L'Dopterra 1: Homecoming - Chapter four

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4 THE BIG BANG

Alexis left her quarters to find smoke filling the upper portion of the tall hallway outside. Up and down the corridor, heads were poking out of doors, people trying to figure out what had caused the tremor. She knew it had to be something big to make the entire deck's floor rumble, and the sound from the walls had her worried about an explosion. In all of the time since the crew had been released from stasis, nothing like this had ever happened.

Alexis rushed down the corridor in the direction of the nearest deck elevator, desperately looking for anyone who appeared to have some understanding of what just happened. When she reached the elevator, she found Jennifer inside, visibly shaken. Alexis entered and the doors closed.

"Any clue what that was, Jennifer?"

"No. I was hoping you knew."

"Who sent you up to get me? Did they say anything else about what was happening?"

"No, I'm sorry. They said to tell you something was wrong and that Stasis was drawing too much power."

As Jennifer finished explaining, there was a loud clang and the elevator slammed to a stop, tossing both of them into the air. They fell to their knees as they hit the floor. While they attempted to stabilize themselves, they heard the deafening sound of an explosion and the car began shaking violently. Both Alexis and Jennifer were tossed across the tiny space and into the wall.

Stunned, Alexis attempted to clear the ringing from her ears, trying to process what had just happened. She looked around to find that she had been flung into a corner on the floor, and Jennifer was passed out on top of her. The lights in the car were flickering quickly, but the panel appeared to still be operational. Alexis carefully lifted Jennifer's head, placed it gently on the floor beside her, and pulled herself up. As she did, she realized that she was not feeling any motion in the car.

Oh my god. We're trapped.

She reached over and tried to press several of the buttons in a vain effort to get the car moving again. "Think!" she yelled out as she pulled her hair back from in front of her face. As she lowered her hand back down she saw that it was entirely covered in blood. Not sure if it had come from a wound on her hand or from her head, she wiped it onto her clothes and used the other hand to test her head. There was no blood on the second hand, and no wound on the first.

She looked over to Jennifer, who was beginning to regain consciousness. She could see that there was a two-inch gash beside her right eye and blood was streaming down her face.

I've got to get us out of here. She knelt down beside her.

"Hey, Jennifer,” she said softly. “Are you okay?" Alexis gently shook Jennifer's shoulders and patted her carefully on the side of her face that wasn't bleeding. "I need you to be okay so we can get out of here."

"What happened?" Jennifer blinked her eyes several times, trying to regain focus.

"It felt like an explosion. I'm not sure," Alexis responded. "The elevator's stopped."

Jennifer got to her feet and stretched out her back. "There's a panel below the buttons with a lever inside that will release the door restrictor."

"Okay, that's good." Alexis opened the panel, grabbed the lever, and muscled it into position. The doors released a soft sigh as they separated slightly.

"It will only open the inside doors, though," Jennifer added. "There are restrictors for the outside doors as well. If we’re between decks, we may not be able to reach them."

The doors had separated enough for Alexis and Jennifer to squeeze their fingers in between and spread them apart. They were indeed between floors and were staring at a ventilation grate, just barely large enough for them to fit inside.

"This will do," said Alexis. She traced the edge of the grate with her hand. "This will get us into the service crawl, and then we just need to find another grate that doesn't open to an elevator shaft." Alexis turned to Jennifer. "But how do we remove the grate? Do you have any of your tools with you?"

"There should be a small pry bar attached to the side of the restrictor panel." Jennifer reached in and pulled the pry bar loose. As she handed it to Alexis, her shock from the explosion began to wear off and the pain from her head wound rushed to the surface. Her face contorted and she fell backward into the wall.

"Careful. You have a pretty nasty cut on your head," said Alexis, reaching over to help Jennifer. "Let me get this. You relax a minute. I really don't want to have to drag you through the crawl." She turned and got to work prying at the edges of the grate.

One by one, each side of the grate was pulled away from the wall, and after a few minutes of Alexis wrestling with it, the grate clanged to the floor, startling Jennifer.

"Okay. Time to go." Alexis placed the small pry bar in her back pocket. "You first. I'll lift you up."

Using Alexis's clasped hands as a stepladder, Jennifer climbed up into the ventilation shaft and crawled on her stomach through the three feet of duct before tumbling, hands first, into the service crawl. She quickly popped up and looked back inside, where Alexis was struggling to pull herself up out of the elevator. Jennifer reached in with one hand, stretching as far she could. She grabbed one of Alexis's hands, pulling her up into the small duct and helping her safely down into the crawlspace.

There was about six feet of space from floor to ceiling within the service crawl. Alexis and Jennifer, both falling a couple inches shy of six feet, were able to travel relatively comfortably through the space, only having to duck down for lights and the occasional electrical junctions. The walls were lined with metal and plastic tubing, and there were signs along the way, leading them to the nearest exit.

For fifteen minutes, they followed the signs and flashing emergency lights before reaching the exit in the ceiling above them. Alexis climbed the stepladder and tried to open the grate but was unable to get the right amount of leverage to lift the heavy metal. She slammed her fist against it several times and yelled for help. It only took a couple of calls before a young man passed by above them, opened the grate, and helped them both out to safety.

Finally able to pause and take a breath, they both fell to the floor with their backs against a wall. Jennifer laid her head on Alexis' shoulder and sighed. "Thank you."

"Couldn't have done it without you," Alexis replied as she looked around at the flurry of crew members frantically running through the corridors. As relieved as she was to be out of immediate danger, she realized that there was still more to do. She needed to find out what was going on – there was no time for catching her breath.

Chapter five - The Investigation