Jim kissed the picture and stuck it in his breast pocket, patting it. He finally pulled free his favorite mining helmet – cast iron, yellow and battered, and with his name and title engraved across the front. He’d had it for years, and it had brought him luck for every single one of them. He put it on.

Satisfied, he stood and drew in a deep breath. Jim Granger stepped forward, but then paused. He’d told the group what he was doing, but few knew exactly where he was going. He looked around, and then crouched to pick up a shard of stone. He used it to scrape and scratch at the hard granite wall just inside on a flat surface, going over his lettering again and again until the sheet of diorite now carried his message deep enough not to be obliterated by the weather. At least for a century or two; after that, I’ll just be another fossil, he thought, grinning. He finished and leant back to admire his work.

Jim Granger went in here – 12 Oct 52.

“If I’m lost, a good signpost for my searchers, and if I’m not, an unforgivable piece of graffiti.”

He tossed the rock over his shoulder, not waiting to hear it strike stone or water, hundreds of feet below.

“Wish me luck, Vie.” He started in.

His first impression: old, very old, and though dry at the cave mouth, he could smell salt and dampness further in. He readied his carbide lamp, carefully turning a small knob to allow water to drip onto the carbide pellets in its base. The lamp immediately started to release trapped acetylene that was then piped to a wick. He hated using the carbide lantern as the gas was highly flammable, and worse, the temperamental bastards were prone to exploding – not great in an enclosed environment. But they were the most reliable lamps available, and also their illumination lasted many hours. He’d save his flashlight for emergencies, as the batteries ran out within a few minutes.

Granger eased himself along the fissure for the first twenty feet. It was narrow and steep, and he found he was quickly descending at an angle of about forty degrees before it flattened and opened out. He walked slowly, stopping often, a smile on his face as he lifted the lantern high to examine the indentations in the wall. The striations showed different lines of sediment that had compressed down to layers of color in the stone.