Sonya’s stomach knotted from impatience as David Meltzer, their chief geologist, pulled yet another map up on his screen showing colored images of Alaskan geological striations. She paced.

“Thank you, Dr Meltzer, that’s all very interesting, but if I needed to reach a destination below ground quickly, how and where would you recommend I do it?”

He clasped his fingers together as he watched her move around his office. “As I said at the beginning of our meeting, you could excavate, which by traditional means would take between a few weeks to months. This all depends on the geology of course, which is why I was showing you the different morphological blends along the western coast.” He looked at her over his glasses. “Was this too much detail for your movie?”

“A little, it’s a balance thing; we need accuracy, but it doesn’t have to be so granular.” Sonya forced a smile. “The script calls for us being able to get down there quickly.”

“How quickly?” he tilted his head.

“Days, hours would be better?”

He snorted. “If you really wanted to accelerate that process, then I would suggest a targeted explosive charge.” He raised his eyebrows. “The military has significant ground-penetrating capabilities – take you down a thousand feet in a single blow, I understand.” He smiled.

Sonya’s gaze was flat. “And what would that do to someone a thousand and one feet below that detonation?”

He smoothed his tie. “Yes, I see, give them a bit of a headache, I would imagine. But this is fiction you’ll be shooting, right?”

“Of course. It’s that balance thing again. I’m looking for something fast, but a little less… lethal.” She paced again.

“You could halve the job, I suppose. You could travel down via one of the many caves. Alaska is famous for them. Meet them half way, so to speak.”

Sonya paused and turned. “Go on.”

“Well, you suggested your area of interest was the western coast. We have numerous caves along that geo-ridge; in fact hundreds.”

“I like it; narrow it down to deep ones only, please.” Sonya sat again.

He nodded. “There are over fifty that drop below two hundred feet.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere.” She stared. “But deeper.”

Meltzer closed his eyes and steepled his fingers over his belly as he spoke. “Well, there is the Mossy Abyss under Dell Island that runs to four hundred. Then there is the Snowhold and also the El Capitan Pit that both fall to around six hundred and fifty feet – that’s deep.” He peeked at her, as though checking she was still listening. Satisfied, he leant back, closing his eyes once again.

“And not forgetting the real biggie, the Viva Silva Cave on Heceta Island. Now that goes all the way down to eight hundred feet, and is fully accessible all the way. That’d be my choice.”