Through Glass Darkly: Episode Two by Peter Knyte

we opened the unlocked door and entered.
    There were a half dozen electric lamps and hard hats located inside, which we availed ourselves of before opening the trapdoor that revealed the concrete steps down into the culvert.
    The steps brought us down to the side of a large reinforced concrete pipe, which was accessed through another door with another tinplate notice informing us that hardhats must be worn at all times.
    I stopped briefly to draw my gun before opening this second door. I had my lenses operating again so had no need of the electric lamps, and just before I opened the door onto the culvert I noticed from the electrical conductivity in their skin that both Hughes and Fraser were much more tense than they had been a minute before.
    I knew I should have been feeling that tension as well, but instead I sensed only the increasingly familiar ember of rage which never seemed to fully die down.
    As soon as I opened the door the warmth of the air within the culvert washed over us along with an obviously metallic odour, indicating at least some of the molten metal must’ve found its way down here.
    It was the work of moments to make our way down the sandy floored pipe to where the molten metal from the cannon strike had flowed in along with the water to create a solid waterfall of molten metal and glass. Molten metal and glass which had obviously solidified within minutes, but not before it had started to run down the culvert as a superheated river.
    The metal curtain was still far too hot for us to get right up against, but we could get close enough to see the rectangular outline of the drainage hatch through which the creature might have gained access.
     
    ‘If this creature was caught under that waterfall of molten metal I can’t imagine how it could’ve survived,’ Hughes remarked, looking slightly uneasy.
    ‘It must’ve only just made it down here in time,’ I commented, retracing our steps down the river of metal to where the floor of the pipe became sand and grit once more.
    I hadn’t thought to look so closely at the floor when we were moving up the culvert, but now as we examined it more closely it was obvious that the creature had come this way. There was a boot print which had been pressed into the metal while it was still soft, followed by an obvious hand print a step further on, both of which must have burned the creature further as it fled the flaming river of metal. Further down the tunnel beyond the point at which our own tracks came in from the side I could clearly see other tracks where the creature had half-walked half-dragged itself along the sandy floor.
    We moved further along the tunnel, knowing now we were on the right track, here and there signs that the creature had stopped or fallen again, before getting up and moving on. Eventually after what must’ve been a few hundred yards, the culvert emptied into a main sewer drain at the junction of several other sewer and storm-drain lines. The particles of sand and dust from the train wash had collected at this point to form a sort of beach, and again we could all clearly see the marks left by the creature as it moved across this area, and toward a corner of the sewer where lots of debris from the storm drains had gathered.
    Making our way over to this large pile of debris, we just about managed to avoid having to wade through the sewer, and as soon as we got close I could see that the creature must’ve stopped here for a while. There were carcasses of rats everywhere, dozens upon dozens of them, as well as a number of their more recently arrived still living relatives who had been drawn to the free banquet.
     
    ‘It must’ve holed up here to recover,’ Fraser commented, looking at the array of carcasses.
    I had to agree, but there was something else about the site that made uneasy.
    ‘Do you think all this material could’ve just washed down to this one spot?’ I asked, looking at the huge pile of sticks and cardboard, odd pieces of