Chapter 59

Day???

Adam was leaning in the open doorway when John walked up.

“You solve it already?” John asked hopefully.

Adam snorted. “I wish!”

“Oh? What happened?” John wanted to know.

Adam’s headshake was rueful. “You were right; it wasn’t that easy. After I pushed the octagon, there was a sound of lots of feet stomping around, and rock grinding like bricks rubbing together. While I was feeling my way over to the last button, I ran into a column that wasn’t there before. It was about a yard and a half from the corner, and a foot thick or so. I knew it was a mistake, but went ahead and pushed the skull anyway. No ‘too bad’ sound this time, but the footsteps and the grinding happened again. The column vanished too.”

“So, you think... ?” John led.

“That the last button is a reset, actually.” Adam announced. “I think I’m supposed to only use the first eight, then do something else. Obviously, I don’t know what, but something changed when I got to that point, so I need to figure it out.”

“We. We need to figure it out.” John asserted.

“Okay, we.” Adam said agreeably. “But I think that means you have to stay inside with me.”

“No problem.” John returned. “Let me tell Dulgan that I’m going to finish yours first, since I couldn’t see any way to get back to his door once we dive in. I’ll have to help him last, again.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Adam offered.

John was halfway to the Dwarf when he heard an unmanly shriek followed by a large splash.

“Help! He—ulp!” Dulgan’s voice echoed down the corridor.

“Fuck!” John cursed, sprinting the last stretch.

Hand hooked on the doorjamb, he skidded to a halt on the small ledge. Below, the Dwimar floundered ineffectually, almost exactly in the room’s center. His head was already spending more time under the water’s surface than above as he waved his arms around, spraying water but doing nothing to hold him up.

John’s plan had been to strip as much of their clothing and equipment off before jumping in. There was no way around getting wet, but anything they could hurl onto the locked door’s ledge would be a bonus. He hadn’t had a chance to mention it to the Dwarf yet, so Dulgan was encumbered by his various weapons and armor. That was going to make this rescue even harder.

I’m going to need all your strength! He told Vafthundyr before he remembered that was blocked in here.

John took a running leap, landing feet-first behind his friend. A few experimental kicks demonstrated that his boots’ distance-decreasing ability applied in the water as well. They pushed as much water as a pair of short fins would, if he kicked quickly. Praising his luck, he hooked an arm around Dulgan’s neck and started towing him to the steps.

John never received any lifeguard training. His only exposure to the process was whenever one of his units would do what the Army called ‘drown-proofing’ training. The technique involved pushing off the pool bottom hard enough to reach the surface and take a breath. Then soldiers were taught to exhale while sinking back to the bottom again. It wasn’t a way to get to safety, but a method that would give the individual enough air and time to remove waterlogged clothing and equipment so they could begin moving to shallow water, or land.

Invariably, especially in normal ‘line’ units, there were a small number of troops who’d never learned to swim at all. One secondary aspect of the training revolved around overcoming fear. Even an experienced swimmer can find bobbing off the bottom to be nerve-wracking. There was always at least one who’d freak out and need to be pulled from the pool. Usually this involved throwing a floatation device, but sometimes it wasn’t enough, or the soldier wouldn’t reach for it and a lifeguard would need to intervene.

John was trying to copy what he’d observed those rescuers do. He’d grasped the top of Dulgan’s armor for leverage and turned his own body sideways so he could keep his legs far enough from Dulgan’s that they wouldn’t tangle. The Dwarf thrashed even more violently once he’d gotten some air. Swimming the ten or fifteen feet to the stairs was the longest, hardest swim he’d ever done.

But Dulgan was panicking so badly, he wouldn’t, or couldn’t realize that all he need to do was...

“Dulgan, stop!” John leaned over the Dwarf. “Stand up!”

He had to smack the Dwimar’s face several times, yelling continuously before Dulgan realized he was safe. With some effort, the Dwarf got his feet underneath him and splashed his way up to the landing. Water poured out of his clothing and armor, dripping off the edge on all sides.

“Well, that was fun.” John panted, trudging up to join him.

“Fun?” Dulgan still wasn’t calmed down yet. “Tha’ was the mos’ scary thin’ ah’ve e’er done!”

“All right.” John soothed. “You’re safe now. It’s okay.”

Dulgan put his back on the locked door and slid to a seat.

“I’m no’ movin’ from ‘ere.” He declared.

John looked back at the open door. The ledge was thick; he might be able to get back if he stripped. With his equipment, getting out was doubtful.

“We need to solve this room.” John reminded his friend.

“Aye.” Dulgan agreed. “Bu’ I’ll no’ ge’ back inna water.”

Sighing, John began taking everything but his boots off. With less weight, hopefully they’d help him dive more easily so he could figure out whatever they needed to do.

“What’re ya doin’?” Dulgan wanted to know as John got undressed.

“It’s a lot easier if you don’t have a bunch of thick, heavy stuff all over your body.” John explained. “I’m going to dive down and see if I can figure this out.”

“Ah, t’ank ya.” The Dwarf shivered.

“You might dry more quickly if you take all that off, too.” John suggested. “It’s pretty warm in here. Right?”

“Aye, I thin’ you’re right.” Dulgan said.

While the Dwimar did so, John took a diving leap off the ledge. His first target was the metal circle in the center. That turned out to be some sort of grate or drain. An irregular pattern of quarter-sized holes was covered by a second sheet of metal below the first. In the middle of the drain were three wheels, one inside the next. As soon as he turned one, a loud booming noise sounded.

Surfacing quickly, he swam over to the steps.

“What was that noise?” He asked, Looking around.

“Th’ door closin’.” Dulgan pointed. “Wha’dya do?”

“There’s a drain in the middle.” John answered. “I think I have to align the holes. It happened right when I touched the knob.”

John spent the next half hour diving down and fiddling with it until he had all the holes aligned. There were three other plates underneath the top one, each with a different pattern. Getting them aligned required holding his breath, turning a wheel, then feeling around the holes until he could tell whether he’d uncovered more, or less of the top ones. It was tedious, exhausting work so he took a break after double-checking that he really had placed them all in the correct configuration. Nothing else happened when he did.

“I dinnae thin’ the water’s drainin’.” Dulgan remarked after a while.

“Yeah.” John agreed. “I didn’t feel any current flow when I finished. There must be something else we need to do.”

“Wha’re tho’ spots onna walls dow’ ‘ere?” Dulgan asked.

“No idea. I’ll check them out next.”

Adam banging on the door to the hallway woke him up a while later. Dulgan had been sleeping as well, so when he jerked awake, his foot snapped out right as John was rolling to stand up. The offender was Dulgan’s metal foot, the heavy one. It thumped into John’s backside and launched him right off the landing.

He came up sputtering. “Dammit, Dulgan! Why’d you do that?”

The Dwarf leaned over the edge. “Wha’? What’re’ou doin’ dow’ d’ere?”

“You kicked me!” John accused.

At least he had the grace to look apologetic. “I di’? ‘M sorry! I dinnae mean ta, ‘romise!”

“It’s fine.” John accepted.

“We’re okay!” He shouted.

“What happened?” Adam yelled from the other side of the now-locked door.

John’s stare bored two holes in his friend.

“I, ah, slipped an’ fell in!” Dulgan finally admitted.

“But you’re both all right now?” Adam pressed.

“We are!” John assured him. “But I touched something, and now we’re locked in.”

“No reset button?” Adam wondered.

John Looked around again. Sure enough, on the thick front of the entry ledge protruded a small square with a skull icon. He almost went to push it before remembering how long it had taken to align the drain.

“There is!” John informed him. “But it took me thirty minutes of continuous diving to do this one part. I really don’t want to do it again! I fell asleep once already!”

“Uh, not in the water though, right?” Adam joked.

“Funny man!” John retorted. “Let me get this done, and then you can help me get back out on your side, okay?”

“Sure!” Adam said cheerfully. “It’s not like I have anything to do!”

John rolled his eyes and dove down to examine the walls. What had looked like dark spots were instead holes; too small for his hand, and deeper than his fingers could reach. He methodically checked each and every one, ten in all. Ten, now where had that number been important before?

“There’s ten, all the same.” He told Dulgan. “Too small for me to get my hand into.”

Laying on his stomach, the Dwarf stuck his head over the edge again.

“Dey’re righ’ unnerneath the pictures.” He figured out. “One per person.”

“All right.” John acknowledged. “But what do we do with that?”

“No idea.” Dulgan admitted.

He swam around for a while without discovering anything more, so he took another break. Sitting on the landing edge with his feet dangling off, he desperately tried every aspect of his Sight without success.

“When I first touched it, the holes were all blocked.” John went back over what they knew so far. “As soon as I did, the door locked, so that is definitely part of what we need to figure out.”

“An’ ya go’ it ta be fully free?” Dulgan asked. “Yer sure?”

“I am.” John said with conviction. “I checked multiple times. Every hole is now totally clear.”

“So ‘tis somethin’ else, then.” Dulgan announced.

“The only other thing are the holes.” John grumbled. “Yeah, they correspond to the pictures, but those are too high for us to do anything with. We don’t have anything that interacts with them.”

Dulgan stood up. “‘Ere must be somethin’ somewhere inna here.”

Visibly steeling himself, the Dwarf marched down the steps. He knelt on each one, looking and feeling all around.

“Ya gonna help?” Dulgan asked after a few minutes.

John chuckled. “Give me a bit. Swimming and diving takes it out of you.”

“Sittin’ inna here withou’ any food inna gonna ge’ any better.” Dulgan accused.

“True.” John replied, diving off.

He decided to start in the corner underneath the landing, where the steps jutted out. Just wearing his boots gave his feet enough weight that if he exhaled like in drown-proofing, he sank pretty quickly. He bobbed up and down like that, sliding right along the back wall with each new descent. His Sight cycled through, hoping that the water was blocking him and getting closer would let him spot a clue. He kept his hands busy as well, fingertips sliding back and forth on the stone wall. Every rough texture and uneven spot got a thorough fingering, even if he had to pop back to the surface and try again.

It took until he got around to the side wall that he discovered what they were missing. One of the bricks at the very bottom stuck out farther than any other he’d examined. But he kept running out of breath, so he dove that spot several times. He finally determined that there wasn’t anything special about it, then his hand brushed something else sitting on the bottom.

His lungs were burning with the call for breath, so he shot up and treaded water for a moment. Not wanting to get Dulgan’s hopes up, he kept silent. Once his breath was under control, he gulped air and flipped over. Blowing bubbles past his cheeks, he got back to the bottom and felt around again. Sure enough, something rolled away from his questing hands.