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valley's end and set off between the tracks at an easy trot, covering the
ground quickly. He did not like this exposed position and he turned into the
first opening that appeared. This proved to be the opening to some circular
metal stairs that ran down and around and out of sight in the rock below.
Chimal started down them, going steadily even though he became dizzy from the
constant turning.
As he went lower he heard a humming sound that grew louder while he descended.
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At the bottom he came out in a damp tunnel that had a trickle of water down
the middle, and the hum was now a hammering roar that filled the shaft with
sound. Chimal went forward carefully, alert for any motion, until the tunnel
ended in a high cavern that held towering metal objects from which the torrent
of sound poured. He had no idea what their function might be. Great round
sections of them vanished up into the stone above, and from one of these
sections came the dribble of water that ran across the floor and into this
tunnel. From the security of the entrance he ran his eye down the row of
immense things, to the far end where brighter lights shone on a board of
smaller shining objects before which a man sat. Chimal drew back into the
tunnel. The man's back was to him and he had certainly not seen the intruder
yet.
Chimal went back down the tunnel and past the metal stairs. He would see where
this led before he went back to the chamber of cars.
As he walked the noise behind him lessened and, when it had died away to a
distant hum, he was aware of the sound of running water coming from somewhere
ahead. Darkness filled the mouth of the tunnel. He stepped through it onto a
ledge above the blackness. A row of lights, curving away to his left,
reflected from a dark surface. He realized that he was looking at a vast
underground lake: the running water sounded far out ahead of him and small
waves trembled the reflections on the surface. The cavern that held the water
was vast and the echoes of the falling water sounded on all sides. Where was
this place?
In his mind he ran through the turnings he had made, and tried to estimate how
far he had come. He was much lower than when he had started, and had come
north, and then east Looking up he could imagine his route and there above
would be the swamp at the north end of the valley. Of course! This underground
lake lay beneath the swamp and drained it. The things back there in the cavern
did something to force the water through pipes back to the waterfall. And
where did the row of lights go that skirted the edge of the dark lake? He
walked forward to find out
A ledge had been cut from the rock of the cavern wall and the lights were
spaced along it The rock was slippery and damp and he went carefully. One
quarter of the way around the water it went, then ended at another tunnel.
Chimal realized that he was tired. Should he go on, or return to his hiding
place? That would be the wisest thing to do, but the mystery of these caverns
drew him forward. Where did this one
lead? He started into it. It was damp, mustier than the other tunnels, though
it was lit by the same evenly spaced windows of light No, not as even as the
others, a black gap showed ahead like a missing tooth.
When he came up to this spot he saw that one of the smooth objects was inset
there but this one's fire was gone and it was dark. The first one he had seen
like this. Perhaps this tunnel was rarely used and this had not been noticed
yet. At the end of the tunnel was another round stairway of metal up which he
climbed. This emerged into a small room that had a door in one wall. When he
put his ear to the door he heard nothing from the other side. He opened it a
narrow crack and looked through.
This cavern was quiet, empty, and the largest one he had yet encountered. When
he entered it the sound of his footsteps made a tiny rustle in its towering
vastness. The lighting here was far less than that of the tunnels, but it was
more than enough to show him the size of this cavern, and the paintings that
adorned the walls. These were lifelike and strange, people and unusual animals
and even odder metal objects.
They were marching, all of them, a torrent of frozen motion, going toward the
far end of the cavern where there was a doorway flanked by golden statues. The
people of the paintings were dressed in different and fantastic Ways, and were
even of different skin colors, but they all went to a common goal. The
pressure of these silent marchers drove him that way too, but not before he
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looked about him.
The other end of the cavern was sealed with immense boulders that, for some
reason, looked familiar to him. Why? He had never been in this place before.
He walked closer to them and looked up at their piled magnitude. They reminded
him very much of the rock barrier that sealed the end of the valley.
Of course! This was the other side of that same barrier. If the gigantic
boulders were removed the valley would be open, and he did not doubt for a
second that the powers that had been used to carve these tunnels and build a
sun could be used to throw aside the rocks in front of him. From outside there
had appeared to be no exit from the valley because the exit was sealed inside
the rock. Could the legends be true? That some day the valley would be open
and his people would march forth. To where? Chimal spun about and looked at
the high opening at the far end of the chamber. What did it lead to?
He passed between the large, golden statues of a man and a woman that flanked
the portal, and then continued down the tunnel beyond. It was wide and
straight and patterned with gold designs. Many doors opened off it but he did
not examine any of them: that would wait They doubtless contained many things
of interest, but they were not the reason for this passageway. That lay ahead.
Faster and faster he walked until he was almost running, up to the great
double doors of gold that sealed the end. There was only silence behind them.
There was a strange tautness in his chest as he pushed them open.
Beyond was a large chamber, almost as big as the other one, but this one was
undecorated and dark, with just a few small lights to show him the way. There
was a rear wall and sides, but the far wall was missing. The opening faced out
on the star-filled night sky.
It was no sky that Chimal had ever seen before. There was no moon in sight and
no valley walls to form a close horizon. And the stars, the stars, the
overwhelming quantity of them that broke over him like a wave! The familiar
constellations, if they were there, were lost in the infinity of the other
stars as numberless as grains of sand. And aft of the stars were turning, as
though mounted on a great wheel.
Some faint, tiny; others blazing like torches of many colors, yet they all
were hard and clear points of light without lie flickering of the stars above
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