Brittany felt pain all over her, throbbing and stinging disorientation overwhelmed her senses in the dark. The blackness slowly parted to a blur of faint colors flooding in and out of her mind as she drifted in and out of consciousness, so much so that as if her body and mind felt separated. Groaning, she slowly opens her eyes, only to have them shut tightly again as the pain intensified inside her forehead.

Pain is a good thing, her instincts told her, the words imprinted into her head by her merciless Extraterrestrial Vegetation Reconnaissance & Evaluation instructors from combat training.

It means you're still alive, she lets that thought run through her, forcing herself to open her eyes, harrowingly welcoming the head splitting ache using it to recompose herself and wake up.

Brittany's vision clears as she takes in her immediate surroundings to see there's still darkness around her. She can't move. The pain from inside her head combined with some physical objects prevented her from moving to a degree. Whatever it is that held her in place, it smelled most stink is all around her. As she moves her eyes and head around as much as she can she sees silhouettes of mountainous piles in all directions in a dark, ugly, deep mess inside a vast metallic chasm with holes looming above. The lit holes kept opening and closing, depositing clutter to these enormous cliffs of junk. Brittany slowly recognizes she is in the Axiom's garbage airlock. She must've fell from one of the massive chutes above her, sliding down the trash hill until she was pinned down. Her golden dress is ok, she was uninjured with the exception of a few minor cuts and grazes, and the ache of what felt like she was electrocuted.

Her mind clearing, she begins to remember images of what happened right before she ended up here. About how she was brought to a garbage chute by Theodore, stunned point black by Alvin, explaining the stinging pains, whilst screaming at him for—

She turns stricken.

"JEANETTE?"

She calls out to her as everything returns to her, she saw her dumped down here by that soulless first officer, after what he did to her. Brittany calls out to her again. Jeanette must've landed around here somewhere.

"JEANETTE? WHERE ARE YOU?"

Her voice echoes through the enormous depot, her voice does not echo back to her, no 'Brittany!' fills her ears. She fears the worst after what she saw back up on the BRIDGE.

What if she's dead?…The dead calm is shattered by the junkyard's klaxon, startling Brittany.

"CAUTION: ACTIVATING AIRLOCK DISPOSAL…ACTIVATING AIRLOCK DISPOSAL…"

A platform near where Brittany landed springs to life, stacked with enormous cubes the size of houses made entirely of compacted garbage. The platform slides into another cavernous chamber where it sealed off by a transparent blast door. The moment it seals… whoosh! Brittany's adrenaline spikes, watching the cubes of space junk sucked out of the chamber as the exterior blast doors open, jettisoning the cubes into the vacuum. That'll be her if she doesn't find a way out and doesn't find Jeanette.

"JEANETTE? JEANETTE?"

Lights shone all around her, the deck rumbles. She turns her head, hoping she had been found and might find a way out. Greeting her were wall-sized, metallic claws shoveling her into a maw; her expression goes fear-ridden as it was a moment ago.

Two, gigantic machines with floodlights begin racking several metric tons of garbage within their hydraulic compacting chambers. They're box shape, automated super compacting units that work the depot, compressing and ejecting trash to be jettisoned.

It's a close call for her not to be squashed to death when the cube is spat out of the mammoth garbage compacting robot. Brittany is still in a whirlwind of panic for she's held in place by several tons of trash and her cube is being placed on an already completed platform full of compressed garbage. She's already a goner.

As she dreads over what few seconds she has left, a brown twitching arm and a familiar brown furry chipmunk sticks out of the cube in the corner of her eye.

"...Britt...help..." Jeanette's weakened voice made Brittany almost jump out of the cube.

"JEANETTE!"

She found her, and she's still alive.

"CAUTION: ACTIVATING AIRLOCK DISPOSAL…ACTIVATING AIRLOCK DISPOSAL…"

The platform begins to slide into the chamber, by estimates, they have twenty to twenty five seconds before they are sealed off and thrown into space and Brittany won't survive for a single moment since she doesn't have her helmet. Her mind races into action, no time to think over what they don't have or can't do. She can't use her plasma rifle, let alone move, but— antigravity!

Her boots activate upon neural command, the antigravity field releases the compressed mass holding her in place, bursting free. She turns over to Jeanette.

"JEANETTE! I'M GETTING YOU OUT OF HERE!"

She only groans in response, she is alive, yes, but to what extent she does not know and she doesn't have time to hesitate or look her over.

Eighteen seconds left. She digs around her to get her out, but she's buried deep in the cube.

Sixteen seconds left, she digs faster…

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

A screaming voice echoes through one of the garbage chutes in the depot. Eleanor drops down from the openings landing safely on the garbage piles, only to scream louder from the surrounding mountains of filth. Her fear for germs overwhelmed her to the point it doesn't matter and it doesn't by the way, for she regretfully had to ignore her fear in order to jump down here and find that chipmunk who put her through this ordeal.

She looks around frantically out of the fear and fury. Her Heads-Up Device flashed 'FOREIGN CONTAMINATION' everywhere she looked, and so much so that one spot looked like moving germs, giving her chills.

Hang on a second, her HUD zooms in on the rather large moving contaminant inside a closing chamber. She immediately recognizes the Extraterrestrial Vegetation Reconnaissance & Evaluation scout trying to pull out…her!

"SHE'S IN TROUBLE!" She charges out of the depot, scrubber in hand (she's wearing her 'We are Family' outfit). Her short legs propelling her at the impossible speed of her now-worryness of that sweet Jeanette!

"I'LL SAVE YOU!"

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

Thirteen seconds left. Brittany is clawing through much garbage as she can with her super strength, time's running out. Deep enough to grab Jeanette she yanks on her limp body to free her but she barely budges, despite her skinny frame she's compressed in there really tight.

Ten seconds left, she dares look behind her to see the gap of the airlock doors narrowing. Her mind races at light speed, unable to make it in time if she even gives any further coherent thought. She tugs on Jeanette with all her might, straining her as she

is slowly pulled out of the cube.

Seven seconds left, she doesn't have enough time left…

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

Eleanor rounds a corner and leaps over the platform rail tracks. She races against the closing doors of the chamber, as fast as her short legs can run. Her sterilizing fluid container being a hindrance to carry but she's almost there!

Five seconds left, Brittany uses her antigravity boots, grunting as she tugs Jeanette with all her seconds, only her legs and tail still left to be unstuck! Almost there!

One second, no time left!

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

ALMOST THERE! Eleanor could already feel herself wincing at the pain Jeanette may be in. Until, while ignoring her surroundings, her fluid container jams in the closing doors.

"What the—"

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

Zero seconds.

All happened simultaneously, Brittany pries Jeanette out, Eleanor helps them and Brittany flies with Jeanette and Eleanor to get Jeanette back to Earth.