"What if the ceiling doesn’t get any higher once we’re through?", Mark asked, almost in a panic.

    "It DOES get higher inside, after we clear this entrance. I’ve been here before, but I never got stuck. We gotta’ work fast, or we’ll drown down here. We don’t have any Aqualung equipment with us!"

    Mark and Steve loosened their seat harnesses just enough to be able to stand up half way. Using their paddles, they splashed water into the canoe, adding some more weight to make it sit lower in the water. Putting the paddles on the roof of the tunnel entrance through the roll cage, pushing up, and shifting their weight alternately back to front, they were able to shimmy the canoe completely into the tunnel, and onto the underground river that flowed out in front.

    "Shit, man, that was close!", Mark said.

"Good work, mate!, Good work!"

    After a few minutes, the underground river took a sharp turn downwards, and the canoe picked up speed. They were riding the flow down a 45-degree incline, deep into the center of the mountain. The tunnel would twist and turn, sharply in places, sending the craft careening into the ceiling, with sparks flying as the tempered Titanium cage scraped against the brittle rocks.

    If it were not for the roll cage, they both would have been crushed for sure. The running lights cast strange, rapidly moving shadows onto the rocks, which sparkled in places from rich deposits.......

.................

    "Listen, I know this is rough, but this boy is very sick, and we very nearly lost him TWICE in there. The disease is so advanced, and he’s so weak right now, that another attack will surely kill him. If you are his guardian, I suggest that you apply for legal custody. I’ll call the Magistrate’s office, and take care of the details. There is nothing you can do. He is heavily sedated, and is not even aware you are here right now. Use the time to do what has to be done. We need to put him in a stasis field as soon as possible, before he has another attack. Even then, I’m afraid the prognosis isn’t good. He could have another attack while suspended, and die out in space. His chances are better if he’s put in stasis right away. The longer we wait, the less his chances are. I suggest you book him a shuttle flight right away."

.................

    Large motors could be heard turning on, as heavy metal shutters closed over all three viewports and the forward window. This was necessary to prevent radiation from entering the capsule or worse, a stray meteorite from crashing through. The window view was replaced by a large high resolution LCD screen, which was attached to cameras and sensors. In a few seconds the digital picture replaced the thick glass.

"I didn’t want just ONE of us to survive", Steve replied. The rest of the answer, and the reason, came through the link all at once, like a bright flash of light that illuminates an entire room. Without Mark, Steve would be alone in another world, forty years in the future. He simply could not envision himself relating to other people in that situation.… and in a very real sense, Mark is all he had.

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