Author: Milady Dragon
Disclaimer: not mine, but I love to bang them up a bit before I put them away
Author's note: Bless your little hearts for reading and reviewing.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cameron cursed inwardly. While Elizabeth had claimed that her telekinesis wasn't as strong, she'd been counting on her helping to cushion her fall. Of course, that was before she'd thought the other woman had been hurt, but still…anything would have been good.
She absolutely hated ventilation ducts.
"I can see you above me," came Elizabeth's soft voice once more.
"What am I going to fall into?" she asked tightly, trying to keep her place in the metal shaft.
"About six feet down from you is a bend. In fact I'm going to have to move if you decide to drop…"
Cameron smirked at that.
"…and it comes out next to a fan housing. We'll have to figure out a way to stop the fan from turning, if we expect to get any further."
"Tim, can you still hear me?" Cameron 'pathed, hoping she hadn't passed into the dampening field already and not realized.
"Barely, Allison. There is quite a lot of interference." That was an understatement. Tim's voice was fading in and out like a radio station moving out of range.
She explained about the dampening field. When she was done, Tim said, "You should come back out and we can discuss another plan."
"I…don't think I can, Tim. I'm too far down. Besides, I can't leave Elizabeth. We'll just have to come up with another way out."
"Please be careful."
"We will be." She went back to concentrating on her extremely stupid descent into the underground.
And promptly slipped.
Her shoes made squealing noises on the metal as she plummeted. Her hands tried to stop her slide, but it didn't work.
Her ass broke her fall.
"Damn!" she hissed.
"Are you all right?" Elizabeth asked worriedly.
"Nothing hurt but my pride," Cameron quipped. "Oh, and apparently my right hand…" She held it up. The heel of her palm was scraped quite nicely. She was just grateful it wasn't bleeding much.
Elizabeth helped her up out of the shaft. Cameron found herself in a room barely large enough for the two of them to stand side-by-side, left alone upright. On two sides were metal walls made from the same material as the shaft. On the fourth wall was a big exhaust fan, and it was turning at a fairly brisk clip. A wire mesh screen could be seen on the other side.
"Damn," she said once more. "How are we going to get through that?"
"There was bound to be something like this here," Elizabeth answered practically.
"Yes, but I was counting on telekinesis to take care of it."
"We'll just have to think like Saps."
Cameron considered. "You're right. After all, I've been a Sap for years. It shouldn't be that difficult." She chewed her lip. "What we need is to find something to jam the fan with. Then we can worry about the screen."
She started going through her jacket pockets, and Elizabeth did the same. Cameron considered using her stun gun, but didn't want to risk damaging her only weapon.
"Wait." She pulled out the small penlight. Would it be big enough?
"Are you honestly thinking of using that to stop the fan blades?" Elizabeth was incredulous.
"It's the only thing we have."
"You'll cut your fingers off!"
"Not if I'm very, very careful…"
"I don't think that's going to work."
Cameron looked at her companion. "If you have any better ideas, I'm open to hearing them."
Elizabeth sighed. "I'll be ready to pull you out of the way if the fan doesn't stop."
She started to watch the spinning of the fan, trying to ignore the fact that the rational part of her mind was screaming at her that this was an extremely insane plan. There was no way that tiny tube was going to jam the blades, and she was risking one of her limbs in order to save House.
Was he worth it?
Oh, yes. He was.
She juggled the penlight in both hands as she tried to time the blades. Her right hand stung from the scrape, and her grip felt slightly slick even though she wasn't really bleeding. Would it be a good trade-off if she used her uninjured hand, even though it would mean she wouldn't be using her dominant side?
Why'd they have to have a psi-dampening field anyway?
How had they known to have one?
Now, that thought really bothered her. Because it meant they were at least expecting someone with psionic abilities.
Not a good sign at all.
Cameron went back to concentrating on the fan. The blades were going fairly quickly, although she realized they must spin even faster when the facility was in full operation. Well, there was no time like the present…
She lunged forward, the light held out before her. It clipped one of the blades, before Cameron could get the right angle, almost sending the penlight flying. She just managed to hold onto it, the end digging into her injured palm. She ground her teeth in pain and frustration.
She heard Elizabeth call her name, even as Cameron was thrusting forward again. This time, the penlight was snatched out of her grasp by the whirling blade she'd aimed for. There was a grinding noise from the mechanism.
The fan stopped.
"I don't believe it," the older woman said.
"Neither do I," Cameron returned, taking a step back and bumping into her companion. The light was stuck under one of the blades, keeping the entire fan from moving. "I don't trust it to hold. Let me have your light."
Elizabeth handed it over. Cameron wedged it alongside hers, hoping the two of them would be good enough. "Now we have to worry about the screen."
"Hopefully we can just kick it free." Without hesitating, Elizabeth began to climb between the blades.
There was just enough room in the housing for the other Tomorrow Person to rest her back against the body of the fan blade, and to place her feet against the mesh.
Cameron kept an eye on the two penlights, hoping Elizabeth wouldn't dislodge them in her attempt to kick the grating loose.
But she'd barely rested her feet against it, when it swung open.
"About time something went our way," she quipped, as she slid out of the housing. "Must be hinged in order for maintenance to get easy access."
Cameron followed. She climbed out into what was apparently the main air handling area; the large bulk of the air conditioning unit loomed over them in the gloom. There was only emergency lighting illuminating the space, but it was enough.
She reached back into the fan area, pulling Elizabeth's flashlight out from under the blade. It was fairly simple to do; her own light wasn't that easy. She had to tug hard to get it free, and then she was nearly clipped by the quickening fan. "I don't want them knowing how he got in," she explained.
"Let's find a door, shall we?" Fitting action to words, Elizabeth began exploring the room.
It wasn't hard to find. The door was just beyond the air conditioner. Cameron had been afraid that it would be some sort of security door, but it appeared not to be so. Perhaps they thought that, once a person was in the underground complex, they automatically belonged there?
Somehow, based on Intellex's track record of paranoia, she really doubted it.
Elizabeth had the knob in her hand when she looked back at Cameron. "Are you ready?" she whispered.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"Then let's do this." She turned the knob and eased the door open a crack.
No alarms went off, and Cameron let out the breath she hadn't even been aware of holding.
They found themselves in a corridor painted a blue so pale it was almost white. Cameron glanced to the right: the corridor stretched down another fifty yards, to end at what looked like an airlock door. She crept toward it; looking through the thick transparent material of the window, and she could just make out a large machine surrounded by various bags and bins.
"Looks like an incinerator," she told Elizabeth, when prompted by a raised eyebrow.
"Why isn't this place damaged at all?" the other TP wondered. "Certainly the explosion would have penetrated down here as well."
"Maybe it's reinforced in some way," Cameron suggested. "Or it's far enough underground that the damage was contained just to the upper building?"
"I'm sure you're right. Let's go, shall we?"
Together, the two women made their way down the corridor. Doors were spaced evenly in each wall; each had a plate next to it, with a keypad underneath. They didn't dare try any of them, for fear of setting off the alarms.
It was quiet. The only noise Cameron could make out was the faint hissing of the recycling system as it pumped air throughout the complex. And that was almost drowned out by the sound of the heartbeat in her ears.
They quickly came to a junction. The corridor went in three different directions; in the fourth wall were the unmistakable chrome double doors of an elevator.
"This is going to take forever," Elizabeth said, as she glanced down each hallway in turn. "We have no idea how far down this place goes, or even the layout."
"I think we can assume that it's the same size as the building that was over it," Cameron replied, "since Tim said the materials for the R and D complex were actually doubled."
"Then judging from what we've seen thus far, this place might be two or three levels."
"That's what I came up with, yes."
"I'm surprised their security isn't any tighter. Where are the surveillance cameras?"
Cameron had to wonder the same thing. Intellex had proved to be incredibly paranoid. Why would this place be the exception? After all, they'd bothered with an actual psi-dampening field.
"This level looks like it's mostly offices," Cameron observed. "Do we want to try heading lower?"
"We might as well," her companion answered dryly. "If they don't already know we're here…" she let the rest of the sentence die away.
"Let's hope we don't need any special code or pass to use the elevator." Cameron stepped up to the call button. It looked like any normal sort of elevator, there was nothing on the outside that would act as a security device. It appeared to go in only one direction.
Down.
As she pressed it, she wondered idly how the employees had normal access if the elevator only went downward. There must be an entrance somewhere, one hidden in the either of the remaining buildings. The one that had been in the R and D building would have been destroyed.
The door slid open silently. The two Tomorrow People stepped inside. The interior was the same chrome as the doors, with the usual floor buttons: there were three, which confirmed Cameron's suspicions about the size of the place. "Start at the bottom?"
"Why not?" Elizabeth returned, holding her stun gun at the ready.
Cameron thumbed the correct button. The doors slid closed smoothly, and the car began moving with only the slightest jerk. "Think they'll be waiting for us when we get there?" She tried to sound nonchalant.
"I'd pretty much count on it."
The hand that held Cameron's weapon grew moist as the elevator descended. Here she was, stepping into yet another lions' den, and this time it was because she had to rescue House. If she were genetically inclined that way, she felt like she'd just kill him and get him out of her misery.
She might just use her stun gun on him instead.
The elevator came to a halt. The doors opened, revealing a long white corridor. Airlock-like doors lined it, each one next to a large glass window. The place stack of disinfectant and bleach, and was totally deserted.
Except for Andrew Greer, who stood just within the hallway, smiling at them.
"Ah, Dr. Cameron," he greeted, smiling. "I've been expecting you."