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“Ethan!”
Ethan didn’t turn around at the muffled call of his mother. He was exploring in the Concrete and playing with his new toys. Ethan’s small legs carried him through the dark caverns of the Concrete as he rubbed the mysterious metallic objects against each other. Sparks flew from the objects when he clanged them together and he giggled. Today was the most important Alpha India holiday: the day of the founding. Earlier in the day, Ethan had received the scraps of spacefall and a quick pat on the head from a miner—even they had the day off. The miner had said to him, “These came from the sky. Don’t you lose them, okay?” Everyone was in the Blocks resting after the celebration.
“Ethan!” his mom called. This time it was closer.
“Betcha can’t catch me!” he yelled back to his mom. His little legs were deceptively quick, and he was moving deeper and deeper into the unknown of the Concrete.
“I’m tired of this game, Ethan. It’s time for bed!” Ellis Kryzkowski called.
“No!” yelled Ethan. He turned a corner and ran down a passage. He continued rubbing his two new toys together. He watched in amazement as the sparks flew. The sparks were beautiful. Bright orange shimmering fragments arcing through the air. It was almost like magic. Ethan was in heaven. He watched as one of the sparks landed on a large grey tube. Instead of going out like the other sparks though, this one continued to burn. And much brighter. Ethan stopped rubbing the objects as he watched the spark glow furiously.
“There you are!” exclaimed Ethan’s mom in a huff as she bent down and grabbed his shoulders from behind. Ethan didn’t even respond, he just watched in fascination as the spark seemingly ate through the tube.
“Ethan, it’s the middle of the night! Do you want to explain to the rest of Alpha why a five year old child is running through the hallways waking everyone up?”
“No,” mumbled Ethan.
His eyes were still transfixed on the glowing, pulsating spark. The spark finished eating through the paper-thin wall of the plastic tube and lit the ethane gas on fire. The small flame clawed at the tube and spread slowly. Ellis’s eyes tracked from Ethan’s hands to the spreading fire. A faint hissing sound filled the room.
“Oh, no,” she whispered.
A huge burst of heat exploded in front of them, pushing them back and forcing the mother and son to cover their faces. Ethan was thrown to the ground and started crying. The fire licked at his feet. Ellis quickly recovered and picked up Ethan. Through his teary eyes, Ethan struggled to watch as the fire consumed everything in the room. He covered his mouth in the crux of his elbow as he began coughing. The fire kept spreading, and burned through more of the thin-walled tubing, exposing the ethane gas inside.
Ellis was panicked. If the fire reaches the gas pipeline to the main Blocks, the whole place will blow!
Ellis ran through the halls, and turned down the quickest path to Block One. Light up ahead, we’re almost there. She turned the corner and was stopped dead in her tracks by a wave of heat. Fire lined the walls of the room and was creeping closer. It was too fast. Ellis turned around and ran the opposite direction, taking another route this time. Holding Ethan, she navigated through the oppressive caverns of the Concrete. The fire was right at her back. She opened the door to Block One and slammed it behind her. Hopefully that will slow it down some.
“Ethan, it’s time to be a big boy now okay? No more crying. Mommy needs your help,” Ellis said in the most soothing voice she could find under the circumstances.
“But I’m scared,” sniffled Ethan.
“Nothing to be afraid of, everything will be all right,” said Ellis, “we just have to get Daddy and the Elders, okay?”
“Okay,” said Ethan.
Ellis sprinted as fast as she could through the hallways, yelling to wake everyone up. No one opened their door in response. Damn it, I’m not loud enough. Her voice was hoarse from inhaling smoke.
She turned to the next door and banged on it loudly several times. She kept running and banging on every door she passed. Why aren’t the fire detection units activating?
“Wake up people, come on!” Ellis yelled. Now she was standing in front of her own family’s room. She slammed loudly on the door. Several moments passed until it opened.
“Ellis! You found Ethan,” Tom searched her face. Their older son Logan was standing beside Tom, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he started to grasp the situation. Ellis was panting and on the verge of hyperventilating. Something wasn’t right.
“What’s wrong?” Tom asked. He poked his head out the door and saw people starting to make their way into the hallways, irritated at being woken.
Ellis tried to speak between breaths, “It’s the Concrete,” she started.
“I smell smoke!” said one man in the hallway.
“Fire!” yelled another man.
Alpha India quickly mobilized as the residents woke up those who were still asleep. People started milling around in the hallway, trying to make sure their families were accounted for. They ran to the nearest wall panels and opened them to reveal oxygen masks.
There were procedures for this. Once the fire detection units went off, Alpha India’s oxygen circulator would shut off, locking the doors and triggering the vacuum network. Every room and hallway had multiple vacuum panels in the ceiling. In the event of a fire, all of the air in Alpha India would be sucked through these panels to starve the fire of fuel. Alpha India was too deep underground to evacuate quickly, and there was just too much combustible material.
The residents ran to the nearest oxygen masks that lay behind wall panels. Each citizen of Alpha India stood nervously and sucked in the precious oxygen. Ellis and her family were among thousands waiting for the vacuum panels to suck out the air to stop the fire. Except the fire detection units weren’t activating.
What’s taking so long? Ellis was nervous. If the vacuum panels didn’t start soon, they would be in big trouble.
“Fuck! Why did the designer of this damned building lock us in with a fire?” screamed Ellis.
“Calm down Ellis,” said Tom, “it’s the quickest way to stop the fire. We all know it would take a miracle to evacuate the Blocks in time.”
“Dad,” said Logan, “the fire detectors aren’t working. I’m going to manually activate them.”
“Logan, no! That’s suicide. The fire detector mainframe is in Block Four. You’ll never get there in time. And even if you do, we could suffocate when they turn on!”
“They aren’t turning on by themselves, Dad! I don’t see any other volunteers!” Logan yelled. He turned and ran.
“Logan, don’t be a rock-head!” cried Ethan.
Logan turned to face his younger brother, “You watch mom and dad, okay? That’s your job,” Logan said in an attempt to give his terrified little brother a false sense of purpose in the crisis, “You’ve got to be stoic.” With those parting words, Logan turned and ran. Ethan tried to grab his arm. It was too late. Logan was gone.
“I’m stowik,” Ethan mumbled to himself, attempting to repeat his brother’s last words.
The sound of an explosion nearby caused the halls tremble, and Tom, Ellis, and Ethan struggled to maintain their footing. The fire had reached a pipeline leading to the Blocks. Ethan started crying again. People started running past them, yelling.
“Tom,” said Ellis.
“Damn it, what is going on with the detectors?” yelled Tom. He was fuming.
“Tom. Tom!”
“What?” Tom snapped back.
“Logan is right. The detectors aren’t turning on. Get Ethan to Hangar Two with the hoppers. It’s the safest place. Go! I’ll get Logan and meet you there, okay?” pressed Ellis.
“Right. Hangar Two, hopper fifty-one. Got it?” said Tom.
“Your lucky hopper. I got it. I’ll see you soon,” said Ellis. She started running after Logan.
“Hangar Two, hopper fifty-one!” Tom yelled after her.
“Time to go, Ethan!” Tom scoope
d up Ethan and threw him over his shoulder. He ran as fast as he could through the Block toward the hangar. Tom could feel the heat behind him as the fire spread. He kept running. Dozens of people ran alongside him, while others ran in the other direction. Panic had spread.
Another explosion rocked the ground beneath them. And then another. The domino effect of the explosions was devastating. Ethane pipelines running through the Blocks were breaking and then lighting. The fire had spread to every Block.
There it was. The entrance to Hanger Two. Hangar Two was the furthest and most isolated from all of the Blocks, making it one of the safest. Tom skidded to a halt as he opened the door. It wouldn’t budge.
Damn it.
Tom took several steps back, and then a running start. As he reached the door he raised his right leg and kicked the door. It didn’t break. He jogged back again, farther this time. Tom sprinted full speed at the door and aimed his right shoulder into it. Ethan watched as Tom collapsed through the door. He had done it. Ethan quickly scampered up to his dad.
“Dad!” he yelled, still crying.
Tom unsteadily got to one knee, “I’m fine. Let’s go!” he said.
Tom held Ethan’s hand as they hurried through the hangar until they found the spot for hopper fifty-one. Tom climbed up to the cockpit and put Ethan in. Tom activated the hopper’s life support systems and started descending the ladder.
“Dad, wait! Where are you going?” Ethan cried.
“I’m going to find your mother and Logan,” Ethan’s father responded.
Ethan was panicking, “Where’s Rockhead?” he cried.
“I’m going to find them! Wait here Ethan! Don’t move!” cried Tom as he ran off toward the Blocks.
Ethan rocked back and forth on his haunches mumbling, “I’m stowik, I’m stowik, I’m stowik…”
Tom navigated his way to the fire detection mainframe in Block Four. I’ve got to find Logan and Ellis. Tom ran past panicking people and struggled to keep his pace as the smell of burning ethane penetrated his consciousness. The Blocks were in complete disarray, with belongings, equipment, and wall panels strewn through the hallways. Tom ran through and jumped over the forgotten equipment until he reached it: the fire detection mainframe. Tom quickly ran through the door where he found Logan leaning against the console.
“Logan! What are you doing? Where’s your mom?” asked Tom hurriedly.
“The detection units won’t turn on, Dad. There’s no way to manually override the system,” replied Logan in a monotone.
“Impossible, let me give it a shot,” said Tom quickly.
Logan shook his head and pointed to the ceiling. Tom looked up to see the Titan sky looking back.
“What? We’re two hundred meters below the surface!” yelled Tom with wonder.
“Four hundred,” corrected Logan.
Something had drilled a massive circular hole in the ceiling of the room, which allowed a steady draft of cold air to chill Logan and Tom despite the heat of the fire traveling through the Blocks. Tom’s eyes moved downward to the mainframe. His eyes were greeted by the tangled metal and circuitry. The mainframe was completely destroyed.
“What the hell is that?” asked Tom, pointing to the object protruding from the crumpled mass.
Logan shrugged, “Hell if I know. At first I thought it was spacefall, but it doesn’t look natural.”
It was an enormous piece of metal, scratched, dented, contorted, and compressed. Despite its battered state, it resembled a large metal cylinder.