Dalor smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that,” he replied. Then he gestured at the cave-in. “We’ll get this sorted out first.”
Having said that, Dalor immediately began organizing the men for digging. He politely waved away M’tal and Kindan-“You’ve no miner’s hats; we’ll call you when we’re done”-and swiftly got his crew started on the work.
Kindan led Renna and M’tal back to his quarters. While Renna looked around appreciatively at Kindan’s musical instruments, Kindan explained to M’tal, “A good crew can mine about a meter of rock a shift.”
“I’d say they’ll be faster with that loose rock,” Renna put in.
Kindan made a face and waggled his hand. “It might be harder, and they’ll have to do some shoring.”
Renna nodded. “That’s so, but I don’t think Dalor plans to be here too long.”
“It was good of him to come,” M’tal said.
“We’re happy to help the dragonriders,” Renna said in a tone that made it clear to the other two that the decision to help out was as much hers as Dalor’s. Kindan and M’tal shared a fond smile for Renna’s spirit, no different from their memories of her as a youngster, back when Kindan had first met the Weyrleader over ten Turns earlier at Camp Natalon. Ignoring it, Renna asked Kindan, “You say you hope to find some Oldtimer rooms beyond the rubble? And somehow what’s in them will cure the dragons of their sickness?”
“That’s our hope,” M’tal answered. Kindan nodded fervently.
It took the miners until lunchtime the next day to break through the cave-in.
“It’s remarkably clean,” Dalor said admiringly as he ran his hand along the smooth walls. “Only the ceiling above gave way.”
“Your men did a great job,” M’tal commented approvingly.
“Thank you, Weyrleader,” Dalor replied, then blushed when M’tal cleared his throat and jerked his head toward B’nik.
“I’m sure that Wingleader M’tal is appreciative,” Tullea said bitingly, “as am I, the Weyrwoman.”
B’nik chose to smooth things over. “Indeed, a remarkable job, Miner Dalor,” he said.
Tullea marched past the others and up through the newly cleared corridor, a glow held in her hand. Suddenly, she stopped, scanning one side of the corridor intently.
“This looks like a door,” she exclaimed. She hunkered down, peering to either side of it. “What’s this?” she asked, seeing a square plate to the left of the door. She pressed it just as Dalor, who had been watching her actions with growing alarm, shouted, “Don’t touch it!”
Too late.
With a rumbling groan, the wall began to slide open and light flooded in from the other side.
Dalor raced to Tullea and pulled her back away from the door. Even as he did, she slumped toward the floor so that B’nik had to catch her other side to prevent her from falling.
“What is it?” B’nik asked as they hastily withdrew toward the Hatching Ground.
“Bad air,” Kindan said, looking intently at Tullea. “She’s breathing, and not in any distress.”
Gently the miner and Weyrleader laid Tullea on the ground, and Kindan examined her more carefully.
“Yes, I’d say that the air was stale,” he declared finally. He looked up to B’nik. “She’ll be all right. Just let her breathe and wake up slowly.”
Kindan frowned thoughtfully and asked Dalor, “How long do you think before the air will be replaced?”
“I’d give it an hour, at least,” Dalor said. “And then I’d move cautiously.” He glanced around the Hatching Grounds as though searching for something. “I don’t suppose you have any watch-whers?”
Kindan shook his head. “Nor fire-lizards.”
“I’d heard they’d been banished,” Dalor said, his tone carefully neutral.
Kindan shook his head sadly. “I think most of them died before that anyway.” He composed himself and straightened up. “Let’s get Tullea to softer ground,” he suggested.
The moment her eyes fluttered open again, Tullea protested loudly and demanded to go see the Oldtimer Rooms. To Kindan, she sounded as if she wanted revenge on the rooms for causing her embarrassment. But B’nik was firm and insisted that someone else go in first once the rooms finished airing.
“I’ll go,” Kindan volunteered when they reassembled in the Hatching Grounds.
“I will go,” Regellan declared, shaking his head. “I’ve no family,” he added by way of explanation.
“I’m not so sure that Melena would agree,” Dalor said with a grin. “But you’ve earned the right.”
He glanced at B’nik and Tullea. “If that’s all right with you, Weyrleader?”
“Absolutely,” B’nik replied.
In the end, Regellan was fine. He peered inside the open corridor, blinked several times, purposefully drew great, deep breaths, and then walked through the doorway and out of sight. The rest of the party waited tensely outside until he returned again, his eyes wide.
“The room is full of the most amazing things,” he declared, beckoning them inside.
Tullea elbowed her way past the others and raced to be second into the rooms. She paused just past the threshold, not so much for fear of bad air but in amazement at what she saw. Most of the far wall was covered from floor to ceiling with a drawing of several ladderlike columns composed of weird interconnected varicolored rods and balls.
“Look at this!” Regellan called out, pointing to the drawing, as the others flooded into the room.
Tullea glanced at the wall drawing, made a hasty scan of the room, and then headed unerringly for something glittering on an open shelf at the other end of the room.
Kindan entered the room and stared wide-eyed at the drawing. Then a flash of movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention and he turned just in time to see Tullea pocket a small, silvery object. Before he could move to intervene, she was picking something else up from the counter.
“What are these?” she asked, holding up a crystal clear glass vial. She shook it, examining the powder-like substance inside, then casually placed it back on the counter and picked up another.
There were four vials in all, Kindan noticed. The countertop bore not only dust-free spots where the vials had been placed. Each clear spot was centered over a colored mark: red, green, blue, and yellow.
His eyes widened as Tullea negligently put the fourth vial back on the countertop, well away from any of the colored marks.
“Do you remember which vial went where?” he asked her shortly, trying to see if he could guess the original position of the last vial she had picked up.
“No,” Tullea replied with a shrug.
“I think it’s important,” Kindan told her. B’nik came up beside him and frowned at the misplaced vials.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it all out,” Tullea replied with a dismissive wave of her hand, turning to explore a set of cabinets. After some fiddling, she discovered that they were magnetically locked and spent several moments opening and closing them before she noticed what was inside.
“I wonder what this is,” she said, reaching in to pull the object out.
B’nik caught K’tan’s and Kindan’s horrified looks and quickly intervened. “I think we should leave this for our harper and healer to examine,” he said. “They can report when they’ve had a chance to inventory everything.”
“And I think I should get Miner Dalor and his good crew back to their homes before dark,” M’tal added. Dalor and the other miners looked both eager to be going and disappointed not to be staying to learn more about the mysterious room.
“We’ve kept you from your work too long,” B’nik agreed.
Dalor waved this aside. “We’re glad to help,” he said. “Didn’t you say there was another rockslide up above?”