II #2
The ceiling height, from which stalactites hung, was about four meters above her head, and Nika imagined water pipes and power cables running through the cave, bringing the necessary substances to the planted plants.
Yes, this space could be used as a farm where seeds would sprout and develop.
But the space for growing and processing food had to be larger than this.
Nika stepped into the bright light of the laboratory and squinted toward the remaining two openings, almost hidden by various equipment.
Her attention was drawn to a large opening from which a muffled noise came.
She headed through the laboratories toward that cave.
As she approached, the noise grew stronger and more familiar.
Finally, Nika and Tomi reached the opening.
Nika looked for the switch, which she now knew was somewhere near the entrance.
Soon she found it, and a reddish light illuminated the incredible space before her.
The cave walls had incredible patterns of minerals trapped in the rock.
As if Mother Nature had played with a great brush and created a work of art that would awaken a sense of calm in the viewer as they enjoyed the beauty of the interwoven reflections of the rock's mineral patterns.
The patterns on the rocks spread the whole length of the large, deep cave.
Nika saw that the red lamps of the primary lighting went into the depths of the cave, where they became mere reddish points in the distance.
She couldn't gauge the cave's depth, but this was what she was looking for.
A space large enough to supply the shelter with food.
Nika looked for the source of the noise and noticed, in the depths of the space, some hundred meters from the entrance, water vapor.
"No, impossible!" burst from her mouth.
"What?" Tomi spoke up as, with almost frightened glances, he examined the half-darkness before them.
"Come, this is incredible, I have to see this."
Nika cast aside all uncertainty and ran into the depths toward the noise that grew ever louder.
Tomi turned uncertainly around himself. He didn't want to leave the familiar light of the shelter, but as the girl moved further away, he realized he also didn't want to be left alone in front of this half-dark cave.
Finally he decided, shrugged needlessly, and hurried after the girl, who was skipping cheerfully ahead of him.
Nika hurried toward a small, narrow cleft in the rock floor. Arriving, she leaned over the edge.
"Wow, look, Tomi. Running water!"
Nika watched as, through a cleft about a meter and a half wide and a meter deep, a steady rapid of clear water ran.
It sprang from the cracked rock on her right side, and it was evident that the water had itself deepened the cleft over the centuries.
The rapid flowed into a small natural pool and vanished into the opposite wall.
Nika went to investigate where the water disappeared to, but minutes later it was obvious that within the small basin there was a crack in the stone floor that absorbed all the flowing water without a problem.
She couldn't help herself and knelt on the bank of the little lake and scooped a bit of the very cold liquid with her palm.
Though seemingly clean, Nika saw some sediment at the bottom and smiled.
The richness of minerals in the water was exactly what she was looking for, because they could feed the plants and greatly ease food production.
Nika clapped in delight on the water. Tomi watched it blankly, and, in her joy, Nika playfully splashed him with the cold water.
He shrieked in discomfort as the cold water soaked his clothes, then glared at the girl, who knelt gracefully on the bank of the little lake and smiled at him cheerfully.
His anger eased, and he too ran to the bank with the obvious intention of returning the favor in kind.
Nika understood his intention and, with a small squeak, rose and began fleeing toward the brightly lit cave entrance.
Tomi scooped up some water and ran after her.
He finally caught her right at the entrance and splashed her over the head, soaking her hair and neck with the still-cold liquid.
Nika screamed and stopped, laughing the whole time.
She turned toward Tomi, who hadn't expected it, and he crashed into her, knocking them both onto the hard stone floor.
He fell beside the girl. And his glasses fell off his face.
In panic, he groped for the glasses, because without them he was almost blind.
Suddenly he felt a small hand calmly hand them to him.
Putting them on, he noticed the girl's breathless, smiling face a centimeter from his own.
She looked into his eyes playfully and smiled the whole time.
He returned her gaze. He felt he should do something, but didn't know what.
He had no experience with girls, and all the films he'd watched online said little about situations like this.
Finally, he moved away from the girl, who suddenly looked flustered.
Tomi sat up and reached into his pants pocket, looking for his tissue to start cleaning his glasses.
He looked terribly occupied with it, so Nika finally sat up.
Tomi was a mystery to her. Part of her being had expected a kiss, and, surprisingly, she'd even wanted it.
In any such situation a man would try to kiss a girl who was a centimeter from his face, and in the current situation and mood, Nika would have allowed it to happen.
She didn't consider herself an easy girl, but something about Tomi attracted her and made her insides stir every time she was near him.
But Tomi had withdrawn. Either he was an incredible gentleman or he was gay.
He was a mystery to her. She decided to research his persona through friends.
There she stopped, because she only knew Nick, and it would be awkward to question Nick about Tomi.
Especially after she'd rejected him last night.
That could cause problems, and she didn't want that.
She remembered Ana and remembered that both of them knew her well.
As she rose from the cold stone, she decided to consult Ana, who seemed to know half the people in the shelter anyway.
Nika decided. Yes, that's what she'd do, and until then she had quite enough work without letting all sorts of thoughts swirl in her head.
Especially when there was so much to do.
She shook some dust off her clothes and waited for Tomi to finish with his glasses.
He still avoided her direct gaze, but that didn't matter now.
Finally, he finished, and the two of them headed toward the bright light of the laboratory entrance.
Entering, Nika was again awed by the amount of equipment.
She knew everything she needed was there, under the plastic covers, but at the same time she knew it would take a lot of people to get the laboratory working and put it into use.
Slowly she was grasping the structure of the complex equipment.
To her right was the department of chemistry and chemical analysis, and she stood in the biological–food zone.
To her left, beside the still-unexplored opening of the last cave, stood blue signs speaking of various analyses of minerals and ore.
And all the laboratory equipment was relatively new and neatly packed.
She remembered that the University of Zagreb had been undergoing reconstruction and renovation after the catastrophic earthquake that had struck the city's surroundings a few years earlier.
That the government, with great fanfare, had a few years ago announced the renovation of the university and a return to the old glory of the last century, when students from many countries flocked to study in Zagreb.
It was all part of an educational reconstruction financed mostly by the European Union with several billion euros.
And that was a cake many wanted to bite into.
Nika approached the nearest machine, removed the cover, and recognized an electron microscope, a thing worth several hundred thousand euros.
It still had its factory label and certification that it had passed inspection in Germany.
Nika cast her gaze around the laboratory and understood.
This was meant to be a university laboratory where experiments would be conducted during the renovation of the university complex.
Everything was prepared, and they were only waiting for the professors and their assistants to begin work.
The university had probably also leased this floor from the shelter's owner.
The university had leased it, prepared it, and now all this equipment would help Nika and the shelter's residents survive.
"This simply couldn't be better," Nika announced joyfully.
"What do you mean?" Tomi asked her as he fiddled with interest at the microscope's buttons.
"Well, look, it's all set up and ready for use, they even sorted out the ventilation."
Nika pointed at the large ventilation extraction pipes above their heads that would serve to suck out dangerous vapors.
"And the drains, from what I can see." Tomi pointed at the sewage drain grilles.
"Hmm… I wonder where that goes?" Nika studied the pipes.
"Well, if you asked me, I'd put it all in its own separate section, because I don't think it should be mixed with normal sewage," Tomi said pragmatically.
"I agree," Nika said cheerfully, and headed toward the last cave entrance. "Better we explore this place too, who knows what all could be found inside."
Soon she stood at the cave entrance, searching the uneven gray rock for the light switch.
Finding it, she turned on the light, which revealed nothing too interesting.
The cave was of impressive dimensions, but Nika was used to that by now.
It curved gently to the left, and the two of them set off, chatting cheerfully, to explore the enormous space.
The gray rock was only occasionally broken by veins of minerals or quartz.
But it all led to the left, and after about five minutes' walk they determined that the composition of minerals in the rock was changing.
With a joyful cry, they recognized that they were in the cave with the running water, which still flowed swiftly some hundred meters ahead of them.
The two caves were joined into one large semicircular chamber.
"Two entrances to the farm, that'll be excellent. Running water of high quality and mineral composition. With the addition of pipes and tanks, if they can be found, perfect for aquaponics."