time ago. It’s foolish to risk everyone by betting on one!» No one expected such determination from the humble Joleo. The fewer arguments to object to him.
«Oh no, no, no,» I am horrified and squeeze Leeloo’s fingers even tighter.
To everyone’s relief, Alex still emerges from the depths of the cave. He takes a breath for two minutes, then, still panting, announces:
«Well, the lost herd, are you ready to follow me?»
I feel incredible relief – as if several tons of cargo were lifted from my shoulders.
There are two exits waiting for us in the next room. Runner heads into the light tunnel. Joleo volunteered as his travel companion, whose unexpected courage cannot but arouse admiration. Having appeared at first as an insecure «absent-minded scientist», now he looks almost like a hero. At least, I am imbued with more and more respect for his ability to make responsible decisions in extreme situations, and, most importantly, not to panic. After all, many of us are on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
I volunteer to accompany Alex in the dark corridor. Partly because I just can’t sit in total darkness, surrounded by panic and fears, but more because I want to stop being inactive and, thus, come to my senses.
After a little time, we run out into a cave with two corridors: light and dark. At this point, we need to split up. Alex takes over the dark tunnel, and I must examine the light one. Before that, Alex puts his hands on my shoulders and intently looks into my eyes:
«I just wanted to tell you…»
Despite the serious situation, I experience a slight tingling sensation in my chest and some strange feeling in my stomach, comparable to a spasm during free flight…
«… the last time I played with you (it feels like it was in a past life), you disappointed me a lot. Don’t let me down this time, we have a whole bunch of blind kittens there. We won’t let them drown in this damn bucket!»
With these words, he turns me around and gives me a slight push towards the tunnel. That’s what Alex is! I am seething with indignation, but at the same time, this rage gives me strength, pushes me forward. What did I actually expect to hear?! Dying slobbering declaration of love or «leave me and live if you have to»? I’m angry with him, but even more angry with myself when I reach the next fork. The hated echo is heard:
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: four hours and thirty minutes.»
Both passages are light, luckily for me. However, I am desperate. We’re wasting time again! What if I get lost in these caves? Will someone come looking for me? Alex will run to save his blind kittens. Again I feel a fit of anger and without further thought I head to the first grotto. Dead end. Relief. Disappointment. Second grotto. Long, tapering at the end. I have to get on all fours and crawl, so I remind myself of Alice in Wonderland. Now I will look out of the rabbit hole and see the magical alluring freedom… But instead of it – another dark hall. What to do next? I don’t have a flashlight. Reason insists on going back to Alex and exploring the grotto together.
«Losing time, losing time» … this thought knocks in my head. Ignoring the voice of reason, I enter the grotto, find a wall by touch and move along it, carefully examining the surface with my hands. Nothing, just a smooth, damp wall. I walk in a circle, constantly keeping in sight the bright passage from where I just came, in fear that if I look away for a minute, it will disappear. And then I will forever remain in pitch darkness! Once again I approach the light without finding a single tunnel. It was a dead-end grotto.
Alex is already waiting for me at the same place.
«Where do you roam? Your walk is clearly too long! My tunnel ends with a large light grotto with three dark tunnels. Please tell me that you have found a way out!»
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: four hours zero-zero minutes.» a metallic voice replies instead of me.
I can hardly breathe when we return to the rest of the players. Thirsty tongue sticks to the palate. The wetsuit wicks moisture away from the body, but sweat flows from the forehead in three streams and is poured into the eyes and behind the collar.
Runner and Joleo are already in place. Runner makes a caustic comment to us, but I ignore it. We describe our discovery – an impressive size open grotto with three dark tunnels and only two lanterns to explore. This means that we will not be able to check all three cave passages at the same time.
Joleo reports that at the end of the path he explored, the corridor narrows, leaving a narrow dark hole. Where it leads is hard to say. Firstly, you can get into it only by moving on all fours, and secondly, you need to crawl, apparently, for a long time. Therefore, Runner and Joleo returned to make a joint decision.
«The hole may be a way out, but in case it’s just a dead end – we are lost», Planck is thinking aloud.
«No no no!» Yu suddenly shouts, «This cannot be a way out! I will never go there for anything in the world! Three tunnels are three chances. Do you hear? We have more opportunities to get out of these damn caves if we follow Alex’s path», the girl squats and starts sobbing uncontrollably. BeBe hugs her shoulders:
«Yu is right», she supports her friend, «according to the theory of probability, we have more chances with three outputs than with one».
Alex is doing a small vote. Everyone raises their hands in favor. The prospect of being in a dark narrow corridor in a cave gradually filled with water can drive even the most persistent crazy.
«Wait!» everyone turns to Martha, «it seems to me that we are missing something extremely important».
«What exactly?» Runner snaps, «Now is not the time for philosophical reflection. Are there specific proposals – go ahead!»
«Let her tell,» Blonda interrupts impatiently.
«I don’t know for sure»…
«And you’d better know», Runner gets up and walks in the direction from where Alex and I just came running.
«It’s just illogical. We advance at random, which is not the case in a good quest».
«We aren’t in a „good“ quest. This is an incomprehensible game of some sick perverts who lured us into a wormhole», Alex objects.
«And yet, my intuition suggests that we don’t notice something, something obvious»…
I stare at Martha in amazement. Now that she has voiced this thought out loud, I understand that all this time I have been thinking about the same thing. She’s right, something is wrong here. Until that moment, despite the danger and cruelty of the assignments, there was an iron logic behind everything. Now it is slipping away from us somewhere further and further…
«We have no time for speculation. Stop banging around irrelevant», Runner demands. And to confirm his words the voice is heard again:
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: three hours and thirty minutes.»
«I just… No, nothing. Let’s start,» Martha brushes aside, and without
