It was much more important to shield their compeller than to have more muscle for the excavation.
Miraculously, no one came to investigate throughout the hammering and the screwing, and once the additional supports were in place, the digging began in earnest, and in a much quieter fashion.
It was hard, filthy, and careful work. They were passing broken concrete and rubble hand to hand down a chain of bodies, hauling the heavy fractured slabs out of the passage and stacking them clear of it.
Dust got into everything, including Anandur's eyes and throat, but he wasn't complaining. It was a small price to pay to finally retrieve Annani's truelove mate.
They broke through to the chamber a little after the second hour, the last of the fill coming away to reveal a dark space beyond, and a ragged cheer went up before Yamanu killed it with a look while reporting to Onegus that they had dug their way through. The chamber was shallow, and just big enough to contain five chests laid side by side.
They didn't look like much, just five long crates of dark, scarred wood. They were long enough to contain even a tall man lying down, and they didn't look older than a century. Navuh must have transferred the five immortals in stasis from different containers, or perhaps there was a double container with the crates being just the outer protection.
In fact, Anandur was willing to bet that was the case, but they had explicit orders not to open the crates until they arrived at the clan's clinic in the village.
Anandur couldn't wait to find out what Navuh had used to preserve the bodies in stasis. He had a feeling it was something none of them expected the technologically challenged Brotherhood to come up with.
"There they are," Yamanu said. "Finally. Let's get them out."
They went to work on the first chest.
They cleared what remained of the rubble on top of it, brushing and lifting the broken rock away. When the chest was free, the Odus rigged the lifting harness and took the weight. Anandur held his breath as it came up off the chamber floor.
It was heavy, but more than that it was precious, and they handled it with utmost care, going slow and careful to make sure it didn't slip from their hold. The chest rose a hand's width, then a foot, and then it was clear of the chamber, but they still had tobe careful as they eased it through the breach and then walked over the pile of debris to deposit it on the basement floor.
"One," Yamanu reported to the war room. "Four to go."
The second chest was partially pinned under a slab that had to be lifted before the chest could come free. Onidu took the slab, bracing his stocky frame and lifting a piece while a Kra-ell and Okidu dragged the chest clear beneath it.
Once the chest was clear, Onidu set the slab down in the space vacated by it, careful not to strike the chest to its right.
"Two," Yamanu said into the comms. "Three to go."
"Three," he said when the third one came out easily enough now that they had room to maneuver.
They moved to the fourth, securing the harness around it, when a sharp crack sounded somewhere above them.
They all looked up at the gaping hole that was open to the sky, but there was nothing to see and no more cracks sounded.
"What was that?" Anandur asked.
"A warning," Yamanu said. "Out! Clear the site!"
The Odus and the Kra-ell down in the chamber scrambled to get out when another crack sounded, but this time it was not a groan, it was a grinding roar.
Anandur knew what was coming next.
A great deal of stone was about to come down on their heads, and they had to get out of its way.
"Move it!" he yelled as he shoved the nearest Guardian aside. "The ceiling is coming down!"
One of the shoring timbers gave in, sounding like a giant bone being snapped, and then a section of the overhead ceiling and the ground above it came down where the timber had been. Dust billowed, thick and choking. The work lights swung wildly, then sputtered out. The lone surviving light was throwing lurching shadows about. Anandur saw Okidu and Onidu throw themselves not toward the exit but into the failing passage, putting their sturdy bodies under the falling debris.
Okidu had his arms up over his head, and his legs braced when a great descending mass of broken concrete came down on him. He held his position, caught it and held it. The passage that would have closed and buried half the team stayed open under him by the width of a body crawling through.
"Through him," Yamanu roared. "Go, go, go! Through the gap Okidu is holding! Now!"
The Guardians and Kra-ell didn't need to be told twice.
One after the other they scrambled under Okidu's straining arms into the basement beyond. The dust was a wall now, lit red and swinging by the one surviving lamp, and as the roar of falling cement and ground continued, Anandur heard a sound he knew all too well.
