got men running back and forth hunting for these people when it’s completely unnecessary,” Megaton answered. “The only way out is the way they got in – the ventilation shafts. Just monitor those for air obstructions like you did before and we’ll know exactly where they are.”
“We have been monitoring them, and nothing’s shown up yet.”
“Well, it will. It’s a good thing the air monitors operate on the backup power system. Otherwise they would have slipped right by when the main grid went offline.”
Of course! That’s how they found us!
Down here, air was part of their life-support system. It made sense that they would monitor it constantly for any obstructions. When we came through the vents, we were blocking airflow, and some system of theirs must have picked that up. And when we switched shafts and started going in a different direction…that must have been like watching something that you thought was a meteor suddenly stop, hover, and change direction in the nighttime sky. It was obvious that something was moving through the vents with intent and purpose. All they needed to do was look at the schematics to see where the shaft ended to know exactly where we’d pop up. Following that, all they had to do was wait.
I felt incredibly stupid, and I’m sure Smokey and Electra would as well when I got around to telling them later. However, we still had to get out of here.
A short time later, we found ourselves in a room that looked shockingly familiar. We were in a large tunnel, and before us stood a giant fan. However, it wasn’t the same room as before because this fan was a little smaller, and the blades were shaped differently.
Rudi pointed to a nearby electronic panel.
“That controls the fan here,” she said, “and connects to the backup generator.” She turned to Electra. “You need to short out the backup generator like you did the first one.”
Electra nodded, and a few seconds later it was done. However, even with the power gone, the giant fan still had enough momentum to keep turning – at least for a little while. There was also a noticeable change in the acoustics, and it took me a few seconds to realize that there had previously been an electrical droning in the air, but that it was now gone.
It was the work of a few seconds to pick everybody up and zip them through the blades at super speed. However, just as I got the last of them through, the door to the room flew open and Plasmatic stepped in. He didn’t look particularly happy, and – perhaps more importantly – he exuded a feeling of reckless abandon and mindless desperation. Apparently having Megaton withhold his stamp of approval – on the airwaves, no less – made Plasmatic all the more anxious to prove himself.
The blades of the fan were still spinning too fast for someone without super speed to get through. Nevertheless, he could see us on the other side, moving away. Plasmatic clenched his fists and screamed in frustration. Then he pulled back his arm like a pitcher trying to strike someone out in the bottom of the ninth, and threw a massive plasma blast at us.
His shot hit one of the spinning blades, and suddenly there was a mad clanging sound from the fan, like someone ringing a misshapen bell. There was the distinctive shriek of metal tearing, and then the end of one of the fan blades came loose and flew straight at Plasmatic. He dove to the ground, squealing as the piece of fan blade that his plasma bolt had torn loose missed him by inches before imbedding itself in the wall.
Despite having almost killed himself, Plasmatic recovered quickly. He looked at us angrily, but after such a narrow escape, he was unlikely to try anything so foolish again.
We left him standing there, staring at our disappearing backs.
*****
“They’re back in the vent shafts!” Plasmatic said over the earpiece. “I almost had them!” He then gave an exaggerated account of his encounter with us.
“If they’re in
“We have been monitoring them, and nothing’s shown up yet.”
“Well, it will. It’s a good thing the air monitors operate on the backup power system. Otherwise they would have slipped right by when the main grid went offline.”
Of course! That’s how they found us!
Down here, air was part of their life-support system. It made sense that they would monitor it constantly for any obstructions. When we came through the vents, we were blocking airflow, and some system of theirs must have picked that up. And when we switched shafts and started going in a different direction…that must have been like watching something that you thought was a meteor suddenly stop, hover, and change direction in the nighttime sky. It was obvious that something was moving through the vents with intent and purpose. All they needed to do was look at the schematics to see where the shaft ended to know exactly where we’d pop up. Following that, all they had to do was wait.
I felt incredibly stupid, and I’m sure Smokey and Electra would as well when I got around to telling them later. However, we still had to get out of here.
A short time later, we found ourselves in a room that looked shockingly familiar. We were in a large tunnel, and before us stood a giant fan. However, it wasn’t the same room as before because this fan was a little smaller, and the blades were shaped differently.
Rudi pointed to a nearby electronic panel.
“That controls the fan here,” she said, “and connects to the backup generator.” She turned to Electra. “You need to short out the backup generator like you did the first one.”
Electra nodded, and a few seconds later it was done. However, even with the power gone, the giant fan still had enough momentum to keep turning – at least for a little while. There was also a noticeable change in the acoustics, and it took me a few seconds to realize that there had previously been an electrical droning in the air, but that it was now gone.
It was the work of a few seconds to pick everybody up and zip them through the blades at super speed. However, just as I got the last of them through, the door to the room flew open and Plasmatic stepped in. He didn’t look particularly happy, and – perhaps more importantly – he exuded a feeling of reckless abandon and mindless desperation. Apparently having Megaton withhold his stamp of approval – on the airwaves, no less – made Plasmatic all the more anxious to prove himself.
The blades of the fan were still spinning too fast for someone without super speed to get through. Nevertheless, he could see us on the other side, moving away. Plasmatic clenched his fists and screamed in frustration. Then he pulled back his arm like a pitcher trying to strike someone out in the bottom of the ninth, and threw a massive plasma blast at us.
His shot hit one of the spinning blades, and suddenly there was a mad clanging sound from the fan, like someone ringing a misshapen bell. There was the distinctive shriek of metal tearing, and then the end of one of the fan blades came loose and flew straight at Plasmatic. He dove to the ground, squealing as the piece of fan blade that his plasma bolt had torn loose missed him by inches before imbedding itself in the wall.
Despite having almost killed himself, Plasmatic recovered quickly. He looked at us angrily, but after such a narrow escape, he was unlikely to try anything so foolish again.
We left him standing there, staring at our disappearing backs.
*****
“They’re back in the vent shafts!” Plasmatic said over the earpiece. “I almost had them!” He then gave an exaggerated account of his encounter with us.
“If they’re in
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