Treen and Russell had been crawling through a large air duct for over half an hour. They didn’t know where it would lead, but it was their only chance to escape after the Ecnal guards had blocked the ramp leading up to the tunnel. They’d abandoned the Cruiser, dodging more Ecnals and bullets to sneak up inside the dark cylinder.
Now they’d reached the end of the air duct where Russell lay on his back, trying his hardest to kick the lid off. After a few more bangs, the metal cover fell and clanged below.
With the constant buzz of an alarm blaring from the speaker next to the duct, Russell looked down into the smoke. It was hard to see how high they were until someone passed under him. It was an eight-foot drop. He dangled his legs for a moment, then leaped down into the cloud. He stood quickly, opened his arms, then waited for Treen to jump. He cushioned her fall, then took her hand as she led him down the foggy corridor.
The lack of visibility allowed them to search the area freely. Many of the offices were huge spaces that had been blown out of the mountain wall. “Looks like the Batcave,” said Treen, studying the blinking computers and walls of rock surrounding them.
“Look, way down there,” said Russell pointing. It’s the tunnel!”
“That air duct led us right inside the lab. Come on Russell, we have to find everyone before the smoke clears.”
Running towards the tunnel, Treen noticed consecutive steel doors that resembled elevators and jogged up to look at the panels outside each door.
“These are not elevators,” said Treen, staring at the blue, numbered buttons above a card slot. “They’re rooms.”
“How we gonna get inside?”
“Good question. Let’s look around.”
The massive foyer near the mountain door was packed with communication tools: desks, computers, telephones, fax machines, monitors — enough equipment to cover a football field. However, only a few scattered people and droids remained.
“Where is everybody?” asked Russell.
“The droids are programmed to stay clear of flames, and can’t see very well in this smoke. As for the humans, once the door to the tunnel opened, the smoke was probably unbearable....”
“But the smokes clearin’ up. There’s video cameras everywhere,” said Russell, looking up at the surrounding lenses. “Think Lance might be watchin’ us?”
“Maybe...Russell that’s it! If they have security cameras, they have a security room — ”
“That’s right! Maybe they got cameras watchin’ your parents and everyone else!”
Treen knew it would take forever to locate the security room without directions and with the smoke continuing to clear, they were running out of time.
She pulled off her pack and took out the flare pistol; she had an extra flare, but didn’t know how to load it and didn’t have time to learn.
“Keep my backpack. I’ll return in moment.”
“Where are you going now?”
“To bluff that Arast droid sitting at the desk.”
Treen remembered that the Arasts droids had been built for administrative purposes and were normally passive. However, after Lance had re-programmed Tsara with an attitude, she was taking no chances. She ran up behind her, put her arm around her neck, then pressed the flare gun against her head.
“Unless you want this flare to ignite the Merafuel in your body, you’ll tell me where my parents are or where the security room is,” said Treen struggling to hold her.
“You’re choking me,” she wheezed. Treen loosened her hold to let her talk. “I don’t know anything about any parents or merry fuel, but the security room is upstairs...”
Treen released her. The chubby woman slowly spun around in her swivel chair and rubbed her neck. “Excuse me, but you’re Treen Alee, right? I noticed the headband...”
“That’s right,” said Treen, still aiming the flare gun.
“My daughter loves the Smile Center. She says you’re her hero.
Treen’s jaw fell. She glared at the bleeding cut on the woman’s hand and the nameplate on her desk that read, ‘Martha Perkins.’
“You mean — you’re human?”
“I hope so. I handle inventory. It’s my first day,” she said coughing.”
Treen lowered the gun. “I am so sorry.”
“Here,” she said, handing Treen a card, “You’ll need that to get inside the security room — or any other room with a code panel. It’s a master card — no pun intended. Just stick it in the slot and punch in 12-32-20. Oh, and good luck finding your parents.”