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– Chapter 9 –
‘Wait,’ Mervyn said before Loren could touch the door, ‘Where does this lead?’ He peered into a large grill set into the wall.
Loren sprang to the grill, ‘Of course -- the service shafts. ‘Take this and get those bolts undone, Merv’ she unhooked her belt and handed it to a puzzled Mervyn. ‘You loop it like this and as you pull it’ll create it’s own tension on the bolt. Trust me it works. I’ll work out a route,’ Mervyn followed Loren’s instructions and to his surprise discovered he could undo the bolts. He removed one from each corner of the grill. The others crowded round as he removed the last bolt. He yanked the grill off.
‘Crawl in, take the first right, and wait for me,’ Loren said, ‘I won’t be long.’
Mervyn handed back her belt, ‘Why, what are you going to do?’
‘Re-boot this terminal so they don’t know I’ve given myself access. Now get going.’
Mervyn dived into the darkened opening, and scuttled through the tunnel on his hands and knees. He took the first right and waited -- a gentle breeze cooled his face. This must be the duct for the air-conditioning as well. At regular intervals, blue diodes cast just enough light to navigate the tubes. Even so, he still felt alone and vulnerable. He listened for sounds of pursuit above the clatter of the other Misfits, but could hear nothing.
‘I reversed the bolts and replaced the grill,’ Loren panted as she slid in behind them. From the room they heard a blast, the unmistakable sound of a forced door, then a shot and raised voices. The sleeper must have awoken with a shock. They sat in silence. Mervyn felt sure the service shaft would amplify his pounding heart. Eventually, the noise died down; no one tried the service grill or entered shaft. Cautiously, he crawled onwards until he encountered a crossroads, ‘Which way, Loren?’
‘Not sure. It all looks so different in here.’
Mervyn held up a wet finger and checked the wind strength in each tunnel, ‘If we follow the one with the strongest draught it should lead us to the central service well, shouldn’t it.’ Without waiting for a reply, he crawled into the tunnel with the strongest headwind. The long cramped crawl to the central well proved uneventful, though as they progressed, a roar, like a waterfall, filled his ears. The last tunnel led into a circular chamber without ceiling or floor. A wall defined a narrow path round the edge of the central well. Mervyn looked over the edge at the service ladder plunging into the depths of the warship and recoiled as storm-force winds whipped into his face.
‘Eleven decks down, then take the shaft on your right,’ Loren shouted above the roar of the gale. At least, as he climbed down, he could stretch his aching limbs, Mervyn thought. Soon, though, he found himself struggling against the force of the wind trying to blow him up the well again. He moved his legs deliberately, one step at a time, and counted the rungs as he descended: One hundred, two hundred. Finally, eleven decks down and with his legs feeling like jelly, he reached the new junction. The wind eased as he commenced another cramped crawl. Just as he wondered if they would ever arrive Tarun tapped him on the back, ‘Look, sleds.’
Mervyn peered through a grill and found himself looking down into a vast shuttle bay heaped high with containers. Each container was big enough to accommodate a shuttle in its own right. Then he spotted their own sleds between two stacks. He waited for the girls to catch up, ‘How do we get down there, Loren?’
‘I don’t know. There’re no grills at ground level. There’s a room further along, I thought we could maybe sneak down some stairs or something.’
Aurora rolled her eyes again, ‘How come your plans never have an ending?’
‘Because I make them up as I go along.’
‘Don’t fall out now, guys,’ Mervyn warned. ‘I think I can see another grill ahead.’ They crawled onwards.
When he reached the gill Mervyn peered through. The room looked deserted, ‘We’re in luck, it’s the control tower.’
Loren squeezed her way past Aurora and Tarun, ‘You keep a lookout, Mervyn, I’ll undo the bolts.’ Tense moments passed as she struggled with the reluctant bolts. Eventually, with fingers raw and knuckles bleeding, she removed the last one, ‘Gently does it, Merv. Don’t let that grill fall.’ Too late: with a crash that echo throughout the ship the grill toppled inwards. Everyone frozen, listening for sounds of discovery. As the moments passed and no alarms sounded, and no voices betrayed their whereabouts, Mervyn realised their luck still held and released his breath. Carefully, he squeezed though the opening into the deserted room and stood up to look around. He ducked down again quickly, ‘Keep down, the shuttle bay’s crawling with Velcats.’
‘How do we get to our sleds then?’ Tarun asked.
Loren patted around by a viewscreen until another keyboard appeared, ‘I say we open the outer doors on time-delay and create a diversion,’
Tarun frowned at her, ‘But won’t that just create a vacuum that sucks everything out with it?’
‘See that blue shimmer by the doors to the shuttle bay,’ Loren said pointing. Tarun nodded. ‘Well that’s the osmosis curtain: it keeps the air in, but allows solid objects through, kind of reseals itself behind them.
‘I don’t like this. It’s like they’re waiting for us down there,’ Mervyn said. ‘I think we should try the fighter bay and see if it’s not so well guarded.’ He turned back to the grill, but a mechanical clunk drew his attention, ‘What’s that?’
Aurora stared in horror, ‘The lift. Someone’s coming up in the lift. We have to get out of here.’ Mervyn looked from the lift to the stairs and from the stairs to the grill, assessing the chances of reaching each. Two of them might reach the stairs, and one might disappear into the service duct, but the chances of them all getting away looked slim. They desperately needed more time. Unexpectedly, the lift rattled to a halt. He looked up in surprise, ‘What happened?’ Even as he spoke, the wail of a klaxon split the air and a shimming force-field snapped across the service shaft.
‘I um... I pressed this red button marked ‘lift shut off,’ Aurora said looking guiltily at her friends, ‘Thought it would buy us some time.’
‘Oh, great plan, Aurora – fantastic ending,’ Loren said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘Why don’t you just hang out a flag saying ‘HERE WE ARE COME AND GET US’?’
‘Well I didn’t notice you doing anything.’
Mervyn jumped up to chance a look through the windows, ‘Hate to break up the party guys, but those Velcats are swarming towards the stairs. We need an escape plan and quickly.’
Loren voiced their options, ‘We can’t use the service shaft or the lift, and the stairs’ll be swarming with velcats. I guess we’re strapped.’