Relative Strangers (Book 2) No Man Is An Island

23. Going Downhill

As the pair walked along the medieval streets, it suddenly dawned on Matt that he had no idea where they were, or where they were going.
"So, E, what is the plan? I mean, where are we headed?" Asked Matt.
"You're not going to like the answer" admitted E as she stopped walking and tapped her foot on a neaby grate.
"Oh no" replied Matt.
"Yep, we are going underground. It's the safest place for our documents"
"How do we get down there?"
"Well I'm looking along the pavement for a large enough gap for us to squeeze down"
"Is it wise to just climb down into the sewers, in front of all these people"
"What are you worried about? You don't know these people. It's not like they are going to look down their nose at you during the next social gathering. They are just strangers who we will never see again".

Eventually E found what she was looking for on a much quieter street with less people passing by.
E removed a torch from her pocket and handed it to Matt, before reaching inside her bag for some rope.
Once she had found it, E tied one end to a piece of metal that was sticking out from the pavement, and threw the rest of the rope down the hole.
"You know, that's how people die in horror films" commented Matt as E began to shimmy through the gap.
"Really? I can't say I've ever seen one" Chuckled E.
"Yes. IT has a famous scene in it where a murderous clown taunts people down a hole like that, and then kills them" admitted Matt.
"Well, there are no killer clowns in this one, I promise".

E began to lower herself down into the sewer, and once she had reached the bottom, Matt made his descent.
Once he had joined her, he handed back her torch.
"Thanks" she mumbled.
"God, it really stinks down here" complained Matt as he wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"Yeah, I know, but just try not to think too much about what we are walking in. And don't worry about ruining the clothes, because we can just burn them once we are out of here" replied E.
Matt looked down at their feet and shuddered.
E ripped a piece of fabric off her dress and handed it to Matt, before making another for herself and tying in around her face, which decreased the amount bad smell that reached her nostrils.

"If you think this is bad, you'd hate the ones in Paris" admitted E, as she began walking down the sewer.
"You've been to the catacombs in Paris? The ones that have dead bodies covering the walls?" Questioned Matt.
"Well, they are just skeletons because they've been dead for so long, you don't actually see any flesh. But yes, I have been there" revealed E.
"You're braver than me then- Wait, shouldn't we tie up some string or something, so that we can, find our way back up to the surface? I don't want to get lost down here"
"I don't plan on spending anymore time down here than I have to, so when we are done I'm just going to open an anomaly to get us back to my house"
"Can you make an anomaly down here then? The walls aren't resistant to anomalies are they?"
"No, it's fine. Anomaly resistant metal is very rare, and definitely not what these walls are made of. Trust me Matt, I know what I'm doing. We are going to be fine".

"I do trust you" informed Matt.
"Good" replied E.
"So, what are we looking for down here?" Asked Matt.
"An alcove, or room, something like that. I just need somewhere that isn't a direct part of the underground, to hide the documents in" answered E.
"Alright then, let's pick up the pace, because I really don't like it down here"
"Eye eye captain".

20 minutes later they found a locked door on their left.
E managed to prise it open, and inside they found a small maintenance room.
"This will do" announced E.
"So, we just leave the documents here?" Questioned Matt.
E rolled her eyes, "Sometimes you really are clueless".
She got down onto her hands and knees and crawled into the corner of the room.
After running her hands across the floor, E found a spot that she liked. So she removed a square object from her bag about the size of a book, and placed into onto the floor.
"What's that?" Asked Matt curiously.
"Wait and see" replied E.

After pressing numerous buttons on the device it turned green, before dissolving a section of the floor beneath it.
The device fell into the hole it had just created, which was about half a metre deep, and 40cm wide.
E picked up the device and then placed the documents, which were wrapped in cloth, inside the hole.
After taking note of the exact location with her watch, she held the device above the hole, and pressed another button, making it go blue, as it filled the hole back up.
"That is amazing" admitted Matt.
"Thank you" mumbled E as she stood to her feet.

"How does it work?" Matt asked curiously.
"Well, you type in how much you want to remove, and the device uses anomaly tech to move it to another place. And once you're done, it simply, calls back the amount you need to fill the hole" revealed E.
"It's pretty incredible" praised Matt.
"I know, and it saves us having to dig a big hole by hand"
"Yeah, that wouldn't be fun"
"No... I just pray that the documents survive the trip through time. There's no guarantee they will still be here, when we come for them. And even if they are, it will definitely not be as easy to retrieve them, as it was to place them here".

"So, what do we do now?" Quizzed Matt.
"Well, once we've gone home and changed, we hop to the 1960's and find out if the documents are still here. We then bury them back up along with the rest of the ones we wrote earlier for that time period on normal paper. Then we return to the present and go with Lester to retrieve them" replied E.
"What do we do if they aren't there?"
"Then we will be back at square one. We will have to re-write the documents, and I will have to hide them somewhere else, and check on them every decade or so to make sure that they are still there. But I really hope that it doesn't come to that, because that is going to require a lot more effort".