"Nick!" The word was roaring from the rocks as she heard his splash and indrawn breath.
"I touched it, Nick! I had to go deep," she panted as she swam toward him. "I think it got my thoughts, just what you told me."
Deep in the black lake something huge and unguessably powerful heaved and stirred, creating wavelets that raced toward shore and filled the cavern with insane, reechoing laughter as they broke against the rocks.
Racing now, without any attempt at silence, Nick and Susan swam toward the reassuring green pinpoint of light that marked the shelving ledge.
The waves were rising, lapping almost to their clothing, as they waded ashore. Without pausing to dry themselves they dressed and dashed up the tunnel.
Halfway to the surface they paused to rest, sitting on the cold, curving floor.
"What was it like?" Nick asked.
In the greenish light he could see her shudder.
"I—I really don't know," she confessed. "It was huge and it had no real shape, but some parts were hard and some weren't."
"Will it do what we want?"