Chapter 26 - The End of the Summer

Chapter 26 - The End of the Summer

"How are we going to get it out of here?" Samantha asked looking around at all the crates of crystal-ferrite. "How about we figure out how to get ourselves out of here, before we worry about the crystals," Arthur suggested. "They can always drill a hole into the other side of the cliff to get the crystals out," Raven said. "There was another button on the elevator," Goro mentioned. "Another level above this one." They climbed down off the crate and walked back to the elevator, and Samantha put one of the heavy crystals in her backpack. The elevator carried them up to the level above, and they walked out into another big room, but this one was empty.  Their crystallite torches lit it up well. It was some kind of launch-pad for aircraft, above them they could see where the roof had once opened to let the aircraft out...

Chapter 25 - The Tunnel to Outpost Acadia

When they woke up, none of them where sure how long it had been. They were still tired, but now it was too cold to sleep, and their muscles were tired from sleeping on the hard cold rock of the cavern floor. The big door behind them was now freezing cold. "The mines must be completely flooded," Raven said as she felt the door. "Will the old city flood too?" Kiyoko asked, worried about the forest and animals. "No," Raven answered quickly. "Underwater cities have all kinds of safety features to stop that." "So I guess Os'Surale and his gang are trapped until the Park-Rangers show up!" Goro said, suddenly happy that he wouldn’t have to see Os'Surale again. "Do you think these doors will hold?" Arthur asked, changing the subject. "I mean these old doors could collapse under the pressure of all that water." "Not to scare you," Raven said, "but they could. The sooner we’re through this tunnel the better." They started walking up the old mining-cavern. Arthur pulled one of the old maps out of his backpack and started looking at it as they walked. "I wonder where this tunnel ends up." "It must be in a part of the outpost that you haven’t explored yet," Samantha said...

Chapter 24 - Raven's Plan

"What are we going to do?" Samantha asked after Os'Surale had left them in the old storage cell. "Relax," Raven said. "We won’t get anything done if we start panicking." "We can’t go back to the sub," Arthur said. "They’ll be up there loading up their stuff." "Go back to the sub?" Goro asked, beginning to panic. "We can’t even get out of this room, and you’re worried about getting to the sub?" "Everybody sit down and relax," Raven ordered. "We’re going to be okay. Now relax. Samantha, do you still have that book?" "The book about the outpost?" Samantha asked in surprise. "Yes. Why?" "I thought I might do some reading," Raven said with a smile. "Why don’t you guys have something to eat? That should calm your nerves." They realized that they were hungry again, and so they sat down pulled out the snacks they’d been carrying. Everyone was surprised to see how much food Goro had in his pouch, so he explained where he’d gotten it. Raven silently red through parts of the book, looking for information on the tunnel from the mines to the outpost...

Chapter 23 - Prisoners Again

The first thing Raven, Arthur, Samantha and Kiyoko did when they got back to the mines was send out the Arrow to search for Goro. Then the kids led Raven towards where the miners were working, so she could get a first hand look at them. The Arrow shot through the pitch-black mines at an incredible speed, using radar to guide itself, and infrared sensors to search for Goro. The kids were leading Raven down the passage leading to the storage cavern, when a light appeared in front of them. They all froze not sure what to say. But then whoever it was, turned to run away, and they realized who it was. "Gõrô!" Kiyoko called...

Chapter 22 - Back into the Mines

During this time Goro had been wandering around in the mines. He didn’t know the others had been caught, or that they had escaped, he was still looking for them. After he found Meki, they had become completely lost, wandering from cavern to cavern. Every passage they followed seemed to lead them into yet another long abandoned mining cavern, and some of the passages he followed just led to dead-ends where entire caverns had collapsed. Goro was becoming afraid that the ceiling above him would fall down on him as well. He was also afraid that his crystallite torch would run out of light, and he would be left wandering the old mines in the dark. "We could be lost forever," Goro admitted to Meki. "We could be kilometers away from the main cavern by now." "We could be lost forever," Meki repeated in an affectionate voice that made Goro smile...