ICE (Elemental Book 1) by Tanya Allan

Author:Tanya Allan [Allan, Tanya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TJA Publications
Published: 2017-06-10T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

The incoming convoy came through a little ahead of schedule, so Granger used his influence and managed to get to the front of the queue with his small group. Their speed was greater than the great lumbering wagons being pulled by the kavraks. The convoy master placed the slowest vehicles at the back, enabling the faster vehicles to get through quickly without being held up. The convoy was separated into six sections, and then released five minutes apart. With the faster groups at the front, the time difference between the groups grew as time progressed.

Krista wasn’t greatly enthusiastic over getting back into the car, but saw little choice. As she did so, she glanced behind them at the other vehicles and wagons lining up for the trip. There appeared to be a good number of vehicles and wagons. With the slowest taking up the rear it must stretch for over a mile. This time she was seated in the back of the car, wedged between Sturt and Granger.

Such was Granger’s influence that they were the lead vehicles, setting off at twice the speed of those behind them. Very soon they entered the tunnel that stretched upwards at a gentle incline.

The incline did not get any steeper, but the tunnel went on and on. It had various twists with escape lanes at the bends, and she could see why. If a vehicle lost control coming down, or going up, then the bends would stop its uncontrolled descent.

“How long is it?” she asked.

“The tunnel? Oh, it’s about seventeen units.”

She stared at him blankly. They then had to work out that a unit was one thousand paces; roughly equivalent to a kilometre.

“What about air, how do you keep the air clean and prevent asphyxiation through poor air quality and pollution from your dirty engines?”

The men glanced at each other in wonderment. Every time she opened her mouth, she revealed the hidden depths of her mind.

“Small ventilation shafts have been drilled every half unit with electric fans expelling the foul air,” Granger said, with some pride.

Krista nodded, glancing out at the damp rock walls that passed a few feet from either side of the car. A single and rather dull electric light was placed every half unit, or so, giving poor lumination to that part of the tunnel only. If electricity was a recent invention, then the old days must have been quite a journey for those soldiers in the convoys, saying nothing about those who cut the original tunnel.

“When was it dug?” she asked.

“Around two hundred years ago, when the war was more active than it is now. Originally, it was just wide enough for two men to pass. It was extended and widened a century ago. The lights were added recently.”

“This was before electricity and fans?”

“They had fans, but they were manually operated by teams of convicts working in shifts.”

“How civilised!” she muttered.

After what seemed an age, they finally cleared the tunnel and entered the world on top of the cliffs. It had taken then over an hour to get through.

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