33 Mission impossible
I slide quickly into the, I'll call it the ducts. There are some pipes and what looks to be wires and such in the duct, and it's a tight fit. Or that's what I feel it should be, strangely enough though I still feel like I can move about somewhat freely, maybe not turn around here to crawl, but it doesn't really feel claustrophobic.
In the same motion of getting into the ducts, I close the hatch, and it couldn't have been more opportune as just when I get it closed, I hear some steps and voices just outside.
"Those researchers sure do get spooked easily. Don't they?" Said one
"Can you blame them with what they are working with? Just thinking about those experiments they are running gives me the creeps every time it comes up. Which working around here is all the time. Come on, let's just get down there and come back up here. I hate being on that level with those…. Things." Said the other
The faint sound of hissing from the hydraulic doors could be heard opening and closing as the two voices were talking. I waited a few minutes and heard nothing else, but rather than leaving the ducts I decided to slide further down them as this seemed like the best way to avoid being seen.
I wasn't completely sure of the circumstances I found myself in, but if what I have overheard, it can't be anything good. I can surmise that I was the subject of some experiments, which doesn't lead one in confidence to think they have my best interest in mind.
A few minutes of meandering through the ducts, I find another hatch. I'm not exactly sure where I find myself, I need to find some way to find my bearings and come up with a plan. But I'll also need to find somewhere more secure to hide in.
Opening the hatch cautiously just enough to peer into the room, it looks like it's a storage room of sorts. It doesn't look too large, maybe ten meters to a side, and a double door at one end. Various metal crates and boxes fill the room. And a fine layer of dust covers everything. It's clear that this room is almost never entered. So it seems like this would be a good place to use as my hiding place as I try to figure out what is going on.
However, while the room doesn't see much activity, I can't think that they would never come in here, especially after they find out that I'm not in the room. Seeing as I'm unaware of any alarms going off, after all this time, I don't think the guards actually went checking things. So this likely gives me a bit more time to figure things out, but there's no telling just how much time that actually might be.
I walk up to one of the crates and open it up, inside is various things that I don't know what to make of them. But one of them looks like a metal rod with extra things on it. It'll be handy as a weapon if necessary. Another crate has various clothing though all of a uniform look similar to what I saw the two people wearing. And a third container holds some tools that seem to be cleaning tools.
This does strike me as convenient, and I take out various cleaning implements and get to work cleaning the storage room. It might seem odd that I would waste time like this cleaning the room. But the heavy layer of dust in the room would be detrimental to me hiding here, as anyone that walked in would see the foot and hand prints all over the place.
If it's clean, they won't immediately notice the discrepancies. So I quickly get to work cleaning the whole place while trying to keep an eye on the door and staying in a spot where I can hide quickly if needed. It doesn't need to be spotless, but just good enough to hide my traces.
Afterwards I go back to the container with the clothing and pull out various garments to put something on that fits. I take a few more minutes to look through the various crates and find a miss-mash of various items. Including what might be emergency rations. So I got lucky finding this room, I figure so far it's probably been two to three hours since my escape and so far it doesn't seem like any alarm has been raised.
Seeing that I have a simi-secure hiding spot. My biggest issue that I have to solve is I need information. I don't know where I am, what's going on, or who these people are or what they are doing. And if I want to find someway out of this, I'll have to figure this out and fast. I might have clothes that may allow me to blend in, but I'm ignorant of anything else, so I would still stick out like a sore thumb.
The only option I have at present is to figure out the pay of the land. And the safest way I can do this at present is moving around the duct system. It does seem intricate. And I need to develop some sort of map of the area to come up with a plan. So with this in mind I climb back into the duct system.
It doesn't really matter at present which direction I chose, I just need to remember the path I'm taking to get back to my hideout. So I can go either left or right. However I know that to my left was the direction I came from, so there's not much of a reason to go that way. I choose the only other pathway.
A bit further down the duct I come up to a cross section of sorts. I have the options to continue straight, go left, up or down.
I think for a bit and choose to go down. I brace myself to climb down so I don't fall, but the moment my orientation changes, and I slip down the duct shaft a short ways, less than the length of my body, what was once down for me now becomes forward.
This makes things a bit more complicated in my head now, because if the orientation changes like this, I don't know how I'm not going to get it confused in my head. I mentally sigh at this revelation, well it's not like things could get any more complicated than they already are, just more difficult than I would have expected.
I make the mental note and try to start developing a three dimensional mental map starting from the loft and hatch that I entered first. I continue my cautious exploration down the ducts and notice ahead of me another junction but it's a bit bigger than where I am.
Getting closer I can see that there is space to actually stand up in it, theres a ladder that goes up and down and what appears to be a display in the little chamber, and a set of doors that exit. Thankfully they don't open when I get in front of them, and I put my ear to the door, but can't hear anything beyond it.
I'll put that off for later, but keeping my attention on the door, I look towards the display. Touching the screen seemed to have activated it, and there seemed to have been a map on the screen detailing the duct systems and such. According to the display these ducts are the engineering access ducts. Makes sense considering all the cables and piping going through them.
The floor I'm on is listed as E2. There seems to be some functions on the display to it, though before messing with anything else I spend a few moments studying the map trying to commit it to memory. I hit a button on the screen I hope will change the view of it, and it superimposes on the duct system the various floors and in a strange outline that I'm not sure what kind of structure I'm in. But it zoomed out and if I am able to understand it properly, the facility is massive.
It appears to have 52 floors on one end, and 30 floors in the middle. I appear to be somewhere in the middle of the structure.
I get lost studying the map, the sound of the door startled me and I froze in shock staring at the door. Someone walked into the small chamber staring at a pad in their hand as they tapped on things…. Shit…I can't move, they haven't yet noticed me but this won't last for long.
I pray that I could just blend into the wall, but I have nowhere to go, I couldn't even slip down one of the ducts fast enough, and any motion from me at this point would just draw attention. I can only stand motionless.
As my luck would have it, the guy turns to the direction away from where I'm currently standing and begins to crawl into the duct.
"Tono!" Someone calls out in a brisk voice.
The person climbing into the duct pauses and starts to back out … crap… I just can't think of anything else as a reaction. My heart feels like it's about to beat out of my chest.
