"Dang it, I can't find a thing!" Rocket said in a disgusted tone.
"What exactly are we looking for again?" Quill asked, his hands feeling across one of the walls.
"Some kinda hatch or door or somethin'." McGucket explained. "If'n that Collector fella left controls to the alarm around here, he wouldn't jest leave it in plain sight."
"I am Groot." Groot seemed to agree.
Drax looked upward. "It occurs to me that the Collector would not have put such a thing in an easy to reach place, either. "
Quill turned away from the wall and looked up. The ceiling was about six feet above his head, and he could swear he saw some kind of hatch with a handle.
"Y'know, what, Drax, I think you've got something."
Drax looked over at Quill. "And—what is it that I've got, exactly?" he looked at his hands. "I see nothing. "
Quill rolled his eyes. "Hey, Groot, would you—"
"I am Groot." McGucket heard the tree creature answer, and the next thing he knew, he was being lifted into the air.
"What in tarnation—" The older man looked over his shoulder to see Groot's arms stretching up behind him. "Well, I'll be." He said with a smile. "That's a mighty nice talent you've got there, big fella. "
He was pretty sure that Groot smiled.
When McGucket could reach the ceiling he said, "Hold on there, Groot, I c'n reach it, now. "
Groot's arms stopped extending, and McGucket began to reach for the handle.
"Huh. Odd fella this Collector guy. Why have a handle on a door that swings in?" he said aloud, pushing the door to the hatch up.
"'Cause like you said, he's odd." Quill answered from below.
"Pot calling the kettle black." Gamora said.
"Pot? Kettle? What're you talking about, Gamora, this ain't a kitchen!" Rocket groaned.
"For once I must agree with Rocket. I see no such utensils in this cell. "added Drax.
"It's an Earth saying—" Quill started, then looked at Gamora. "Hey, are you calling me odd?"
McGucket could barely hear the conversation below. After pushing the door above open, he had told Groot, "A little more, big fella." And Groot extended his arms a few inches more.
After looking around a moment, McGucket called down to the others. "There're several tunnels up here—like air ducts 're somethin'. "
There was a pause, then Quill said, "Well, are they very big? "
"Big enough for me to crawl through, son." McGucket called down.
He hoisted himself up in to the hole, finding that he could just crawl on his hands and knees. With a bit of difficulty, he turned around and looked down at the others. "I'm going to go see if I can find those kids. "
"Be careful." Gamora called.
"Aw, don't you worry none, Miss Gamora. There's probably nothin' up here but space rats, and I've dealt with plenty of rats over the years. "
With that he turned and crawled down the air duct.
Dipper came over to the bed where his sister hand laid down and looked up. "Hey, that looks like some sort of hatch." He said, glancing toward the entrance to their cell as if to see if anyone was looking or listening. "But—how on earth do we get up there? "
Mabel sat up. "Easy." She said, slipping off her backpack. She set it on the floor, unzipped it, and pulled out her grappling hook. "With this. Good thing that Collector guy didn't take our backpacks, huh? "
Dipper smiled and shook his head, remembering that he had once told Mabel, "That grappling hook has never helped us once!" Now, it was going to help them again.
"Okay, Mabel, see if you can fire it at the hatch and knock it open or something, but—" he looked again toward the cell opening – "Let me go over here and see if anyone's coming. "
Dipper got as close as he dared to the cell entrance and tried looking up and down the catwalk directly outside. No one seemed to be around.
"Okay, Mabel, go for it." He said as he turned back towards her.
Mabel nodded, aimed her grappling hook at the hatch, whispered, "Grappling hook!" and fired.
The metal hook hit the hatch, which was knocked aside, and fell to the floor.
"Mabel, you did it!" Dipper cheered, though he also whispered so that they wouldn't be heard.
Mabel grinned and looked up at the hatch again. "I'll see if I can get it hooked onto the edge this time. "
She aimed, and then shot again. The hook latched itself by two of its three prongs to the edge of the hole above them.
"Okay, Dipping sauce, come on! "
Dipper barely had time to think before his sister pulled him closer by his shirt, wrapped an arm around his waist and hit the "retract" switch on the side of the grappling hook gun.
"Yike!" Dipper squeaked as he watched the floor get further away from them.
When the two stopped, Mabel said, "Reach up and grab the edge, Dip!"
Looking up, Dipper saw the edge of the hole inches from his reach. He grabbed the edge, and Mabel scrambled up to the shaft inside. After managing to turn herself around, she grabbed Dipper's wrists and leaned back, pulling him all the way up.
"Hm. Looks like some sort of air duct system or—"
Mabel began crawling down the shaft. "No time to analyze, Dipping Sauce, let's go find everyone! "
Dipper rolled his eyes and followed.