PREY II: End of Era
That Sinking feeling
As Dido finished her story, a dot of white marked the end of the tunnel. Nicole began to feel relaxed, a feeling soon short-lived. The jeep began to slow down but still travelled at quite a speed. Suddenly the jeep lost speed and Nicole lurched forward in her seat. 'No wonder I had to put the seatbelt on' Nicole thought. That incident made her even more relaxed; she thought she was in safe hands.
The jeep came out into the next hanger which was smaller than the last. 'God, the hangers are like Russian dolls they keep getting smaller' Nicole thought. Abruptly, the jeep stopped and Nicole stepped out. She surveyed the hanger more closely and saw, on the opposite wall of the hanger, a pair of glass doors held together by metal arms. Dido fell in step with Nicole and said "It looks like a bloody toaster doesn't it? It's an airlock to remove loose particles from your clothes. Here, take these" Dido handed Nicole earplugs, "the airlock decompresses and compresses, the ear plugs stop the discomfort. Right, now when you go in, stand still and close your eyes and mouth!"
Nicole looked puzzled, "Why?"
"Because you'll be squirted with a volatile liquid!"
"A volowowa!"
"If something is volatile it evaporates at room temperature to remove micro particles because" Dido hesitated as if looking for an answer, "em…we…don't want dust in the clean rooms!" Her head nodding vigorously in agreement at the remark.
By the time Dido had finished they were at the airlock. Dido gestured and Nicole stepped in. She wasn't nervous; it was like being in a protected area where no one could get you. A mechanical voice told her to close her eyes and mouth. She obliged. Then she remembered 'Damn I forgot the earplugs'. And so as if on cue the airlock pressurised and Nicole felt her ears hurt, as if she was on an aeroplane. Next she shivered as a freezing liquid drenched her whole body, it smelt like nail polish re-mover.
The first blast of air came from above her head, a roar that quickly built to hurricane intensity. Nicole stiffened her body to steady herself. Her clothes flapped and pressed flat against her body. The wind increased threatening to rip hair from her head. Then the air stopped for a moment, and a second blast came upward from the floor. It was disorientating, but it only lasted a few moments. Then with a whoosh as the vacuum pumps kicked in and she felt a slight ache in her ears as the pressure dropped, like an airplane descending. Then silence.
A cool, female voice told her to move forward and as she did the doors in front of her hissed open. Nicole stepped out onto a tiled floor with white-washed walls. She noticed she was dry. A corridor to the right seemed endless and so did the one in front. Along the walls were photographs and Nicole turned to look at the closest one, to her left. She scanned the photo; it reminded her of a graduation photograph with seven people in two rows. As she looked at the top row she got that sinking feeling, where you feel something going wrong and you don't know a thing about it. In the top row of people, in the middle, was Tristan but he was semi-transparent as if someone tried to erase him. Dido came behind Nicole to see what she was looking at. Nicole turned round and pointed to 'Tristan' and said, innocently "Who is that?" Dido looked like a hamster who had escaped from cage to find a black cat waiting for it.
"That's… Ghost"
FIN END CHAPTER 4