The iron drainage grate at the bottom of the central ravine hung broken on one bent hinge.
A rotten-egg, icy draft billowed up from the darkness, smelling of ancient stale water, rotting underground mold, and spark-charged nether-ozone.
Frank stood at the threshold of the underground access shaft. He tightened the nylon chin-strap of his yellow builder hard hat.
Beside him, Class 404 stood in full heavy-duty work gear.
Shen Shitou carried a forty-pound star-iron pry bar and a bucket of non-shrink load-bearing grout. Princess Jiang Ling’er adjusted her brass safety goggles. She carried a high-temp oxy-acetylene brazing torch hooked to her chest pipe hub. Niu Mang balanced his silver-steel trench shovel across his shoulders like an ox yoke. Xiao Yu carried a handheld four-gas sky detector and three sound tuning forks. Murong Seven held a heavy roll of six-gauge padded jumper cables and a rubber-handled continuity tester.
Frank reached into the light metal job box. He pulled out a forty-ton air-powered impact wrench with a hardened hard dark metal-steel drive socket. He checked the quick-connect air fitting with his thumb.
CLACK.
“All right, crew,” Frank said, his voice flat and businesslike as his LED headlamp lit up the dropping stone stairwell. “Permit-needed confined space entry protocol. Four-gas monitors on. If the oxygen drops below nineteen point five percent or the hydrogen sulfide alarm beeps, everyone hits the emergency way out. And watch your step on this stairwell. These stone risers vary between six inches and eleven inches. Terrible stonework. Complete…
