Raven Crowking
First Post
THE COLOUR OF FEAR
EPISODE ONE
“I bet no one’s been this deep before,” Perry called up. He craned his neck to look up the shaft at Scott. There was only a faint light from his friend’s helmet. “I’m at the bottom…or a ledge here. Looks like there’s a horizontal passage. Come on down!”
Perry waited while Scott rappelled down the long shaft to where he stood. He wished he could smoke, but smoking wasn’t good for the caves. Both young men were members of the New England Student Speleologists Club – a group that got together to find new caves, scout out new passages, and generally brag about what they had done.
Bragging was often done informally at the pub over pints. While the need for safety had been drilled into them from their professorial sponsors (comprising academics from several New England State Universities), the Club members were prone to ignore certain facets of protocol. Because of the rivalries in the Club, some members had taken to poaching on others’ expeditions if they announced them ahead of time. Neither Perry nor Scott had told anyone where they were going, or when they expected to be back. If anything went wrong, well….Scott was the older of the two. He’d be responsible, then, wouldn’t he?
Standing on the ledge, Perry could feel warm air coming up out of the shaft. That was odd. Usually, caves stayed a constant temperature, often cooler than the warm New England autumn the surface was enjoying. Turning to peer down the passage, Perry could see that it was rather smooth…almost as though it were manmade. Impossible, of course. He and Scott had been forced to dig past a large quantity of rock to get into this new region of the cave (something else the Club’s sponsors wouldn’t be keen on learning).
Of course, it could be volcanic. That would explain the smoothness of the sides. But who had ever heard of a volcano in New Hampshire?
Scott was almost down the shaft. Perry stepped into the passageway, just a little, using his helmet lamp to light the area. It was smooth, and it went in a long way. Perry could see that there were side passages, as smooth as the main one. The whole area seemed far too regular to be natural. Yet, the idea that it was anything else was…fantastic.
Then Perry saw the colour, glinting down at the edge of his light. He couldn’t identify it. It was something like red, something like gold…but it was neither. Perry understood something about optics, something about spectrums. How could there be a colour you couldn’t identify? A cold spike of fear ran up his spine. For the first time in a very long time, he felt that primal fear of being underground, of the unknown. It almost seemed to come from outside him.
And then he stepped toward the colour. He didn’t want to…he tried not to…but he took another step. “Scott!” he shouted. “Scott! Stay back! It’s got me, Scott!” He couldn’t say what had him, what was controlling him. He moved down the corridor. He could hear Scott, still on the rappelling line, call something back down to him. He couldn’t tell what. Because now a door was sliding quietly open in front of him, a door that had looked like part of the wall. A wave of tropical heat swept out over him. A wave of that unknown colour swept over him. The next thing that came had sharp teeth and terrible hooked claws.
[CUE THEME MUSIC]
EPISODE ONE
“I bet no one’s been this deep before,” Perry called up. He craned his neck to look up the shaft at Scott. There was only a faint light from his friend’s helmet. “I’m at the bottom…or a ledge here. Looks like there’s a horizontal passage. Come on down!”
Perry waited while Scott rappelled down the long shaft to where he stood. He wished he could smoke, but smoking wasn’t good for the caves. Both young men were members of the New England Student Speleologists Club – a group that got together to find new caves, scout out new passages, and generally brag about what they had done.
Bragging was often done informally at the pub over pints. While the need for safety had been drilled into them from their professorial sponsors (comprising academics from several New England State Universities), the Club members were prone to ignore certain facets of protocol. Because of the rivalries in the Club, some members had taken to poaching on others’ expeditions if they announced them ahead of time. Neither Perry nor Scott had told anyone where they were going, or when they expected to be back. If anything went wrong, well….Scott was the older of the two. He’d be responsible, then, wouldn’t he?
Standing on the ledge, Perry could feel warm air coming up out of the shaft. That was odd. Usually, caves stayed a constant temperature, often cooler than the warm New England autumn the surface was enjoying. Turning to peer down the passage, Perry could see that it was rather smooth…almost as though it were manmade. Impossible, of course. He and Scott had been forced to dig past a large quantity of rock to get into this new region of the cave (something else the Club’s sponsors wouldn’t be keen on learning).
Of course, it could be volcanic. That would explain the smoothness of the sides. But who had ever heard of a volcano in New Hampshire?
Scott was almost down the shaft. Perry stepped into the passageway, just a little, using his helmet lamp to light the area. It was smooth, and it went in a long way. Perry could see that there were side passages, as smooth as the main one. The whole area seemed far too regular to be natural. Yet, the idea that it was anything else was…fantastic.
Then Perry saw the colour, glinting down at the edge of his light. He couldn’t identify it. It was something like red, something like gold…but it was neither. Perry understood something about optics, something about spectrums. How could there be a colour you couldn’t identify? A cold spike of fear ran up his spine. For the first time in a very long time, he felt that primal fear of being underground, of the unknown. It almost seemed to come from outside him.
And then he stepped toward the colour. He didn’t want to…he tried not to…but he took another step. “Scott!” he shouted. “Scott! Stay back! It’s got me, Scott!” He couldn’t say what had him, what was controlling him. He moved down the corridor. He could hear Scott, still on the rappelling line, call something back down to him. He couldn’t tell what. Because now a door was sliding quietly open in front of him, a door that had looked like part of the wall. A wave of tropical heat swept out over him. A wave of that unknown colour swept over him. The next thing that came had sharp teeth and terrible hooked claws.
[CUE THEME MUSIC]