What happens when nothing does what it's supposed to do; if all you have left to rely on is your own wits ? (Yes, it's a semi-colon and probably not in the right place. I'm just a rebel.)
Before I forget again, I do not own any of the MI High characters, I have just borrowed them for a while.
"Frank, should the screen be doing this ?" Aneisha asked Frank. Frank turned round from what he was doing, and distractedly looked at the big screen. Big zig zags zapped across the screen, distorting and hiding the image they were trying to look at, then the image started to freeze and pixilate into tiny jumbled squares.
"Hm ? No," said Frank. "Must have developed a fault. Never mind. Just use the computers instead," he said, turning back to his own screen.
Tom huffed and turned to his laptop. "OK, I'll load it on to here," he said. The others crowded round so they could see. It was a bit cramped getting all four of them round Tom's laptop screen. Zoe could feel Dan's breath on her shoulder. Dan could smell Zoe's hair conditioner. Tom could feel Aneisha pressed against his shoulder. It was seriously distracting, but in a nice way. "I can't see anything," said Tom, after they'd all stared for a minute.
"Me neither," admitted Aneisha. "This is supposed to be a top security base isn't it ? All I can see are trees," she complained.
"Maybe they photographed the wrong place," suggested Dan. "One bit of a forest must look a lot like another."
They all continued peering at the image, hoping to see something of interest. Dan was the first to give up. "OK, nothing ! I'm going to head back up," he said, looking at his watch. "PE starts in fifteen minutes. I want to get my kit out of the locker. Anyone else coming ?" he asked. Aneisha and Zoe also decided to head up. Tom wanted to stay a little longer. He was excused from PE because of a sore knee. He was refusing to tell the others how he'd hurt his knee, so they guessed it had to have been something pretty mundane. He'd probably slipped on an empty biscuit wrapper suggested Aneisha on the way up in the lift. The others were laughing when the lift suddenly stopped.
The lift stopped so suddenly that they were all thrown up in the air. Zoe managed to land on her hands and feet. Aneisha and Dan crashed down in a heap. "Ow !" shouted Aneisha as her head banged off the wall of the lift. Dan grunted as he fell flat on his back on the lift floor. Dan gazed around dizzily for a few seconds, before Zoe's concerned face swam into view.
"Dan, are you alright ?" she asked anxiously.
"Mmmm, wha' ?" said Dan, struggling up into a sitting position. Aneisha was sitting, leaning against the lift wall, rubbing her head. "M fine," he mumbled, still looking confused.
Zoe pulled out her communicator and called Frank. The communicator made a loud hissing noise as she activated it. "Frank ? Frank can you hear me ?" she asked. The device hissed again. "Frank ?" repeated Zoe. The anxiety was clear in her voice.
After what seemed an age, Frank's voice muddily cut through the hissing noise. "Zoe ? What's the matter. I'm afraid we're having a few technical problems down here. Can you make it quick ?" asked Frank.
"Frank, the lift stopped !" said Zoe.
"Oh. Are you at the top ?" asked Frank.
"No. I mean, I don't know where we are. It just stopped completely and knocked us all off our feet," said Zoe. "We're in school uniform," she added. She could hear Frank's voice talking to Tom in the background, but she couldn't make out what they were saying.
"Is anyone hurt ?" asked Frank finally. Zoe glanced at Aneisha and Dan who both shook their heads.
"We're just a bit shaken up," said Zoe. "We're OK."
"OK, well try to relax. We'll see if we can do something from down here," Frank assured her.
Zoe sat down on the floor next to Aneisha, leaning against the wall. "How's your head ?" Zoe asked Aneisha.
"I'll live," said Aneisha. "It was just a shock, you know ?"
"Yeah. Know what you mean," agreed Zoe. Dan stood up and staggered slightly, putting his hand out against the wall to prop himself upright. "Dan, are you OK ? Why don't you sit down for a minute. Frank's going to try to get us moving again," she said.
"Yeah, I'm OK. There's a hatch in the roof. I was going to try to get it open and see where we are," said Dan, jumping to reach the hatch. His fingers touched it, but he couldn't push it open. Sighing, Zoe got up to help him. Dan wasn't a sitting down and waiting kind of guy.
As soon as she stood up, the lift lurched upwards, making Zoe and Dan fall to their knees, before just as suddenly dropping down again. Zoe screamed out, but managed to land on her hands and feet again. Dan didn't and fell flat on his face. Aneisha managed to stay in a sitting position, propping herself up with her arms. "Aargh !" groaned Dan. "I'd really like them to stop trying now !" he complained.
Zoe pulled out her communicator again. "Frank ! Please stop ! The lift is jerking about and throwing us around," shouted Zoe into the crackling, hissing device. "Frank ?" she called out.
"Team ! Sorry. I don't think we can control the lift from down here," came Frank's distant voice through the static hiss. "I'll come up to the top and see if I can get you out from there," he said. "Hold tight, we'll get you out !"
Zoe looked at the others. "Frank says to wait. He'll try to get us out from the top." Dan was getting to his feet, wincing and feeling his ribs.
"I'll add those to my bruise collection," he complained, looking up at the roof of the lift. "Zoe, if you sat on my shoulders, you could reach the hatch much better," suggested Dan. Zoe sighed. No, Dan was not the sit and wait guy in the team. Dan looked back down to her and waved his hands to her to get up on his shoulders. Zoe did as he asked and jumped up on to his shoulders. Dan grunted and straightened up, spreading his feet wide. "OK, got you. Give it a good push," he instructed Zoe. Zoe lifted her arms and could now easily reach the hatch. She pushed and it lifted very slightly. It was quite heavy.
"I'll have to give it a really hard push," she warned Dan. He nodded. Zoe raised both hands and slammed them into the hatch, making Dan stagger slightly and groan. The hatch lifted right up on its hinges, and she was able to catch it and push it open properly. Dan lowered her down and she jumped off his shoulders. All three of them stood and stared up through the hatch. They were looking up into inky blackness. "I can't see anything," said Zoe. As soon as she stopped speaking, all the lights in the lift went out and they were plunged into darkness.
"Oh great !" said Dan.
"I think we're going to have to wait for Frank," said Aneisha.
Down in HQ, Tom was trying to make sense of what was going on with their equipment. "Frank, everything is going weird. Is it just me or is it freezing in here ?" asked Tom, rubbing his arms.
"Tom, you're going to have to leave that. We need to help the others," said Frank, walking back into the main room. "The lift has stopped and they're trapped. I tried to get it moving again with the manual override, but apparently it just went up and down and threw them around inside. I daren't try again. Anything could happen."
"Oh. How do we get to them ?" asked Tom.
"Well, I think there's a ladder in the shaft. I can't really remember," said Frank. "The designs are probably in the system," he said, staring at the computers which were all showing random files and images. "Now's probably not the best time," he added. "I'll get some rope."
"How do we get up there ?" asked Tom.
"The stairs," said Frank's retreating voice.
"Stairs ? Did you say stairs ?" asked Tom, sounding slightly panicked. "Frank, I've got a bad knee. How many stairs are there ?" he asked.
Frank came back out with a large coil of rope slung over his shoulder. He looked at Tom and frowned. "Hm. Rather a lot I'm afraid. OK, you stay here. I'll go up."
Tom felt a bit ashamed of himself. "Sorry Frank. I really don't think I could make it up the stairs right now. I'd probably struggle a bit normally, but my knee's really killing me," he said.
"How did you do it ?" asked Frank, curiously.
Tom sighed. "I tripped over the kerb," he admitted. "I was texting."
Frank smiled. "I don't suppose you're the first and you definitely won't be the last. See what you can do down here alright ?" he said. Tom nodded gratefully and turned back to the computers.