With the determination not to stop until they had something to show for it, Green's team had practically made their home underground.
Even so, progress was less than ideal. Exploring all the branches of a passage took a long time and took a toll on both body and mind.
And with only a limited number of people available, the burden on those taking part was all the heavier.
The Church's personnel could be stationed here long-term, but Professor couldn't. He still needed to return to the clinic every day. On the one hand, he couldn't feel at ease leaving the clinic in the hands of David, who mainly ran it, with Kup to help him; on the other, he had to consider Yvonne's need for rest.
But after watching her for several days, he realized he'd probably worried too much.
The girl showed the same resilience he'd come to expect from her. Expressing herself wasn't her strong suit; perseverance—or perhaps stubbornness—was. It reminded Kraft once again that there was something special about her.
Though he would never show it, he had to admit that he'd been hoping, just a little, that the search over the past few days might persuade her to give up.
As it turned out, that had been nothing more than wishful thinking.
Once she'd overcome the initial difficulties, her adaptability quickly helped her settle in. She was like moss sprouting amid brickwork and icy water, then spreading through the cracks until it took over.
Every day, she traveled back and forth between the two places, moving with the team through the tunnels. At last, the monks accepted that she could be considered part of the team, rather than an obstacle to the search.
As the unexplored areas dwindled, the collapse sites on the map outlined an