Sky Swimmer

Too Close for Comfort, Part 10

The inside of the boulder is a lot more comfortable than Eric thought it would be, especially since he expected to be crushed or ground to death by a stoney digestive tract. The thought that his father is not dead but also inside one of these moving boulders helps Eric relax. And he looks around.

It's a large interior space, about the size of a three man tent. The truly bizarre aspect is that the stoney walls are translucent, apparently made of clear quartz. He and Floe can easily see outside of the vehicle because the interior has some kind of phosphorescent glow that dimly lights the exterior dirt that they are passing through. That's right, the Boulder is burrowing through the ground at an impressive speed.

Floe searches for an escape hatch or a simple groove that might suggest where the exit of the vehicle might be. She runs her hands across all the high-tech markings and flutings that line the boulder's inner surface. But nothing happens.

Meanwhile, Eric desperately keys his cell phone. "Zilch."

 "What a surprise!" says Floe. "You would think they would have cell towers hundreds of feet below the surface just in case you need to make a call while stuck in a digging machine!" She beats on the stone bulkhead with ineffectual fists.

"Floe, stop it. We have to conserve our oxygen, we don't know how far this thing is taking us."

"You don't understand! I get panic attacks. I'm not normal. I can't take closed in spaces, like the inside of giant killer boulders!"

Floe and Eric sit facing each other. The underworld slithers by outside the transparent boulder. They can see that the vehicle acts like a giant corkscrew made of two layers. The outside casing spinning and digging its way forward, while the inside layer appears to be held level and steady by some kind of gyroscopic action. The ride is smooth and, kind of tranquil.

Floe tries to calm herself, she knows the dogs are there, just waiting, just waiting for a chance. But she doesn't want Eric to see her that way, and that just makes it all worse.

Eric ventures, "You better?"

"No."

Eric tries to change the subject. "I got a feeling we're going to meet some more of those, ah, Soilers."

"You think?"

"Why are you angry with me, none of this is my fault."

Floe says, rather agitatedly, "What makes you think I'm angry with you? That is so typically a guy thing, thinking that every emotion a girl has must be revolving around a GUY."

"And that's such a typical GIRL thing; trying to bash a guy for making a little chit chat with a girl, excuse me ... with a princess."

The boulder burrows. And burrows. And burrows. It could be minutes. It could be hours.

"Do you love her?" says Floe.

"What?"

"Have you two, ah, been together?"

Eric is amused. "Like to-geth-er, together?"

"Forget it," Floe looks away.

And suddenly the entire boulder machine drops like a dead weight.

An incredibly immense underground cavern, swathed in a glow of eerie green light, appears through the plummeting walls of the stone transport. Thousands of bats swirl like gnats in the background.

SPLASH!!! The boulder drops into a giant underground lake.

Inside the boulder Floe and Eric are fine. They stare in awe at the crystal clear water that surrounds them. The bats dive like pelicans in the water as they hunt for small phosphorescent fish that scatter and regroup in incandescent whirlpools of shimmering light.

"Wow," Eric is flabbergasted, he shoots video with his cell phone. "I've never seen bats act that way before! This is amazing, Mrs. Burdock would love this."

"Yeah, if she wasn't dead at the bottom of a Soiler chasm," Floe says in a reprimanding tone. "Save the batteries."

Eric scoots over next to Floe. "Smile!" He takes a shot of the two of them together, the diving bats in the background outside.

Floe is not impressed. "You are an idiot," And then, the inevitable happens, just like it happens every time someone takes her picture, she can't help saying, "Now let me see it."

Eric knows he has her right where he wants her.

"I don't think you're going to like it. Your hair is all wrong."

Floe tries to sneak a look. Eric doesn't let her. Floe starts wrestling him for the phone just as the boulder transport hits the bottom of the lake. 

Once again they are traveling through earth, mud and gravel.