The landscape was completely flat and featureless as Eleanor headed east, with the dog pacing ahead of her. Occasionally she heard a factory humming in the distance, but the dog's route avoided any buildings. Eleanor called Minnie's name several times, but nobody answered.

Her toes began to hurt, so she took off Jeanne's large boots and carried them. Under her socks, the smooth ground felt chilly, but it didn't seem as cold as the snowy city that she knew lay far overhead.

She stopped after awhile and sat on the cold ground to rest. She drank some canned soup and shouted Minnie's name again. There was still no answer, but as she looked around, listening, she realized that the darkness wasn't as black as before.

She switched off the lamp and waited for her eyes to adjust.

There was a definite lighter haze to the west, behind her, and she could see dim, distant buildings in the places where she had heard the factory noise.

Nobody moved anywhere, and there were no trees or animals, other than the dog, who waited, sitting, a short distance ahead of her.

After a break, she and the dog started walking again, and the light grew a bit stronger. She passed several of the strange scaffolds that reached from the floor to the ceiling of the underworld, but she avoided these, remembering the lightning blast.

Far ahead was a bright spot on the floor. High above it was a lighter area on the ceiling. Eleanor first thought that it was another pit, but she couldn't see a garbage pile on the bright floor, and it must be night by now in the upper world.

The dog veered slightly north, heading away from that area, but Eleanor could now see a boxy shape, maybe a tent, across the bright circle.

Eleanor thought about telling the dog that she wanted to investigate the bright area, but she supposed that would be silly. She took out a soup can instead, and shook it to get his attention. The dog returned to her, wagging his tail.

She rubbed his shaggy head, and said, “No soup yet. I want to see what's over there. Come with me.”

Eleanor headed for the bright area, and the dog walked beside her, but she didn't know if he understood her, or merely wanted more soup.

The air felt warmer as she approached the hole, and a wind seemed to blow out from it, ruffling the dog's fur. She smelled something almost like cloves, and began to hear distant cries, possibly large birds.

She could see now that the boxy shape was definitely a green cloth tent, of the sort that soldiers camped in. Two empty glass bottles lay on the ground near the entrance.

Eleanor started to walk around the hole, heading for the tent, but movement below caught her eye.

Curious, she sat down and leaned over the edge, feeling the wind sting her eyes.

Below was a brightly lit country of treetops, with colorful birds flitting over them. A hole in the trees showed another sunny level, further down, possibly desert. More of the scaffolding towers dotted the wild landscape.

The air smelled strange, unearthly, and there were no cities or signs of humanity on either level that she could see. Staring down, she realized that Rich was right. This was definitely not the ordinary Earth.

Beside her, the dog growled.

She sat up and looked into the darkness around the hole, but saw no movement.

From the tent, a voice said, “Stop that growling, whatever you are, or I'll shoot you. I'm trying to sleep.”

“Minnie?”

A moment later, the tent flaps opened and Minnie looked out, her hair disheveled. “Elle? What the devil are you doing down here?”

Eleanor sat still, trying not to grin. “Looking for you. Are you safe? Why did you leave?”

Minnie left the tent and walked over to Eleanor. “Of course I'm safe, love. Didn't Scurvy Zeek give you my note?”

Eleanor tried to frown and look severe. “I did not get a note, and I've been worried sick about you. And here you are in a fancy tent, perfectly safe, smelling like expensive liquor. You can't keep doing things like this.”

“Hey, relax, love. I just meant to find Charlie, run a well-paid errand for Zeek, and I'd have been home in a couple of days. I haven't found Charlie yet, though.”

Eleanor shook her head slowly. “First of all, Charlie's not even down here. He didn't jump. He was hiding in the catacombs under the orphanage cemetery.”

“Oh, of course. When they tell me to look for missing friends in the cemetery, that's not what people usually mean.”

“I know, but he's safe. And so are you.” Eleanor took a breath to continue, but she was afraid she might cry, because she felt so relieved that Minnie truly was safe. She sat still a moment.

Minnie sat down beside her, and hugged her. “I'm sorry you didn't get the note. I probably shouldn't have trusted Scurvy Zeek with it.”

“You shouldn't trust him with anything. He told the newspapers that you stole his airship. And he threatened to kill Charlie.”

“He won't kill Charlie. He's a tricky bastard, and I don't know what game he's playing with the newspapers, but he wouldn't hurt an innocent kid. Or a dog, and speaking of dogs, did we very recently adopt a dog?” Minnie pointed at the sheepdog, who stood alertly, listening.

“He isn't ours. He just followed me from a camp by the Pit, because I fed him so he wouldn't bark when I left. The people there wanted me to stay.”

“I saw those people. Strange sense of fashion.”

Eleanor allowed herself to smile. “They wear normal clothing under those cloaks. They gave me this dress, because its previous owner was apparently kidnapped by your Captain Blodger. Is he as harmless as you think Zeek is?”

Minnie leaned her head against Eleanor's shoulder. “No, he's not harmless at all. He's a dangerous brute who I once worked for. And I regret it. The sooner I find him, bring him some stuff, and get out of here, the better.”

Eleanor patted the doctor's bag. “Zeek told me to bring him some things too. But the Pit camp people think he's building a device to smash holes in the sky. So I don't know if I should really deliver this.”

“Interesting project. Can I see what's in the bag?”

“Sure.”

Minnie took the bag and looked through it. She held up the shiny cube. “Where did you get this?”

“It was in the bag when Zeek gave it to me. What is it?”

“An activator for Green Coal. The Greenies can make their coal burn or not burn, with devices like this. They can burn your house down, I've heard, or stop all the power on your airship. I've never seen one before, but this looks like how they've been described to me.”

“Do you think we should really bring it to Blodger? If he shoots holes in the sky down here, he might kill people overhead.”

“I think we should go and find him, and see exactly what he's doing. But it wouldn't hurt to knot the activator into your dress hem, so it's not in the bag if we have to disappear suddenly. Here.”

Eleanor took the cube, and managed to knot her dress fabric around it. She supposed it would be obvious in bright light, but down here her dress was mostly shadows. As she finished, the dog began to bark.

Minnie swore. "What the devil is that thing?" She pulled out her gun.

Eleanor looked around, and saw a spidery robot approaching, ticking, with a large man riding on it. "It's one of the men from the Pit camp. Don't shoot him."

The dog barked and wagged his tail, and ran to the robotic spider as it approached. It stopped, and the Sergeant slid off of it. "Ma'am, we treated you with hospitality. How could you steal our dog?"

Eleanor said, "I didn't steal him. I gave him some soup and he followed me. You can take him home."

The Sergeant reached for the dog, but it backed away, and headed a bit further east before stopping and looking back at him.

He sighed. "I'll take you two back to Tallhouse, and the dog will follow us. I'll lead the way."

Minnie said, "Nonsense. I have some business with Captain Blodger, and I'm not going anywhere else until it's settled."

The Sergeant said, "This is no place for two ignorant women to wander around. And the King is a dangerous maniac."

Minnie grinned. "Well, so am I."

Eleanor looked for the dog, and saw the sheepdog in the distance, continuing east without them. "Where's your dog going? I thought he was tracking Minnie."

"No," said the Sergeant. "He's tracking Jeanne." He whistled, but the dog ignored him.

Eleanor asked him, "How far is it to the King's land?"

"Ma'am, it's about two days. I'm going to go and catch that dog, and you need to convince your wife to return to Tallhouse with us." He climbed back onto the mechanical spider, and started after the dog.

Minnie watched the spider scurry eastward. "We should steal that spider from him."

"You are retired, dear."

"I was retired. But nobody clean and sweet and respectable is going to stop Captain Blodger."

Eleanor sighed, and saw the spider turn around and come back toward them, without the dog.

When the Sergeant reached them, he dismounted and whispered, "There are lights ahead. Tax collectors, I think. We'll have to hide."

Minnie said, "I'm no coward. And usually, tax collectors hide from me." She glanced again at the spider, and started walking east.