at the base of the tree , there was a cavernous opening , a sloped and irregular triangle where the trunk parted , allowing entrance to the interior tavi paused and watched the keeper he had been following it paced slowly into the tree 's interior , and as it passed within , another keeper moved out on the other side of the opening , as though it were a tunnel in the causeway tavi stopped for a few moments and watched shortly , the keeper he 'd been following or another like it came out of the tree in exactly the same place still another came creeping in from another direction and entered the tree in exactly the same manner as the first , emerging again a few moments later the keepers must have been taking something into the tree but what ' something small , if they were just scuttling in and out , like ants in and out of their hills food ' water ' what did they carry ' tavi shook his head and touched the blanket with his fingertips though it was still cool , it did n't feel as cold as it had a few minutes ago the air down here in the chasm was just too warm he had to hurry , he knew , because with each passing moment his method of concealment became less effective tavi struggled to calm the pounding of his heart what if these bugs were smarter than he thought ' what if they had only allowed him to come this far because they wanted him there anyway ' what if they just wanted to get him to a place where he could not escape and would then leap on him and devour him ' and what , he thought , could possibly be there inside that tree ' what would be there that the keepers would be carrying something to ' if they were like ants , existing in a colony , where some carried food , and some fought , and so on , would they have a queen , like ants did ' if so , would she be inside the tree , at the heart of their domain ' a dozen more questions flicked through tavi 's mind , before he realized that he was doing nothing but wasting his time he did n't have any answers to any of the questions , and he would n't get the answers standing in place- all he would get would be warmer more vulnerable he kept counting in his head and reached five hundred tavi all but held his breath , poised to flee if the plan went wrong , though he knew that his chances of escaping from the heart of the chasm were slim indeed tavi waited and waited nothing happened he felt his heart begin to race as panic crept over him .