Inhabited by Ike Hamill

tool to carve arrows in the walls. Let’s see someone move those.”
    He reached down for his bag.
    “You’re not leaving me,” Florida said. “If anything, I’m leaving you. I’m going to decide which direction I’m going.”
    “What did you do with my bag?” Roger asked. Florida narrowed her eyes when he looked up at her.
    “What are you doing?” she asked.
    “Shut up for a minute,” Roger said. He spun and pointed his light each direction. “This isn’t funny anymore. I’m responsible for that bag. Dr. Deb made that abundantly clear. I can’t afford to lose any pay to missing equipment. What did you do with it?”
    When Roger approached Florida, she held out her own drop-stamp mounting tool like it was a weapon.
    “I’m not doing this experiment anymore,” Florida said. “Tell your boss that I drop out. If I don’t get out of this damn mine in the next hour, I’m going to sue her and the university. She can count on it.”
    Florida picked one of the tunnels and ran.
    Roger threw up his arms.  
    “Great.”

Chapter Ten — Gold

    S HE OBJECTED VEHEMENTLY , RIGHT until she ducked down and crawled through the hole. By the time Joy went through, she’d seen the mistakes of the others and she passed through without getting an atom of the caustic dust on herself. She stood up on the other side to see Carlos brushing some from Kristin’s back.
    “It’s really not so bad,” Travis said. “I was just freaked out.”
    Justin was holding his arm across his face, breathing in through his shirt sleeve.
    “Which way?” Justin asked. His voice was muffled by fabric.
    Miguel pointed.
    Justin led the way, followed closely by Miguel with the map. The cave was different on this side of the hole. Instead of jagged edges and sharp corners, everything looked rounded. Sweeping curves defined the bowl-shaped room. There were no cracks to fall into. A big arch led to the next room. They walked through a dusting of fine sand.  
    “Hey,” Kristin said. Her light was pointed to the wall on the right. “There’s another one.”
    She was looking at another circle of white powder, compressed to the wall.
    “It looks like a spider cocoon,” Travis said.
    “That’s caterpillars,” Carlos said. “Spiders have webs.”
    Travis climbed the sloped wall to get a closer look. “Haven’t you seen when a spider will make a cocoon against the wall or something? It’s the way some of them leave their eggs, I think.”
    “Gross,” Kristin said. “Get away from it then.”
    “I think it’s just another cave,” Justin said. “Something about the air or whatever makes that powder collect at the exits.”
    “You think there’s something wrong with the air?” Carlos asked.
    Justin shrugged.
    “People have been in here before,” Miguel said. He pointed down at the sand in front of Justin. There were footprints leading off in the same direction they were walking. “Can’t be too bad unless we find a bunch of skeletons, right?”
    “Don’t even say that,” Kristin said.
    “He’s got a point,” Justin said. When he started walking again, there was no hesitation from the others. They stayed clumped in a tight group and continued that way through the arch to the next room.  
    It was much like the first—a big round bubble in the rock.  
    “Hey!” Miguel said. He ducked around Justin and ran off to the side.
    “Please be careful,” Kristin said.
    Travis looked back at Joy. She was taking everything in and not saying a word. When everyone else went after Miguel, Joy held her ground. It was a smart idea, but Travis couldn’t help himself. He followed Carlos up the sloping rock.  
    They huddled around Miguel, who was tapping at the wall with a stray rock.
    “Here,” Justin said. He pulled something from his bag and handed it forward. “Use this.”
    Miguel glanced at the little hammer and then hit the wall again. His taps were focused on a quartz ribbon that ran through the wall. When he knocked off a