July 12, 1956, 4:30 P.M. Pacific central time

This place is astonishing. When we made our way into the next chamber and out of the tunnel, everyone, espcially me, was struck speechless. Glowing on the ceiling is a giant cloud of ignited gas. It is acting as a star, providing light to all the plants and animals, I geuss you could say that they are thriving! We were at the edge of a wide river, walking among dense foliage made up of thick, broadleafed ferns that rise up to our waists. I noticed a multitude of small creatures scurrying among the ferns; not quite scared of us, more like curious. I am currently residing inside of a hollowed out, giant mushroom that is one of a huge forest of giant mushrooms. When we first wandered into the forest, I stumbled over the skull of a giant velociraptor. It was mildly fresh. Its body was stripped of all muscle and skin. A man in the group that I befriended named Anderson knocked out a few teeth and stripped some of the partially decayed sinew. With that, he made a necklace with some huge, Vibrantly colored flight feathers found scattered about. He gave it to me as trophy for finding the extinct creature.
Our supplies are runniing low, so we are soon going to try to forage for some food, I hope we find some.

July 6th, 1956, 10:34 A.M. pacific central time.

After my last journal entry we gradually came upon a giant water fall in the deep shaft. We fell for a half hour before the shaft began to gradually slope and slowed us down. I am amazed that we survived that fall; that we were not impaled by stalagmites formed by the rushing water. We slid at quick rate out of the shaft, to fall through the air a short distance into a pool. The room was amazing; it was lit by a strange, glowing fungus growing out of the ceiling, perhaps feeding off gasses and lime deposits. Several of the men had too much weight on their packs and were pulled under the water and sent through an underground river. Over the shortwave radios a few of the men were carrying, we received faint transmissions from the lost people. Apparently, they resurfaced, once they abandoned their packs, in another room. They told us that they could see a bright light from a bend in the tunnel. We decided that we need to get out of this room and find a way to survive, possibly escape to the surface. I will update this journal when I have learned more of our situation.

July 5, 1956, 7: 56 P.M. pacific central time.

As I write this, I realize that I am falling in mid-air. A complete free-fall. Shortly after finishing my last journal entry, the crystalline floor gave way and allowed most of the group and me to fall. At first, it was terrifying. Lots of yelling and screaming, but eventually you get tired of screaming, it gets boring. I actually rather like it, the wind whipping at my hair and all. Hold, water is coming, need to protect my journal. Write soon if I live.

July 5th, 1956, 7:45 P.M. pacific central time.

Wow! One of the men has broken through the wall of the cave, exposing an old volcanic shaft. The walls are lined with gems, many diamonds and emeralds just loosely embedded into the wall. It seems that all the men are packed it the shaft stuffing their packs. I seem to have found myself in the midst. Ah! The greed of humans!

July 5th, 1956, 6:23 A.M. pacific central time.

Why do I put such an exact time for a heading? I suppose it calms my nerves. We started moving at 5:30, kind of early, but who cares? We are still hiking down a gentle slope carved into this wide cave by millions of years of erosion by water and seismic activity. I have been noticing a lot of schist. Jorgen's case is getting stronger. If not for the ecosystem bit, it would be possible.

July 4th, 1956, 9:34 P.M. pacific central time.

We made it to the floor with little incident. One man, I think his name is Gregory, slipped and fell 10 feet. He has a nasty briuse on the back of his head, he will be fine. My mate Raymond says that we will continue deeper into the cave in the morning. God! I do not see how you can tell it is morning down here. The clock!, Yes the bloved clock.

July 4th, 1956, 7:56 P.M. pacific central time.

We have stumbled, I mean literally, on a 200 foot tall cliff. Currently, the men are preparing to rapel down to the floor. I am rather nervous, I have never done this in a cave; I am nervous and excited.

July 4th, 1956, 2:30 P.M. pacific central time.

This is my first journal. I am not very skilled in this art, but I feel that I need to keep an accurate account of this. I geuss I should begin by telling how I got to this mine shaft. About 3 weeks ago a colleague of mine, Jorgen Scheisskopf, proposed an idea to me. "Imagine, Samuel, a world beneath our feet. An entire ecosystem inside a bubble of air suspended in an ocean of magma." Of course, I thought he was crazy, I still do; on account of the fact that we are still wandering through some old mine shafts. But, he contracted me to do a job, so I hired 20 experienced Spelunkers to join in the expedition. I will know more soon.