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LJ IDOL - Week 10
Prompt: Nadir

Levi Greyson pushed the pub door open and stepped outside, inhaling a large breath of cool, night air. Behind him, a loud, boisterous mix of voices, music and laughter swelled and then became muffled as the heavy wooden door swung shut. He shoved his hands into his pockets and descended the stone stairs, leaving the cheerful farewell party atmosphere and intending to head left towards home. The red, smoldering glow of ash, however, caught his eye and made him pause. On a bench outside of the pub sat Captain Bailey, a lit cigarette tucked between two of her fingers. Automatically, Levi’s posture stiffened and his feet moved together as both arms tucked behind his back.

“Greyson.” She greeted him with a nod and took a pull from the cigarette.

Levi relaxed a bit and let his arms fall to his sides, but he was unsure of what to do next. He shifted awkwardly on his feet and glanced down the road towards home.

“You can sit. I won’t bite.”

Levi recognized this as a command rather than an offer and immediately moved to the bench, taking a seat next to the captain. She let the cigarette fall from her fingers to the ground and crushed it with the toe of her boot before tilting her head back and looking up at the night sky.

“Had enough of all the pomp and circumstance?” she asked.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Same here. Seems a bit strange to be celebrating sending us off. It’s a bit dark even for my tastes, but I guess no one really knows how to properly handle the situation.”

Levi simply nodded and a heavy silence stretched between them for a few moments before the captain spoke again.

“Are you afraid, Greyson?”

Levi considered her question, unsure of how to answer. All things considered, he figured there wasn’t much to lose by being honest.

“I am.”

“Good. You’d be a fool if you weren’t and I sure hope I didn’t choose any fools for this mission.”

Levi followed her gaze and looked up as well. It was the dead of night, but he would see no stars. He hadn’t seen the stars in a long time. The sky was never quite dark enough these days. The gigantic spotlights that had been installed every 10 meters around the rim of the chasm in the center of town kept the night sky bathed in a hazy glow.

He was afraid, it was true, but not in the ways one might expect. He wasn’t afraid of dying or the dangers that awaited them on their journey or the chance that they might fail. No, he feared something much worse. He feared that they would succeed and find nothing. He feared that at the end of their long, grueling expedition there would be no answers and all the work and preparation and hope would be for naught. Somehow, he knew the captain understood this even without his clarification.

In the middle of the night, 6 years ago, the ground had suddenly begun to shake, tossing people out of their beds and upending their furniture. The entire ordeal had only lasted 18 seconds, but life in Beruth, the only town on the small island of Carisi, was changed forever. For when people had regained their footing and rushed outside in terror, something completely unexpected awaited them. The center of town was gone, quite literally. Where once had sat homes and shops and food stalls was now a gaping hole, 800 meters wide.

Had the ground simply opened up beneath that part of town? Had something fallen from the sky and plummeted through the earth? Had something monstrous tunneled up from below and disappeared into the night? No one had any answers. The casualties of the event had been devastating and the town was in shambles. After a respectable period of mourning, everyone began to slowly rebuild. Crews were formed to attempt to study and explore the chasm. Large spotlights and chain fences were set up along the perimeter as a safety measure. There were curfews and rules.

Eventually, the initial shock and immediate sense of danger began to wear off and the town found a new rhythm; a new normal. Some of the townspeople were able to pick up where they’d left off, returning to their place of business or continuing their work in a trade. For others, however, the path they’d expected to walk had been greatly altered. Levi, the son of a woodworker, fell into the latter group. He had been in this very pub the night the earth swallowed up a third of the town. He had lost his father, his mother and his two little sisters. The home he’d lived in his entire life, the shop his father owned and every possession he’d ever acquired had vanished in the blink of an eye, without any warning. Overwhelmed by grief that he wasn’t emotionally equipped to confront he immediately dedicated himself to the only thing that seemed to matter - finding out what had caused this massive opening in the ground beneath their quaint town. Levi joined the Pit Crew, a field research team dedicated to exploring the rift and uncovering the secrets down below.

And secrets there were. The walls of the chasm were not perfectly smooth. Whatever had caused this, natural or unnatural, had left flat shelves of land jutting out from the sides like giant, soil steps. A series of cave mouths had been unearthed and their dark, ominous openings dotted the chasm walls as far down as the eye could see. There was much to explore and any crevice could hold the key to why this had all transpired.

But, Levi wasn’t satisfied digging through dirt or classifying subterranean plants. The answers Levi sought couldn’t be found in the walls of the pit at such shallow depths. The fate of his family was all he could think about, and, despite the dangers of entertaining such thoughts, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was some way they had survived. The void in the earth was an enigma that seemed to defy the laws of this world and so, he believed, it would stand to reason that there existed the possibility that somehow those who had been swallowed up were simply waiting at the bottom to be rescued. As long as it had not been confirmed otherwise, Levi held tightly to this hope in his heart.  No one had ever reached the bottom of the chasm. No one had been willing to attempt the journey. Not until now.

Helmed by Captain Bailey, a division of the Pit Crew known as Operation: Nadir had been formed and subsequently spent the last year preparing to make the descent. Previously, a team had made it 23,000 meters down, but with no end in sight and supplies dangerously low, they returned top-side with more questions than answers. But this time, there would be no option for failure. It was an unspoken understanding that this team would attempt to make it to the bottom no matter what it took. Lives would undoubtedly be lost, but those who were able would continue down until they reached their destination. Hopefully, they would find what they were looking for, though such answers were unquantifiable. Levi knew everyone involved in the mission had their own reasons and were seeking their own truths.

There was a burst of music and merriment from behind the bench as the pub door opened again and a tall fellow came stumbling down the steps. Levi and Captain Bailey both looked away from the sky and towards the new arrival.

“Banks,” the captain growled, standing.

“What?” the man whined. He turned towards the bench and blinked a few times before his face went slack with fear as he recognized the figure. He immediately attempted to strike a salute, but tripped over his own large feet in the process. The captain let out a sigh and Levi tried to cover a chuckle with the back of his hand.

“Banks,” the captain repeated, her voice heavy with authority and exasperation. “What time do we depart tomorrow?”

“Zero eight hundred hours, Ma’am.”

“And can I expect you’ll still be drunk?”

“No, Ma’am, of course not. You know I can hold my liquor.”

“Are you sure? You know there are no pubs in The Pit. Perhaps you’d prefer to stay top-side?”

“No, Ma’am. I wouldn’t miss this mission for all the ale in the world.” Banks, still at attention, grinned.

“Greyson!”

Levi shot up at the sound of his name.

“Get Banks home please, before I throw him off the team and into The Pit myself. And get yourself to bed as well. After tonight it will be a long time before either of you have the opportunity to sleep comfortably, so I’d take advantage of that while you still can.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Levi nodded and moved to the side of Banks, looping an arm around his back to begin tugging him towards the street.

“Goodnight, Captain B! See you tomorrow, bright and early!” Banks called out.

Levi gritted his teeth and threw his hand over Banks’ mouth in attempt to quiet him. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see the captain shaking her head as she lit another cigarette. Awash in the dim glow of light from the pub windows, he could make out a strange expression on her face. Her lips held the tiniest hint of a smile, but her eyes looked pained. It swelled a strange mix of emotions in his own chest. He was sure the whole team was feeling conflicted tonight. Except maybe Banks who was now singing loudly and swaying his way down the road.

Tomorrow, things would look grim, but right now Banks’ antics and cheerfulness made Levi smile and in the face of what the future might hold, he was thankful for that.