Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part Five (section)

===This is Not a Public Pool===


After a brief lunch in their rooms, the group picked out the clothes they would be wearing to the Cave, and assembled on the launch bay they had arrived in to await a ship.  As Freya chatted with the pilot, Remilia hefted the stack of towels they had brought, and Alex stared into the box Freya had placed alongside the towels.  “More guns?” he asked.

“Heh.  A few, and one or two other things,” Freya said as she rejoined them.  “The area we’re going to is one of the safest on the planet, but it never hurts to be prepared.”

The pilot jogged up, helmet slung.  “We’re ready to head out, Princess,” he reported, snapping off a salute.  In Juvjk, he continued.  “Are you certain you wish to go a place so close to a local settlement?”

“Yes,” Freya said in Gothic, suffering no argument today.

“Very well,” the pilot said.  He tapped a rune on his wrist-mount cogitator and the ramp of his ship swung down.  The teens trooped aboard, lugging their cargo behind them.

As Freya sank into her seat, she felt a little tremor of apprehension.  If there were people there, they could just leave, of course…but damn it, they deserved to have something go right.

Venus dug around in the box.  “Are these firestarters?” she asked.

“Yeah, the cave is naturally ventilated, but there’re no lights inside.  I thought we’d bring torchers, just in case someone put sconces in there.  I would,” Freya said.

Alex cracked his knuckles as the ship dropped through the atmosphere.  “Won’t people see us approaching the village?” he asked.

“We’re not.  We’re terrain-flying over a frozen lake, with the hills between us and the village.  We’ll be fine, and if there are people there, we just go fly somewhere else for the afternoon,” Freya said.  “But it’ll be clear.”

“Uh, can we go even if there are people in it?” Venus asked.

Freya looked pained.  “It…that’s not really viable.”

“Why wouldn’t…oh.”  Venus looked sheepish for a moment.  “Right.  Glowing eyes and foreign tongues.  Of course.”

“Sorry.”  Freya shrugged again.  “The locals wouldn’t know what the fuck.”

“It’s fine.”  Venus unclipped her harness and wobbled over to the box in the turbulent transport.  “All right…let’s see how this looks,” she said, reaching in.  “Hmm.  Seven torches and a pack of patches…any chlorine?” she asked.

“Why would we need chlorine?” Alex asked.

“Do you know what’s been in that water?” Venus asked pointedly.

Alex shuddered.  “No.”

“Well, I can guess,” Venus said firmly.

“I brought some rapid-dissolver water purification tablets, for when the Wolf Brothers need to purify a whole lot of water in a hurry in the field.  We should wait outside while it’s working, though,” Freya said.  “They smell terrible, and in a confined cave…”

“Good call,” Venus said, sitting back down.

The gunship arrived at the little hillock.  The teens slid their jackets and thermo coats on, and hauled their towels and other accoutrements free of the gunship’s interior.  The gunship took off to the other side of the lake, its atmospheric camouflage of grey and blue with deep blue Wolf colors blending in with the snow.  The pilot left the vox open to reach them if a quick dustoff was needed.

Freya crept into the little crevasse, looking for occupants.  There was nobody.  The sound of very distant running water reached her ears, and a draft of hot air blew over her face, as she walked into the rocks.  The scents of sulfur, a hint of hydrogen gasses, and the much fainter scents of people and even a little fire mingled together.  She’d have wagered nobody had been there since the storm.

“It’s clear,” she said in relief.  When nobody entered, she poked her head out.  “Guys?”

“Anyone got the torches?” Remilia asked.  She was rummaging around in the box.  She paused as her fingers brushed wood and plastic.  “Wait, these are real torches?  I thought you meant torches like…you know, a lightbulb.”

“Wood torches, not flashlight torches,” Freya said.  She swiped one and grabbed the matches.  “Everyone get one and light it,” she said, suiting actions to words.

The group selected torches and walked in, Freya at the lead.  The path beneath was jagged, so everyone kept their boots on.  The snow gave way to a slush of half-melted ice and mud, churned up by passing feet.

The cave widened up, around five meters in, from a narrow hallway to a broader chamber.  Freya’s eyes detected good places for the teens to set down their lights, and they did so, as Venus’ eyes settled on the waters below.

“Beautiful,” she whispered.  The waters bubbled up from the black rocks below, from invisible cracks in the stone.  It wasn’t the stereotypical ‘natural’ springs of a resort, but instead the undiminished volcanic water vent that it truly was.  The edges of the little pool were jagged pumice and obsidian chunks, and the water spilled out of the main, overfull crater into a smaller, but much deeper one beyond it.  The large, roughly circular room was around twenty meters across, but a dark hole on the far wall from the entry suggested deeper caverns.  The water in the main crater was just under one and a half meters deep at the center, the smaller one beside it four times that in the middle.

“It’s awesome,” Remilia said.  “How did you find out about this thing again?” she asked.

“A guy in the village told me,” Freya said.  “Anyone else smell fresh air from deeper in the cave?” she asked.

Venus poked her head through the hole in the back wall.  “There’s another vent back here.  Only about forty centimeters deep, but it fills most of the room.”  Her eyes and torch filled the room with flickering light.  “It looks like there’s a crack in the ceiling.”

“Good, so it’s safe to use the torches,” Freya said.  “All right, everyone out, I’m going to drop in the capsules,” she said.  She scooped the little chemical caplets out of her pocket and dropped them into the water as the others walked back out.

She rejoined them, wrinkling her nose at the nasty smell emanating from the caves behind her.  “Yuck.”

“The Mechanicum can purify oceans with that shit when they terraform, but they can’t make it smell like anything other than packing peanuts on fire,” Remilia said drily.

“It would probably offend the Machine God,” Jake said with a chuckle.

As the smell passed, Freya hesitantly inhaled at the entryway to the caves.  “All right, we’re good,” she said.  They walked back in to the caves and started laying out towels.

“Man…I don’t think I’ve ever actually been in a hot spring,” Remilia said, testing the water with one finger.  “That’s pretty steamy, too…what do you think?”

Venus and Freya stuck their hands into the water.  “Hmm…about three hundred fifteen kelvin?” Freya hazarded.  “So, a hot shower.”

“Cool,” Jake said eagerly.  He walked back into the other cave to start undressing.  Since none of the five had brought swim suits on the trip (entirely reasonable when touring volcanic and arctic wastelands), they had decided to adopt Jake’s idea of dark underwear, and in a few moments, all five were sitting in the water of the larger pool.

Venus leaned back against the side of the natural pool, relaxing.  “The funny part is, this just feels like water from the tap for me,” she said drily.

“Well, take my work for it,” Freya said, letting her braids out and breathing in the clearing air.  “This is awesome.”

“I was afraid it would turn out to be a wading pool or something, but this is really deep,” Jake said, gingerly probing the floor with his foot.  “I’d be over my head in the very center.”

Alex closed his eyes and plunged his head underwater for a moment.  He came up and blew water out of his nose.  “Phew, that’s hot.”

Venus’ eyes lit the water where Remilia was sitting.  She was sitting back with the water up to her chin, eyes closed, just soaking.  “This…people pay a lot of money for this on other planets,” Remilia said, dreamy.

“You guys are the lucky ones,” Venus grumped.

Jake splashed over to her and sat down beside her, sliding one soggy arm over her shoulders.  “Ah, come on, just enjoy the novelty of it,” he said softly.

She rolled her eyes, but had to grin.  Remilia reached into the pile of clothes and towels behind her and flailed about for a moment.  “Ah hah, here we go!” she said.  He pulled out a thin glass bottle.  “Bottle two.  If nobody minds?” she asked.

“Where did you get that?” Jake asked.

“Same place as the one from your birthday, Jake, just better hidden,” Remilia said coyly.  “I hope plastic cups work for people,” she said, fishing some out.

“Do be careful, Lady Dorn,” Alex said with theatrical weariness.  She looked back at him and arced a brow.  “Champagne, half-naked teenagers on vacation, a hot spring…if we’re not careful, this will turn into something one might find on the tawdrier parts of the net.”

The others stared.

“I mean, not that I would know,” Alex said, all airs.

Remilia laughed aloud, passing him a cup and filling one for herself.  “You’re all heart, Alex Carlin.”