Denise woke up early the next day. She ran to the front of the campsite. She shouted loudly through a megaphone to wake everyone up. The enforcers and the maintenance workers slowly made their way towards her. Louis stood alongside her, and Eugene stood with his enforcers.
‘Yesterday, we had a very busy and productive day,’ said Denise to the group gathered in front of her. ‘I want to thank everyone for their effort and work; we work well as a team.’
The maintenance workers and enforcers turned to each other, smiling while gesturing positively with thumbs up and nodding heads.
‘Still, our greatest and most challenging days are ahead of us,’ said Denise in a slightly sterner tone. ‘The tunnels run very deep and branch off in several directions. We need to be careful not to cause any cave-ins as we go.’
The maintenance workers and enforcers smiled and nodded in agreement.
‘Louis has made an interesting discovery,’ continued Denise. ‘The machine powering our frozen friend is also sending power into the ground, and this is being consumed by something. I’ll let Louis explain a little more about this.’
Eugene whispered something in one of his enforcer’s ears. They started to chuckle.
Louis stepped forward and said, ‘We need to be careful. There is activity below the surface that is consuming vast quantities of energy. This energy consumption is equivalent to that of a small region. We do not know how this consumption is being used or if there is anyone down there monitoring or controlling this usage.’
‘Sounds like a great opportunity to meet new friends,’ called out Eugene.
‘It is a little more complicated than that,’ replied Louis. ‘We are unable to read the writing in the documents or on the machine, but the units for power are the same as we use today. To me, this indicates this was a secret facility used by the Linap.’
Denise frowned. She was confused by what they had found so far. Her gut feeling was telling her something had gone horribly wrong at some point. She needed to know more.
‘Everyone, eat breakfast,’ Denise instructed the group. ‘We will meet in the tunnel in half an hour. We will continue advancing through the tunnels. Louis will instruct you on how we will proceed.’
Louis nodded and joined the others for breakfast. Denise approached the frozen humanoid-like creature. She gazed at him thoughtfully. ‘If only I knew what you knew,’ she said to herself.
Over the course of the day, the team progressed further down the tunnel. They cut through blockage after blockage. It was not long before they reached a split in the tunnel.
Denise turned to Louis. ‘What do you suggest we do now?’ she asked him.
‘The path of least resistance,’ he replied.
Louis instructed the maintenance team to use their technology to scan beyond the next cave-in.
‘I suggest we continue along this main tunnel,’ he told Denise. ‘One more cave-in, and we can go deep into this network.’
The maintenance team got to work. It was not long before they cut through this large blockage.
‘This is it,’ said Louis. ‘An underground world awaits you.’
Denise sighed. She was both excited and nervous. ‘Let’s set up camp here tonight,’ she told Eugene. ‘Get your guys to bring some supplies down here. We won’t be returning to the surface for a while.’
Eugene frowned and then nodded. He instructed his enforcers to return to camp to bring back several weeks of supplies.
Louis instructed the maintenance workers to clear the dust from the air.
Around an hour later, the enforcers returned. They were riding a small buggy. It was full of supplies.
Meanwhile, Denise had been studying some markings she had found on the wall of the tunnel.
‘These tunnels were here long before the Linap,’ said Denise as she turned towards Louis.
‘They discovered something,’ said Louis. ‘I feel this something did not agree with them. It may not agree with us.’
‘I have too many questions to stop now,’ said Denise.
‘I will work on the other tunnel tomorrow,’ said Louis. ‘You should bring the enforcers with you…. Their expertise might be more relevant on the next leg.’
They all woke up early the next day. Denise, Eugene, and two other enforcers set off down the main tunnel. Louis and the others began work clearing the second tunnel.
After about an hour of riding the small buggy, the tunnel branched off again. The main tunnel continued straight, and the second tunnel descended deeper into the ground.
‘I guess you want us to split up,’ remarked Eugene, sounding a little nervous.
‘That would save time, but I have a bad feeling,’ responded Denise. ‘We should stick together for now.’
‘Ha, yes!’ exclaimed Eugene. ‘Smart move, the more enforcers, the better. Especially if one of them is a Co-Head Enforcer.’
Denise looked back at Eugene, chuckling slightly.
They continued driving along the tunnel. The walls were no longer decorated with ancient drawings. They were plain and more evenly cut.
‘Let’s stop here for a moment,’ Denise told Eugene.
Both Denise and Eugen climbed out of the buggy. Denise rubbed her hands against the walls. They felt smooth. Denise shone her torch to the top of the tunnel wall. There appeared to be lights.
‘These must have been powered by that generator,’ said Denise as she pulled some equipment from the back of the buggy to stand on to take a closer look. Eugene took the opportunity to grab a chocolate bar.
‘This looks like a modern light,’ said Denise. ‘It’s been here a very long time.’
Denise pulled the cover off the light. She unscrewed the light strip and pulled it out. She handed it to Eugene. He looked at it carefully.
‘Freddy knows all about lights and bulbs,’ said Eugene optimistically. ‘He could tell us something about this one.’
‘He’s with the other team, isn’t he?’ asked Denise.
Eugene nodded confidently.
‘I want to continue a little further first,’ said Denise. ‘I want to see if these lights lead us anywhere.’
They drove for another hour until they reached a split in the tunnel and a metal hatch cover on the right side of the right tunnel.
Denise walked over to the metal hatch. She looked at it closely.
‘I expect you need some help opening it,’ said Eugene confidently as he began rolling up his sleeves.
‘No amount of enforcer strength is going to open this,’ said Denise, shaking her head. ‘It only opens from the inside. We would need the help of our lasers.’
Eugene shrugged his shoulders. He was a little disappointed that Denise had turned down his assistance.
‘How about we stop for dinner,’ said Denise as she placed her hand on Eugene’s shoulder. ‘I’ll let you pick which tunnel we head down next.’
The two other enforcers grabbed the big picnic basket and began pulling out food.
‘I miss the sunlight,’ said Eugene. ‘This darkness is very depressing.’
‘One more day, then we will head back,’ said Denise. ‘I have so much I need to share with Orcilla.’
After dinner, they travelled for another hour down the left tunnel. They stopped where the tunnel had narrowed. It was too narrow for their vehicle to travel down.
‘We’ll sleep here tonight,’ said Denise. ‘I want us to explore this narrow section of the tunnel tomorrow morning. After that, we head back.’
Eugene nodded as they pulled out their sleeping bags.
Denise had a hard time trying to sleep. The air was cold, and the ground was rough and hard. The sleeping bag did little to improve her comfort. It was not like sleeping in her folding bed or even on grass.
She closed her eyes, hoping she would just doze off. Then she heard a sound from the narrow section of the tunnel. It sounded like the scuff of a shoe against a rough surface. Denise got out of her sleeping bag. She grabbed her torch and shone it into the tunnel. She heard another sound but could not see anyone.
Denise entered the narrow section. She walked slowly while shining the torch ahead of her. She heard a quiet squeaking sound, but she still could not see anything ahead of her. She nervously continued walking.
A few minutes passed. She did not hear any more sounds. She walked a little further. Her foot hit something metal on the ground. She looked down. It was another metal hatch. She shone her torch at it. She looked at the ground around the hatch. It had been recently disturbed. Denise realised they were not alone. She quickly headed back to where the others were sleeping.
She shook Eugene hard to wake him.
‘We gotta go,’ said Denise in a slightly stressed tone. ‘We are not alone.’
‘It’s not morning. I need sleep,’ grumbled Eugene. ‘I’ll talk to our new friends in the morning.’
‘I’m not sure they are friendly,’ said Denise as she continued shaking Eugene. ‘We are the intruders here.’
Eugene yawned loudly, shook his head, and climbed out of his sleeping bag. Denise ran over to the other two enforcers to wake them up.
Within a few minutes, they were packed and ready to go. They jumped into their buggy and sped off down the tunnel, heading back towards the entrance.
‘Did these guys look freaky or crazy or something?’ asked Eugene.
‘I didn’t see them,’ replied Denise. ‘I am convinced I heard them.’
‘I really don’t understand what you are trying to achieve, friend,’ said Eugene as he shook his head in confusion.
By the time they arrived back at the split in the tunnel, it was morning. The other team of maintenance workers was eating breakfast at the opening of the tunnel.
‘Where’s Louis?’ asked Denise. ‘We need to talk urgently.’
‘He’s off testing air quality,’ replied a maintenance worker. ‘I haven’t seen him since yesterday.’
‘So what’s been happening here?’ asked Denise, sounding slightly frustrated.
‘We cut through five blockages,’ replied the same maintenance worker. ‘We think it’s all clear from here.’
‘Gosh, I’d love to find out more,’ said Denise, grimacing slightly. ‘But we need to leave. We need to plan our next moves carefully.’
‘Encounter problems on your little adventure?’ asked Louis as he emerged from behind Eugene and the two other enforcers.
‘Possibly,’ replied Denise. ‘We are not alone down here.’
Louis frowned and then sighed. He held up his air quality monitor device. ‘The air down is not good,’ he said. ‘We shouldn’t stay any longer. We will become sick.’
‘You might have a point,’ said Eugene. ‘My head hurts.’
‘Headaches along with breathing difficulties, paranoia, and possibly delusions are all symptoms of breathing in contaminated air,’ said Louis as he gazed straight at Denise.
‘Pack up your stuff. We’ll head back to the surface,’ barked Denise as she walked back over to the buggy to talk to Eugene, who was eating another chocolate bar.
‘That guy’s arrogance is unbelievable,’ said Denise as she crossed her arms and looked at Eugene.
‘I thought you liked him,’ said Eugene as he bit into his chocolate bar.
‘Well, he seemed competent,’ said Denise. ‘We are really lacking those with expertise.’
Eugene put his hand on his face and shook his head in disbelief.
‘Oh, um, no offence to the Downs guys,’ said Denise, spluttering slightly. ‘I mean, we have a shortage of Sapiens in all areas. Experts being just one of them.’
The maintenance workers started singing as they packed up their gear and moved the equipment back into the main tunnel. The two enforcers with Eugene went over to help them. Louis walked over to Denise and Eugene. The three of them got in the buggy to drive back to the surface.
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my 
