Subterranean

"I know." He waved a hand to encompass the room. "Nothing like this has ever been discovered. But hell, we're miles under an active volcano."

She looked at his face, ruddy in the reflected light, strong chin raised as he stared at the ceiling. His excitement was contagious. She squeezed his arm.

Michaelson intruded, stepping up to them. "If this is quartz, maybe the sheer load is somehow affecting the radio. But I doubt it."

She hadn't thought of that. Hope flooded her. Perhaps…

Khalid called to them. "It's not quartz."

"What?" she asked, surprised to hear him join the conversation. He was usually so tight-lipped. "Then what is it?"

"It's diamond."

Ben laughed. "Sure it is."

"Who's the geologist here? Look at the angle of crystal fracturing. It's diamond."

Thunderstruck, everyone looked again at the pure mass of stone around them. Khalid smirked at their surprise.

Linda held up a chunk of diamond the size of a softball. "My god!"

Ashley thought of the diamond statue. How many other, similar chambers were down here? This much wealth…

The sharp edge of her excitement dulled with concern. She shook her head and released Ben's hand. "Before everyone starts counting their pennies, we still need to get out of here. Michaelson, try the radio one more time. Everyone else, set up camp for the night."

As she made her announcement, her exhaustion finally hit her. Every muscle burned. Every square inch of skin felt bruised. It seemed like they had been running for days. She glanced at her watch. After midnight.

"Still no response," Michaelson said, turning off the radio.

Ben spoke from where he had set up an air mattress. He had his geopositional compass open. "This isn't working either. Maybe Michaelson's right about some sort of interference. My compass uses a radio beacon at the base as a stationary reference point to home in on." He snapped the compass closed. "This bloody thing keeps searching, but it's not picking up the beacon."

She nodded, too exhausted to think clearly and too worried about Jason. "Perhaps it's some power outage at the base. We'll try again in the morning," she said, rubbing at her eyes. Her mind kept pushing Jason's face before her. If she thought about him too much, she'd begin to cry. What could they do anyway? Tomorrow would have to be soon enough.

Ben stepped up to her; he had finished inflating her air mattress. "Your bed awaits." He made a sweeping bow.

She took the mattress with a weary smile. "Thanks, Ben."

"I found a relatively flat area over there. Just enough room for two people." A grin played about the corner of his lips, the invitation clear.

In answer, she crossed to the spot and placed her mattress down. His smile had widened with each step she took. "Who's going to take first watch?" she asked.

"Watch?" Ben said.

She nodded. "We're in uncharted worlds down here. Carnivorous snails, whale-sized sharks, and now marsupial predators. We don't know what else might be lurking out there. Just in case, someone needs to stand guard… We'll rotate shifts."

Michaelson spoke up. "I'll take the first shift, but with two entrances to the cavern, I recommend two people per shift."

"Good idea. Any volunteers to join Michaelson on first watch?" She stared directly into Ben's eyes.

He resisted for a few heartbeats, then sighed and raised his hand. "Gosh, I feel a second wind coming on."

With the schedule established, those not on watch retired to their respective beds. Ashley sank into her mattress as if in a lover's embrace. Soon all but a single handlight clicked off. Expecting to be swallowed by darkness, her lids drooped downward. What the…? She sat back up. The chamber had not darkened; it continued to glow.

Ben stood up. "Bloody hell, this'll save on batteries."

Linda sat up. "It's coming from the walls," the biologist said, glancing around. "Reflecting off the diamonds." She crawled up and crossed to a wall where a section of diamond had fallen away. Scraping with the edge of a blade, she studied the rock, then turned to them with the blade upheld. It glowed a soft yellow. "It's fungus."

Great, Ashley thought. With our luck, it's probably emitting some toxic radiation.

"What a find!" Linda settled onto her mattress and wiped the blade off in a specimen bag. She wore a huge grin, talking rapidly as she worked. "This makes the fifth phosphorescent species I've found down here so far. Even the fish back at Alpha Base glowed due to the buildup of a type of fungus on their scales. But this…" She waved her arm. "This is almost worth being chased by monsters."

Michaelson sat back down and rested his rifle across his knees. "Is it worth someone dying for?"

Linda's smile deflated, and she sealed the bag.

The major's words sobered the team, and exhaustion overcame wonder. Everyone settled back to bed.

Ashley stretched and curled her wool blanket around her bare feet, retreating into a cocoon. She peeked at Ben's empty mattress. She could hear the two men mumbling quietly together as they stood watch. She closed her eyes, touching the tip of her tongue to her bruised lower lip, remembering his kiss, and fell into a dreamless sleep.

A hand on Ashley's shoulder woke her too soon. She rolled away from the lantern light.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. It's your shift." Ben's lips brushed her ear. "I even made some coffee."

She moaned and pushed herself upright, rubbing at her gritty eyes. Her muscles felt like stone weights. "Thanks, Ben… coffee sounds wonderful."

He helped her stand. "It tastes like mud, but it'll crank those pretty eyelids up."

She offered him a weak grin. She noticed Michaelson was already bundling up in his blanket. "You'd better get what sleep you can. It's only a few hours until morning."

He nodded, sliding out of his boots as he sat on his mattress. "I'll be out as soon as my noggin hits the pillow."

She envied him. Her rumpled blanket never looked so inviting. Yawning, she crossed to the makeshift guard station by the camp stove. She was surprised to see Linda sitting next to Khalid. "What are you doing up?" she asked as she approached. "This is supposed to be Khalid's and my shift."

"I know," Linda said, sliding over to make room on the boulder. "But I couldn't sleep. Too excited. I wanted to run a few tests. Besides, I took a little nap and that's all I usually need."

Ashley noticed the biologist's test kit spread out on a relatively smooth table of rock. Linda raised a small vial in front of the lantern light and shook it. The phosphorescent glow in the vial increased. "Amazing," she said, then jotted a note in her logbook.