So, it turns out there are night-birds down in these tunnels, just to warn you. We may never meet them, but I'm afraid you're going to know that they're there. Waiting. Quietly, patiently, little black eyes gleaming, claws freshly sharpened, and hungry.
Protection The metal rungs descended maybe fifteen metres and then finished a metre above the ground so they each jumped off in turn, though the Inspectral didn’t bother climbing; he just sank downwards and stopped fractionally above the floor. The room around them was roughly octahedral: the walls, floor and ceiling were large slabs of grey concrete and industrial lighting was placed just far enough apart to create shadows being pools of light. Two tunnels led off, set at right angles to one another, but only one had two pairs of footprints clearly visible in the dust. “We can clearly see where they went,” said Adams, sounding confidant. She took a couple of steps towards the footprints and peered along the tunnel. “Check the other tunnel, please, Ethel,” said the Inspectral. “There may be more down here than we expect.” Adams turned, her eyes narrowing. “What are we expecting?” she said, but she was watching Ethel walk to the other tunnel, kneel down and run his hand over the floor. Collins took a step back, his brain recognising that the Inspectral was making another point about Adams’s assumptions and unwilling to be near the firing line. “Bats,” said the Inspectral. “In all of the blasted towns, there were bats living near the Devices. We never worked out why.” “Clean as whistle,” said Ethel, standing up and holding his hand out. Adams’s face contorted into a snarl, and she turned quickly away from them. “Aha,” she said a moment later, her voice perfectly level. “So we know where they want us to think they’ve gone.” “It would certainly seem that way,” said the Inspectral. “I wonder which of them did the sweeping; Tony was a lazy bastard and William prefers to delegate.” “It would need to be both of them,” said Ethel. “Like I said, clean as a whistle; you only get that if you water the dust first.” “Or vacuum it up,” said Collins. He realised with surprise that he’d spoken aloud. “Good point, boy,” said Ethel cheerily. “Faster too. Hah, we’re showing our age, Harold!” “You might be,” said the Inspectral. “Let’s move; not too fast, though. Adams has pointed out that there are signs that things down here might be trapped. Collins’s bracelet provides us with some protection against ghosts, but these are sadly both still living.” “Those bats,” said Adams, sounding thoughtful. “Are they going to give us away?” “I doubt it,” said Ethel. “So long as we don’t panic them they’ll probably do little more that flitter around us and see if we’re food. And we’re not.” “We’re not. That’s right, we’re not.” She looked around. “Who’s going first?” “You are,” said the Inspectral. “Same order as on the ladder, please.”
I like Collins taking a step back, that's a nice detail. And it's fine and well to not be food for bats, but they can still creep you the hell out with their... existence.
2 comments:
So, it turns out there are night-birds down in these tunnels, just to warn you. We may never meet them, but I'm afraid you're going to know that they're there. Waiting. Quietly, patiently, little black eyes gleaming, claws freshly sharpened, and hungry.
Protection
The metal rungs descended maybe fifteen metres and then finished a metre above the ground so they each jumped off in turn, though the Inspectral didn’t bother climbing; he just sank downwards and stopped fractionally above the floor. The room around them was roughly octahedral: the walls, floor and ceiling were large slabs of grey concrete and industrial lighting was placed just far enough apart to create shadows being pools of light. Two tunnels led off, set at right angles to one another, but only one had two pairs of footprints clearly visible in the dust.
“We can clearly see where they went,” said Adams, sounding confidant. She took a couple of steps towards the footprints and peered along the tunnel.
“Check the other tunnel, please, Ethel,” said the Inspectral. “There may be more down here than we expect.”
Adams turned, her eyes narrowing. “What are we expecting?” she said, but she was watching Ethel walk to the other tunnel, kneel down and run his hand over the floor. Collins took a step back, his brain recognising that the Inspectral was making another point about Adams’s assumptions and unwilling to be near the firing line.
“Bats,” said the Inspectral. “In all of the blasted towns, there were bats living near the Devices. We never worked out why.”
“Clean as whistle,” said Ethel, standing up and holding his hand out. Adams’s face contorted into a snarl, and she turned quickly away from them. “Aha,” she said a moment later, her voice perfectly level. “So we know where they want us to think they’ve gone.”
“It would certainly seem that way,” said the Inspectral. “I wonder which of them did the sweeping; Tony was a lazy bastard and William prefers to delegate.”
“It would need to be both of them,” said Ethel. “Like I said, clean as a whistle; you only get that if you water the dust first.”
“Or vacuum it up,” said Collins. He realised with surprise that he’d spoken aloud.
“Good point, boy,” said Ethel cheerily. “Faster too. Hah, we’re showing our age, Harold!”
“You might be,” said the Inspectral. “Let’s move; not too fast, though. Adams has pointed out that there are signs that things down here might be trapped. Collins’s bracelet provides us with some protection against ghosts, but these are sadly both still living.”
“Those bats,” said Adams, sounding thoughtful. “Are they going to give us away?”
“I doubt it,” said Ethel. “So long as we don’t panic them they’ll probably do little more that flitter around us and see if we’re food. And we’re not.”
“We’re not. That’s right, we’re not.” She looked around. “Who’s going first?”
“You are,” said the Inspectral. “Same order as on the ladder, please.”
Greg - sigh.
I like Collins taking a step back, that's a nice detail. And it's fine and well to not be food for bats, but they can still creep you the hell out with their... existence.
I suspect Adams understands.
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