she asked me.
“There must be millions,” I said, “but they’re miniscule. Far, far less than a centimeter. If you wanted to isolate one from the whole and examine it properly, you’d need the assistance of a very powerful microscope. Look at them all bunched together, steadily working. It’s a marvel of natural teamsmanship.”
“They certainly work together better than any humans I’ve ever met,” Liv remarked.
I swept my hand along the wall, cutting a swathe about a foot long where you could see the bare brown wall. Again motioning her to come forward, I raised up my hand in the torchlight. It was covered in brightly colored microscopic creatures. I felt like we were at a party and someone was passing around glitter. My entire hand glowed pink.
“Try it!” I said happily. “Go on and try it yourself.”
“Can you feel them wriggling?” said Olivia distastefully. “I can’t stand the feel of bugs.”
“You can’t feel a thing,” I said. “They’re just resting sedately.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” she said. Laughing, I grabbed her hand and ran it along the wall. She laughed and held it up to her face. It was pink. We high-fived.
“I wonder how many millions of glow-worms died for that high-five,” I said.
“No telling,” said Liv, rubbing her hand along the wall again and giving me another high-five. Bare spots were appearing all up and down the wall, but there would never be enough to threaten their numbers. Within a few hours the brown patches would turn to pink again, like a sidewalk buried underneath continually falling snow.
We kept on our way. For thousands of feet in front of us the tunnel glowed with glow-worms. The darkness that had engulfed us for the first several miles had completely vanished. It was like we were walking at noonday. Somehow this created a sense of tremendous anticipation, like we had reached the last lap of our journey and the thing we had been awaiting, had been seeking so zealously, was just around the corner.
The tunnel had run uniformly in one direction for many miles, but the path we were on now began twisting and turning at irregular intervals, first after 10 minutes of walking and then again after another 20 minutes. Oddly, this caused us to walk faster, which tired us out more quickly. It was an irrational feeling, but we couldn’t help thinking this change in the condition of our travels precipitated a turn in our fortunes.
“We’re almost there, I can feel it,” I said in a raspy voice, pulling Liv along by the hand.
“Henry, something just occurred to me,” she said.
I slowed almost to a standstill. “What’s up?”
“If we’re on the trail of your grandfather, and he clearly went in this direction,” she said slowly, “then… I don’t know if we’re going to find him alive.”
I stopped. This suspicion had been nagging at the back of my mind, but I hadn’t wanted to voice it. I had thought if I kept pushing it away, I might not have to confront it.
“He could be alive,” I said. “If there’s a sea down here, then there might be God-knows-what-else. There could be food provisions, there could be—”
“Henry, listen,” she said. “Please don’t take this as me trying to crush your dreams. I just don’t think anyone could have survived down here for over a month.”
“You don’t know,” I said, though even I was aware how
“There must be millions,” I said, “but they’re miniscule. Far, far less than a centimeter. If you wanted to isolate one from the whole and examine it properly, you’d need the assistance of a very powerful microscope. Look at them all bunched together, steadily working. It’s a marvel of natural teamsmanship.”
“They certainly work together better than any humans I’ve ever met,” Liv remarked.
I swept my hand along the wall, cutting a swathe about a foot long where you could see the bare brown wall. Again motioning her to come forward, I raised up my hand in the torchlight. It was covered in brightly colored microscopic creatures. I felt like we were at a party and someone was passing around glitter. My entire hand glowed pink.
“Try it!” I said happily. “Go on and try it yourself.”
“Can you feel them wriggling?” said Olivia distastefully. “I can’t stand the feel of bugs.”
“You can’t feel a thing,” I said. “They’re just resting sedately.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” she said. Laughing, I grabbed her hand and ran it along the wall. She laughed and held it up to her face. It was pink. We high-fived.
“I wonder how many millions of glow-worms died for that high-five,” I said.
“No telling,” said Liv, rubbing her hand along the wall again and giving me another high-five. Bare spots were appearing all up and down the wall, but there would never be enough to threaten their numbers. Within a few hours the brown patches would turn to pink again, like a sidewalk buried underneath continually falling snow.
We kept on our way. For thousands of feet in front of us the tunnel glowed with glow-worms. The darkness that had engulfed us for the first several miles had completely vanished. It was like we were walking at noonday. Somehow this created a sense of tremendous anticipation, like we had reached the last lap of our journey and the thing we had been awaiting, had been seeking so zealously, was just around the corner.
The tunnel had run uniformly in one direction for many miles, but the path we were on now began twisting and turning at irregular intervals, first after 10 minutes of walking and then again after another 20 minutes. Oddly, this caused us to walk faster, which tired us out more quickly. It was an irrational feeling, but we couldn’t help thinking this change in the condition of our travels precipitated a turn in our fortunes.
“We’re almost there, I can feel it,” I said in a raspy voice, pulling Liv along by the hand.
“Henry, something just occurred to me,” she said.
I slowed almost to a standstill. “What’s up?”
“If we’re on the trail of your grandfather, and he clearly went in this direction,” she said slowly, “then… I don’t know if we’re going to find him alive.”
I stopped. This suspicion had been nagging at the back of my mind, but I hadn’t wanted to voice it. I had thought if I kept pushing it away, I might not have to confront it.
“He could be alive,” I said. “If there’s a sea down here, then there might be God-knows-what-else. There could be food provisions, there could be—”
“Henry, listen,” she said. “Please don’t take this as me trying to crush your dreams. I just don’t think anyone could have survived down here for over a month.”
“You don’t know,” I said, though even I was aware how
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