Reposting Chapters 7-10.
C h a p t e r S e v e n
The Room with the Water
‘Looks like water.’
I put the heavy gun on the floor, and stretch my aching arms. Carrying the gun was hard work, I have no idea how the guards manage it.
The only light in the room is weak and green, and it’s coming purely from the centre of the room – where an enormous lake-like pool has been carved, or built, into the metallic ground.
‘How is it making light?’ I murmur.
‘Oh, I’ve heard of this place,’ says Tom, ‘There are lots of lights in the water, so the workers can see what they’re doing. It’s apparently pretty dangerous stuff.’
‘Well, this room isn’t going to hold any answers. How do we get out of here?’
Looking around, I see nothing of use. The ladder we used to get down goes no further (in any direction), and the floor seems entirely flat up to where the lake begins.
‘What about an elevator? A door? The workers down here must have some way of getting around.’ Tom says.
‘I don’t know. Maybe on the other side of the water?’ There was no way around the water; it went from wall to wall but I was pretty sure I could a similar stretch of land on the other side.
‘Hmm… looks like we’d have to swim. But I’ve heard it’s dangerous…’
I move to the edge of the bank and peer into the water. It was emitting all the light in the room yet I could barely see anything through its depths. The light bulbs dotted around the walls were barely visible, and the only beams I could see where ones that broke the surface and lit above the water.
‘Why can’t I see in it properly?’ I ask, stupidly expecting Tom to know some answer.
‘Guy,’ he said mockingly, ‘perhaps it’s dirty? – you know, dust and stuff.’
‘…Yeah. So, we’re going to swim across?’
‘I guess so.’
‘Why exactly is it dangerous? Did you ever find out?’
‘Well… no,’ he concedes. ‘It can’t be that bad, if people work in it every day, can it?’
‘No, I don’t suppose it can. But… if they work here every day, where’s the Info Kiosk? Where are the tools? Where’s the dirt on the floor?’
‘Hmm… Well, we don’t know what sort of work they do,’ and he peers down into the water, tapping the surface with his toe. ‘It’s pretty cold.’
‘You know what Ian would-’ I begin, but neither of us follow it through. The memory is still too hard to bear, but then it’s been less than an hour…
Maybe Tom felt differently about water, but the thought of swimming across an unknown and exceptionally deep pool in the middle of the factory didn’t seem at all welcoming. I still wasn’t sure what this factory did, exactly, but, well, water could hold anything. It could even be a test site for dangerous chemicals…
‘Can you see any signs on the walls? Danger signs? Anything?’ I ask.
‘Well, there’s one over there,’ points Tom.
I look. Quite close to the water and around mudokon height was a rather large rectangular white sign. On it was emblazoned a blue image of water, but nothing more.
‘Useful,’ I mutter. ‘I guess I better get the gun.’
I turn and look at it – all black and only faintly visible in the light. It didn’t look dangerous now; it just looked like a scrap of metal, like a feature of the floor in any other part of the factory.
Picking up the gun, I once again remark to myself just how heavy it is. How was I supposed to swim with it? I need to use both arms to hold it…
‘I’m not so sure about this,’ I say to Tom.
‘We’ve got no choice now, I’m afraid!’ he smiles, before jumping as far out as he can into the pool.
After a brief moment during which he is under the water, his head breaks the surface and calls, ‘Come on Guy! You’ll get used to the coldness!’
‘It’s not the temperature I’m worrying about,’ I mutter to myself as I get ready to run.