They wandered through the main tunnel towards the chambers. James didn't mind the walk that much. By now most of the tunnels were deserted. The empty tunnel was lit by an assortment of gel patches that had been spread haphazardly along the walls and ceiling. The range of various colours cast an odd glow in the darkness. The mixture creating a carnival of shades that tainted their skin. Up ahead the colours had already started fading. The light dimming before their eyes. James knew it wouldn't be long until the tunnel was bathed in shadows. Except where they stood. The gel patches were a tool of the Sanctuary, the same company who had designed the Unit. They responded to body heat. Pretty much a mix between a motion sensor light and solar heating. James never understood why people who called themselves the resistance relied on the tools of the enemy. But, then again the Sanctuary hadn't designed the Unit for what it had eventually been used for. Still, to him the stuff was fake. Artificial. Nothing like the real thing. Everyone else on the other hand loved the patches. It was one of their favourite past times. To wait until there was complete darkness and try move across the tunnels without altering the colour. It was more a race of memory and skill, boring and slow, but, the Unit made sprinting through the tunnels a definite no go.

'You wanna play?' Jazz asked already hopping from spot to spot trying to maintain the same colour.

It wasn't really fair for them to play with anyone else. With the ability to move faster than a dawdle they could make the wrong move as many times as they needed to, to find the right pattern and still come out of the coloured maze first. Eventually, they were discouraged from playing with anyone else for fear of someone getting competitive and attempting to beat them.

James didn't really feel like it, but, he felt bad for ignoring Jazz so he bent his knees ready to jump. 'Alright first one to the pools.'

The challenge was plain in Jazz's eyes. 'For your pack.'

James sighed. He hated the stuff but it was food, and the morning's adventures had made him almost painfully hungry. Then again. He hardly lost... 'You're on.'

Jazz set off at once. Springing from a light yellow that made him look sickly. James watched the jump, it was another edge they had against anyone else. They could leap across wide spaces. The others could only look on as they rock-rabbited from spot-to-spot. At times James imagined he could feel their emotions. They slammed into his senses often jarring his concentration. It was a weird sensation to be soaring through the air, one eye on the colour the other on Jazz as he pirouetted through colours like a salsa dancer. And, then all his elation was clouded by envy, jealousy and sometimes outright hatred. The only positive was it didn't last long. There was barely any show of emotion in the tunnels. Emotion was the ticket to death. And, every one of them had been trained to squash feelings. To focus on something else. But, they were only human, sometimes their feelings surfaced. James had no idea if he imagined how they were looking at him or if he actually felt what they were feeling. At times he wandered if what he was had made him less human. It certainly explained his other almost alien abilities.

Jazz landed in a shade of bright blue ripping James from his thoughts. 'Ha,' he laughed. 'This is gonna be too easy.'

Jazz's wide grin showed blue teeth. 'The bigger the head, the harder the fall.'

James laughed until there were tears in his eyes. 'That's not even a...'

He was going to say, "saying," but, his blue faced friend had vanished. By the time James found him, Jazz was already halfway down the tunnel. He'd used a distraction. He knew James had the thing for innuendos and wordplay. The laughter didn't die down, he should've known Jazz wasn't around anymore simply by the silence, Jazz was always talking his ear off. Still chuckling he set off after his best friend.

Three jumps later Jazz slouched past him. 'Why so blue?' James asked.

Jazz shot him a look that was laced with the type of saying that Abe didn't like. James laughed. 'Don't pack it in.'

Jazz couldn't help it, like James puns were as his Achilles heel. There wasn't much else to laugh at in the Tunnels. He keeled over. James used his distraction to advance. By the time he landed Jazza had started again. 'I'm coming for you shorty,' he shouted.

James gritted his teeth. He didn't mind the comment, it was more banter when it came from Jazz, but, when he had a six foot ginger baring down on him, his shortness was a hindrance that irritated him especially with the route he had taken. There was no colour, no patches, he had mapped It out in his mind. He called it the Shadow Run. It was made by the absence of patches spread out in a weaving pattern. It would've been easy if anyone else noticed the secret path, but, they would never be able to make the jumps that were required. And, that's where the problem lay, he had never completed the route as well. The last jump was a bridge too far. He always fell short. But, the colours were no longer a challenge. James needed challenges, especially living down in the tunnels. Where the only challenge was living.

'Gotcha!' Jazz said next to him. The remark was somewhat clouded by the patch of pink that clashed horribly with his hair. 'Looking good Jasmine,' James muttered concentrating on his next destination.

Jazz curtsied in response. There were times when James had wandered if Jazz and himself would've been friends without the Unit in play. If they had other people to do stuff like this with. But, then Jazz did something like that and James couldn't imagine anyone better to laugh at, and occasionally with.

'I relish the fact that you've mustard the strength to ketchup to me. But, you mayo's well give up.'

That did the trick. The four pun food combo. Jazza slipped mid jump and fell into a spot of dark green. 'I don't like your disposition,' James said on a roll now. 'You may need to be evicted.'

Jazz scowled, not many people mentioned the sickness with the ease they did. But, then again no one else could laugh at it. 'I think you're better off curtsying.'

If Jazz heard him he didn't acknowledge it. 'Remember the deal was for your pack not mine.' By the time James realised the play on words, Jazz was already sprinting back to the beginning. Three strides later James stood one jump away from victory. The pools were in sight. A double pack in touching distance. He bent his knees, crouching like he was on the edge of a cliff, took a deep breath and jumped...

'And, his defeated by mere inches,' Jazz's voice commentated from somewhere behind him. 'The shadow run strikes again.'

James was bathed in a red patch of defeat. The rift was just too wide. He looked up, he had missed by at least three feet. He turned only to find Jazz grinning down at him, the red light made it look like his hair was on fire. James was too slow to make the connection. Jazz jumped at him. He looked like a basketball player soaring through a spot light... about to slam-dunk... him. James stared dumbly at the red colour staining his skin. Jazz was heading right at him. He moved deftly to the side as Jazz landed in the space he had occupied. One leap later and Jazz was celebrating wildly. James walked over to him. 'Nice,' he said dryly.

Jazz clapped him on the back. 'Don't worry I won't eat your pack...' James looked up at him hopefully. 'Only the good stuff,' Jazz finished.

James shook his head and together they walked like normal people into the Pools.

***

The sound hit him first. In the centre of the chamber a waterfall cascaded into a central lake. The roar echoed around the cavern like thunder. The force of the water smashing into the rocks below sent wave of water laced air that rippled outwards. The flecks splattered against James's face. Surrounding it were smaller Jacuzzi like rock pools. The Pools as they were so eloquently named were the central chamber that branched off the main tunnel. From it there were two adjoining wings. A tunnel on the left led to the work station, while an archway on right headed to the food hall. The pools were easily his second favourite spot after the View... the cavernous space was littered with natural hot springs. Patches had been placed inside the heated water, so the steam that rose off the surface created a hazy mirage, when you combined it with the cloud formed by the powerful falls, it cast a beautiful illusion. One that even the artificial patches couldn't ruin. From each rock pool, water overflowed into small streams that crisscrossed the rocky floor, the heated water flowed over smaller patches keeping them alight at all times. The pulsing colour underwater cast ethereal projections that moved along the walls like they were alive. 'Come on,' Jazz urged. 'I've got two packs to get through.'

James didn't reply, he simply stepped into Jazz's shadows and followed him through the archway that led into the food hall. The cavern that they entered was pretty plain. The rocks looked like they had been sculptured to resemble a sort of indoor picnic spot. Low tables were chiseled out of the floor and were spread across the hall, while an entire section of the walls had been carved out and crafted into shelves that were stocked with different coloured packs. James hated the stuff. The packs had been a substitute food source used to replace the shortage that had almost wiped out the planet. Each pack contained a coloured powder that once mixed with water fulfilled a dietary requirement. Protein, carbohydrates, energy and diary. Each refined into a packet of artificial tasteless food that the tunnellers had liberated during their more active days of resistance. Jazz walked up to the nearest shelf, reached in and grabbed two helpings, tossing James his entire portion. 'But... you won?'

Jazz shrugged. 'What are friends for?'

James smiled, but, Jazz wasn't done. 'Besides you're a growing boy James.'

Seething, he followed Jazz to a small table in the corner of the cavern. But, by the time they sat down he had a smile on his face. He couldn't help it. Jazz's personality was infectious. Annoyingly so...

James sat and started sorting through his pack. While Jazz jumped up and went to fetch them some water. Eventually, he had played with his food for long enough and he looked up to search for Jazz among the hall. It shouldn't have been hard to locate the six-feet giant. His hair stuck out like a sore thumb on fire against the dark backdrop. However, he couldn't find Jazz anywhere. What he did see was a crowd of people staring back at him. The hall was filled with tunnellers. James hadn't noticed the packed house. He was too preoccupied with his hunger and their mad dash through the tunnel. But, now that he was alone. He felt their eyes stain him. He tried to ignore them, but, he had nothing to do and no one to talk to. He looked down, playing with his hands while he waited for Jazz to get back. When he finally heard footsteps approaching he looked up hopefully, however, it wasn't Jazz. A group of teenagers stared down at him. 'Hey youngster.'

James gritted his teeth. Tristan regarded him coolly, while most of the tunnellers did their best to ignore him. Trist made James his business. The tall, muscular boy with high cheek bones, wavy hair and the bluest of eyes was obviously the ring leader of a small crew that had somehow found out that he was the youngest member of the tunnellers and along with the short factor he had decided to breach the topic every time he was near him. 'You're in our seats.'

James looked around, even full there were loads of open tables but he didn't want to cause any issues. He got to his feet and made to walk away, but, Tristan didn't seem to like how easy that had been. 'Every seat is our seat freak. You're not a tunneller.'

The words washed over him with no effect, but, the emotions that accompanied them slammed into him like punches. He almost staggered as he felt them radiating off the people. Anger, hatred, jealousy... his stomach flipped as the sensation cannoned into his skull. If he didn't control the situation they would overdo it and their Unit would pick up on it...

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and thought about how best to calm the situation. However, when he opened his eyes, prepared to apologise and once again give in to Tristan, they were standing across from him, eyes closed, breathing deeply, relaxed and calm. James panicked, what would the rest of the tunnellers say about this, but, when his eyes bypassed the teenagers he noticed that the entire audience was emulating them. He didn't understand it and he didn't have time to, one by one each person's eyes snapped open and they went back to doing what they were doing. Even Tristan and his group of cronies turned and left him as if the encounter had never happened. Before he could contemplate what had just happened Jazz returned carrying a bag of fresh water. He seemed completely oblivious to the strange happenings and his only remark was. 'Everyone seems nice and relaxed today.'

James nodded and then realised what Jazz meant. Today marked a ceremonial eviction. He should have seen it. The packed hall, the sombre mood, the overload of emotions, the mood should've been apparent to him, but, he had been distracted by a game. Now, that he was aware it was as if he could sense the emotions. Nervous grief settled over the hall like a heavy cloud, it clung to the tunnellers like fog, he looked over at Jazz, Jazz was the only one who seemed unperturbed, he was throwing back his pack with relish. But, James knew better, Jazz had accompanied him to the view, encouraged him to play a game he rarely would and was now munching his pack with an intensity few could hope to match. Jazz was distracting himself from what was coming. The evictions were brutal-cruel even. Yes, they made light of the situation, but, it was all they could do... all anyone could do to survive them.

The thought stole his appetite. And, Jazz ended up eating his entire pack, while his mind turned to the emotions he had just somehow managed to control and how he might be able to put them to use.

For as long as he could remember he was sure he could feel the swell of the other tunneller's emotions. Envy, jealously, anger, rage, they rippled into him, always throwing him off balance. It was a weird sensation feeling something from someone else's perspective; at times he would be laughing and be hit by a wave of grief. It was disconcerting. It reminded him of his dream. He was feeling the emotion from someone else's point of view. But, he had never managed to alter those emotions, to calm anger or anxiety like he had just done. He couldn't shake the thought of what it meant. With a ceremonial eviction due, this new ability might have been a blessing in disguise, because today, today was going to be emotional for all of them...