The CRES code

Chapter Sixty Two - Gorsty Common

     Randall descended slowly and carefully, testing every rung before putting his full weight on it. They were all secure, though, and he reached the bottom without incident.

     The lamp that had been lowered on a rope was still there, bathing the bottom of the elevator shaft in a flickering yellow light. It enabled Randall to see the tilted slabs of plasteel and concrete littering the ground, enabling him to stand without twisting an ankle. There was water deep down between them, dark and still except where something slithered away with a plop and a widening circle of ripples, startled by the approach of the humans.

     Randall turned to face the door as the others reached the ground behind him. Its bottom half was hidden by the debris and the top half was solidly closed with no visible way of opening it. It was in two halves with a crack between them so narrow that he couldn't even get a fingernail in it. Fortunately it wasn't plasteel. It seemed to be some kind of plastic and Randall had hopes that it would be brittle after a thousand years. It might break quite easily with a few blows from something hard and heavy.

     Loach had the same idea and searched around on the ground for a suitable lump of plasteel. "Stand back," he said, coming forward. "You might want to turn your backs in case any sharp shards go flying." None of them took his advice.

     Loach hefted the shard, holding it by the narrow end, and struck the doors as hard as he could with the wide, blunt end, aiming for the crack where the doors came together. It made a loud thud and when he looked he saw that the plastic had been chipped and dented. Another few blows created a roundish hole between the two doors large enough for him to get his hand into. He dropped the shard of plasteel to clatter on the ground, wrapped a couple of handkerchiefs around his fingers to protect them from the jagged plastic and reached in.

     The doors resisted for a moment, but then something gave way and they lurched open a few centimetres. They heard the sound of running water as it drained from the elevator shaft into the corridor beyond. Beyond the doors was only darkness. Loach reached in again and pulled at the doors with all his strength. The doors resisted, only parting a finger's width at a time with the sound of shuddering friction. At one point the debris under their feet shifted as some of it fell into the corridor and the explorers braced themselves against the walls of the shaft to maintain their balance.

     Eventually the gap between the doors was wide enough for a man to slip through and Loach carefully lowered himself down into the corridor. "Hand me the lamp," he said.

     Latimer held the lamp as he followed Loach through, though, followed eagerly by Randall. The Duke held the lamp high to get a good look at what lay ahead. The floor was covered by a shallow layer of water now, rippling against the walls as a thin trickle continued to fall from the elevator doors. There were neon lights in the ceiling, all dark, and a fire extinguisher was mounted on the wall beside them. Other than that the corridor was empty with only a couple of doors on each side, all closed. The air was musty and humid and smelled of mold.

     "The first to walk this corridor for a thousand years," said Duke Latimer reverently. "What secrets lie hidden behind these doors, known only to VIX? What terrors and evils, wisely kept from the eyes of man for all these centuries? What horrors do we risk unleashing? What nightmares wait to haunt our dreams..."

     "Perhaps you'd like to wait upstairs," suggested Loach flatly.

     Latimer gave him a look of annoyance, then turned to Randall. "So, where's the gold?"

     "We'll have to search the place," Randall replied. "We'll probably have to break the doors open. We should have the men send some sledgehammers down."