Chapter 16: Sleeping quarters

Señorita Maria guides me down the passage. My chain is attached to a runner that glides along the rail like a curtain hook. I soon discover that it is easier to hold the end of the chain near the runner so that it doesn’t drag behind me. Apparently this is the correct method of moving about. In some places the rail is above me, and in others at shoulder height beside me. We follow the passage for about thirty feet before we are brought to a halt when we come face to face with a young woman wearing a similar outfit to me. She’s fastened to the same rail as me, so I can’t see how we are going to pass her.

The ingenuity of the rail system is impressive even though I can’t understand the need for it. Every twenty feet or so there is a small switching device on the rail, like a turnout on a railway. By changing the rail the runner is moving along, it’s possible to slide the runner onto a short dead-end section of rail. The other person can then pass. The process can get very intimate considering we need to squeeze by each other without tangling our chains. Once a crossover has been achieved, reversing the process enables the runner to be reconnected to the main rail and the journey continued. Junctions in the rail network work in a similar way enabling those of us chained to the rail to go to different places without ever being free of our restraints. At several places, Señorita Maria has me switch my chain’s runner to a different rail.

We journey deeper into the network of passages worming their way through the rock. The scientist in me recognises the rock as volcanic, with several strata of lava visible in some places. Some of these passages could be natural volcanic tubes created during an ancient eruption.

“Don’t worry, Slave Laura,” laughs Señorita Maria when she sees me studying the volcanic strata. “This lava is tens of thousands of years old. The Teide volcano is extinct.”

She’s wrong. I’m tempted to correct Señorita Maria but I remember the house rule that I may only speak in order to answer a direct question. Teide isn’t extinct, but dormant. It last erupted in 1909, and 1798 before that. The chances of me being here when it blows again are negligible, but it will erupt again one day. I think this fortnight is going to contain enough excitement without an erupting volcano as well.

Not all passages we pass have a rail system installed, so I presume those are out of bounds to ‘slaves’. A few hundred feet from the cave entrance we reach a wide underground cavern with a pool in the centre. Subdued lighting illuminates most of the cavern. A narrow gallery, about shoulder height to those on the cavern floor, runs around the outer edge of the cavern. From my elevated position, I can see that there are five other ‘slaves’ sitting or standing at different places around the cavern. All are dressed and restrained in the same way I am.

“This is your sleeping area, Slave Laura,” says Señorita Maria when we reach a place in the gallery opposite an empty segment of the cavern floor below. “Your Mistress will come to fetch you when she’s ready.”

Señorita Maria guides the runner of my chain onto a side branch of the rail network. Then she uses a key to lock a blocking device on the rail. While others can move along the gallery, I cannot move beyond the area designated as my sleeping quarters. I think of it as a prison cell even though there are no bars or doors. Señorita Maria repositions a ladder, stored against the gallery wall, to enable me to climb down to the cavern floor. The rail to which I’m attached runs vertically to floor of the cavern, and then in a straight line towards the pool. Señorita removes the ladder before leaving me to explore my new prison.

The cavern wall is rough volcanic rock. While I could scramble back up to the gallery, I would likely injure myself in the process. Climbing over rough volcanic rock dressed as I am is a quick way to cut my skin to ribbons. And even if I could reach the gallery, I cannot go anywhere because of the blocking device on the rail. I go back to exploring my cell. The rail is set in a groove in the floor. The length of my chain forces me to stoop as I walk about. A couple of short branches in the rail line mean I can reach everything easily. However, any physical contact with my neighbours will be impossible, and talking to each other is strictly forbidden. I look around for cameras monitoring the cavern, but I can’t see any.

My cell looks remarkably comfortable given its location and purpose. The bed has a soft clean mattress and the sheets are freshly laundered. A pretty duvet is laid across the foot of the bed. I have my own composting toilet, albeit with no privacy. Washing and bathing is done in the pool, out-of-reach of anyone else. Several bottles of drinking water, and sealed packets of food, are laid out on a small board that must double as my personal table.