At minus six thousand eight hundred meters, the trench widened into a cavernous fiery tiered arena where the rules of the frozen deep pit temporarily suspended themselves.
A natural fault line in the dark rock floor had formed an earth-heat pocket. White-hot rotten-egg steam bubbled up through a series of natural stone chimneys. That created a protected microclimate fifty yards across where the heat hovered at a mild plus eight degrees.
“Camp here,” Arthur announced. He lowered his gear pack to the dry dark rock flat stone slabs. “Titus, secure the entrance. We rest for six hours.”
Titus let out a deep, rumbling sigh of relief that sounded like a gravel quarry sliding downhill. The giant tortoise settled his massive bulk across the narrow mouth of the earth-heat hollow, effectively plugging the passage with his forty-five tons of armored back shell. Once set, he tucked his heavy limbs beneath his belly shell. He closed his heavy eyelids, and right away went into low-body-energy hibernation.
Arthur stripped off the outer heat cowl and heavy gloves of his exosuit. He exhaled a long, weary breath. The air inside the hollow smelled strongly of iron, sulfur, and stone salt. But it was warm and rich in breathable oxygen.
