The Ark Approach by Dan Arnold

Author:Dan Arnold [Arnold, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-02-01T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

“I’d rather it was raining,” Lorenzo mumbled into the black and white checkered scarf he’d wound around his face to filter out as much dust as possible. “I’d rather have mud than all this dust.”

The men had placed their backpacks a little ways back down the tunnel. After seeing the partially crushed skull of the mummified corpse, they kept the helmets on their heads.

“Mud is heavier than dust and dirt. This is tough enough without the extra weight of water,” David said. He’d rejoined them after they’d been working for nearly an hour.

Upon his return he reported that everything was in place. He handed the keys to the fork lift and the cargo truck to Jake

The pile of rubble in the tunnel was now lowered by nearly three feet, although they’d only progressed about three meters in distance. They had to remove debris, pass it back, and then place it along the sides of the open tunnel walls behind them. At first they did this by passing the larger slabs of stone from man to man. Every now and then, they had to use shovels. It slowed them down. The dirt and debris was scraped away from one man to the next. The last man had to toss a shovel load off to the side.

About one and a half meters into the pile, they exposed the booted foot of another mummified body. It took the better part of an hour to dig the horrible thing out. It was now lying at the edge of the tunnel about five meters behind them

“How long have we been down here?” Lorenzo asked.

“Altogether, we’ve been in these tunnels for about five hours. I reckon it’s about three o’clock in the afternoon outside, in the world of sunshine and blue skies.’

“Right, but down here it’s always midnight.”

Jake was up on the pile loosening a heavy chunk of rock when it dawned on him he’d forgotten a simple principle. When it’s not important, don’t spend too much time on it. He rolled the rock off to the side.

Turning to the men behind him, he said, “We don’t have to send back anymore debris. We’ll just shift it off to the sides of the pile. That will be faster and less taxing on everyone. Since the space is so cramped, and there’s only room for one man up front at a time, we’ll take turns. I’ll come down in fifteen minutes or so. Then Ruben can have a go for about thirty minutes. Lorenzo is next, then David. Going at it this way, three men are resting while one is working.”

“Oh, I like that idea,” Lorenzo said. “How long do you think it will take us to get past this blockage?”

“Maybe two more hours, tops.”

“How much farther do we have to go after that?” Ruben asked.

“This tunnel goes all the way to a corner under the Temple Mount and then turns northwest. I’m not sure where it terminates. To answer your question, we only need to go about another quarter of a mile, but we have to be even more cautious going forward.

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