BRITLAND CALLING: 3. The Four Playing Card Suits.

Chapter 1. URGLAND ARRIVAL

DOWN, DOWN, DOWN climbed Logan and Tommy. Hand under hand. Foot under foot. Tommy moved like a machine. Logan moved like an elastic monkey.

After about twenty feet, Logan heard a loud metallic click sounding from above his head. When he stopped and looked up, he saw that the air-vent cover had been replaced.

"Tommy, Debbie's put the titranium cover back on," he called down to Tommy.

"Good," said Tommy, stopping and looking up to Logan. "That's sensible. We don't want the Urglanders spotting something unusual. They probably check their disused air-vents from time to time. And it's 'titanium' not 'titranium', by the way. It's a hard word for someone of your age though, so well done on getting so close."

"Titanium," said Logan, determined to get the word right.

"Well, off we go again, Logan!"

Tommy restarted his machine-like ladder descent, and Logan was right behind him restarting his elastic monkey-like ladder descent.

After another twenty feet or so, Tommy called up to Logan ...

"Logan, get ready to stop. We're coming to a door. See the signs in front of the ladder. They're giving distance marks to a door. Slow down now."

"Okay, Tommy." Logan slowed down. Then he stopped and let Tommy get a comfortable distance beneath him before starting to climb down again.

"Stop now, Logan!" said Tommy looking up and trying to see Logan's face.

"Okay," said Logan.

Tommy pressed a red metallic button that had "OPEN DOOR" written in black lettering underneath it.

There was a hiss of compressed air as a door opened inwards into the side of the air-vent wall and a sheet of metal covered in small holes slid across the air-vent beneath Tommy to form a floor for easy access to the door. Tommy preferred to swing out a foot then push himself from the ladder directly into the door.

"There's a floor to help you access the doorway, Logan," said Tommy. "But it might be best to try and avoid using it. After all this is supposed to be a disused air-vent even if everything seems to be working perfectly."

Logan assessed the doorway's position.

"Stand back a bit, Tommy."

Tommy moved back into the doorway.

Logan simply twisted himself around on the ladder so he was facing the open door. Then he bent his knees and launched himself off the ladder, springing off by his heels like a leaping frog ... and landed comfortably inside the open doorway.

"Blimey!" said Tommy, impressed. "You're better than me at climbing—I'm sure of that!"

"And jumping!" added Logan with a toothy grin.

Tommy gave Logan a friendly ruffle of the hair.

Tommy pressed a familiar-looking metallic button to the one he had just pressed except it was green instead of red and the black lettering written beneath it said "CLOSE DOOR".

The door closed with a loud clunk and click.

Logan and Tommy found themselves in a well-lit corridor that seemed to end after a length of only forty feet or so. The walls and ceiling were made of some sort of metal and the floor was covered in some sort of industrial strength linoleum.

"It's a dead end!" said Logan. "We'll have to go back into the air-vent and climb down some more."

"But there must be something in this corridor, otherwise what's it for?"