The Cave - Part 5

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The Cave - Part 5

With the arrival of the morning, everything seemed to be as always in the cave. What was a hive of activity during the night, was now completely calm, the sepulchral silence, broken only by the sound of the leaves of the trees outside, reigned again.

They had already had breakfast and were ready to go back into the cave, the small assistant robot was programmed to follow Enmanuel, who would be in charge of keeping track of the samples they collected, while Lionel would be in charge of the collection.

So they went into the tunnel, with the idea of walking far beyond where they had arrived the day before. The estimates indicated that the cave could be more than one hundred kilometers long, obviously, they did not expect to cover it all, if they could get to where the robot explorer stopped, which was sent several decades ago, they would be satisfied for now. Perhaps in an upcoming expedition they could bring a vehicle that would allow them to advance faster.

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LEONARD advanced about ten kilometers more, from the point where he met ROBERT the day before, there was an old robot explorer, his corroded appearance was proof of the more than eight decades he had in that place. He stopped for a moment to examine it and after manipulating its circuits for a while, he found the fault that made him stop.

-From what I see the processor that controls the motor function of the robot melted, probably short-circuited because of condensation, obviously not a robot properly built for the task that was assigned to him, -said presumptuous.

-LEONARD continues, don't waste time, it will be dark soon -he heard Hernán say, from the control center in orbit.

The further into the cave, the less noticeable the bioluminescence became, the walls which once glowed with a ghostly glow, now only showed a slight phosphorescence which could hardly be distinguished in the visible spectrum, also the fungi, which at first reached three metres in height, now in addition to being smaller, barely reached thirty centimetres and like the walls, their phosphorescence was very slight.

About five kilometers from the robot, a new gallery opened, this time the depth of the water was greater and it was in complete darkness, there seemed to be no presence of micro organisms in the water or walls, or at least they did not emit light.

LEONARD changed his vision to the infrared spectrum and turned on his IR reflectors, the gallery looked completely empty, walked to almost half the place and began to walk in detail with the view, all around. The water reached the middle of his thighs, his temperature was just over two hundred and eighty Kelvin, if he had been human, perhaps he would have felt apprehension for being in that place.

At the opposite end of where the entrance to the tunnel through which he had arrived was, there was a new entrance, through which the cave continued to be prolonged, in the middle of which he began, where the floor was once again dry, Lionel Gouveia's body was found, he was sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the wall of the cave.

As with Rivero, his body was moderately well preserved, the nanobots of his body had functioned for several days after his death, preventing decomposition, so that the bacteria that could degrade his corpse could not act and ended up mummified over time.

-I will take Gouveia back to the ship, I think that concludes our mission here, am I right? -LEONARD asked.

-Yes, LEONARD, bring back the body of Gouveia to study it, tomorrow we will change to the second location, to finish our work on this planet, in a few days the tugboats will arrive, - replied Hernán.

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Enmanuel and Lionel went deeper and deeper into the cave, the former gleaming tunnel had become dark and gloomy, multiple and intriguing sounds harassed them all around, filling them with anguish, they had already collected a good amount of samples, both from the water of the galleries, and from the colonies of micro organisms of the walls and fungi, in addition to samples of the air of the cave at every kilometer traveled.

Their mood and mood had changed, they were no longer as motivated and optimistic as before, the feeling that something was watching them and about to attack them, harassed them at every step they took, they felt that at any moment something would pounce on them from the darkness.

It was then, after a bend in the cave, that they could witness what seemed to be waiting for them.

Text of @amart29 Barcelona, Venezuela, November 2019

Other stories from the series The Age of Perseus

• The Cave - Part 1
• The Cave - Part 2
• The Cave - Part 3
• The Cave - Part 4
• The Cave - Part 5

Thank you all for visiting my publication, I hope your comments and I appreciate your support, until next time

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