Chapter 14: Elevator Problems

As it turned out, the group's attempt to climb the ramp was futile. If there had been a little more light, they might have been able to notice it before it happened. Frederick, who was leading the way in the darkness, gradually began to feel unnatural and subtle deformations in the ramp after climbing five floors. It soon became clear to him that the situation was hopeless.

"Everyone stop. This isn't right." Frederick said, looking down below. Even in the dark, he could feel a shadow next to the ramp. He reached out with one hand and saw the cage of the next elevator. But it was in a sharply slanted position.

"What's going on, Frederick?" Serge's voice echoed from below.

"The ramp, or rather the entire shaft itself, is blocked."

Could it be the result of the several explosions that had occurred earlier? In a sense, it was a miraculous balancing act, as a large amount of jagged concrete rubble lay on top of the slanted elevator cage next to it. The ramp was cut off as it was swallowed by a sea of rubble. The gap in the ceiling, where the ramp ended, wasn't visible, and it didn't look like it was possible to climb any further, at least not at the moment.

"You can't be serious, we've come all this way."

"You're not lying, are you?"

"Are you sure you can't pry it open?"

The people near the lower end of the ramp started to complain. There was no benefit to Frederick in lying, but considering the unusual situation and the distrust of the staff, it was understandable.

"If I hit it hard enough to move it, rubble will rain down on you. So if you want to give it a try, be my guest." Frederick said with a sigh.

"Wait, I'll check it out. Frederick, move a little to the right." Obeying Serge's words, Frederick pulled himself to the right side of the ramp. Soon after, Serge came up next to him and, like Frederick before him, reached up and to the left to check the situation.

"There's the other elevator over there. It's at an angle, but I think it's what's holding this up."

"Well, it certainly doesn't look good."

"We'll have to go down a level."

"I agree. It's too risky to try to push this thing." Serge agreed with Frederick, and there was another grumble from the station personnel.

"We're going down? What are we going to do? We can't escape…."

"We've just escaped from murderous owls, and now we're stuck in the middle of nowhere... Damn it!"

"I know how you all feel, but we've got no choice," said the voice of Viidia, now at the end of the line.

"Hey, there's a duct on the way that looks like it could hold people, how about we take the other way?"

"You want me to jump off the ramp? You've got to be kidding me." Frederick chuckled. 

It wouldn't work so well in real life as it did in the movies. Frederick knew that the ducts existed, but they were some distance from the ramp, and the grid cover sealing it off was locked firmly in place. He couldn't just jump into it, he would have to remove or break the cover. To do so by stretching out from the ramp was too risky.

"But we can't give up on escape, can we? Even if it's dangerous, if there's even the slightest chance of getting out-"

"Well, then, why don't we just go to the bottom?" Dustin, who was in the middle, interrupted Viidia.

"I think it's safe to go in the ducts then."

"The bottom? What do you mean, Dustin?" Frederick asked, and Dustin's voice sounded pained.

"Well, can I explain it to you as we go down? To be honest, just stopping like this is already quite painful for my hands, and it's hard not to move around."

"Alright then, Dustin. Let's all go back down to the other elevator."

At Serge's words, they all headed back down the ramp they had just come up. 

In the middle of this, Dustin began to talk to the others. "To put it simply, in the special laboratory at the bottom of the Gamma Section, there is an escape craft. It's exactly what we need to get all of our classified research out of there."

"But the power to the lab itself is out. Will it work?"

"Gamma Section's power system is independent of this lab, and the systems around the escape craft are completely self-sustaining, so I'm sure they'll be fine."

"Then you should have told us from the beginning…."

"Yeah, why didn't you tell us until now!"

"I'll just be happy to get out of here in one piece, you know?" Dustin continued to be harangued by the staff's questions.

"The Gamma Section has the strictest confidentiality requirements for those working in the special labs. But there's no point in protecting it under these circumstances. As long as this is going on, I'm sure all the escape boats have already left."

"What's the point then?"

"I think if we walk through the escape boat tunnel, we'll eventually be able to get out. As long as the power supply on the other side is still active, I can use my ID to get to the second special lab."

"I see."

Frederick was strangely convinced after hearing that. In fact, Dustin's ID card was indeed the same type of card that could access the Gamma Section, just as Aria's and Asuka's were. And if the power system there differed from the one in the Beta Section, then there was a good chance that Dustin's card could get everyone in, if they could get to the adjacent part of the section they were in.

Even Aria and Asuka couldn't reveal the details of their research to Frederick. However, he had heard rumors about the existence of a special laboratory in the deepest part of the Gamma Section, where information management was the strictest. If there were such a thing as an escape craft there, it would be used for evacuation to some extent. 

And the Gear Project that the two of them were involved in must have a certain level of importance in the underground laboratory. If that's the case, then there should be a way for Aria and Asuka to have evacuated. As for Daubeny, he was starting to fear for the worst for his friend.

"I want to believe they were able to escape."

In the meantime, the group made it all the way back to the elevator cage. The light from the emergency power source coming through the hole in the top of the elevator temporarily eased their fear of the dark.

"Ah, I've got blisters on my hands..." Dustin said, waving his hand idly. 

"You really are a cruel scientist."

Looking around, the rest of the staff were also massaging sore spots on their hands and shaking the pain out of them. Some of them were even out of breath from just walking up and down the ramp. They were lab geeks who were not exercising on a regular basis. It wasn't unreasonable for them to be this tired after being thrown into such an abnormal situation. However, Viidia and Serge seemed unaffected by the crisis, which was strangely disconcerting.

"If you die from injuries like those, at least you won't have to worry about them anymore. Hold on until we get out to a place where we can take a break."

"I know, I know. I envy you, Frederick," Dustin said, turning towards Frederick.

"Don't say that. I have to admit, I'm a little overwhelmed by my own abnormalities."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just feel so silly looking at you. If instant regeneration of wounds is possible, then next-generation medicine is pointless research."

"I'm not superhuman…."

"But I'm intrigued. If we make it out of here in one piece, let me examine you. Every inch of you."

"You'll have to wait until we're out of here before we start talking about stuff like that," Frederick said and put his hand on the ramp again. Even if the direction of travel changed from up to down, he was sure he would be sent to the front.

"We're going down to the bottom, is that correct?"

"Yes, structurally, we should be at the bottom of the Beta Section, about the middle floor of the Gamma Section. We'll go as far as we can. Is that okay with everyone?"

Serge confirmed, and the words of approval came back. "Upstairs or down, in this dark. It's no laughing matter if you get your hand stepped on and cause an accident. Everyone, be careful with your spacing."

With that, Frederick started down the ramp. The sound of the ramp echoed in the dark elevator shaft. By the time Frederick, who was ahead of Dustin, had gone down the ramp about three floors, all eight of them could be heard walking along.

"We're supposed to be trying to get to the surface."

It was a strange feeling to be going down instead of up when escaping. It was too dark in the shaft, and Frederick felt as if he was jumping into an abyss. However, the end of the journey, which seemed to go on forever, came much sooner than they had expected.

"...What?"

Frederick's feet, which he thought were about five floors yet from the bottom of the shaft still, hit against something other than the even-surfaced ramp. Something that was definitely hard.

"Stop for a second." Frederick said, and then he bumped his foot against the surface of it a few times.

"A foothold…?"

He checked cautiously, and sure enough, there seemed to be a floor.

'It's a little uneven, but it feels like... rubble and broken tiles?'

Looking back at the explosions Frederick had detected so far, the first one before he woke up, the one just after he woke up, and the one he felt earlier when he was in front of the elevator, all from below. Then, was this the aftermath of those explosions as well as the one from above? No, there was too much debris on the upper side. Should it be considered that the bottom side was clogged by the large amount of debris that fell when the upper floors came down? 

While Frederick was thinking about this, Serge's voice echoed from the top of the ramp. "What's happened? Is there something wrong down there too?"

"Yeah, there's a bunch of loose debris all over the place. I don't think we can go down there, and it might not be a good idea for all of us to go down together. Wait a little longer while I check it out."

Frederick held onto the ramp and slowly began to put both his feet onto the loose rocks, but the rubble on the ground appeared to be stacked solidly and did not move an inch.

"Can we go this way…?"

"But what if the rocks came loose just as he put all his weight on it?" 

He couldn't predict what was underneath the rubble, and if it was as precariously balanced as the rocks at the top of the shaft, it was hard to ignore the possibility of suddenly falling through them. Rarely in such fear, Frederick felt lost and-

"Yo!"

"What?! Hey!"

Viidia, who was just above Frederick, suddenly jumped off the ramp and landed on the loose rubble blocking the shaft. While chuckling, she grabbed the ramp on which Frederick's feet rested.

"...Yeah, it's fine. At this rate, I'm sure we can get a couple more people on here." Viidia bounced around on the debris, checking the stability of the foothold.

"Really, you are entirely too bold…."

"You're too indecisive," Viidia said. "Sometimes you have to make decisions."

"Call it cautious, but I'm glad it turned out alright. Still, don't be reckless."

"My weight is the lightest. Come on, Frederick, get down here."

"Adding more weight might cause it to collapse, though," Frederick said while slowly lowering himself down onto the rubble with both feet. The loose rock floor was stable. 

Frederick's strangely acute sense of hearing picked up the sound of falling debris, so it must be hollow underneath, but not so much that there was any sign of immediate collapse.

"It's all right, amazingly." He breathed a sigh of relief. But it remained to be seen if it was safe for the weight of all eight people to be placed on it.

"Let's look for air ducts," Viidia said. "Frederick, you take that side."

Viidia headed toward the wall of the shaft, watching her footing. Frederick also headed for the opposite wall, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. He saw a duct that looked like it could accommodate a person, and it was positioned at the perfect height above the stairway-like stack of rubble. Of course, the duct had a steel grid-patterned cover, but if there was a proper foothold nearby, it could be broken. And once it was broken, they could enter. But unfortunately, both Frederick and Viidia were empty-handed.

"There is a duct over here. Someone, an axe or crowbar or…."

Frederick was about to say something when a voice from behind him startled him.

"Okay, I'll do it."

He realized that Serge was standing on the floor of rubble now, next to Frederick and Viidia, and holding an axe.

"I thought you were going to drop it or give it to me," Frederick said.

"It's dangerous, isn't it? Besides..." Serge stood in front of the duct as if replacing Frederick and said in a whisper, "I don't like the idea of leaving you in charge."

"That's exactly what you've been doing up until now."

"There's a little bit of pride in this too. I'm a man, after all." Serge said and swung the emergency axe in his hand vigorously into the duct's covering. 

A high-pitched metallic contact sound echoed down the shaft. With two swings, Serge precisely broke the upper clasp and screwed the blade of the axe into the gap between the wall and the hanging grating. Then he gave the axe a twist in a circular motion. He bent the grating limply, kicked it down with his foot, and swung the axe two more times, completely removing and cutting off the grating of the duct. 

Then Serge looked into the duct. Frederick did the same and saw the red luminescence of an emergency light at the end of the duct. It must lead to some room.

"I hope there's nothing on the other side. Will there be another monstrous dog or some other animal? This could quickly turn into a bad situation.

Considering what has happened so far, there very well may be some monster up ahead. Since there was a possibility of that," Frederick thought that he would be the one to be sent first again.

"I'll go check it out," Serge said. "Frederick, you're in charge of guiding the others."

"What? Oh, oh, okay" Surprisingly, Serge took the initiative, bent over with his axe in his hand, and crawled into the dark ducts.

"Looks like there's another one with some balls." Viidia chuckled at Frederick, who was unexpectedly stunned.

"Well... Maybe it's just reckless."

"Do you think you should be the one to go?"

"No friggin' way. If there's someone who can take over for me, then that's so much better."

Frederick shrugged and stared at Serge's feet as they moved further down into the ducts. Soon, he heard a banging sound, as if Serge was breaking the grating on the other end. Then, with a clang, that grating also fell down.

"This must be to some room. Doesn't look like anything in particular, but I'll go check it out." Serge's voice echoed through the ducts. The thud that followed must have been the sound of Serge descending from the duct into the room on the other side.

"Hmmm.... I'll go take a look too then. I have a bad feeling about this."

"You have a bad feeling...?"

"I'd say it's a woman's intuition, but that's about it. Frederick, call the others down, will you?"

Frederick did not know what that meant, but Viidia bent down and entered the ducts. Now, with Serge and Viidia in the ducts, there was no doubt that the weight on the floor was lessened.

"Um, can we go down now? I think it's time to get moving."

Dustin's voice echoed from overhead, to which Frederick replied with a strained smile.

"Yeah, I think we're good for up to two people for now, so let's take turns…huh?!"

But while he was speaking, Frederick's hearing detected it. He looked up the long, vertical shaft and heard a slight, but perceptible, anomaly far overhead. It was the sound of metal being pierced in the distance. No, before that, a slight shudder?

'Explosion?!'

It came from the top of the blocked elevator shaft or something further up than that. The strained groaning sound of the metal above was a sign that the situation would change rapidly.

"Hurry up and get off!" Frederick shouted as quickly as he could to the staff following him. Because the abnormal sound upward meant that…

"It's coming down!"

Collapse.

"Oh, wait, Frederick, it's coming down! Which way should we go?"

"This way! Follow the sound!"

It was too dark for the others and there wasn't time for their eyes to adjust. Frederick picked up the lid of the duct that Serge had destroyed earlier and repeatedly slammed it against the wall to make noise.

"This way? Uh…Oh, there?!" Frederick grabbed Dustin by the shoulders as he came near and roughly tossed him into the duct.

"Move along! Don't clog it up!"

There was a sound like metal being pierced, followed by the cracking of concrete. As if in a dam, the roar of the collapse echoed from overhead. A buzzing sound was heard, and even the wires supporting the elevator cage were shredded. Everything that was jammed up above was coming down in one massive avalanche. The time for response was now a matter of seconds, with not a moment to spare.

"Hurry up! Hurry!"

One by one, then another. Frederick threw the next station worker, and the other that followed, into the ducts, as did Dustin. Two more! Just as he thought, the first chunk of concrete that came down hit the loose rubble that had been the floor with a crash. It was the elevator cage that had been jammed at an angle as it headed upward. The cage, which would have been quite heavy even just by itself, easily smashed through the loosely supported rocks on the floor with a single hit, perhaps because of the speed of the fall.

"Shit!"

The balance of the rocks was lost. The already loose rock floor fell further down. Unable to even stand, Frederick quickly slid his lower body into the ducts. This would save him. But…

"That's not my style!"

Du-dum.

Driven by the pounding of his heart, Frederick immediately reached out of the duct.

"Grab me!"

"Oh! Ahhhhhh!"

He managed to grab the hand of the other nearby scientist, who was barely supporting another person at the edge of the cliff of sliding rubble. Then, of course, the one at the end of the line would not make it.

"Wait, wait…AHHHH?!"

Frederick gritted his teeth at the sound of the distant screams. The roar continued to echo. After numerous crashes of concrete and metal, the loose floor on which he had been standing just a few moments before collapsed utterly. As luck would have it, Frederick and the others, who were half leaning out of the ducts, were not hit by the falling rocks.

"If I had…"

Suppose he had told the rest of the group to get off immediately. Or if he needed to be more cautious. If he had been faster, they might have all survived. Frederick couldn't help but think that. Eventually, the last of the rubble and concrete fell away. The sight of the elevator cage, which had been jammed up in the falling debris for a moment earlier, falling downwards with its inner light fading, seemed as if hope was crumbling, casting an indescribable shadow over Frederick's mind. But, now, however...

"Don't let go! Don't ever let go! Please, God, don't let go!"

"If you've got time to yell, just hang on!"

There was one life that was saved at the last minute, that was for sure.

"Come on up, I'll lift you up! Count! Three, two, one!"

Sacrifices had to be made, but he did not abandon it this time of his own volition. It was a relief for Frederick to be able to do so, even if his own body, which could easily support the entire weight of the staff member who was about to fall with just one arm, was in a strange state of shock. He saved himself in that way, and it was a sign that he had not lost his human heart yet.

-

Serge led the way through the narrow air vent, crawling on his hands and knees. Behind him followed Frederick, Viidia, and Dustin, each trying to keep up with his pace. The air was stale and musty, and they could barely see through the darkness. 

At the end of the duct, where Serge had made sure it was safe, this room was largely open, with two smoking masses of flesh lying down in the center of the room.

Serge was standing at the front of an air vent, unmoving, while everyone else was crawling out of an opening to inveterate what was happening around them. To their surprise, they discover two smoking corpses, one belonging to a giant bear and the other to a human-sized frog. 

The frog's stomach burst open, exposing the partially digested contents of some melted bones and human skin. Laid across the wall, motionless and covered in blood, was a short, red-haired young man in a scientist's uniform, being covered in his own blood with a gaping wound on his head. 

Frederick gasped in horror as he saw the motionless man. "Daubeny?!" he whispered, trying to keep himself from going insane. 

Among the scientists who had survived and with the group, Ivan was among them, and he commented, "So, the short kid bit the dust, eh?"

Everyone looked at him with disgust while Frederick gazed hatefully at him, clutching his hand into a fist, ready to punch the man for insulting his dead friend.

"Hey, that's not funny, Ivan," Viidia spoke up, her voice full of anger.

Ivan shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm just stating the obvious. He was the shortest one-." 

He was interrupted unexpectedly by gasping for breath while blood clouded someone's voice. 

Daubeny coughed out, "I'm at a perfectly normal height, even higher at 6'2, you prick." He coughed out some blood, and the suddenness of it took aback Ivan and everyone else. Standing next to Ivan, Frederick forgets his anger at Ivan and rushes to help his friend Daubeny. 

"Daubeny, you're going to be fine. Just stay still." Frederick said, his voice laced with concern.

Daubeny tried to sit up, but he fell down with a groan of pain as he was too weak. "I'll be fine, but what of Emi and Luis?" he asked, his voice barely steady.

Frederick quickly assessed the situation and realized that those bones were those of Daubeny's coworkers, whom he had hung out with a few times. Deciding to think of a way to draw his friend's attention away, except those thoughts were stopped when he realized that Daubeny was bleeding profusely from a wound on his chest while his panic grew. 

"We need to get him fixed up now!" he shouted, looking around the room for any first aid kits.

But before he could find anything, something miraculous happened. Daubeny's wound began healing at a slow pace while everyone watched.

"What the hell is happening?" Serge exclaimed.

Everyone except Frederick was left speechless as they watched Daubeny's wounds regenerate before them. It was like something out of a science fiction movie.

Daubeny looked down at his chest as if noticing the wound for the first time. "I'm...I'm okay," he said, his voice full of wonder.

However, when his eyes looked at Frederick, he noticed the aftermath of his fight with the gear animals and the remains of his friends. All he could think of right now was where it all went wrong.

-

A/N: I don't know how to scale Bridget since Bridget can send someone flying to the moon.