Our hero was tired, but there was no way he could sleep. The oppressive silence was interrupted only by the sound of the fire and the girl's sniffling in her sleep. He looked at her to make sure everything was okay and stood up from his seat. After walking carefully over the rocks for about twenty meters, he realized that the walk’s going to be difficult because of the strong unevenness of the surface.
“Heck, it's easy to fall and break legs here!” Leo thought, stepping over another sharp rock. Step by step, Serre walked a bit more and noticed that the cave branched off into three, making their task way harder. The guy raised an eyebrow in surprise and tried to look into each of them trying to figure out which way is optimal. He didn’t know these places, which did not help in any way.
- Oh great! - He said sarcastically to himself and entered the hallway on the right side. Suddenly, however, he saw that there was nothing ahead instead than a path and jumped back. Carefully shining a light under his feet, he found that the trail dropped off sharply and there was a deep abyss ahead. Leo swore and left the passage out, - I should be careful next time…
Turning around, he walked with the same caution back to where Katya was sleeping. But luck is never infinite, and Leo fell backward onto a flat rock, letting out a cry of surprise. Leaning on his hands, the guy rose up through the pain in his back and slowly made his way to the ledge.
- Leo? - he heard a sleepy female voice. Katya is awake, - I heard you shout…Did something happen?
Leo looked at her and answered: - Nothing serious. I just had an unlucky landing on my back.
- Did you hurt?
- I am okay. But I feel like we're going to get bumps and bruises - we have a very interesting path ahead of us on a terribly bumpy road. Moreover, cave split into three lesser caves.
- Unbelievable…Dear, - she rubbed her eyes, - How long I have been asleep?
- No idea, I lost count of time too. Maybe an hour, maybe little more.
- Did you get enough sleep?
- What? No…No, I have been awakened for a whole time, - he answered honestly since he was really overcome by strange insomnia, - And we had to have some of us on guard.
- Let me keep watch and you take an hour's nap then.
- No need, we shouldn’t stay here forever.
Katya sullenly agreed and rose silently to her feet. Leo covered the rest of the improvised fire with a stone and threw his backpack on his back. Mindful of the danger underfoot, Leo made the girl walk behind to avoid trouble, making them both reach those three passages.
- While you were asleep, I had already looked around the place. Passage on the right side is a trap – there is a bottomless pit that we cannot pass, but I do not have any clue about the other two, - Leo said, lighting up the central path. - Then the option is to guess. And I say we choose the left side.
- Why do you think so?
- A woman’s intuition.
Katya blinked with one eye on Leo and he snorted on this overconfident offer. Commander never liked to pray on luck, but she was right in one thing – there was no choice, but to challenge their fortune. They both headed through another long tunnel, but it was very different from the first one in that the walls were not so flat. Leo advised us to look carefully under our feet, but that didn't help Katya the first time – she didn't notice a small cleavage and caught the edge, falling to one knee. Leo helped her pull her leg out, made sure she wasn't hurt, and they continued on their way.
One eternity, couple of falls and a dozen swearing later, young Rogozina stopped, and tried to listen.
- What's the matter?
- Can you hear something, Leo? - she asked him and added, - Shut up and listen.
Serre strained his hearing, and a few moments later he thought he heard the sound of water. His eyes widened at the realization of what he had heard and ran forward. Katya wasn't far behind him. Soon they found a source of the sound - spring water flowing down the wall to form a creek. And the cave itself began to widen and go lower. Leo dropped a backpack down alongside his headlamp, poured water into hands and tasted. Agent only now realized how thirsty he was, spitting on safety precautions.
- This water...it's even better than on Akabat! - with these words he washed his face and drank some more. Katya put the flashlights so that they shine on the guys, letting them get plenty to drink.
After finishing the water, Katya and Leo felt more awake and fresh. Serre was not lazy to draw water for their further adventures and they continued on their road. As they descended carefully, the creek became wider, and soon the cave ended. The couple raised their heads, noticing that it was somehow brighter around them - they had entered a valley with an underground lake, and the walls around them emitted an unusually dark blue glow, weakly but illuminating the valley as a whole.
- Woah, what is this place? - Leo asked, fascinated. - I...I don't know...Look upside - it's all solid crystal structure. Looks like a huge gemstone bubble, but I can't recall what kind of crystal it would be. This planet is not only full of unpleasant surprises.
- It's a satellite, not a planet, Katya.
It took them almost twenty minutes to get around the lake, but they still didn't find an exit until Leo guessed to light up above his head.
- Katya, here's another entrance, look above!
- Huh...Right, but...Leo, we have a little problem – the rock is vertical, above two meters high and we are not ice climbers.
Serre scratched his chin, thinking. - I might have an idea, - he dropped his backpack and tried to climb using carvings in the stone, but unfortunately, he couldn't reach the edge of the cliff and jumped down after several failed tries. - Doesn't work? - Katya asked him, rubbing palms nervously. - Dammit, just a little out of reach, there is nothing to cling to at the top of the rock. Katya, take me upstairs, there is very little effort needed.
- Are you sure it's going to work?
- It's not like we have better options. I will drag you as soon as I get there, - Leo climbed again to the point he couldn't overcome, - Come on, grab my ass and push me up now!
Katya did skeptically what he asked and gave him a boost. - Yes, I made it! - Serre, sighing heavily managed to climb up, - Give me the backpack now and climb after me.
Rogozina felt less confident here, but still climbed up and grabbed Leo's hands. It was hard, but they did overcome this obstacle. Hence they both fell down to the ground. Katya and Leo looked at each other and laughed merrily.