Read Tunnels 05 - Spiral for Free Online

the Skull Gate. A Styx, wearing the distinct gray-green camouflage of a soldier from the Division, immediately stepped from the gatehouse. The Second Officer used this route to and from the Colony several times a day, not only to go to work but also for his official duties. Nevertheless, the Styx soldier scrutinized his warrant card, from time to time glancing suspiciously at the greyhound as if the Second Officer were attempting to smuggle contraband past him.
    Finally the soldier returned the warrant card and raised his lantern as a sign for the gate to be opened. It trundled into the huge skull carved into the rock above as if the monstrous apparition were retracting its teeth. The Second Officer continued on his way, stepping into the mouth of the skull. As he began down the dark passageway that was the main thoroughfare between the Quarter and the Colony, he welcomed the company of the little dog trotting along beside him.
    A thrumming sound filled his ears as he walked through a last turn of the passage and the Colony opened up before him. From this elevated position he could survey the South Cavern, with its endless ranks of houses all covered in a gauzelike mist of warm air and smoke.
    “How goes it?” someone shouted.
    The Second Officer stopped as he traced the multiple flights of cast-iron steps up the rock wall and located the Fourth Officer right at the very top. The man was on duty at the entrance to the control room for the Fan Stations, from where the low thrumming was emanating. Like many in the Colony police force, the Fourth Officer was a stocky man with a prickle length of white hair. And he was stationed there because the security had been tightened ever since Drake and Chester had used the air system to spread a mild nerve reagent through the Colony.
    “How goes it?” the Fourth Officer repeated, more loudly this time in case the fans had drowned him out.
    “The usual,” the Second Officer shouted back. “A rumpus in the North.”
    The Fourth Officer nodded, then spotted the greyhound. “See you’ve made a friend.”
    The Second Officer looked at his new companion and gave a shrug in response before continuing down the rest of the slope.
    As soon as he came to the level ground at the bottom, he heard the sound of many feet striking the cobblestones in unison. A group of New Germanians — around fifty of them — were running in formation, as a Division soldier on horseback set the pace.
    The greyhound hid behind the Second Officer’s legs as the group thundered past. The men were like automatons, staring straight ahead as they moved in perfect synchronization. He knew why their expressions were so vacant — they had all been heavily Darklit.
    Maneuvers like this were a common sight in the Colony these days — and just as common was the sight of these men collapsing from exhaustion during their training, some even dying from heart failure. The Second Officer had heard through the grapevine that the Styx were pushing the soldiers so hard because they wanted to acclimatize them to higher levels of gravity than they were used to in their world.
    “C’mon, boy. It’s nothing to be frightened of,” the Second Officer assured the dog as the soldiers retreated into the distance. He entered one of the outlying streets of the Colony. But rather than heading directly toward the North Cavern, he instead made a detour to his house.
    As he walked in, Eliza emerged from the sitting room. “What are you doing back so early?” his sister demanded. “Do you kn —” she began, then her eyes fell on the little greyhound. “Oh no! You haven’t!” she exclaimed.
    “I couldn’t just leave the little fella out in the cold,” the Second Officer said. He knelt down, his knee joints cracking like rifle shots, and stroked the dog. The greyhound’s nervous eyes met his briefly. “I’m expected in the North now, but I’ll find out where he lives when I come back.”
    Eliza crossed her arms