«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.
В«IВ propose toВ vote, after all, almost all ofВ us represent democratic countries,В» Alex offers, В«who is inВ favor ofВ goingВ up?В»
Everyone raises his or her hands. Joleo, after aВ little hesitation, also votes inВ favor. IВ sit down with Leeloo and whisper toВ her ear, not sure if she can hear my words inВ her delirium:
В«How are you? Can you walk on your own?В»
Surprisingly, she immediately turns toВ me and answers smiling:
«Don’t worry about me, Lavina. I’m a great swimmer.»
Alex and Runner each take aВ flashlight and we head into aВ 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 toВ be aВ grotto similar toВ the one inВ which we came toВ our sences inВ the morning: the same high walls, light falling through aВ wide opening at the top, and two exits at the end ofВ the hall: aВ light and aВ dark one. AВ metal echo meets us inВ the grotto:
В«Until the flooding ofВ the cave system remains: five hours and thirty minutes.В»
«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 aВ dark cave. Less than ten minutes later, both messengers return with impressive results. Alex ran into aВ dead end, Runner, on the contrary, found out that his tunnel leads toВ the next dark cave with two branches. None ofВ us like the idea ofВ being back inВ dark corridors, but there is no other choice.
The tunnel we are running through is longer and narrower than the previous one. Once inВ the next cave hall, Planck quickly checks the angle ofВ inclination with aВ flashlight, which no longer lingers inВ place, but immediately slowly rolls inВ 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!»
В«IВ promise!В»
At this moment, an eerie voice is heard again. InВ the dark, it sounds even more merciless and makes the blood freeze inВ the veins:
В«Until the flooding ofВ the cave system remains: five hours zero-zero minutes.В»
Finally, a panting Runner shows up. His appearance from the pitch darkness is so unexpected and long-awaited that Blonda and BeBe scream out at the same time with both fear and joy. Angel’s timid tone follows behind them:
В«Runner, Runner, is that you? Oh God, how scared IВ am!В»
«Yes, it’s me, came for your cowardly ass,» Runner throws contemptuously in response. «There the tunnel diverges, but both passages are dead-end. I can no longer run alone, someone has to accompany me to explore the passages in the caves faster – where is Alex?»
«He’s still gone! We need to leave! After all, now we know that his tunnel is correct!» BeBe’s voice is full of despair.
«No, we’ll stay here waiting,» Runner orders. Everyone is too scared to argue with him. At least we now have a meager light source. We spend a few more agonizing minutes, and Alex still doesn’t show up. My imagination paints a terrible picture of him wandering in the corridors, unable to find his way back.
«He’ll be all right,» I hear Leeloo’s quiet, reassuring voice. She seemed to read my mind.
«Oh, Leeloo! I’ve never been so scared in my life,» I whisper in response, barely audible.
«It’s okay, considering the situation. Everything will be fine, he’ll find a way. Trust in it.»
Leeloo’s words give me strength.
«We are waiting for a few more minutes and set off. Can’t sit here and waste time while Alex wanders the hallways. Maybe he got lost a long time ago. It’s foolish to risk everyone by betting on one!» No one expected such determination from the humble Joleo. The fewer arguments to object to him.
«Oh no, no, no,» I am horrified and squeeze Leeloo’s fingers even tighter.
To everyone’s relief, Alex still emerges from the depths of the cave. He takes a breath for two minutes, then, still panting, announces:
В«Well, the lost herd, are you ready toВ followВ me?В»
I feel incredible relief – as if several tons of cargo were lifted from my shoulders.
***
There are two exits waiting for us inВ the next room. Runner heads into the light tunnel. Joleo volunteered as his travel companion, whose unexpected courage cannot but arouse admiration. Having appeared at first as an insecure В«absent-minded scientistВ», now he looks almost like aВ hero. At least, IВ am imbued with more and more respect for his ability toВ make responsible decisions inВ extreme situations, and, most importantly, not toВ panic. After all, many ofВ us are on the verge ofВ aВ nervous breakdown.
I volunteer to accompany Alex in the dark corridor. Partly because I just can’t sit in total darkness, surrounded by panic and fears, but more because I want to stop being inactive and, thus, come to my senses.
After aВ little time, we run out into aВ cave with two corridors: light and dark. At this point, we need toВ split up. Alex takes over the dark tunnel, and IВ must examine the light one. Before that, Alex puts his hands on my shoulders and intently looks into my eyes:
«I just wanted to tell you…»
Despite the serious situation, I experience a slight tingling sensation in my chest and some strange feeling in my stomach, comparable to a spasm during free flight…
«… the last time I played with you (it feels like it was in a past life), you disappointed me a lot. Don’t let me down this time, we have a whole bunch of blind kittens there. We won’t let them drown in this damn bucket!»
With these words, he turns me around and gives me a slight push towards the tunnel. That’s what Alex is! I am seething with indignation, but at the same time, this rage gives me strength, pushes me forward. What did I actually expect to hear?! Dying slobbering declaration of love or «leave me and live if you have to»? I’m angry with him, but even more angry with myself when I reach the next fork. The hated echo is heard:
В«Until the flooding ofВ the cave system remains: four hours and thirty minutes.В»
Both passages are light, luckily for me. However, I am desperate. We’re wasting time again! What if I get lost in these caves? Will someone come looking for me? Alex will run to save his blind kittens. Again I feel a fit of anger and without further thought I head to the first grotto. Dead end. Relief. Disappointment. Second grotto. Long, tapering at the end. I have to get on all fours and crawl, so I remind myself of Alice in Wonderland. Now I will look out of the rabbit hole and see the magical alluring freedom… But instead of it – another dark hall. What to do next? I don’t have a flashlight. Reason insists on going back to Alex and exploring the grotto together.
«Losing time, losing time» … this thought knocks in my head. Ignoring the voice of reason, I enter the grotto, find a wall by touch and move along it, carefully examining the surface with my hands. Nothing, just a smooth, damp wall. I walk in a circle, constantly keeping in sight the bright passage from where I just came, in fear that if I look away for a minute, it will disappear. And then I will forever remain in pitch darkness! Once again I approach the light without finding a single tunnel. It was a dead-end grotto.
***
Alex is already waiting for me at the same place.
В«Where do you roam? Your walk is clearly too long! My tunnel ends with aВ large light grotto with three dark tunnels. Please tell me that you have found aВ way out!В»
В«Until the flooding ofВ the cave system remains: four hours zero-zero minutes.В» aВ metallic voice replies instead ofВ me.
***
IВ can hardly breathe when we return toВ the rest ofВ the players. Thirsty tongue sticks toВ the palate. The wetsuit wicks moisture away from the body, but sweat flows from the forehead inВ three streams and is poured into the eyes and behind the collar.
Runner and Joleo are already in place. Runner makes a caustic comment to us, but I ignore it. We describe our discovery – an impressive size open grotto with three dark tunnels and only two lanterns to explore. This means that we will not be able to check all three cave passages at the same time.
Joleo reports that at the end ofВ the path he explored, the corridor narrows, leaving aВ narrow dark hole. Where it leads is hard toВ say. Firstly, you can get into it only byВ moving on all fours, and secondly, you need toВ crawl, apparently, for aВ long time. Therefore, Runner and Joleo returned toВ make aВ joint decision.
«The hole may be a way out, but in case it’s just a dead end – we are lost», Planck is thinking aloud.
«No no no!» Yu suddenly shouts, «This cannot be a way out! I will never go there for anything in the world! Three tunnels are three chances. Do you hear? We have more opportunities to get out of these damn caves if we follow Alex’s path», the girl squats and starts sobbing uncontrollably. BeBe hugs her shoulders:
В«Yu is rightВ», she supports her friend, В«according toВ the theory ofВ probability, we have more chances with three outputs than with oneВ».
Alex is doing aВ small vote. Everyone raises their hands inВ favor. The prospect ofВ being inВ aВ dark narrow corridor inВ aВ cave gradually filled with water can drive even the most persistent crazy.
В«Wait!В» everyone turns toВ Martha, В«it seems toВ me that we are missing something extremely importantВ».
«What exactly?» Runner snaps, «Now is not the time for philosophical reflection. Are there specific proposals – go ahead!»
В«Let her tell,В» Blonda interrupts impatiently.
«I don’t know for sure»…
«And you’d better know», Runner gets up and walks in the direction from where Alex and I just came running.
«It’s just illogical. We advance at random, which is not the case in a good quest».
«We aren’t in a „good“ quest. This is an incomprehensible game of some sick perverts who lured us into a wormhole», Alex objects.
«And yet, my intuition suggests that we don’t notice something, something obvious»…
I stare at Martha in amazement. Now that she has voiced this thought out loud, I understand that all this time I have been thinking about the same thing. She’s right, something is wrong here. Until that moment, despite the danger and cruelty of the assignments, there was an iron logic behind everything. Now it is slipping away from us somewhere further and further…
В«We have no time for speculation. Stop banging around irrelevantВ», Runner demands. And toВ confirm his words the voice is heard again:
В«Until the flooding ofВ the cave system remains: three hours and thirty minutes.В»
«I just… No, nothing. Let’s start,» Martha brushes aside, and without further discussion, we head towards the three dark tunnels Alex found.
***
All players literally tumble down from fatigue when they finally reach their goal – a spacious, light grotto. The height of the walls is significantly lower than the first hall, where we woke up a little over three hours ago. However, there is still not the slightest chance to climb up due to the smooth surface, treated for years by the salty ocean waters.
Apart from the dark tunnel we just came from, the cave has three more exits, which Alex spoke about. (В«Or entrances,В» IВ note toВ myself sadly).
We are catching our breath for ten minutes, then dive in twos – me with Alex and Runner with Joleo – into two of the available passages. I shudder when the familiar metallic voice announces the inevitable:
В«Until the flooding ofВ the cave system remains: three hours zero-zero minutes.В»
It takes about ten minutes before we reach the next bright room.
В«Oh no,В» IВ whisper and cover my mouth with the hand inВ horror. Alex just shakes his head silently. AВ new fork opens inВ front ofВ us: three more dark corridors.
***
We return to the others almost at the same time as Runner and Joleo do. I don’t even need to hear their story to understand from their expressions: there is also a fork in the other tunnel. There remains one uncharted dark corridor. If at the end of it there is no way out, this means the end, inevitable death: we simply will not have time to explore all the newly discovered grottoes. And we can only hope that the whole task was a complete farce. The countdown will end, the lights will turn on, and Maestro will announce some next test for our emotional endurance, as then, during the «plane crash». Another announcement interrupts my thoughts:
В«Until the flooding ofВ the cave system remains: two hours and thirty minutes.В»
The lights will turn on and Maestro… Wait a minute! A hunch dawns on me and makes me shudder with annoyance. How could we be so blind?!
В«Martha was right!В»
Everyone turns their heads toВ me, interrupting the heated discussions. IВ continue, trembling with excitement:
В«All this time, the clue was under our nose, and we ignored it, instead ofВ sitting down and thinking. And we made an unfortunate mistake!В»
«What’s clue?!»
«It’s in your hand, Alex! Yours and Runner’s! These are two lanterns. Do you hear? Two, not three or four!
«So what? I don’t see any connection,» Blonda asks nervously, but not without hope in her voice.
«It’s obvious! Remember, Maestro gave a hint:
В«Let the light guideВ you
ToВ your cherished goal,
