We’re not made for these depths. For this air pressure.
I’m feeling queasy. What’s the opposite of the bends – that you get from descending? … Depth sickness, like altitude sickness … Have to get used to it. Have to acclimatised.
I think I’m going to pass out.
Look: Fiver’s getting one of his nosebleeds …
Anyone getting Kafka burrow vibes?
Glistening walls. Feldspar. Minerals.
It’s supposed to connect with old mine workings. Is that what we’ve reached?
The tunnels are being developed as a tourist attraction. It’s still under construction. The plaques haven’t been put up yet. Some parts of it haven’t been blocked off. It’s complex. There are layers and layers of it. It’s structured just like a brain.
What is it thinking, this giant brain?
It’s thinking, Organisational Management, piss off.
So the old department really down here?
That’s the legend. And some of them are still here
The paragrads are supposed to be.
And we’re descending why?
To consult our elders.
Our elders will despise us. And rightly so. We’re a desecration of everything they stood for.
They must have died long ago. It’s forty years since it was closed.
But they’ve gone native, that’s the thing. They’ve become highly skilled in the ways of living underground. Like the mole people in the tunnels in New York, kinda. But they’re not just surviving. They’re not just scavenging. They’re more like philosophical Fremen. Except they have black in black eyes, not blue in blue ones.
We should go native, too. Learn their ways. Hide out down here. Become the resistance.
Have you heard of the legendary mudworms of Newcastle? Thirty foot long … Sliding through the top soil …
Fuck off with your mudworms.
Seriously – the old philosophy department have learnt how to tame them. To ride them, even. You can see them sometimes on the Town Moor …
We could summon a bunch of them and ride them to the Organisational Management campus. A magnificent sight! A whole load of them. And present an ultimatum to Alan and Organisational Management …
Work in Progress 