Something was touching her face. Talia raised a hand, trying to bat it away so she could go back to sleep. Her headache had almost been gone and then something disturbed her, and it was back full force.
"Talia?" Garibaldi called her name and patted her cheek. He hadn't worried at first when it seemed like the lift was getting colder, but maybe he had waited a bit too long to try to wake the telepath. No, he thought as he looked down at the snow on the floor and rapidly falling from the top of the lift, he had definitely waited too long. "Talia, come on, I'm really sorry to ruin your nap, but you need to get up now, okay? Talia?"
"Mister Garibaldi?" Talia blinked her eyes open, and took in the situation, Garibaldi kneeling next to her on a floor covered with…. "Is that snow?"
"It's snow. Come on. It's coming down kind of hard. Being on the floor probably isn't such a good idea right now." Garibaldi said as he helped Talia to her feet even though she was still half asleep.
"We're indoors, on a space station. Why is it snowing?" Talia asked as Mike draped his jacket around her shoulders and secured it as best he could.
"I think our little maintenance problem just got worse." Snow, how in the world had they messed the station up so badly that it was snowing in the lifts? And was it snowing elsewhere on the station? He didn't want to think of the chaos that such an unexpected event would cause. Security was probably going crazy and here he was stuck in a lift and…. No, if he wasn't stuck in the lift, then Talia would have been trapped in there alone, and who knows how long it would have taken to find out she was missing, since she had been heading home? His being in the lift was a good thing, and if security couldn't manage without him through a little snowstorm while he figured a way out of here, he would fire the lot of them.
"Is communications still out?" Talia looked up, worry hitting her now and rapidly replacing the annoyance the headache was causing. That snow was coming down fast, and was almost ankle deep. Ankle deep snow, and shoes that were not meant for such weather. She would probably fall and break something.
"It's got to be the main communications system. Ivanova's probably pitching a fit." And if the main communications were out, that meant that rescuing the trapped security chief and station telepath were probably low priorities. Which meant that he better figure out something fast, before the snow got any deeper. "Okay, Talia, you just stay there and don't move, okay? I'm going to see what I can do about getting the lift doors open." If they could get the doors open, then hopefully they could get out, or at least shove the snow out. He tried to recall the lift movement, to work out where they might be in the station, but stopped when he realized he didn't have the vaguest idea, and with maintenance monkeying around, who knows if the lift movement was even functioning correctly. They could be anywhere along the shaft.
"Can you open the doors from the inside of the lift?" Talia asked as Garibaldi examined one of the panels.
"In theory you're not supposed to be able to. If there was a way to open the lifts from the inside, we'd have ambassadors pitching each other out every time we turned around. I've heard that the foolproofing might not be as foolproof as the designers said, though. Here's hoping that they made a mistake putting the stuff in." This would go easier if he had some sort of tool. Tool. The buckle on his belt might work. At least he hoped it worked. The snow coming down as hard as it was, in an enclosed space, if he didn't get them out of there or get the doors open, they were going to be in major trouble, He forced that thought away, and turned to smile what he hoped was a reassuring smile at Talia as he tugged at his belt. "Don't worry. I'll have us out of here in no time."
"Mister Garibaldi?" Talia shivered violently and had to grab the wall of the lift to keep from tumbling into the knee-high drift of snow on the floor as the movement made her shoes slip. He had the panel covering the lift controls open. That was a good sign, wasn't it? She tried to force away the thought that it had taken him enough time that over a foot of snow had fallen by the time he was done. How much more snow would come down before he could work out how to open the doors? If there was a way to open the doors. If there wasn't…. Talia closed her eyes and shivered again as she imagined the two of them, the snow slowly creeping up, until it buried them.
"It will be okay. Just a few minutes and I'll have this fixed, I promise." Garibaldi didn't bother with trying to offer a reassuring smile as he examined the panel interior. Okay, he had it open, but what was he supposed to do now? "Garibaldi to Ivanova!" He called as he activated his link again, although he really didn't expect a response.
"Wait!" Susan shouted at the dock worker who was halfway inside the equipment hosting the communications system. "Stay there! Don't move! Garibaldi, where are you? Things are crazy out here!"
"Where am I? I'm trapped in one of the lifts with Miss Winters, that's where I am, and I would appreciate someone coming to get the two of us out of here!"
"You're trapped in a lift." The lifts. She couldn't believe it, but this was the first she had heard about someone actually being trapped in a lift, which she considered a minor miracle with how things on the station had suddenly went crazy. The lifts. Garibaldi and Talia were in the lifts together. She didn't want to imagine the headache the telepath had to be getting, but…. Had she heard about any problems in the lifts besides the fact they weren't moving? And Talia, those shoes of hers, however nice they were, would be a disaster in the middle of a snowstorm. The lifts. She didn't see how it could be snowing in there. It might be cold, but Talia and Garibaldi could huddle together if they had to. Better than being out in the midst of this weather. "Stay there. I'm not sure how long it will be until we can get someone down there to get you. Corwin!" She shouted as Corwin came through with the shovel, pushing snow, and pushed a scoop right into the open panel, causing sparks and an angry shout from the dockworker, and abrupt silence from Garibaldi. "Just perfect!" But at least she knew that Talia and Mike were safe. That was one plus, anyway.
"Did she just tell us to stay here?" Talia asked.
"Ivanova!" Garibaldi shouted before realizing the link had cut out again.
"You know, I heard she pushed a telepath out a third story window once. I thought we were getting along much better, but maybe it was just a plot to lull me into a false sense of security." Talia murmured. Or maybe the cold was starting to get to her, but a plot to do in a telepath was suddenly sounding very plausible. "There aren't any windows here, and freezing would probably be a neater way to kill someone, I suppose. You wouldn't have to try to scrape anything up off the ground afterwards."
"She probably doesn't know that it's snowing in here." Although he was suddenly regretting stealing the last muffin at breakfast, and that false report he had sent to Susan, claiming there was an inventory scheduled for the garden, and the removal of unnecessary plants. It had been funny at the time, seeing her scurrying about, looking for a hiding place for her beloved coffee plant but now…. "Believe me, if there's anyone she might be trying to kill, it's me, not you."
"I've tried to be nice. Really, I have. I honestly thought it was starting to work." Talia murmured, as if she didn't hear him. "I thought that telepath she pushed had done something to deserve it. I thought…."
"Talia, Susan wouldn't try to kill the two of us. At least not like this, after I called her in the middle of C & C." He added after a moment's thought. "Too many people would know, and at least she would get a formal reprimand. I'm sure she thinks the lifts are okay. Cold, but I don't see how she could know they're filling up with snow. She's probably telling everyone to stay where they are. She can't be trying to kill everyone." Even though he wasn't sure how she would take it, he wrapped his arms around Talia for a moment.
"Mister Garibaldi?" Talia blinked, the sudden contact and feel of his thoughts causing her head, muddled from the headache and cold, to clear.
"Okay, Susan knows we're in here. Sooner or later she's going to find out about the snow, and she's going to come and get us out, but in the meantime…." He turned and looked at the open panel. "If I just had something a little smaller…."
"Would this work?" Talia unfastened her Corps pin and held it out.
"That would be perfect. Okay, just stay right there, and I swear I'll have this door open in just a minute."
