There was absolutely nothing special about the day that suggested tragedy was imminent. A cacophony of noise heralded the day, but it was of the usual sort. The sounds that accompanied the carving of space and time to expand the reaches of the known world could certainly be jarring to those unfamiliar with it, but not out of the ordinary for those that were accustomed to it.
The Conductor, a young man newly appointed into the Guild, had just finished playing the starring role. Moments before his debut he would have counted himself amongst those unsettled by the noise of a work site, especially as someone newly in charge. But now that he had successfully completed the most difficult job of his day he felt himself becoming at ease, if not a little self-important. It was funny how quickly he forgot the nerves that had prickled at his mind right before he began his inaugural punch.
It was a complicated business punching new tunnels. Only recognized persons were permitted by law to even touch the fabric of space and time, let alone perforate it. He stepped up to the identified location, marked by the gate that the Labourers had placed previously. A deferential silence had fallen over the crowd then, no one dared to speak as they watched him focus on things unseen by their eyes, his hand glowing gold. They were too busy staring in awe as the gate shimmered and shuddered to notice the bead of sweat nervously running down the back of his neck, or the smallest of tremors that rippled through his non-working hand.
Moments later, however, where there had once been nothing except the gate, a pinprick of light appeared. The gate was a solid brick wall, a little larger than a man door. As the Conductor worked, the brick seemed to become fluid, stretching in towards the hole and taking on an inverted conical appearance. The pinprick slowly widened as the brick seemed to warp into it. The crowd, though used to the display, seemed to unilaterally decide to step backward, to give it space.
It wasn’t until the hole had widened to be just smaller than the size of the gate that the conductor lowered his hand. The gate had stopped warping, and now instead of a solid brick wall it formed the mouth of a brick lined tunnel, with light coming in from the opposite side.
The punch had been a success.
The hush of the crowd gave way to applause and cheerful hooting. The Conductor released a deep breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, relief evident on his face. He was still too young to have developed the god complex the experienced Conductors all had. It was an inevitability, however; Conductors were preordained to believe themselves as greater than the general populace. The reverence of the crowds practically wrote their scripture.
After the Conductor’s work was complete the Labourers got to work. Newly punched tunnels on their own were fragile and impermanent, not to mention in need of polishing. The punch first tore the fabric of space through to the other, pre-identified, side. It was an energy intensive process; after the initial hole was formed the fabric stretched through to the other side, pulling the brick until it met with the opposite hole, creating a finite, three dimension tunnel.
The gate was used to create a strong support; in theory solid rock, or mounds of dirt, could be used as a base, but the bricks were produced with magical properties that rendered them with considerable tensile strength. When the gate was placed the bricks appeared as a normal length and width, but after the punch they stretched to the internal distance of the tunnel, a seemingly impossible feat that could only be stabilized by the Labourers' magic. They also performed some physical magic, smoothing out any sharp bits that may have been stretched out along the way.
After the punch, the day progressed in an ordinary way. The Labourers were progressing through the tunnel and the Conductor, now relaxed that the bulk of his work was complete, was merely present as a formality to sign off on the completion of the reinforcement.
It was when they were about midway through the tunnel that he felt the tremor. He stopped, eyes flickering towards the opening. No one appeared to have detected it, seemingly imperceptible to their untrained senses. It had been faint but unusual. He had never encountered this sensation as an apprentice, nor had he been taught about it. When nothing happened after a moment he returned to his paperwork, frowning. There was likely nothing to worry about, he reasoned with himself.
Until he felt it again. Stronger.
Again, no one reacted to it but he couldn’t ignore it any longer. He was the person in charge of the situation, his duties were clear in that regard. He waved down the Labourer's foreman.
“Did you feel that?” the Conductor asked, quietly.
The foreman looked at him quizzically. “Feel what?”
“There was a sensation, it felt like a tremor. I think it came from the new tunnel,” he explained, trying to avoid sounding concerned.
The foreman frowned. “I’ve never heard of a tremor coming from a tunnel, and I didn’t feel anything. Are you sure it wasn’t something else?”
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The Conductor bristled at being questioned. “I know what I felt,” he said somewhat snappishly, before regaining his composure. “I’d like to take a closer look. I’m sure it’s nothing to be concerned about.”
The foreman shrugged, nonplussed. He was used to dealing with snobby Conductors. “Suit yourself. I’ll pull my people out and you can do what you need to do.”
“No. No need. I don’t want to alarm anybody,” the Conductor said quickly.
He made his way towards the tunnel, trying to appear unconcerned as if he was merely admiring his handiwork. He felt another small tremor as he approached the mouth, a worker just inside looked up at him, looking thoughtful.
“Did you feel that, sir?” she asked him as he peered inside. She seemed to be the only other person present to have felt it.
He froze. A feeling of fear seeped into his veins. It was his first true assignment, it was supposed to go perfectly. Nothing should be going wrong, he did everything correctly and by the book!
“Nothing to worry about,” he murmured, after looking around for a moment. Upon a quick inspection, the tunnel appeared to be fine, nothing stood out to him as being structurally unsound.
She looked unconvinced but returned to her work. He turned on his heels and made his way back to the foreman.
“Did you find out what you needed?” the foreman asked, sounding bored.
“Yes, I think it’s fine, let’s continue and end on time,” he said, feeling hesitant.
The foreman frowned. “You think? Care to explain what you found then?”
“I don’t answer to you,” the Conductor said, coldly. He was tired of being questioned, he was in charge of the situation and had deemed it to be under control.
“No you don’t, but my people are in there and I answer to my Guild so I’d like to know what makes you so sure it’s fine.”
“I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary inside the tunnel and I haven’t felt anything since the tremor,” he responded brusquely. Technically a lie, but he hadn’t experienced anything worsening between the first and last one.
The foreman seemed to silently scrutinize him, and the Conductor tried his best not to squirm under pressure. “Alright, you’re the boss,” the foreman conceded as he went back to his own paperwork, leaving the Conductor feeling conflicted.
He began to walk back to his makeshift workspace when a fourth tremor hit, and it was much more powerful than the first three. This one was seemingly detected by all because everyone around him froze. He whipped around to make eye contact with the foreman again, who immediately jumped up.
“Get them out of there!” the foreman barked.
The Conductor didn’t pull rank and submissively obeyed, matching his stride as they hurried toward the tunnel.
The woman who had been working closest to the entrance rushed towards them as she saw them.
“There’s been a partial collapse in the tunnel!” she exclaimed fearfully, “It's like the middle pinched in on itself. There’s people trapped on the other side but there's still a small gap, we’re trying to expand our way through to get them out.”
“Dammit!” The foreman swore. His worker bravely rushed back, grabbing an emergency kit.
“Do something you useless lump!” he barked, rounding on the Conductor. “What do they teach you in that godforsaken apprenticeship anyways!”
The Conductor stammered angrily. “What am I supposed to do?! I can’t punch through unstable material, and there are probably people and rubble in the way. Perhaps your people did this!”
The foreman balled his hand into a fist and grabbed him by the collar. The Conductor flinched at a blow that never came.
“Figure it out,” he hissed dangerously, before turning to follow his worker. The Conductor ran through his training mentally, there was nothing in his education that had ever suggested a tunnel collapse was even possible.
Injured workers were emerging, being helped by anyone able. Some were in rough shape, needing to be carried out on makeshift stretchers, while others walked of their own volition. They looked shocked; their eyes didn’t seem to have processed what they witnessed. Cries rose from inside the tunnel and he once again strode to the entrance.
He hesitated before heading inside. The internal distance stretched between the two points was typically only several hundred meters when walked from gate to gate, however the actual distance spanned by the tunnel could be exponentially greater. He only traversed about fifty meters before finding the collapse. There was indeed a gap to the other side, and he could hear cries for help from within, shaking him to his core. The interior of the tunnel narrowed unnaturally, and the brick surround the area appeared jagged and upheaved.
Panic washed over him in waves. He didn't feel well; all he could think about was the overwhelming need to get back to normal land. He hurried back out, fighting the sensation of wanting to be sick. Opposite to him, the Labourers were still rushing in, attempting to widen the gap.
He had just reached the mouth of the gate when the fifth and final tremor shook the very ground at his feet. Thinking quickly he reached out a hand to grab the only person within his reach. It was the female Labourer from earlier, the one who asked him if he had felt the earlier tremor. He crossed the threshold and yanked her through the gate, just as a loud
The first thing he noticed was the terrible silence. He couldn’t tell if the nothingness was worse than the chaos that had just been unraveling seconds prior. Shouts of horror slowly cut through the quiet as realization dawned on the now much smaller group of people. There had been nearly twenty people at the outset of the day, now only seven, including himself, remained.
He fell to his knees, mouth agape in horror as he studied the former gate, now a pile of brick and rubble. A grave for the lost souls to the tunnel.