Hands shaking, he bent over and held his torch close to the motionless cable. The insulation was frayed and disintegrating but there was no mistaking what it was.

Weegee leaned over his shoulder, her musk strong in the still air of the cavern. “What the devil is it?” Ignoring her, he began tracing the cable along the ground. She looked over at Mudge. “What’s wrong? Why doesn’t he answer?”

Mudge bent low over the frayed cable, plucked a bit of torn insulation and smelled of it. His eyes were on his tall friend’s back. “I’ve an idea. ’Tis insane, but no more insane than many things ’e an’ I ’ave encountered in our travels together. Whether it bodes good or ill only the fates can say, those interferin’ blabbermouths.”

Jon-Tom was examining the narrow cleft in the wall from which the cable emerged. By turning sideways he could just squeeze through. Several minutes passed before his companions were drawn by a shout from beyond. Clothahump couldn’t have followed, but Cautious and the two otters slipped easily through the gap.

They came out in another decorated chamber seemingly no different from the one they had left. The cable continued to snake along the floor until it terminated in a square metal box. Another cable in somewhat better condition emerged from the other side of the container. Jon-Tom was studying it closely as his three companions gathered around.

“What is it?” Cautious inquired.

By way of reply Jon-Tom flipped open the box’s lid. A large plastic switch stared back at him. Hardly daring to hope, he turned it to the right. The primitive wiring not only still worked, it was connected to an as yet undiscovered power source. Mudge and Weegee jumped involuntarily as powerful argon lamps came to life and illuminated much of the chamber in which they stood. Cautious made protective signs in front of his body.

“No jokes this time, mate. Where ’ave you brought us?”

“I don’t know. I sure as hell don’t know, Mudge.”

Quickly overcoming his initial surprise, Cautious had wandered over to stare at one of the high intensity lamps. “Strongest glow-bulb spell I ever see.”

“Don’t touch it,” Jon-Tom warned him. “They look old and I bet they get real hot real quick. This whole setup’s at least forty or fifty years old.”

“So where do we go from ’ere, mate?”

“One of two ways, Mudge. Either we go back the way we came or we follow the cable and lights the other way and see if they lead to a dream come true.”

“I’d rather they led to a decent eatin’ place, but I think I’d settle for a dream come true. I sure as ’ell ain’t going back up yet. Weegee?”

“If you trust Jon-Tom that much, how can I do less?”

“Doen make no much difference to me,” added Cautious. “You lead now, tall man.”

The cables led to another switch box, and another, and a fourth. Since the limits of the power supply had to be finite, Jon-Tom turned off the lights behind them each time he turned on the next set ahead. As old as the system was he didn’t think it would take much to overload it.

Once the roof dropped, and they all had to bend to clear the ceiling. When it lifted so they could stand again the cavern had become another tunnel similar to the one they had descended but with one important addition.

Concrete steps spiraled upward directly ahead of them.

“Wot’s up there, mate? Or rather, wot do you think is up there?”

“Not our piratical friends. As to anything else, I’m afraid to guess.”

“If we’re not to come out in the forest we left,” said Weegee, “where are we to come out, Jon-Tom?”

“The mind boggles.” He started climbing.

The steps wound their way up a narrow chute which had been artificially enlarged. As they neared the top they could smell warm air. A roof had been built over the hole. Several of the crossbeams had long since fallen in. The entrance to the cave below was either infrequently used or infrequently maintained.

When they got to the top of the stairs they found themselves surrounded by stone walls. A double door of heavy planks sealed the exit and was secured by a fat padlock. Jon-Tom bent to examine it but was gently nudged aside.

“Are you forgettin’ in whose company you’re travelin’?”

Using a knife and another small tool from his pack, it took Mudge about two minutes to pick the lock. The doors were shoved aside.

They found themselves standing atop a grassy knoll surrounded by trees very different from those they had left behind. There was no sign of the sandy-soiled cypress, pine and hardwood forest. The earth underfoot was thick with crumbled limestone, shale and clay. As for the trees, Jon-Tom recognized live oak right away. It took him longer to figure out that their neighbors were mesquite.

Off to their right stood a single building devoid of life. Climbing a few dozen yards the other way put them atop the highest part of the hill. From this vantage point they should have been able to see over the forest to the distant shore of the Glittergeist. There was no sea to be seen; only mile upon square mile of dense forest broken by a single wide, paved trail.

As they stood and stared, a bulky monster came chugging down the trail. It roared twice.

“Wot the bloody ’ell is that?” Mudge stammered.

“’Tis horrible to look upon.” Weegee turned her face to Jon-Tom. “Where have you brought us, spellsinger?”

The monster was the size of several elephants. It had eighteen legs, all of them round, and as it thundered southward Jon-Tom could just make out the legend inscribed on its flank.

PIGGLY WIGGLY

Dumbfounded, he watched the eighteen-wheeler until it vanished into the woods. Fingers tugged insistently on his sleeve.

“Out with it, mate. You know where we are, don’t you?”

Jon-Tom didn’t reply, continued to gaze dazedly at the highway. Mudge turned away from him.

“’E’s bloody well out of it for now, ’e is.”

“There’s a sign of some sort.” Weegee waddled over to the wooden square that topped a post marking the end of a dirt road. She couldn’t make out the alien hieroglyphics on the other side but Jon-Tom could. Mudge dragged his friend over. The sight of the familiar lettering shocked him back to reality.

“It says, ‘Welcome to the Cave-With-No-Name’” and underneath, in smaller letters, “‘San Antonio – 64 Miles.’”

“‘San At-nonio’?” Mudge’s brows drew together and his whiskers twitched. The sun was beginning to set over the eastern horizon. At least that were unchanged from the real world, he reflected. “I know Jarrow and I know Lynchbany an’ Polastrindu an’ half a ’undred other cities, but I ain’t never ’eard o’ no San At-nonio.”

“I didn’t think Hell would have quite so many trees.” Weegee was examining a pair of acorns.

“We’re not in Hell,” Jon-Tom assured her. “Just Texas.”

“I don’t know where that is either.”

“My world.” A slow grin spread across Jon-Tom’s face. “We’ve crossed through to my world.” He walked back to the cave entrance. “‘Cave-With-No-Name.’ That’s appropriate. There must be a permanent passage down there between your world and mine. Whoever developed this cave started to run a new cable through to the chamber on your side and gave it up. Maybe ran out of money. This setup hasn’t been worked on in years, maybe decades. Clothahump often postulated that such permanent gateways might exist.”

“Wot makes you think ’tis permanent?”

“Want to go back and see if Kamaulk and Sasheem and the others are waiting for us by the ledge opening?”

“Not just right away, mate. I expect we could ’ang around ’ere for a day or two and then go back. Don’t know as ’ow I could stand it much longer than that.” He sniffed ostentatiously. “Air ’ere smells peculiar but not as you always told me.”

“That’s because we didn’t come out in the middle of a big city. Just as well. Would’ve caused quite a stir.” Bending, he picked up an empty metal container. It was brown, red, battered, and said DR. PEPPER on the side. It was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in over a year. He might’ve been fondling the Hope Diamond. Tears started from the corners of his eyes. “Home. Damn, I finally made it.”

Cautious was turning a slow circle. “So this your world, eh? Doen look so impressive to me.”