Oliver Smarts's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Oliver came back at dawn with his briefcase in hand. The metal case held empty vials, padded foam, and a backup sensor. He set it down outside the rope and crouched beside his geological reader. The screen warmed up and began drawing the dig in cross-section, layer by layer. He watched the map build. Lines of stress bloomed across the eastern wall in angry red. One safe corridor lit up in pale blue. It curved past the fossil shelf where the samples waited. It also ran straight under the cracked eastern face. Oliver tightened his jaw. There was no other route. The collapse had sealed every other path. He rigged a second rope along the blue line and clipped small sensor nodes to it every few steps. Each node would chirp if the wall above shifted by a hair. He took the briefcase under one arm. He ducked the boundary rope again. The corridor was narrow. Cracked floor crunched under his boots. He kept his shoulder away from the eastern wall and moved fast. At the fossil shelf, he popped the briefcase open, chipped two frozen shards free, and sealed them into a padded tube. A single empty test tube clinked against the foam beside them. A sensor node behind him chirped. Then another. Oliver clamped the case shut and ran the corridor out. He cleared the rope as fine dust began sifting from the ceiling. He had the samples. The eastern wall was still standing, but barely — and the corridor he'd used was already beginning to close.