The Descent

The  armies  fanned  deeper,  acquiring  a  vast  and  complex  sub-geography  beneath the iron mines of West Cumberland in South Wales and the Holloch in Switzerland  and Epos Chasm in Greece  and the Picos Mountains in Basque  country  and  the  coal  pits  in Kentucky  and  the  cenotes  of  Yucatàn  and  the  diamond  mines  in  South  Africa  and dozens of other  places.  The  northern  hemisphere  was  exceptionally  rich  in  limestone, which  fused  at  lower  levels  into  warm  marble  and  beerstone  and  eventually,  much deeper,  into  basalt.  This  bedrock  was  so  heavy  it  underlay  the  entire  surface  world. Because  man  had  rarely  burrowed  into  it  –  a  few  exploratory  probes  for  petroleum and  the  long-abandoned  Moho  project  –  geologists  had  always  assumed  that  basalt

was  a  solid  compressed  mass.   What  man  now  found  was   a  planetary   labyrinth. Geological  capillaries  stretched  for  thousands  of  miles.  It  was  rumored  they  might even  reach out beneath the oceans.

Nine months passed. Every  day  the armies pushed their collective knowledge a  little further,  a  little  deeper.  The  Army  Corps  of  Engineers  and  the  Seabees  saw  their budgets  soar.  They  were  tasked  to  reinforce  tunnels,  devise  new  transport  systems, drill shafts, build elevators,  bore channels, and  erect  whole  camps  underground.  They even  paved  parking  lots  –  three  thousand  feet  beneath  the  surface.  Roadways  were constructed through  the  mouths  of  caves.  Tanks  and  Humvees  and  deuce-and-a-half trucks  pouring ordnance, troops, and supplies into the inner earth.

By the hundreds, international  patrols  descended  into  the  earth's  recesses  for  more than half a year.  Boot camps shifted their  theater  training.  Jarheads  sat  through  films from   the   United   Mine   Workers   about   basic   techniques   for   shoring   walls   and maintaining  a  carbide  lamp.  Drill  instructors  began  taking  recruits  to  the  rifle  ranges at  midnight  for  point-and-fire  practice  and  blindfolded  rappels.  Physician  assistants and  medics  learned  about  Weill's  disease  and  histoplasmosis,  fungal  infections  of  the lungs  contracted  from  bat  guano,  and  Mulu  foot,  a  tropical  cave  disease.  None  were told  what  practical  use  any  of  this  had.  Then  one  day  they  would  find  themselves shipped into the womb.

Every   week   the   mass   of   3-D,   four-color   worm   lines   expanded   laterally   and vertically  beneath  their  maps  of  Europe  and  Asia  and  the   United  States.   Junior officers  took  to  comparing  the  adventure  to  Dungeons  and  Dragons  without,  exactly, the  dragons  or  dungeons.  Wrinkled  noncoms  couldn't  believe  their  luck:  Vietnam without  the  Vietnamese.  The  enemy  was  turning  out  to  be  a  figment  of  one  very disfigured  major's  imagination.  No  one  but  Branch  could  claim  to  have  seen  demons with fish-white skin.

Not that there  weren't  'enemies.' The  signs of  habitation  were  intriguing,  sometimes gruesome.   At   those   depths,   tracks   suggested   a   surprising   spectrum   of   species, everything  from  centipedes  and  fish  to  a  human-sized  biped.  One  leathery   wing fragment  stirred  images  of  subterannean  flight,  temporarily  reviving  Saint  Jerome's visions of batlike dark angels.

In  the  absence  of  an  actual  specimen,  scientists   had  named  the   enemy   Homo hadalis, though  they  were  the  first  to  admit  they  didn't  know  if  it  was  even  hominid. The  secular  term  became  hadal,  rhyming  with  cradle.  Middens  indicated  that  these ape  creatures  were  communal,  if  seminomadic.  A  picture  of  harsh,  grinding,  sunless subsistence  emerged.  It  made  the  brute  life  of  human  peasantry  look  charming  by comparison.

But  whoever  lived  down  here  –  and  the  evidence  of  primitive  occupation  at  the deeper  levels was undeniable  –  had  been  scared  off.  They  encountered  no  resistance. No  contact.  No  live  sightings.  Just  lots  of  caveman  souvenirs:  knapped  flint  points, carved  animal  bones,  cave  paintings,  and  piles  of  trinkets  stolen  from  the  surface: broken pencils, empty  Coke cans and beer  bottles,  dead  spark  plugs,  coins,  lightbulbs. Their cowardice  was  officially  excused  as  an  aversion  to  light.  Troops  couldn't  wait  to engage them.

The  military  occupation  went  deeper  and  wider  in  breathless  secrecy.  Intelligence agencies  triumphed  in  embargoing  soldiers'  mail  home,  confining  units  to  base,  and derailing the media.