“Perhaps you should have married Lara Croft instead darling”

Emma offered a sarcastic grin with her comment and I smiled back into her beautiful face and diffused the conversation.

“Hey you’ve got the body babe but just not the interest”

Emma broke into a smile and then her serious expression returned once more.

“Paul , I do try and take an interest in what your doing that’s why im here on this Island with you but its just that you know Im not really the adventurous type and going miles underground doesn’t appeal to me”

“Your just here to top up your tan Emma , admit it you haven’t even read the report from Latia to know why this is so important to me”

Emma looked at her billionaire husband, for a man who had everything he could possibly dream of financially he was bored with his life and hungered for adventure and used his money to make a name for himself and mark the history books as someone who had made a difference. His obsession with exploration and discovery had taken him almost around the world. He had investigated newly discovered ancient tombs and found ruins of old civilisations but what eluded him was a significant find that would give him something to be proud of and his name would be remembered for.

“Actually Latia did brief me last night Paul , look Ill think about it darling ok. Oh and talking of my tan I could do with a few hours to top it up”

Paul watched his wife leave the temporary mobile operations centre and she swiftly removed her sarong and strolled off in her bikini to worship the sun on the nearby beach. He was disappointed in her, he had encouraged her for months that he would love for her to share in this new adventure he was about to embark upon yet she seemed so reluctant.

Emma was happy spending his money on fancy clothes and her appearance. She was vain but deservingly so , her body was flawless from her perfectly manicured toe nails to her perfect head of natural blonde locks. He smiled as he watched her in the distance through the window as she removed her top and bared all to worship the sun. Her figure was stunning from any angle but the huge implants she had last year certainly made a dramatic effect on her side profile. Paul ceased his admiration of his wife’s attractive form and he got down to the pressing matters at hand. He had financed through his various companies the production of the Quantum drill blade a unique transport module that could cut through almost any substance , the unit was being primed for action at that moment and Paul should have been with Latia his right hand man to supervise its preparation.

An hour later and Latia and Paul (now deep inside the huge mouth of a naturally formed cave), admired the technology before them. The Quantum drill blade was a device that could support two passengers, it was cylindrical in shape and the cabin space was cramped but enough to offer a piloting and control area. There was also room for specially designed beds and storage compartments. In appearance it looked like a small space rocket except it was upside down suspended in its launching rig pointing into the daunting looking depths of a huge hole in the earth below. The front of the Drill held a series of rotating lasers that provided the power to burn through sheer rock and the rear of the Drill offered two large booster engines that could force the craft in the desired direction and exhaust the shifted rock behind.

“All checks out ok Latia?”

Paul turned to his Spanish friend

“Yes Paul its in position above the event shaft , life support and backups are functional and she’s stocked with all the equipment you requested on the inventory list”

“Ok check the communications and I leave 9am tomorrow morning”

“And what of Emma sir will you wife be joining you?”

“No Latia but I did try to speak to her , It looks like I shall be going alone”

The next day Paul was dressed in his khaki coloured trousers , his boots and a t-shirt. He double checked his gear in the stowage locker he was ready. As he took one last look at the drill from the outside the last few years of preparation flashed before his eyes , all of them focusing towards this very day.

About 3 years previous Latia had engine trouble when piloting a light aircraft whilst on leave in the tropics and had accidentally discovered this small island that he was forced to make a desperate landing upon. Whilst waiting for recovery he had entered this very cave for shelter and discovered a an extremely rare “Spirons tube” . This was the name given to a naturally formed tunnel or shaft that’s structure offered an entrance inside the earths surface. Dr Spiron in the early 19th century found the first of these natural phenomena’s upon an archaeological dig in Italy but before an expedition could take place the tectonic stress in the area had forced the shaft to collapse in on itself. But now Paul had his very own Spirons tube and he was going to explore inner earth. Sending a small detector down the shaft it was miles deep yet it didn’t seem to penetrate any liquid rock layers almost as if it was isolated some how. However breaking into a veritable sea of molten rock wasn’t an issue for the Quantum blade as long as its exposure wasn’t prolonged. Paul had planned to descend the shaft and to continue boring down into the earth in the search for new energy sources. The compelling thing about this Spirons tubes was that their detector had registered faint readings of an energy source far below but had exceeded its range before more concrete evidence could determine if the unit had malfunctioned or ifs its telemetry reports had indeed discovered some naturally occurring power source. For Paul this was the intrigue the pull for him to plunge into the Earth in the search for a new power source for mankind in hope that this would be his legacy helping mankind to harness alternate power from within the earth itself.

Paul snapped out of his daydream as he felt a tap on his shoulder and look around to see his petite wife smiling up at his 6ft frame.

“ I hope that things got room for my clothes”

she grinned and produced a large holdall.

“Emma baby your coming with me?”

“Of course I am , Idd worry about you whilst your down there and well I want to be there when my husband becomes famous”

Ten minutes later Paul was filtering out the contents of her over ambitious bag.

“Hey Emma this is a scientific voyage of discover not a fashion parade how much underwear do you need? “

He held aloft a large bundle of frilly and silky knickers and bras and shook his head.

“We could be gone for days honey and Im not about to wear the same pair of drawers”

she offered in an adamant tone.

“ women”

Paul muttered and proceeded to pack her bag and its contents into the stowage locker.

Half an hour later and both of them were strapped into their seats which compensated for the crafts orientation pivoting automatically so they didn’t actually have to hang upside down themselves.

“Ready ?” He looked across at his wife, she was the most stunning co-pilot he could have asked for with her shapely legs protruding nicely from her so very short cut off jeans and the seat harness pulling back on her tight t-shirt so her large chest looked even bigger as it strained against the red material. Her long blonde hair lay free cascading over the back of the chair and he smiled to see she was still wearing lipstick and eyeliner.

“Im ready”

came her reply and the engines burbled and hummed into life around them. He signalled Latia to released the clamps over the radio and suddenly they were hurtling into the darkness of the Spiron’s tube.

Looking at the exterior camera views Emma winced and frowned as the rock faces rushed past illuminated by the small lights on the craft outer hull.

“Don’t worry the flight controls on auto the Quantum blades designed to monitor how close we are to the sides and whatever’s below and use the manoeuvring thrusters to compensate.”

Paul assured her.

“It looks dam close for comfort if you ask me”

It was only a minute or so of free fall when the engines began to suspend the craft and slow its velocity down dramatically.

“My god this hole is deep”

Paul looked at the gauges and the distance they had already covered.

“Looks like we are reaching the bottom “

“Shall we call Latia and let him know?”

Emma reached for the microphone but a sharp crackle of static was all that met her ears as she tried to communicate.

“I thought as much”

Paul sighed

“the radio isn’t powerful enough to send a signal back up with all this rock around we are on our own now girl”

“The things Ill do to get my man alone”

she grinned and they then both focused on their progress.

“Touching down now”

Paul announced as they both felt a small jolt as the Quantum blade dug into the surface of the rock beneath them.

“Now lets get the detectors on line”

he began to run a commentary to her as he fiddled with the various controls.

“wow, what a signal its higher than I expected , the energy is much lower so we are going to have to bore down to it and re-align the crafts direction.

For the next 2 hours they made slow but good progress as the Quantum blade bored through the solid earth spitting out the debris cut with its lasers behind it and essentially filling in the hole behind them.

“How much longer do I have to wear this harness?”

Emma pulled uncomfortably at the secure fastenings over he shoulders.

“The crafts on a neutral attitude so you can have a stretch babe, besides im registering what appears to be a cavern or gap in the rocks up ahead and the energy signals inside it”

his voice was beginning to get excited. About thirty minutes later things were not so easy going and the relaxed atmosphere in the cockpit had turned to one of panic.

“Emma hit the stabilisers!”

“where?”

“The green panel to your left press the button marked Auto stabiliser”

Paul barked his orders to his wife as he struggled to control the crafts direction.

“Oh dam main thrusters are off line! And core power! Im gonna have to shunt us forward under auxiliary or we’ll be trapped before we reach that cavern!”

The craft broke free of the confines of its rocky surroundings and tumbled ungracefully about twenty feet into a clearing or cavern between the rock layers and came to a sudden rest at the bottom.

“You ok babe?”

Paul’s concern was with his wife instantly.

“Im fine a little shaken what happened?”

“Before most of the instruments fried I think we passed through some sort of energy barrier the surge wiped out the engines and controls and here we are”

“where?”

“I wish I knew but the locator is toast, but we are deep inside the earth , I mean really deep!”

“Paul are we going to die down here?”

Paul rushed over to Emma who was standing looking at a smouldering panel of gauges, he took her in his arms and held her head to his chest.

“Hey we aren’t dead babe and were still in one piece, lets check out what this cavern is.”

He diverted the auxiliary power to the detectors and the computer blinked into life.

“Oxygen , nitrogen ?? No way! Babe come look at this!”

Emma looked at the panel but its endless facts and figures meant little to her.

“What?”

“Emma that’s an atmosphere out there I mean this cavern has air! We can breathe out there and the temperature look at the temperature it should fry us this low down but its just warm I think we could actually leave the Quantum blade”

“Are you sure?”

“So sure Im going to pop the hatch!”

Paul cranked the hatch handle and a rush of warm air swirled into the cabin and light. “This is impossible Emma, darling look!”

He jumped outside and onto a dirt and rock layer beneath his feet. Emma climbed out the craft and joined his in similar astonishment of their unexpected surroundings. The Quantum blade had dropped into a cavern a huge cavern that was immense in size extending beyond their current view in all directions expect behind them. The blade had come out from a rocky face which was hundreds of feet high and as wide as they could see.

“Well this is the back wall of the cavern”

Paul looked up

“ but how come we can breathe and how come we can see?”

Emma stared upwards and way above them was a foggy like white haze which seemed to glow pouring a natural light illuminating the cavern.

“That gas or cloudy fog like stuff up there is that the energy source you were tracking?”

“ Let me check”