The Station, Part 42

I think I may have an idea. How hard would it be to break off a good sized crystal and take it with me to use as a torch? It seemed sort of wrong, but how do I know how far the light reaches? I’ll need something to help find my way through. And I’ve only just gotten started.

Sorry I haven’t been talking much, but I’ve been concentrating on procuring myself that torch. Anyway, I you would have heard from me was grunting and curses. Not much insight. But I got the job done. At first, I tried taking one from the wall, but I couldn’t budge any of the several that I deemed the right size for travel. Pulling one off the floor has proven to be very difficult as well, but I pulled it off. Ha. Get it? But really, I had to lean into it and push it as hard as I could. It worked. The crystal broke off at the point where it met the ground. It’s a very clean break. It’ll have to be careful of that end as it is also very sharp as a result. Like a really good knife kind of sharp. It’s not as heavy as I assumed, but solid enough. It feels very cool to the touch, a strange contrast to the light that it emits. Common wisdom holds that light generates heat—most of the time. Not in this case. Might as well state the opposite goes for my new torch. It’s a peculiar biology, dare I say, ecosystem, my torch is. What would the scientific community back home have to say about this room of wonder?

The only real way to test just how bright my torch is with a field test. There’s no more to do here and I shouldn’t stay any longer. So, off I go, further into the cave, but now a little more prepared.

I wish you could see the formations that I’m passing. After leaving the cathedral of crystals I’ve been almost embarrassingly pleased with myself. The glow from that place faded rapidly after, not able to penetrate far down into my descent. My torch has negated that problem quite nicely. And it has allowed me not only to see my way, but to experience these hidden wonders. These formations, they’re although familiar and alien at the same time. So many shapes and textures. It’s like an endless art gallery of the surreal. Some shapes take on organic, life-like forms, while others resemble nothing that I could make an adequate comparison. I could go on all day about them. The way has gotten steeper, and I’m getting a little concerned about that. There’s the growing danger of slippage now, at that’s a first. But the headway I’m making is great. I keep having to remind myself that I’m not actually underground. This entire place is both above and below ground and neither if you really think about it. This cave is not really a cave, just another Tunnel Wide among many Tunnels Wide. But like every other inch of this vast network of chambers I have encountered, it is just as real as any natural environment. The ocean, giant fungal forest, grove of trees that weren’t trees, and so much more, all of which were no less authentic than this cave that is now taking be farther and father down towards my escape.