| The cave, much to your
surprise, is fully lighted. There's a huge A on the wall, and next
to it is a clock with a hand pointing to the X (which is '10' for those
of you who don't know their roman numerals).
"Welcome to Cave A," say the elves wearing hardhats. "Tunnel Construction elves," Rocky mutters. "The scum of the Earth!" "Cave A?" you say. You look at your map. "What happened to the numbered caves?" "Oh, we redid the cave numbering system and put in new tunnels," reply the construction elves. "It makes everything much easier!" You sigh and tear up the map. Just then an alarm sounds. "That's our Evil Alert!" the construction elves cry. "A tremendously evil being has entered the cave system and is now among us!" Rocky stares at you in horror and backs away. "I think they mean the Green Knight," you reply. "Oh." Rocky relaxes. Then he gestures to the clock. "Didn't that used to point to the X? Now it's pointing to the IX." "Yes," the head construction elf replies. "That's our self-destruct clock. We have nine clicks left for the caves to self-destruct." "It must have been triggered by the entry of the Green Knight," you say. "Or by one of the many technical blunders which we construction elves are renown for." "I vote that," says Rocky. A firecracker lands among you and explodes. The concussion causes the roof to crumble. "This is the doing of the Green Knight!" you cry. "Aided by the tremendously slipshod construction methods of elves," Rocky adds. "One firecracker and an entire cave collapses. Do you guys try to be incompetent, or does it just come naturally?" "For me it comes naturally," says one construction elf. "I have to work at it," says another. "But it's getting easier." By then the crumbling roof has half-buried you in debris and rubble. You and Rocky pull out the elves. "Come on!" you cry. "We have to get out of here!" |