Sneak peek from Terra Nine: At the bottom of the cavern a rope dangled a few feet off the rock floor. A few more lengths were let out and the rope met the ground, coiling twice. Three hundred feet above he secured the rope to his harness then held out his hand. She hesitated for a moment then took his hand and climbed on his back then locked her arms around his neck and under his arm. With his legs he pushed off the cliff side and the two descended down the rope. The darkness of the cave swallowed the pair. The sensation of the wind coming from below while not being able to see was a thrill she had never felt before. She looked up and watched the tiny disc of light growing smaller above her rapidly. A few moments later he slowed and stopped the descent. He could feel her quick heartbeat through his back. “It’s okay, we’re at the bottom,” he said. “I can’t see it.” “It’s there, let go.” “I can’t see it.” He reached where her hands were clasped around him breaking her grip and for a split second she thought she would plummet to her death when her feet met the floor half an inch below. She wobbled to gain her balance as he disconnected himself from the rope. She looked above her again and watched the tiny disc where they came from fade into black. “You okay?” “Yeah. I can’t see a thing though,” she said. “In about a minute, you’ll see everything.” He took her hand again and led her through the darkness for about a minute then stopped. “There it is.” The blue light appeared from around a bend in a tunnel about fifty feet away. They made their way through the tunnel then stopped at an opening. Her mouth opened in amazement. Beyond the opening was another cliff face. She looked straight down and found a cloud layer about a mile below that stretched out as far as she could see. The opening seemed to grow closer to the cloud layer as if the clouds were rising. “It’s beautiful,” she gasped. “I’ve never seen it like this.” “Look.” About seven miles out a bulge began to form in the cloud layer. It grew larger until a mass of rock punched through thrusting upwards causing the clouds to spill off and around until the entire sky was filled with the mass of rock. “What is that?” “The anterior side of what used to be the continent of South America.” They watched the mass of rock grow out of the cloud layer until it eclipsed the sun and the cave grew dark again.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 19:32:16 +0000