Bruce didn't immediately return to the cave following lunch. He made an online purchase and set it to be rush delivered to the house. While waiting for it to arrive, and his muscles to stop complaining, Bruce went with Alfred to explore the house and consider possible changes in relation to the hidden access point to the cave they wanted to create.

Wayne Manor had an abundance of rooms. The numerous guest rooms and storage closets were ideal for the possibility of hiding an elevator, but since Bruce and Alfred were currently unaware of the size and shape of the cavern below the house, they could only make a list of the potential choices. They didn't want to go through all the effort of digging down to reach the cave if there existed a place where the cavern was closer to the surface and more easily accessible.

The items Bruce had placed on order were for creating a laser scanned image of the interior of the cave. Once they knew the full layout, Bruce and Alfred could better determine if putting in an elevator was possible. Additionally, Bruce wanted to make certain the cave wouldn't collapse because of their construction efforts, possibly taking the house with it. He needed to know the thickness of the rock between the cave and Wayne Manor as well as the stability of the stone structure.

Alfred and Bruce had barely completed their inventory of available rooms when a buzzer connected to the front gate sounded.

"I'll get it," Bruce said while hurrying to the front entrance.

Bruce opened the door and walked quickly down the driveway to the gate. He opened the metal gate and picked up a nondescript brown box sitting outside. Six feet long and four feet wide, the sizable container had tape printed with the word fragile stuck to all sides. He closed the gate and carried the box back to the house.

"Is everything in order, Master Bruce?" Alfred asked, joining him outside.

"Perfect," Bruce replied after setting the box down and opening it up to inspect its contents. "The laser system is fully automated, thank goodness. Once we install the enclosed software, we only need to set up the scanner in various places, and it will map out the cave for us."

"What about the thickness of the stone?" Alfred inquired. "Will it be able to tell us?"

"I'm afraid not," Bruce denied. "However, we can figure some of it on our own. Once the scan is complete, we'll know how high the cave extends from the bottom to the ceiling. If we run a tape line down the cliff to the crevice, we can overlay the two sets of measurements and determine how much rock remains between the cave and the surface."

"I do hope you remember your math lessons, Master Bruce," Alfred stated.

"It should be simple, but if not, I can take a few online courses as a refresher," Bruce replied with a grin. "Speaking of online studies, I'll need to look into electrical wiring, computer design, and architecture to start with. Building this cave addition will require more than what I've already learned."

"I can help you with electrical work and some things relating to computers," Alfred offered. "My time with British Intelligence required training along those lines. My computer knowledge may be slightly out of date, but I can share what I know."

"Thanks, Alfred," Bruce accepted. "I'll need every bit of help I can get."

                                                                                       ***

Bruce stood in the center of the lights he'd set in the cave. The nocturnal bats avoided the entrance of the cave whenever possible, preferring the darkness deeper in, so the artificial lights didn't bother the creatures in the slightest. Sitting on a crate was the laptop computer he'd brought in and loaded with the scanning software. The scanner was mounted atop a tripod, flicking a red laser line across the walls horizontally every second. When Bruce activated the program, the motor under the scanner activated, slowly tilting the unit on its base and adjusting the position of the laser. Inch by inch, the scanner sent its flashing beam up the wall in streaks of horizontal light, mapping out every curve, bump, scratch, and indentation in the rock with extreme detail.

As Bruce watched, slices of an image appeared on his computer screen. As the laser mapped out the cave, each line of data was rendered in the form of a portion of the digital image. When one wall was complete, the scanner turned slightly and began again, sweeping the stone crosswise with its beam of crimson and relaying all gathered data to the computer.

The size of the cave forced Bruce to reposition the laser scanner several times in order to map out the entire hollow within the rock under Wayne Manor. The mapping process was slow, combined with moving the scanner carefully to a new location several times in order to laser scan the entire cave, the painstaking process taking several hours for Bruce to complete.

When he was finished, an orange sunset colored the western horizon, and Bruce opted to quit and discuss the captured data with Alfred. The butler had managed to come up with a convincing idea on how to make an elevator, so it was only sensible Bruce included Alfred in its placement.

Disconnecting the computer before turning out the lights and switching off the generator, Bruce prepared to depart. He checked over everything to be certain he hadn't forgotten anything, inspecting it a second time regardless of the results of the first exam. Knowing it would be a long climb out, he didn't want to go back and forth if it wasn't necessary.

                                                                                           ***

"Did you get the complete map, Sir?" Alfred respectfully inquired when Bruce reached the surface.

"I did," Bruce confirmed. Setting down the laptop on the folding table which had held their ice water and sandwiches during lunch, Bruce used the battery power of the laptop as the lawn lacked an electrical outlet to plug into. "We have a few options, but getting into the cave from the house is going to be tricky."

"In what way?" Alfred questioned.

"The majority of the cave is actually under the lawn and not the house," Bruce explained, swiveling the laptop around for Alfred to see. Bruce pointed to the screen. "This part of the house, where a small study is located, is near a cavern pocket, so it's probably the best place for the elevator as it would require the least amount of digging to reach the cave. A secondary option would be from the library. The back wall actually rests against the stone of the hill, but it's too small of an outcropping to put in the elevator. What we can do is dig out a sloping tunnel, curving slightly in order to reach one of the cave chambers. It would be a much longer and harder project."

"The elevator from the study seems like a good idea," Alfred agreed. "The less demolition required the better. We won't be in danger of collapsing the house, will we?"

"No," Bruce denied. "The dimensions of the space underneath that section of the house doesn't measure to a full sized chamber; it's why I referred to it as a cavern pocket. The surrounding rock appears to be completely solid, but we won't know for certain until we start digging into it."

"How do you plan to go about it?" Alfred asked. "Will you dig from above ground or below?"

"A little bit of each," Bruce decided. "I'll need specific measurements to identify the point of excavation. Once located, we can establish the top of the elevator shaft with the structure and wheels for the supporting cables. We can dig down a few feet before we head into the cave and chip away the stone from below so as to not fall through the floor while digging."

"An admirable goal, Master Bruce," Alfred commented.

"Here's another," Bruce added. "We'll need to look over the plans of the house and proceed with caution. We don't want to cut any electrical, gas, water, or sewage lines when going through the floor."

"I should hope not," Alfred agreed. "Cleaning up sawdust and broken pieces of stone is quite sufficient."

                                                                                    ***

After dinner, Bruce collected a pack of tools and supplies before heading toward the small study with Alfred. The parlor was in the front corner of the house, and the study resided behind it. Bookcases covered the walls, and a few plush chairs were available for long periods of comfortable sitting when a chosen book was selected for closer examination. A small, round table sat between two wingback chairs, and a lamp perched atop the table provided additional and more direct light than the larger fixture overhead.

"At least we don't have any windows in this room," Bruce commented. "It would be a hassle if we had to either remove one or explain why a window is on the outside but no room exists on the inside. The lack of windows will keep people from asking odd questions."

"I'm just glad it isn't the library," Alfred added. "Removing a fireplace and chimney is a bit beyond me."

"Me too," Bruce agreed. "Good thing we don't have one in here. Let's see what we do have."

Pulling back the rug covering the floorboards, Bruce used a drill with a large bit to cut a hole through one of the planks. The moment the bit made it to the other side, he switched off the drill and removed it. Clicking on a flashlight, Bruce focused its light through the hole to examine what was underneath. He didn't find any wires or pipes under the board he'd drilled, so he clicked the button on the flashlight to turn it off. Taking a claw hammer from his pack, Bruce hooked the claw in the drilled hole and used it to pry the board up and set it aside.

Reaching into the gap in the floor, Bruce hammered the underside of the surrounding planks, loosening them enough to be removed as well. In only a few minutes, Bruce had cleared a large section, exposing the underlying joists above the foundation of the building. The joists were old wood beams extending from one side of the room to the other and formerly responsible for holding up the floor, but with the floorboards removed, the joists were the only things available to walk on, forcing either a balancing act on one beam or a wide stance on two.

Bruce put his hands on two of the joists, lowering himself down in a push-up position between them. He was looking for something, but he didn't see it.

"Alfred, I think we have a problem," Bruce said, pushing himself out of the hole in the floor. "The joists, I don't think they stop at the edge of the room. They're one long run from the front of the house to wherever they end elsewhere in the house, assuming they don't go all the way to the back wall. If we start cutting into these to make way for the elevator, we could compromise the structure on this entire side of the house."