#/Q/#|#/F/#|#/E/#|#/1/#
PART FOUR(4)

~~~~~~~~~~

"We were getting worried about you," Two Dash One told OLie Three, as his superior appeared around one of the surprising number of corners in the passage, fifteen feet farther down.

The man ignored his comment, however, and addressed the divers urgently. "Which one of you Dees has the most air left?" he asked, pointing at the oxygen cylinders standing between their knees, in case they shouldn't grasp his meaning immediately.

Experienced men, both of them, they had already checked their psi gauges and compared notes on their mission reports, using diver's signals.

The gangly man ~ Dee One ~ pointed at himself by way of a reply to OLie's query.

OLie Three stabbed at him with his finger and unclipped one of the poke`balls from his E-belt. "Take the badolphi and go back down; Find the drain mechanism!"

Dee One was studying him with some surprise, so he added reluctantly, "That chamber down there was designed to be a sort of keep. I'm betting our lives, that if you scraped away the hard packed silt still covering the stone walls of this passage, that at the angled corners of it, you would find niches a good sized poke`mon could fit into ~ Defensive positions."

He was wrong about the hiding niches, because he didn't know the unusually dark history of the ruined castle they were trapped in the bowels of. But he was right were it counted at that moment; that deepest chamber had been built for to be the last defensive refuge, during the final, invasive stages of a siege.

Contented with OLie's line of reasoning, Dee One snatched the badolphi's poke`ball from his hand, and after slinging his oxygen tank over his shoulder, he took off at a jog, back the way his superior had just come from.

Dee Two rose to follow his partner, but OLie shook his head and indicated the man should sit back down on the granite stone he had been upon. The brawny man obeyed, but he didn't look too happy.

"I'm feeling giddy," OLie explained to him, trying his hardest not to giggle hysterically. It came out as an odd sounding chuckle, instead.

Understanding that he couldn't very well go back down below, if his air tank was needed by OLie Three ~ to keep his mental faculties running on an even keel ~ Dee Two relaxed his unhappily hunched shoulders. He offered his tank to the OL willingly, who accepted it from him gratefully and took several restoring breaths from it.

His mental fog cleared now, OLie Three registered that the seven grubbles he had assigned the forgeers to release earlier, were clustered around the beacon rig, which was tilted slightly on a little mound of hard pack, about ten feet farther on in the passage.

He bit his tongue, to keep himself from demanding reflexively why the grubbles were still loose and using up valuable oxygen ~ He had their poke`balls on his person.

As he recalled them one by one into their poke`balls, something else occurred to him. This point in the cleared passage was about halfway up to ground ~ or rather ~ ruin level. If all went well ~ if Dee One could locate and open the run-off mechanism successfully ~ then he could break out the seznak and they would probably be breathing fresh air in not much more than ten minutes. It was certainly a pleasant thought to dwell on, at the moment.

While he was thinking with relative clarity, he tried to think of any angles which needed consideration immediately; Were they ready to move out of this seeping tunneled passage?

OLie Three tapped Dee Two on the shoulder and asked him searchingly, "Your mate will be looking a couple of feet up on the wall, for that drain point, won't he?"

Just to show he trusted his partner's smarts, Dee Two spoke for the first time since they had tele'ed-in. "We both think alike, and the way I see it, What's the point of building an island in the middle of that chamber, if the only drain is in the floor?" He said this with satisfaction, and he cracked a wide grin as he continued. "I mean, It would have been a real pain to level it off, manually, by opening and closing a run-off drain in the floor, every bleeding time there was a decent rain!" He shook his head decisively. "No! It's only common sense to have a slide-closing level control drain set into the wall, at the desired height."

"About two feet up?" OLie Three ventured with his eyebrows raised, wondering if Dee Two needed some more of his own oxygen.

"Thereabouts," the thick-set man agreed generously. "If the height of the island is any indication."

OLie saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned to face Three Dash Two, who was waving to get his attention. He nodded for the man to speak ~ or signal ~ his piece.

"Uh, Sir?" he began uncertainly. "Shouldn't we move back down the passage a ways? I think the negative pressure all that escaping water will create in here, could be dangerous; The passage might be inclined to take a breath ~ especially if the rainfall has loosened the rest of that hard-packed silt, just ahead of us."

From his position in front of the others, casually leaning against the right side of the tunnel, he stirred and turned on his Lowi-light, and shined it up the tunnel. It wasn't easy to miss the generous seepage from the seemingly solid wall of fine soil before them ~ Even though they were all standing at least ten feet away from it.

Anyone who had been sitting or squatting down, was on their feet by the time OLie responded to Three Dash Two's valid point. "He's right!" he barked forcefully. "Rendal may have even psy-shifted lightly all the way to the surface! Grab your stuff and head down to the last dungeon level ~ we may only have until Dee One finds that drain and opens it!"

All the loose equipment was snatched up hurriedly, and they all double-timed it back down the passage.

[:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:][:^:]

When they were settled again, a good ways from the passage's through arches on the deepest dungeon level, Dee Two decided to take the opportunity to see about his partner. He left his oxygen tank with the others, because he realized that the air quality was more critical this far down. Besides, he didn't intend to dive down into the chamber's pool anyway, just make sure the light Dee One was using, was moving around.

He was caught by surprise, however, as he turned the corner at the through arch leading to the chamber's steps, to see his mate mounting the last few of them, in a flaming hurry.

Dee One was equally surprised to see him, and almost tripped over the last stair. The lanky man pulled his breathing hose out of his mouth, and asked excitedly, "Are the rest of the crew down here, too?"

Dee Two took it as a good sign that his partner wasn't using hand signals, and answered ~ audibly as well.

"They are, and due for some real air ~ not this canned stuff," he affirmed cheerfully, tapping the tank on his friend's back.

The thin man chuckled dryly ~ another good sign he was in high spirits ~ and assured his friend, "I would almost guarantee they'll get it, when I open the drain ~ That is one hell of a drain system built into the island down there!"

He spun on his flippered heel, and descended the stairs to the water's edge ~ now about halfway up the stairs, and rising two inches every thirty seconds.

"What sort do you think it is?" Dee Two asked, professionally curious ~ His father had been a plumber who had known his drains.

Dee One called back over his shoulder, about to stuff the regulator back into his mouth. "At a guess, I'd say that island caps off a plummet retainment shaft, with its drain-route hewn out by poke`mon, to link up with an underground river system, somewhere nearby." He shrugged uncertainly. "Perhaps all this water will come out in that ravine to the south?" he suggested carelessly, and in a few short seconds, he was gone.

Dee Two headed back to the others thinking to himself, 'So the drain grates are set in the sides of the island? No wonder Kevin just found them ~ It's the last place I would have looked !'

Up ahead, he could make out the relieved smiles on the faces turned towards his approach ~ They had heard his good words with Kevin, of course.

"Hold onto anything that isn't clipped to you," he advised them with a chuckle. "You heard the good news: We're bustin' outta here shortly."

OLie Three motioned with his hands, and the other two teamers stood with him, and pressed their backs against the cold stone walls of the dungeon level's hall, to await the expected backwash.

Two Dash One grinned at the others goofily, and stepped jokingly into one of the dungeon cells ~ which were impressively enough, iron plated. He disappeared from their sight, and he was heard to speak a moment later, with mock-distressed tones in his voice. "Let me outta here ~ I'm gettin' stir crazy I tell ya!"

This derived heart felt amused laughter from his team mates ~ they could identify with that feeling now, more than they ever had in their lives before. And this laughter served to top off the mood lifting effects of having their hopes in this escape Plan C confirmed by Dee One's upbeat report of a minute ago.

"We haven't got a key to that cell," OLie Three pointed out to him dryly. "I wouldn't want to be in there when the backwash hits; that door might possibly get sucked closed."

Two Dash One popped back into sight with a collected motion. "Possible," he agreed, "but not likely." He stood next to Dee Two and added, "Still, it wouldn't be wise to tempt misfortune."

"The height of folly, mate," Dee Two pronounced, his face set suddenly. He shifted the oxygen tank on is shoulder restlessly, and OLie noted that sign of his mental agitation.

"What's buggin' you, Dee?" he queried the beefy man firmly.

The man's reply was immediate, like a dam bursting wide open. "I think my mate needs help down there. It shouldn't take this long for him to open the drains!" His look was one of pleading question.

"Go then!" OLie shouted furiously. If something needed doing, why must his men hold back until they had his permission? Time was of the essence here! There was no worry of the Dees' safety if they were both down in the chamber, as long as they were clear of the stairs when the breath-flow reached them.

Not wanting to stumble, Dee Two thumbed on his Lowi-light and dashed for the down ways arch, twenty-five feet away.

But once more, he rounded the corner , and caught sight of Dee One. The 'skinny Dee' was standing on just the right step, so no more than his head was out of the rising water, and his mouth was open, like he was about to shout.

Dee Two heard Kevin's jaw snap shut audibly, and then his partner said sourly, "Those drains aren't designed to equalize. I'm taking it for granted that the rest of the passage won't cooperate and suck loose on the present lean-pressure ratio." Raising his voice, Dee One called, "Better send up the seznak, Sir!"

"How many grates?" Dee Two asked gruffly.

"Four," came the reply. "All open."

Kevin pointed at the passage wall, where the water line reached. "It's still bloody rising!" he commented needlessly, gritting his teeth.

While they were making this short exchange, both of them were aware of OLie's urgently speaking voice bouncing off of the dungeon walls and reaching their ears with fair clarity ~ their Operations Leader was giving the seznak, Reith, orders and safety cautions about his task. OLie Three's last spoken word to the seznak could not be misidentified. "QUICKLY!" they heard him say with a vehemence born of desperation.

Five seconds later, the slithering water type was caught by Dee Two's searching flash, as it turned at the intersection, to head in the opposite direction speedily.

"Go Reith! Get us all out of this mud hole, buddy!" he cheered after the poke`mon, reflecting that the wet hard pack on the passage's surface was good going for the reptile. He honestly hoped Reith would be alright, but he feared that if the poke`mon could not ride the down wash’s force just right; he would not survive his mission.

At his friend's cheer, Dee One mounted the rest of the stairs, and together they joined the trio standing tense, a quarter of the way down the dungeon level's hall.

"Gonna tell OCley what's about to come down?" Two Dash One inquired of OLie Three disinterestedly, not realizing the pun.

His vision blurring slightly, OLie blinked at his subordinate, and pronounced, "After I have some more oxygen."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_