Tania stood looking down at it, her face hidden in the suit’s hood. “I don’t understand.” She held the flashlight up, illuminating the grisly cup – inside it was coated in black slime. “Did he get blown apart?” She looked from Matt to Andy.

Frank cleared his throat and took a few steps closer. He edged around Tania and to the wall. He placed a hand on the dirt where the skull came from. “So soft; strange. Maybe before, when the sinkhole started to fall, it was almost totally liquid, and Bill sort of…sank or floated in there. When it solidified, the geo-pressure tore him apart.” He shrugged. “We’re a long way down.”

Tania nodded slowly and looked back down at the remains of Bill Anderson in her hands. “I better bag this.” She walked past Andy and Matt, carefully carrying the skull fragment. Andy looked up at Frank, who nodded, and motioned for the two young men to follow her, before turning back to the wall. The two soldiers who were with them continued to remove debris, following them out with another couple of wheelbarrows full of soft soil.

Andy caught up to Tania and Matt. “That can happen.”

“Huh?” She looked bewildered.

“The soil…it can get liquid soft. If it was like liquid, he might have…”

“Really?” Matt waved an arm at the pit floor. “Look around, Andy.”

The geologist didn’t bother. “I know, I know, why isn’t everything else coated, or destroyed? Why is it only Bill and Margaret that have been…” he exhaled and shrugged “…I don’t know. Extracted?”

“He’s right,” Tania said. “Extracted, drawn in…and then pulled apart.” She called for a sample bag, and dropped the fragment in. Her face was creased with frustration. “Still doesn’t work for me, Mr Bennet. I was sent here for answers, and so far, I’ve got nothing.”

“Back to Mr Bennet now, is it? Hey, don’t get angry with me.” Andy straightened his visor. “Look, I agree there’s still a lot that doesn’t make sense, but at least we know what happened to the Andersons now.”

“No, we don’t. We know where bits of them ended up, and that’s about it,” she fired back.

“Okay, okay.” He held up his hands and straightened. “Tania, Captain Kovitz, I’m not sure we should go on. Getting dangerous in there. The soil is way too soft, and no matter how much we secure it, there’s a growing chance it’ll collapse on us.”

She turned, and after a few seconds nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll get this sample back to the lab.” She shrugged helplessly. “I’m sorry, Andy. But my boss isn’t going to be happy. I’m not exactly bringing him back any real answers.” She raised an eyebrow at Matt. “None of us are.”

Matt shrugged. “I agree, we’ve done all we can today, we should…” There came a grunt from Frank, and Matt saw Andy quickly look over his shoulder to the excavated hole, from which the older guy hadn’t yet emerged.