The search sirens now sounded with an intensity that rattled the metal of the lab. They were close. Very close. Dr. Hanson approached the door to her lab, her fingers flying over the control panel with the precision of someone who has done it a thousand times, but now with the desperate urgency of a fugitive. Kael and I positioned ourselves at her sides, ready to move as soon as the armored threshold gave way. The air in the lab felt thick with tension, the whir of the research equipment an ironic counterpoint to the stark reality of imminent danger.
"The delay is minimal," Hanson whispered, without taking his eyes off the panel. "Once the internal system registers the unauthorized opening, the level-sealing alarm will activate in less than ten seconds. We have to be quick and quiet to reach the conduit access before it's blocked."
Ten seconds. A blink of an eye in the grand scheme of time, an eternity when life and truth hang in the balance. I saw the determination on Hanson's face, the cold concentration of a scientist facing a life-or-death problem. Her courage, in that instant, was as breathtaking as any discovery she'd ever made in her lab.
The door made a soft electronic click, and the heavy metal panel began to slide silently aside. We cautiously peered into the corridor, our eyes scanning quickly. The corridor was empty. A respite, but not a relief. The distant echo of sirens and the sound of hurried footsteps in other corridors reminded us that security was everywhere.
"Now!" Hanson said, sliding out of the lab with the agility of someone who knows every nook and cranny of this level.
We followed her, moving at a speed bordering on running, but trying to maintain a semblance of control so as not to arouse immediate suspicion if someone spotted us from a distance. Hanson led the way, guiding us through the maze of corridors on the research level with a familiarity acquired from years of working here. Kael and I followed close behind, our senses alert to any sound or movement.
"There's an access point to the transfer chute in the adjacent maintenance area," Hanson whispered as we turned a corner. "It's less traveled than the main corridors. But there's a camera checkpoint at the end."
A checkpoint with a camera. Another obstacle. Our plans, though detailed, always ran into the reality of base security. "Kael, can you handle the camera?" I asked, my gaze fixed on the end of the corridor.
"I should be able to temporarily divert it," Kael replied, his voice low. "But it will be quick. And it could leave a trace on the level's security system."
We were approaching the checkpoint. I could see the dark lens of the ceiling-mounted camera. The tension in the air became almost unbearable. Hanson stopped at the corner, taking a quick look ahead.
"There's a guard at the checkpoint," he whispered. "His back is to us for now, checking a terminal. But if he turns around..."
A classic situation in my novels, but this time, there was no option to restart if things went wrong. We had a guard, a camera, and a limited amount of time before the level-sealing alarm caught us.
"We need a distraction," I whispered. My mind raced, searching for an idea. Something to divert the guard's attention for a few crucial seconds.
Kael looked at me, and I saw in his eyes that he was thinking the same thing. He had the device he'd used to open the lab door. It could cause a glitch in some nearby system, a noise, something that would draw the guard's attention away from his terminal and the camera.
"I have an idea," Kael whispered, pulling out the device. "I'll generate a minor overload in the main corridor's lighting system. It'll cause a flicker and perhaps a beep. It should attract your attention for a moment."
It was risky. It might trigger a more serious alarm. But we had no other choice.
"Do it," Hanson said firmly. "I'm ready."
We pressed against the wall, waiting. The sound of the search sirens seemed louder now, closer. The guards' footsteps echoed in the adjacent corridors.
Kael activated the device. A soft beep in the silence. And then, in the main corridor in the distance, the lights flickered violently for a moment, and a high-pitched beep was heard.
"Now!" Hanson exclaimed.
The guard at the checkpoint turned sharply toward the sound of the distraction, his attention completely diverted. Kael quickly pointed his device at the camera and manipulated something on the screen. The camera's indicator light flickered and went out for a moment.
"Hanson, go!" Kael said.
Dr. Hanson shot out from around the corner, running silently toward the checkpoint. Kael and I followed close behind. Our footsteps echoed in the corridor, but the noise of distraction and the haste of the stunned guard seemed to mask them.
The guard was still staring down the main corridor, confused by the glitch. Hanson reached the checkpoint and slipped in beside him without a sound. Kael and I passed behind her, our bodies brushing the edge of her vision, but he didn't notice.
We passed through the checkpoint and entered the adjacent maintenance corridor. It was dark and filled with stacked equipment. Hanson stopped next to a door in the wall. It was the access to the transfer chute.
"Here," he whispered, manipulating a different control panel on the door. This system seemed simpler than the one on his lab door, but it still required a code.
As Hanson worked at the panel, we heard the sound of quick footsteps and voices approaching down the corridor we'd just left. The distraction had only bought a few precious seconds. Security was coming toward the checkpoint.
"Hanson, hurry up!" Kael said, his voice strained.
The panel beeped in confirmation. The transfer chute door opened with a metallic hiss.
"Get in!" Kael exclaimed.
We darted toward the dark opening, the familiar chemical smell of the Chimeric Compound hitting us as we entered. Hanson went first, then I, with Kael bringing up the rear. We slipped into the darkness and chill of the shaft just as we heard the voices of the guards arriving at the checkpoint, their exclamations as they discovered we had passed.
The metallic thud of the duct door closing behind Kael was a sound of closure, but also a sound of alarm. We were back on the poisonous path, but this time with Dr. Hanson at our side, fleeing the secret keepers who had cornered us in their own fortress. The desperate race had just begun, and the duct labyrinth, which already knew the taste of the Chimeric Compound, now also knew the smell of freedom... or ultimate despair. The climax was unfolding deep within the base, with the truth and three lives at stake, racing through the icy darkness toward an uncertain fate.
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