voice the doctor whispered ‘’There is one thing I forgot a cage with a canary in it ‘’.

He stood quiet for awhile ‘’Excuse me I need to have a word with Sharp’’ and with that Hunter approached the security who by now was standing with his back against the wall ‘’Sharp you have been on edge since we came down,listen just because you are a security doesn’t mean we don’t have your back ,remember we look out for each other.A bit of advice its essential to calm down it would help you to stay focus’’ .

Sharp nodded as he looked back again and again ‘’ Doctor how come you’re so cool ?How come you aren’t the least bit concerned ?’‘
Hunter made eye contact with the security ‘’Guess I’m very good at hiding my emotions..lets call it life’s experience ‘’ he then waited for the Captain or M’Mera to give the order to keep on moving and reach the ancient tunnels .

When no one else disagreed, Glen said, “It looks like I’m outnumbered, so let’s take a twenty minute break starting immediately, and rest up a bit here! Sharp, you listen on the rails for any noise, and warn us of any cars coming down the track. Eros, you can set a timer! Everyone else, make this a very good rest. Relax and recharge now, sleep if you want, because we aren’t stopping again!” Glen took the pack from his back as a pillow, sat down and closed his eyes.

• Glen, CO