From: keulen@possum.csu.murdoch.edu.au (Mike van Keulen)
Subject: A soggy halloween #1
Organization: Murdoch University
Date:  6 Nov 92 01:35:46 GMT


This is part one of a two-part soggy Halloween adventure, taking place at
the Halloween Real-Space, even as I speak.  The reason it's happening now
instead of last weekend is because time travels so slowly in the 1690s ...
and I don't like answering tricky questions ;-)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

After joining the crowd of Callahaners already at the mansion, Splash
winds up in the kitchen, watching Liralen light up the huge fire, and
Jason, Pegasus and Phoenix preparing a feast.  He decides to do a little
exploring of his own while the meal is being prepared, since this will
obviously take some time.

Walking out of the huge kitchen, Splash decides to take a dimly lit
corridor which runs southwards, which nobody seems to have explored yet. 
There appear to be no doorways along the first section of the corridor, at
least, not to the limits of the flickering pool of light cast by the torch
he pinched from the kitchen.  Clumping along the passageway in his diver's
suit, and recalling the horrific stories told by Emter, Bear and Nathan,
he wonders what would happen if he bumped into someone or something.  He
chortles to himself and thinks "Heh!  They'd probably be more spooked than
me - and I spook easily!"

Walking a bit further down the corridor, Splash realizes he's in a
dead-end.  The flickering torch reveals a wood-panelled wall at the end of
the corridor.  "Rats ... still no doors.  Now where do I go?" Leaning
against the end wall of the corridor to rest from lugging the suit and
haevy lead-soled boots, he feels to his alarm the wall sliding away behind
him.  The heavy suit aids and abetts the force of gravity acting on
Splash.  "Whoops - aaarrgghhh!" cries Splash as he falls over backwards
through the hidden doorway.  As he falls backwards the tumbling torch
lights up two rather startled looking semi-transparent figures, hovering
on either side of the doorway.  A few seconds later the torch flickers
out, and Splash is left in the dark, wondering if he's still falling or if
he's floating. 

Splash realizes he's been falling when he lands with a heavy <SPLASH!>
(well, what else would he land with?), sinking several metres below the
surface, before bobbing back up to the surface.  Taking a few moments
to catch his breath from the long fall he thinks, "Gee - just as well DM
gave me this amazing suit back in Sydney!  I wonder ..."  He reaches down
to his waist and gropes around a bit with the assorted controls and
implements attached there.  "Aha!" he says, "A torch - and waterproof too."
while switching it on.  "Good old DM - where on earth did he find this
thing?  Now, what else do we have on here I wonder."  A quick check around
the suit reveals an emergency air cylinder, buoyancy controls, a large
general purpose diver's knife and an instrument panel with depth gauge,
air pressure gauge, compass and thermometer.  "Great!  Now we're cooking
with gas!" exclaims Splash to himself, instantly feeling a whole lot
better. 

"Now, where are we?" Flashing the torch around shows no sign of any walls,
and looking up shows no ceiling either.  "Boy, I must've fallen a looong
way!  How about down then?" Shining the torch down into the crystal clear
water reveals what looks like a marble-tiled ballroom floor, but still no
sign of a wall.  In one direction there appears to be some sort of stage,
but being unable to see the walls Splash isn't sure of much of anything. 
"Well, maybe the best thing is to dive down and take a peek." Switching on
his air supply he checks his pressure gauge "With this size tank, I should
get about 30 minutes, provided I don't get too many frights.  Heh-heh!" He
laughs nervously while quickly looking over his shoulder with the torch. 
Adjusting the buoyancy controls at his waist, and monitoring the gauges,
Splash cautiously descends towards the ballroom floor.  "Heh-heh ...
`You're so light on your feet m'lord.'`Why thank-you my dear, you dance
like a mere feather yourself.'" He amuses himself on the slow descent. 

Checking his depth gauge again, Splash gasps ... it reads 20m!  Peering
down towards the floor he guesses that he's only about halfway there. 
"Wow - what a room!  Hmmm ... guess I'll have to be a bit careful with my
time here." Alighting on the marble floor, now obviously comprising many
enormous marble slabs, he ponders: "Lessee now, 45m ..." Groping around
the front of his suit he finds a pocket, containing ... "Yes!  A set of
non-decompression tables ... great!  Now, 45m gives me **** minutes
without decompressing.  Ummm ... I'll probably run out of air before then
anyway," he says, looking at his air pressure gauge.  "Now, that
structure was due north-east, so ..."  He clumsily clumps off in the
direction indicated on his compass.  "No wonder SCUBA became so popular!" 
He settles quickly into a rolling gait, which seems to propel him at a
resonable speed across the giant ballroom floor.

Looming up to the north-east is what appears to be a giant stage of some
sort.  "Goodness ... this must be a well-off family!"  Behind the stage
are a series of double doors.  With a quick push on his toes, Splash soars
up onto the stage, and continues his rolling waddle towards the first of
the doors.  Peering through reveals a kitchen, presumably for the elegant
dinner-dance parties which must have been held here.  Moving on to the
next set of doors, Splash discovers a staircase leading upwards.  "Oh,
thank goodness ... a way out!  Maybe,"  he qualifies.

A tingling in his back disturbs his feelings of relief.  Twisting around
in the cumbersome suit his torch briefly lights up a large swimming object
which flashes past just beyond the stage.  Focussing his light more
carefully, and desperately trying to control his breathing, Splash finds
himself tracking an enormous prehistoric looking beast.  Rather than being
solid like a fish though, this appears greyly transluscent.  The creature,
swinging slowly around for another pass, has large flippers attached to
stumpy legs, and possesses a thin, long, rope-like tail.  It appears to be
covered in some sort of fine fur, and rather than reptilian, looks more
like an aquatic mammal.  The head, also covered in fur appears definitely
mammalian, akin to that of a seal, but ending in a large beak like
structure, with a jaggedly serated edge.  The eyes glow faintly red, and
as it approaches Splash the beak slowly opens.  

Squirming around in the suit, Splash scrambles through the open door as
quickly as he can, while emitting a terrified squeak.  Tugging on the
door, he swings it as quickly as it will go against the water pressure. 
"Damn, come on, come on!  Blasted water!"  Slowly the door swings shut,
and only just in time ... a muffled thud indicates the beast has reached
the door.  If Emter, Bear and Nathan's story was an indication, it should
now start to try to get through the door.  "I'm not hanging around to find
out!"  puffs Splash, as he swings around to climb the stairs.

Curiosity gets the better of him a few steps up however, and he watches
with horror as the beast's serrated beak protrudes into the landing behind
him.  "Yipe!!  There must be a faster way to get up here!" Fumbling with
his buoyancy controls, Splash manages to find the "up" control, and starts
to rise, but oh, so slowly.  As he leaves the stairs behind at a sedate
pace, he can feel the jaws of the beast about to grab his boots and
drag him back down.

		To be continued ... (I hope!)
--
***************************** Michael van Keulen *************************** 
* Snail: School of BES - Biology         e-mail: keulen@murdoch.edu.au     *
*        Murdoch University              phone:  ++ 61 (09) 360-2843 (work)*
*        Murdoch WA 6150  AUSTRALIA              ++ 61 (09) 417-3902 (home)*
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