I SOUGHT A WAY DOWN from the ledge. There was only an hour or so of daylight left, and if I slept where I was I risked falling to my death during the night. I gathered the supplies Pietr had left me into his jacket, and shuffled down the slope a few metres. My eyes had grown accustomed to the dim light, and I could see a gradual descent to the floor on the other side of the cavern. Clutching the bundle of supplies to me, I edged slowly over.
There seemed to be no living thing in the cavern but me. Nothing moved or grew, and the cave floor looked bare. I wondered if maybe I was the first living creature ever to set foot on it. The air smelled stale and strange.
Reaching solid, level, safe ground was a minor relief. I looked up at the hole in the cavern roof, which was now smaller and dimm
