Later that day sitting hanging from the side of the rock solid city sky the Exploration team were hard at work carving and digging a way to freedom for their city.
"Alright we're set" Julia said into a communicator as she, Michael and 2 other drillers steadied themselves around one area of the city wall. "Just want to confirm that this is the exact spot we need to hit right Viv" she continued.
"Affirmative" a white haired but middle aged woman said observing from a monitor in the Exploration Project offices.
"You've reached the hollow point you should be able to break through with minimal force" Vivian continued.
"Best part of the job this" a stout bald man next to Michael said as he attached a small explosive to his portion of the wall. "Yeah cause you're an anarchist" a petite blonde woman smiled attaching hers. "Ok it is pretty fun tho" she continued.
Julia and Michael attached theirs focused on the task at hand.
"Team up!" Julia said with authority as they all clicked a button on their harnesses and propelled themselves upwards.
"Blast in 3, 2, 1" she continued, clicking the detonator in her hand.
A small controlled explosion blew a hole into the wall. "Entry point established, you're clear to move in" Vivian said enthusiastically.
An odd note of silence fell as the team then looked at Julia.
"Jules..." Michael said with a hint of concern in his voice looking at his wife zoned out staring into the opening.
"Team down!" She quickly said propelling down towards the open maw of the city wall. As Vivian had said it was a hollow point meaning even tho the explosion was surface level it gave the team access to a tunnel through which they could dig.
Feelings of doubt and fear began to creep into Julia's mind. She sat in her harness for a second looking at the tunnel. It's imperfect outline effectively razor sharp teeth waiting to chew and swallow her whole. Her unease an obstacle she would have to leap over so as to not look weak as team leader.
As the rest of the team propelled themselves down she settled her internal turmoil by closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
With her team and most importantly her husband there she calmed herself and said "I'll lead the line. Michael and Kate the two of you follow and James you anchor" in a calm and stern voice.
She proceeded to swing into the tunnel and retract her grappling hook back into her harness. Adjusting her harness she connected a tether from her waist to Michael's harness.
He proceeded to swing into the opening although not as gracefully as his wife and proceeded to unhook himself from the wall and connect his tether to Kate.
Once Kate was secured in the tunnel she connected her tether to James who would propell down to connect his tether to the base of their armored drill.
"Anchor secure" he said as he propelled himself back up and waited at the entrance to the tunnel.
"Alright team you should be safe to enter for 100 meters" Vivian said over the communicators.
"Roger" they all said. "Alright we're just going in to radar any more hollow points to go forward so let's not go further than 80 meters" Julia said proceeding into the tunnel.
"Roger" Michael and Kate said crouching further into the tunnel. They then point portable sensors around.
"Alright, well Viv isn't a total hack the ground we're on isn't coming up as hollow" Kate jokes. "Some of us aren't dainty enough to just hop into holes you know" Vivian replied.
Their squabble was interrupted by the sound of heavy breathing. Julia's nerves were again getting the better of her.
"You ok Jules?" Kate said in confusion. Julia simply froze up and couldn't respond.
Silence fell for a second before Michael jumped in. "Oh man it's my fault I made us a big birthday pancake breakfast" he said with a fake chuckle. "Guess we had too many I'm feeling a bit sluggish too ha" he added a tired heavy breath.
"Oh..alright" Kate said unconvinced. The awkward moment was interrupted by a sudden tremor.
"That doesn't sound good" Michael said. "Jules what do we do" he continued.
"There shouldn't be any tremors at 50 meters in" Vivian said over the com. "We pull out and let the dirt geeks reassess" Julia said secretly relieved she could now go home. "Roger that" James said as he clicked the remote and began retracting his team.
"Hang on couldn't this just be the ground settling" Kate interjected. "Well let's not wait around to find out" Michael said knowing Julia well enough to see she was not coping with the weight of the task.
"Alright let's just turn and hea- ahhh" Julia was interrupted by her footing suddenly giving out as she slide down a now collapsing tunnel.
"Jules!" Michael cried as he instinctively attempted to reach for her. His hand barely grazing hers before a second tremor caused his footing to give way. Whilst not as strong as the first the collapse had exposed a jagged shard of rock which punctured his leg causing him to begin bleeding profusely.
"What's happening in there?!" James yelled damning the tether and beginning to manually pull it to get his teammates out.
"Julia!" Michael wailed before passing out as Kate grabbed onto him while James pulled them out. Although retracting had further opened the wound neither of them had yet noticed.
Securing them to himself he clicked the remote for the armored drill and reared it up to be waiting for them as they descended.
"Oh shit he's bleeding heavy!" Kate said trying to apply pressure on the wound.
Not a moment too soon they were racing through the infirmary seeking help for their bloodied and unconscious friend.
Their attempt was for not however as Michael was declared dead on arrival due to bleeding out from is femoral artery.