Abrams reached into a pouch and pulled free a glow stick, cracked it and then shook it. It phosphoresced a bright lemon yellow, illuminating the entire platform they stood upon. He held it out. “Get ready to start counting.” He dropped it over the edge.

It fell, and fell, and eventually struck bottom as a tiny dot.

“How long?” Abrams asked.

“Eleven seconds – what does that make it?” Matt asked.

“Not too bad,” Abrams said. “Given things fall about thirty-two feet per second, and ignoring wind resistance, I put it at about three-fifty feet down.”

He leaned out even further over the edge and looked down. “What the hell?” The dot of yellow light was moving.

“Well, someone is home,” Matt said, feeling his stomach flip nervously at the thought of who, or what could be down there. “Could be Drummond…or maybe it’s Adira,” he said hopefully. “We should get Hartogg and Andy.”

Abrams nodded. “Agreed; at least to see if they found anything.” He went to turn away, but stopped. “Hang on; looks like we don’t have to.” He pointed.

About two hundred feet down and further along the wall, standing still as a post in one of the cave doorways, stood Andy and Tania, side-by-side, entwined, and naked. They stared back at them.

“What the hell is this?” Abrams growled in his throat.

“I thought she was dead.” Matt felt confused, and recalled the piece of face in the upper tunnel. “Maybe it wasn’t her.” He looked up and snorted. “Andy sure didn’t waste any time.” He waved, but neither Andy nor Tania returned the gesture. “Can they see us?” He lowered his arm. “If they’ve found Tania, maybe she can lead us to Drummond, and the Book.”

“Where the hell is Hartogg?” Abrams lifted a small pair of field glasses and focused in on the pair. “You know, I’ve seen something like this before.”

“Andy.” Matt only raised his voice above a whisper, but it still bounced around in the huge cavern, and should have carried to the geologist. The young man didn’t seem to hear, or if he did, still didn’t acknowledge them. He just stood there, hugging Tania, and staring back as though he was a wax dummy.

“Help me.”

The words floated up to Matt and Abrams. Matt swung to the Major. “Did you hear that? That sounded like Tania.”

Abrams was frowning as he pulled the glasses away from his face. “Oh no, god no…”

Matt started to jog down along the path.

“Hey.” Abrams took off after him, keeping close to the wall.

Andy and Tania stood in the cave doorway, waiting. Both had turned to Matt as he approached them along the steps. Matt held his flashlight out, lifting it from the path to the naked pair. He noticed they hugged each other tightly, and seemed to glisten in his light beam.

Matt stopped a dozen feet back, breathing hard. They just stood watching him, or at least facing in his direction. Neither moved a muscle and he started to feel a slight rise of the hair on the back of his neck. “Hey buddy, how are you?”