Chapter 36

As she spoke, there came a rumble through the cave; a deep and long penetrating sound that they had never heard before. It appeared threatening, but there was nothing to see in the lit part of the cave: no dust, no stones, no streams of water, just noise.

They all halted where they stood, confused and frightened. Even John was startled into rigidity as his body automatically prepared him for flight or attack. He had no idea what was happening.

Raka was most familiar with the rear of the cave, and warned, “The water – will it come through to here? Are we safe?”

Sheila called out in despair: “The library? Is it okay, does anyone know?”

John was suddenly more interested in the time connection. “Is the map still with us, or has it gone?”

All these questions needed answers, and the water from the pool was the immediate concern. Numa ordered, “Everyone keep clear of the back of the cave; there might be a flood if the pool has been disturbed.”

There was a quick shuffle of families and individuals as everyone moved to the higher levels of the front cave, in case anything came rushing through. Young children were grabbed to protect them.

There was a tense period immediately following, like people waiting for a tsunami after the sea had drawn back from the shore. Most expected to hear the sound of water pouring through, but nothing came. There was an almost empty silence instead, emphasised by a single low echo of the earlier deep rumble, dying away inside the cave’s darkness. The cave was not large enough to support multiple echoes.

Knowing that any flow of water would have arrived in seconds if it had been coming, John moved to go towards the blackness, but was warned by Raka, “John! You’ll need light. The cave may have changed, so you need to see what is around, especially at your feet.”

Vickie also reminded him, “Your string back there may have snapped, John. You had better get a new string to mark where you are going.”

These commonsense strictures halted John, and he agreed to wait until both were made ready for him. No-one else volunteered to explore the darkness at the back of the cave, for such sounds usually meant a collapse of some kind, and a dangerous place as a result. Life was safer if you saw to preparing a light or a string, so there was no shortage of volunteers for these. Raka took on the vital job of carefully tying shorter lengths together to extend the reach of the string, until she was happy that it was long enough and strong enough to do the job.

When John tied the string round his middle, and picked up the oil lamp, Raka told him with finality, “You don’t go alone, John. What if something should happen to you? You need someone to be able to help if there is a problem, or call for help. I will come with you.”

John went to object, but Numa decided, “Raka will go with you, husband, close behind you. It is my decision as Chief.”

John shrugged, defeated before he could start. “Okay. Raka, get another lamp and another length of twine. I will wait until you have these.”

Raka called to Vickie, “Lamp and string, please, Vickie.”

Vickie at once brought over a second lamp, and a large coil of string. She looked at the surprised John and informed him, “Raka has been prepared for such an eventuality.”

“I think I am outnumbered here,” John smiled stoically as he said this. He stood to one side as Raka lit her lamp and slung her coil of string over one shoulder. Her diminutive size made no difference to her determination.

They set off, cautiously moving into the dark, quiet part of the cave.

John’s flickering oil lamp showed the old string still in position, so he followed it slowly, ready to react to anything different from expected.

The first dozen steps to the nearest bend were perfectly normal, then the string stopped. It looked cut off neatly, as if with a sharp knife. There was nothing beyond it, just empty floor. John stopped and looked around him, trying to see what else was different apart from the string. John fastened his new string to the cut-off section of the old string, and hoped for the best.

The walls looked the same, but one wall in a dark cave looks like any other. The route continued, much as John expected, so he took a step forward, beyond the cut-off string. He felt no different, so he crouched down and tied his own string to the cut-off end. They would proceed from there, paying out their newer marker twine. He would look for other changes to the cave.

Another few steps, and he checked that Raka was still right with him.

She was, and she spoke.

“John, the passage is wider here than before, and the walls, they are sort of flatter, more even.”

“It is? I hadn’t been looking.”

“I am more often here than you. I wonder if the pool of water is still there?”

“You mean, you think the cave shape has changed?”

“I was guessing that was the noise we heard; a movement in the rock. How and why it changed, I can’t make a single guess, but I hope the floor hasn’t dropped away; that could be dangerous.”

“Ah, yes. Good advice. I’ll take it one step at a time, and check my footing each time I move.”

He moved ahead, watching the floor and keeping a hand stretched out to touch one wall as he went further in. “Raka, would you touch the other wall, and let me know if the size of the passage has changed, or anything else?”

She moved to do this, and the combined lamps also gave a better glimpse of their surroundings. John glanced at the wall nearest him, and thought, “That’s been chiselled by a power tool!”

Somehow or other, back at his own time, someone had remodelled the walls and was able to replicate the result back in this time, much as the cave had originally been adapted to help him on his arrival. He wondered what else had now altered. Would the library still be with them? He trusted it would, for it was a vital asset for the future.

It was with trepidation that he continued into the darkness, his little lamp doing its best to illuminate the surroundings, but with almost no success. The walls had by now receded in every direction away from them.

“Raka, baby, this cave just expanded, drastically.”

“You have it there, John. It was never so large before. What way do you want to go? Left wall, right wall, or straight ahead into the unknown?”

“I’d love to risk the unknown, but the floor may not be there. Choose the left wall, and we will see where it takes us.” Raka was on his left.

They shuffled round the side of the cavern, seeing little apart from the wall and darkness, until out of the gloom John spotted another wall off towards the other side of the enlarged cavern. Or, rather, it was what looked like a wall. It had a corner visible before retreating towards their own wall.

As they moved along farther, the light illuminated the stretch of wall. It seemed to be the opposite wall of the rear cave, but had to be too close, when you remembered the vastness of the space nearer the exit. This was almost like a projection from the back of the cave.

Noticing that the floor seemed level over to the projection, John suggested, “How about we go across to that wall, and along to that corner that was visible back a bit?”

“Okay by me, John.” She had adopted from John, Vickie and Sheila the O.K./okay term for agreement. It did not have an exact equivalent abbreviation in the local language, so using it made sense.

They stepped carefully across, angling towards that mysterious corner. Getting there, John found that it was pretty well a right-angled corner, with a level wall going on from it. He followed this line and about a dozen feet further on, found another right-angled corner, taking them back in again. He was bemused by this apparently designed squarish shape at this part of the cave. He didn’t know if the further back area with the pool and the library still existed.

The pool did. He nearly stepped into it, as his attention was on the opposite wall where he hoped to see the tunnel to the library.

“Raka. The pool is still here, thank God.”

“God?”

“Sorry: Thank the Earth Mother, I meant. God is the equivalent deity back in my time.”

“What is she like, as a deity?”

“Oh, much the same as Earth Mother, but usually seen as male: all-powerful and omniscient, but normally not intruding into everyday life. We have to make our own way through life, not having our hands held for us.”

Raka asked him, “Is that not the same as there being nobody there?”

“Yes, but it is the same with other things in life. Your perfect man or woman is supposedly out there, someplace, but you end up having to manage with an imperfect spouse in the end,” John grinned in the dark. “It doesn’t stop a girl believing in the perfect man for her.”

Raka was not going to let him away with that.

“John Hunter! I was not looking for a perfect man! I saw what you were, and decided I wanted to be part of that; perfect or not. You were the best man I had seen, or am ever likely to see. I am happy with what I have: you and our baby on the way. You are an interesting man.”

“Yes, dear. I am happy with you as well: you are a real asset to our family, as near perfect as I could hope for.”

“Talking of assets, what about this pool of water? Is it as sweet water as before, or tainted by the changes in the rock?”

John crouched down and swept a cupped hand into the pool and lifted it to his lips for a taste.

“Seems as good as before, Raka. I hope the entrance for the water, and its exit, is also as before.”

“We’ll know soon enough. Is the tunnel to the library still in existence?”

“I need to move to the other side, away from the pool, to check that out. Stay where you are and lift your light, so that I can orient myself on your position.”

Ass she did so, John shuffled himself over towards the spot where he remembered the tunnel being. He saw the opposite wall, and the darker patch of wall was what he thought would be the tunnel. He angled more to that spot, and ascertained that it was indeed the entrance to a tunnel.

“Raka? I have found a tunnel, hopefully the same one. Can you make your way over here, and then I’ll go inside to look for the library?”

She hurried towards him, then exclaimed, “Ow!” and stopped. John called over to her, “Are you injured, Raka? Do you need help?”

“I hit a stone with my foot. Just when I had concluded that there were no obstructions for our feet!”

“Are you still able to walk, or do you want me to come back for you?”

“I’ll live; I am a tough lady, John. I may take a little longer in getting to you, that’s all.”

He waited for her to get to him, and when she arrived, gave her a hug and a gentle kiss. She reciprocated, then shook him off.

“Duty, John. Check out that tunnel.”

“Yes, dear. Right away.”

He edged slowly into the tunnel, which seemed the same size as before. He hoped it was not longer than the last time, but as he moved further in, his lamplight showed up the barrier which hid the library. Getting to it, the hole for opening it was still there and he tried it.

The door opened, and the interior light showed the contents apparently unchanged. He sighed with relief and called back to Raka.

“It seems to be unchanged, Raka.”

Her response showed her practical approach to life. “So, part of the cave is the same, and part is different. What can we say about the part that is different, John?”

He closed the library door and moved back down the tunnel to join Raka. Getting there, he stared across at the projecting section that had not been there in the past when they had explored the cave’s dark recesses.

“It appears to be an approximately square rocky projection from the back of the cave.” He lifted his lamp to look upwards in its direction. “The link to the ceiling makes it seem that the projecting rock is part of the cave structure; so it is either solid, or has been built to appear to be solid. I need to look at it more closely, Raka.”

She took hold of his arm. “We’ll go together, and use both lamps to see better.”

They paced their way slowly across, and John and Raka held their lamps high and close to the rock wall, so that they could inspect it thoroughly. The wall appeared rough but bereft of interest, and they moved slowly along, turning the corner to the next side; the wall facing the cave entrance.

John directed his light high and low, looking for anything out of the ordinary for a rock wall; regularities, smooth patches, unnatural marks, anything which said to him: artificial. There had to be some reason for this squareness about the projecting wall; the structure was something which spoke to him as interposed from the future.

It had been done before, so why not again, even if he knew it was no longer the original instigators that were involved. SOMEONE had access to the technology.

As his scanning of the surface reached the middle of the projection’s frontage, he at last saw what he was searching for. English words incised into the surface: small but noticeable if you know what they were.

“Open here – knife as key – turn R.” The message was coded English; a limited number of readers would know what it meant.

Well, to him the instruction was clear enough, if there was a keyhole to insert his knife blade. There was; a narrow keyhole in the shape of the blade of a knife parallel to the floor. Only a steel blade from his time could fit here, so that proved where the instruction came from. There was nothing to indicate who it was intended for, but such was not necessary. Only John, Vickie and Sheila could read the code by the hole, and only one of them would know what knife was meant. A flint knife would not fit, and probably it was keyed to only accept a steel blade anyway.

He moved to allow Raka to see what he had found. She could not read English, but she knew enough about John’s native language to be able to recognise it as such.

“John; that is words in your language! What do they mean?”

“They tell me that the thin slot below the words is a hole where I must insert my knife blade.”

“Why would you stick you knife in there? You are not trying to kill the wall, are you?”

John guffawed in his surprise.

“In a way, you are right, Raka. I have to stab the wall through this thin hole, but not to kill the wall. Instead, it should open the wall.”

“What? Like the door of the library?”

“Yes, the same idea: it restricts access. Now, step back to a safe distance while I try this.”

“What is a safe distance, my love?”

“As I don’t know how big an opening we will find, I would say move at least as far as my body would reach, lying down. There is probably a door that will open out. I don’t know if it will have an anti-tampering device, but once my knife is inserted, I am going to keep well to the side as a precaution. I don’t expect a dangerous device like that, but you never know.”

Raka moved to the distance John had specified, plus a little more, but still close enough for her lamp to add to John’s light. She didn’t know enough to be scared, but she trusted John to take care of her inside the cave.

John moved closer and produced his knife from its sheath. He turned it so that the sharp edge matched the narrowest part of the slot. He pushed it in, and it slid smoothly, up to the hilt. Nothing else happened as he waited. The penny dropped at last: follow the instructions.

Remembering the order: ‘turn R’, he twisted the blade to the right, and the lock moved round easily until the mechanism clicked into place.

This must have been effectively a switch, for the door took over and swung smoothly and silently open outwards. The inside was lit, probably as a fridge light is switched on by the opening of the refrigerator door. The light was much brighter than John expected, and his eyesight was blinded temporarily by the relative brilliance. Raka was similarly affected, and exclaimed, “Magic!”

John was annoyed, and scolded her, “No more magic than my metal knife, Raka. It is simply man-made fire without any flame; it won’t catch fire.”

In a little while their eyes had become used to the higher lighting level inside the room, and they entered to discover what was there. There was not much space for people to stand, for it was jammed with stuff. The walls of the room appeared to have shelving all round, with packages, bottles and boxes of stuff laid out on them. The way other boxes, etc were piled up in front made it difficult to tell what was behind the stacks and how far back the shelves went. On the floor just before the door was a wooden cabinet with four drawers. The top drawer was full of knives of various kinds. The second contained cooking implements. The third was stuffed with an assortment of cosmetics and feminine products. The last was a drawer full of woodworking tools. The top surface of the cabinet had a map inlaid under toughened glass, at a smaller scale than the previous wall map, so able to show a wider area of countryside, including the coastline where the fisher village was situated, but no villages were shown, for the makers had no knowledge of such tribal villages in this era. The data on the map could only be derived from the time of the mapmakers. They would have to add their own data to the map.

There were several other similar chests next to the cabinet with the map. John did not open any of them. There would be time for that, if this room was a permanent addition to the cave.

Lying on top of the mapwas a closed envelope with something inside. John opened it and found a letter saying,

Dear Mr Hunter, we were able to restore the technology used to convert this cave to what you found originally, and have adapted it to what you have now found. There will be no more changes.

The contents of this room are our gift to you and the ladies, as an apology for being unable to bring anyone back to our time. It appears, say the experts, that where you are is not in our and your past, but an alternate timeline, making the matter very complicated, and more so as soon as you interact with your present surroundings. According to the theorists here, every change makes the direct return incredibly complicated, and so by now retrieval is most emphatically impossible.

That is why we are able to donate some supplies to you for your future benefit without concern for what might happen at this end. Whatever you can manage to do to improve humanity’s lot will assist your new timeline, but have no effect on the original timeline you were sent from. Good luck.

The missing FBI agent, Miss Jean Harris, was at first presumed dead, but it has now been suggested that possibly she was forcibly despatched into the past to join you and get rid of her permanently, and so she may be alive in your time. If that is the case and she is with you, inform her that her service has been much appreciated, and her name will be remembered in FBI annals. She will be recorded as missing in action, rather than dead.

This is as much as we dare do for you. The mechanism that enabled the cave to be altered in what is your time, will now be dismantled and destroyed, to prevent any future criminal use of the technology. We have decided that this scientific advance must be abandoned, and written up as a failed project, not to be repeated.

Thus, you will hear no more from your time, which is not part of your own timeline any longer.

Farewell.

John laid down the letter, folded it again and returned it to its envelope, for later reading by Vickie, Sheila and especially Jean Harris. It could remain in this room until then.

Raka touched John on the arm, “John? What is it, that peculiar stuff you are holding?”

He told Raka, “It is a material that records words from my original homeland. These words tell us that this is the last we will hear from them. This room has been stocked with tools, weapons, and other things for our later employment. I hope they made good use of the opportunity and thought about our needs; those of you ladies as well as mine. I will examine it in future days, but not now.

For the moment, we will close this place up, and see if any other changes have been made to this part of the cave.”

They walked back to the doorway and stepped outside. John examined the strong hinges before swinging the door disguised as a wall surface closed. In the semi-darkness of the two small oil lamps, he locked it again with his knife, and withdrew the knife.

Raka queried, “Are we going to look farther back, to the rear of the blackness, John?”

“I think we have done enough investigation back there for the moment, Raka. I would prefer to check the water supply. We can cut off the string here, and tie it to that stone you kicked, so we can find the spot again.”

Raka hunted around for the stone, and found it had rolled nearer to the pool. She carried it back to where John held the string, and tied it carefully with one of the knots she knew did not come loose.

When they returned to the pool, the small raft from a past visit was absent, so they had no obvious means of estimating water movement. John had an idea. He cut off a small piece of string from his remaining coil, and held it out over the water before dropping it.

They watched to see if it moved, and if so, which way. It hesitated, then slowly drifted towards the far wall of the pool. Raka was satisfied. “The water is till behaving as before, so it appears the inlet and outlet are both working properly.”

“It seems so, Raka. Well observed.”

“I have learned from you, John, of the principle of cause and effect. That water movement told me what I needed to know. What else do we need to look for?”

“Nothing else that I can think of. This should be our excuse to return to the light. The others will want to know that we found nothing dangerous.”

“That is so, husband. Let us go and inform them that all is well.”

They made their way back to the lit area, and were welcomed with smiles of relief. Raka announced that all was well.”

“We have been through most of the darkness, and apart from a few minor changes, all is as before. The map on the wall was not found, though.”

“Pity,” Numa voiced. “That map was helpful at times.”

John smiled gleefully, “Then let me tell you that there is a new map, smaller but showing a wider chunk of countryside; just no villages on it.”

“That sounds great! Can I go look at it?”

“Not for the moment. It is not on the wall, but inside a locked room. Think of that as a cave within the cave, but with a door like the library has, only bigger.”

“How odd. Why would you want a cave within a cave? And with a door?”

“It is not my doing. The people back in my time made it for me, for us. The door is to stop unwanted people getting into it. It is full of things like weapons and tools, and other things, some of which you ladies might like.”

Sheila intruded, “I think you are implying it might be like shopping!”

“It has that cachet to it. It has a bunch of cosmetics in a drawer: I don’t know what all is there, but if you are lucky, there may be feminine products included.”

She squealed. “Vickie, you have got to hear this!”

Vickie came over and raised an eyebrow at Sheila.

Sheila said, “John has found a room with a passel of stuff, including feminine products, he thinks.”

“Wow! I’m for that, Sheila. When?” She looked at John in expectation.

“Next day or so. It is all in a large locked room, so we have to take things slowly. It is not a high street store, where you have plenty of choice and loads of everything. This stuff has to last for ever.”

Vickie’s face fell. “Don’t tell me it has pads we have to wash out and re-use?”

“I have no idea what all is there, Vickie. I just got a quick look, and that was it.”

“You had better find me some modern tampons, my man, or I will be disappointed.”

“I suppose it will depend on who packed the drawer, Vickie. It was not me! I only found the stuff.”

“Well, we won’t need them for months yet; not till after we have our babies. And I don’t want to have one baby right after another; too much hassle. I want a good break in between sprouts, so I hope your drawer includes birth control pills.”

“Uh ... so do I, Vickie. I don’t want us to be up to our eyes in children; just enough to be happy with.”

“Just so you know, John, we don’t run to a maternity hospital here.”

“Yes, dear. I will look for a set of childbirth medical instruments in the locked room. We do have at least one book on childbirth in the library, don’t we?”

“Not exactly. I have it out to read, and I am partway through it. It frightened me in places, but it emphasises that most births go without a hitch. Sheila and Jean will also need to read it.”

“Jean as well?” John queried. “You think she will come around?”

“She is bound to, for entirely logical reasons, apart from your persuasive pheromones.”

John grunted in agreement, adding, “There was a covering letter in the room, explaining why the roomful of resources. It said that as there was no link between what happens her and back there, anytghingthey can give us now will make no impact where they are.

As for Jean Harris, that they have come round to the idea that she got dumped back to here, so they asked me to pass on their thanks for her actions against the terrorists. Jean will be recorded in FBI archives as an excellent agent, missing in action.”

“Good for her,” Vickie declared. “She didn’t deserve to be dumped here with no say in the matter.”

Sheila interjected loudly, “Hey! That applies to me too. They were trying to get rid of me, as a nuisance to them. Admittedly, I WAS a nuisance, but I was still dumped without any choice.”

“Apologies, Sheila. You were in the same category, I agree. Thank goodness you are a different woman now!”

“What’s going on here?” Jean Harris appeared beside them, having heard the argument in English. Hearing any English spoken, attracted her attention. She was finding it heavy going, trying to absorb the local language on her own.

John told her, “The rumbling noise was the back cave reconfiguring itself. It now incorporates a large locked room full of what they feel are essentials for us to survive here. They have confirmed that we are in a new timeline, and that there can be no return to our original timeline. That means you, like us, are stuck here for life. They left a letter to me about it. They also said that they have come to the conclusion that they couldn’t find your body because you had been dumped into this past, just like Sheila was. If you were here and alive, they asked me to pass on their thanks for your work, and say the FBI annals will record your valuable service, with you noted as ‘missing in action’, instead of ‘deceased’.”

Jean’s face first fell, then recovered, and finally adopted a sad smile at the record that would be left, without her ever getting home. John decided to cheer her up.

“Jean, the letter is in the locked room. You can get to see it and read it for yourself; they really appreciated what you did for them.”

“Thank you, John.” She next came up to him and gave him a wordless hug; the most she had ever shown in the way of affection; then stepped back and left to go stand at the cave entrance, staring out at the stone age world out there. It was forever her world now; it made her think.

Without firearms, she was reduced to whatever weapons she could learn to use; the spear, bow and arrows, and a knife. Not all that much, she concluded, but then remembered that any opponent would be similarly disadvantaged. Perhaps if she got to use John’s crossbow, that would help her to defend herself.

Thinking that way, she wondered if the locked room would include some crossbows. If so, she might get one of her own. Would John be willing to give her a crossbow? He would probably give priority to his wives, dammit.

Unless ... no, she could not envisage swapping use of her body for a weapon she could use. That would be too much like prostituting herself. She did not want to take on a man for life, without love involved in the transaction. Even more, as babies would probably be part of the deal, with no contraceptives available to purchase and prevent them.

She turned, walked back inside, and sought out one of the women who had been teaching her the local tongue. She had to learn this language, to be able to survive in this community where so few spoke English. She hoped that John’s much vaunted nanos would spread to her and provide the instantaneous translation service the others possessed. She refused to let him fuck her, just to gain those nanos more swiftly.

She found her teacher, and greeted her in the language, to show she had learned something and was keen to learn more. As she was stuck here, for ever, she might as well make a fist of it, and knowing the language was a first step.

The wives of John were also discussing weapons, with their own perceived needs. They all wanted crossbows, as these required less training to become proficient with the weapon. Longbows needed a lot of practice, and muscles were important too.