Mornin' never comes. The sun don't rise. The rooster never crows in the dark belly of a cave. I only discovered it was time to get up when Ren said, "Rise and Shine. We need to get moving."

Shine? I thought, under these circumstances I could barely rise, and the only shinin' thing was gonna be was the flashlights and headlamps. Absolute darkness really messes with yer mind. My first reaction was, Help, I've gone blind! But that was before I realized where I was and before Ren switched on his headlamp.

Talk about eye shock. That sudden bright spot was like a flash bulb goin' off. I had ghost orbs. Thank goodness it was still warm from the hockey puck sized heater Ren ignited the previous night. Ha, day or night what does it matter down here? It would feel pretty good puttin' on my protective cave explorer clothes.

I've been on campin' trips it was always cold in the morning. If it wasn't your assigned chore to build the campfire you could stay in your toasty sleepin' bag until the fire was big enough to get ya warm. The distance from warm sleepin' bag to hot fire was much too far away. Somehow ya gotta get on your night frozen clothes, socks, shoes, and scoot out like ya was chased by a wasp. Ahh. If ya stand too close to the fire for too long, though—which no one could help doin'—yer jeans would commence smolderin'. Put your hands in the pockets and the brass rivets burned your fingers. Ouch, it hurt just thinkin' 'bout it.

My canteen was nearly empty. We couldn't turn back and go Topside to replenish our supplies. I asked, "Freck how's your water holdin' up?"

She shook her canteen. "I'm a might low." She was scrunching her eyebrows together like she always does when she's worried, or thinkin' real hard.

Ren handed us sumpin' that looked like a chocolate candy bar with Rice Crispy bumps. He explained, "Water is not a problem. We will be passing lots of pools and streams on our way. You will be able to fill your canteens regularly. Before you ask, those bars I gave you are your breakfast. You will be surprised at how they satisfy hunger and give you energy."

"Will the water be fit to drink?" I wanted to know. Poisoned water killed the farmer's cow, as my gramma used to say when she was warnin' me to exercise caution.

Freck was sniffin her breakfast bar. She nibbled a corner off, chewed, and smiled. "This is really good."

Ren answered my question, "Running water is usually safe to drink, but just to make sure...he reached into his backpack and pulled out a small white tube that looked like a pill bottle...we each have purifying tablets with us. Before filling your canteens just drop one in, and shake thoroughly."

Just another Keeper miracle. They say they get all their inventions from humans. Their Gardener given job is to record and preserve all knowledge learned on earth, so's they've benefited from man's lost inventions. These purifying tablets could've been thought up in ancient times, or came from UFO visitors, or maybe a smart scientist created it but couldn't find anyone to produce, or sell them. Tons of mankind's knowledge has been lost Topside. Praise the god they call Gardener. Every advancement happenin' on Earth is stored by the Keepers of Knowledge. Sumday, when people is ready, the Keepers will give humans access. It can't happen now because no one trusts anyone especially different races. They wouldn't trust the Keepers either. Anyone from another world would't be accepted—no way. 'Stead they'd prob'ly try to kill them all, and destroy the KP (knowledge pool). It's awful, but not inconceivable. That's man's first resort ta dealin' with sumpin' different.

We got up. Freck didn't look when Ren and I were dressing. I don't know why not. It ain't like were naked as jaybirds. All of us was wearin' thermal long johns under our clothin' and that's what we slept in. She made us turn around when we were finished so she could dress in privacy. It's a girl thing, I supposed.

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Speakin' of privacy, I embarrassed myself when I had to ask Ren the awkward question, "Ren, where does we go to the John?"

"You mean toilet, right?" He answered, "Anywhere you need to. Attached to your belts are bags that will serve as your toilet. The first caving rule is anything you bring in, must be taken out. When you fill one tidy bag, tie it off and leave it. On our return trip we will take them back and properly dispose of them."

"Eeww, that's nasty." Freck moaned. "What do we use for toilet paper?"

"Right beside the tidy bags you will find a white plastic tube. When you need to freshen up remove the lid and take out a moistened towelette. I usually clean my hands first. When you are finished put it in your tidy bag too. Be sure to put the cap back on. The moistening agents will evaporate if you forget. Trust me, you will want to keep them wet. Dry towelette's are uncomfortable.

"You can also use them to clean your hands before eating. You will not run out. There's enough for a month of normal use."

Freck again, "Won't the bags we leave b'hind get awful raunchy?"

"Do not be overly concerned Freck," he said to her, "the tidy bags are coated inside with an agent that breaks the contents down to liquid and absorbs the smell."

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I wiped my hands with a towelette and enjoyed my breakfast bar.

"Are we ready?" Ren asked.

We were, so we hooked up the ropes connectin' us and trundled down the tunnel. I noticed that the sides and roof were fairly smooth, as if they had been excavated. What could do that, I wondered?

Ren musta read my mind because he said, "We will be walking through places on our journey that appear to be constructed rather than natural. We believe that these passageways were built by the Arianni. They were meant as emergency escapes in the event of calamity."

Freck wondered, "You seem to know a lot of things about the caves. Have you been here before?"

"Yes, I have. I went with an expedition a couple of years ago. We almost made it when an old mountainside trail collapsed leaving a gap that was too large to pass. We had to turn back."

I mind-spoke, "If your expedition couldn't get past the gap how are we supposed to do it?"

"That is a good question." Ren replied, "We learned a lot from that trip. Because we were going in sight unseen we were not prepared for every contingency. What we carry with us now should get us past the gap and more."

The stretch of excavated cave went forever it seemed. Since the the path was relatively rock free, we could move along quickly. There were trenches dug beside the cave walls. Spring water seeped through cracks in the walls. Since the trail was angled mostly down we had convenient water streams. Ren was right. We could refill our canteens easy-peasy.

After four hours we stopped for a lunch break. While we was eatin', I tried to contact Gee again. Nothin'. This was disturbin'. He promised constant communication. Did sumthin' happen ta him? Were we outta range? Whatever the reason I was gonna keep on tryin'.

Freck asked a smack-yourself-in-the-forehead kinda question, "Ran, how long will it take to get there? Why didn't I think to ask that? I don't like ta admit that I ain't as smart as I think.

Ren answered, "We are making good time. I would guess 10 to 14 days."

Yikes! We're gonna be on this dark journey dang near forever. My guts wrenched. What if I go crazy down here? There's no gettin' used ta absolute darkness. Anythin' could come out and grab you. Just then I heard a loud growl behind us. I nearly jumped outta my skin.

Ren screamed, "RUN!"

You didn't have to tell me twice. I ran like my shoes was on fire. Freck was right b'side me. Uncle Ren cracked a flare and waved it the bear's face. The sudden bright light musta hurt its eyes because it shrieked in pain. Ren kept movin' backwards and the bear pursued us for a ways. It musta got tired of the bright light, and just gave up. It turned and lumbered up a side tunnel.

"Ren you didn't say nothing about bears!" That wasn't the only thing. When people say that somethin' scared the s**t out of them . . . it's true.

He said as we were still runnin', "The chance of coming across a cave bear nowadays is a million to one. In prehistoric times cave bears were common. Now they are extremely rare."

Freck said, "What made you think of using that flare?"

"To tell the truth I was not thinking. I just reacted. I keep flares in my pocket for quick retrieval. I just pulled one out and, hoping against hope, lit it. Praise be to the Gardener, it worked.

"I would say we should take a break to calm down, but the bear is too close for comfort. Let us put some distance between us and that creature. Agreed?"

We were all on board with that. We slowed some, no longer runnin', but sill moving at a quick pace. If we could keep it up, I figured we could shave a couple of days off our cave time.

My pants were filled with a stinky load. It was uncomfortable. Under the circumstances, I had no intention of slowin' down, or stoppin' ta wipe it off. The farther we got away from that bear the happier I'd be.

When we were nearly exhausted Ren said, "Let us find a suitable place to spend the night." We slowed a little.

Freck confessed, "Sorry guys, but the bear scared the piss outta me."

"That's not so bad Freck," I admitted, "that bear scared the poop right outta me."

"In that case we need to find a place with a pool or running water, so the two of you can clean up."

We came across the perfect spot with both a pool, and water flowin' outta the rocks through a faucet like formation. Freck chided, "You go first stinky." She meant it, I was sure, but then she winked, so I knew she was just jokin'. Kiddin' or not, I still felt my face redden with shame.

I grabbed my sleepin' bag and backpack, and headed back upstream ta the pool. Cave water is as cold as frozen mackerels on ice. I removed my pants, long johns, and underwear. What a gol-darn mess, and it stunk to high heaven. I used the towelettes to scrape off the larger lumps. Then dropped the yuck into the a tidy bag. In the pack was a small piece of soap. I scrubbed everything--twice. Then rinsed them thoroughly, and rung them out the best I could with near frozed fingers. At least my shirt and jacket warn't wet. My top half was okay. I wrapped my numb bottom half with the sleepin' bag before returnin' ta camp. Ren started a fire disk. The area was already gettin' quite warm. He instructed me ta hang my drawers over some rocks near the cooker ta dry overnight.

It was Freck's turn next. This was my chance to scoot my bare butt into the sleepin' bag before Freck returned.

We came here expectin' danger, but this kind of embarrassment might be worse. You can say, "Naw I wasn't scared," but the mess in your pants speaks louder than your words.

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I woke up even before Ren turned on a light. Felt around in the darkness until I found my underpants and long johns. Whew, they were dry. Hikin' through that cold cave with moist underwear would be the death of me. I took them back to my bag and a few minutes later I heard Freck doin' the same thing. We have to maintain decorum, after all.

Gettin' dressed inside a sleeping bag is like wrestlin' with a greased pig on roller skates. I got 'er done and relaxed a bit until Uncle Ren woke up. This was the only time I was grateful for the absolute darkness. What goes on in the dark, stays in the dark.

After we all got up, finished dressin', and had breakfast. Ren suggested that we try and walk fast as long as we were in the tunnel. That was all right with me. We roped up and headed once again down the passage. The problem with moving quickly is ya miss important stuff. There was puddle on our trail, so we moved over to the left to avoid it. Wham. A hole opened up right beneath Ren. He fell into a tube that was slick on account the stream pouring into it. We could't undo the ropes, 'cuz it happened too fast. Freck was pulled in next, then me. It was like a big 'ol muddy waterslide. With nothin' ta stop us we was ridin' down a slippery chute ta hell. Without warnin', Ren skidded to a stop. Freck crashed inta him, and I smashed into Freck. We was in a large cavern. A quick look 'round was all I got 'cuz our sudden arrival set off a rockslide.

The rest I already told about. How the rockslide nearly killed us. How I was finally able ta connect with Gee. How I tapped into cigam to create light and fix my pain enough ta save Freck and Uncle Ren. Then how the rescue team arrived just in the nick of time ta get us out b'fore the cavern wall collapsed, and let in an ocean of water.