Beneath Falin (On Hold)

Chapter 6

A click signaled a successful docking and Terra and Quinn jumped up, opened the hatch and climbed out into the capsule. Only after both hatches had been sealed did they stop to catch their breath and slow their heart rate. They looked at each other grinning and then hi-fived and immediately started laughing out of joy.

A few moments later commander Thompson and a few others came around the corner. The grin on Terra's face was replaced by a scowl, and it took all she had not to start screaming at him.

"Well done, Sole," he addressed Quinn with a short nod.

"Uh, thank you, sir," Quinn replied, but the question in his voice made it clear he had no idea why he was being congratulated.

"We were assessing your abilities," Thompson told him. "We were just about to supply power back to the sub when you successfully brought it back yourself."

Terra was still glaring. She wasn't convinced, but was smarter than to say so. Her anger didn't go unnoticed, however, and Thompson turned to address her.

"Beck, is there something you'd like to say?"

Terra was silent for a moment but then shook her head. "No, sir. It was just a stressful situation," she managed, trying to keep as much anger out of her voice as possible.

"Indeed." He turned back to Quinn. "We'll have to keep a closer eye on you. You have potential. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an important meeting to attend." With that, Thompson and his entourage turned and left.

Quinn snickered as soon as they were out of sight. "Potential," he repeated with a grin, looking expectantly at Terra, but she was still too angry to know or care what he was talking about.

"Potential?" he tried again. "It's kind of punny, because electric potential was a thing when they still used electricity in that form. And I deal with power, which is the category electricity falls under..." Terra clearly wasn't amused, so he trailed off to silence.

"I think they were trying to kill us," Terra said in a hushed tone.

"Why would they do that?" Quinn scoffed.

"Because we're asking questions? Doing research? There's got to be something they don't want us to know."

Quinn was silent for a minute while he thought about that. "You think just because of my radiation detector they want to kill us? That seems a little crazy."

Even Terra had to admit it sounded a little stupid, but she couldn't come up with any other explanation. "I don't know, Quinn, maybe it's something they really, really want to keep hidden."

"You know what? We're going to go get something to eat, and then it's all going to seem less important. I mean, food is the number one priority, is it not?"

"Fine. I know a shortcut. It'll take forever to get there from her using the normal passages." Without waiting for a response she walked off.

Quinn rolled his eyes but followed nonetheless. Terra lead them through several capsules of supplies before coming to a ladder that disappeared into blackness. Terra's boots were already disappearing when Quinn got to the base of the ladder.

"You sure about this, Beck?" he asked, hesitantly placing his foot on a rung and beginning to climb.

"It's not as long as it looks," was her only reply.

Still angry, Quinn thought with a sigh.

As Terra had stated, the climb lasted no more than a minute and they were soon in another storage capsule. As with the previous storage capsules, there were lights along the floor just bright enough to avoid tripping, but the capsule was dark otherwise.

Terra started toward the other end of the capsule but suddenly stopped, causing Quinn to run into her back. Before he could make a sound, Terra spun around and put a finger to her lips. For a moment he just gave her a confused look, but it changed when he heard it. Voices.

They were too far away to make out words, so Terra silently crept forward. Who would be meeting here in the dark? Occasionally they would have to inventory supplies, but the lights were always turned on for that.

A few steps further and she could start to make out words.

"... don't know what you're planning but this is getting out of hand!" It was a woman's voice. It sounded familiar to Terra, but with the echoing in the capsule, she couldn't be sure.

"I told you, I have it all sorted out." There was no mistaking Commander Thompson's voice.

"I can only keep covering up your accidents for so long. People are going to start noticing something." The woman was clearly frustrated, and Terra was impressed she was speaking to Thompson so openly.

"Calm down, Meredith, I–"

"Calm down? I just found out you tried to kill my daughter half an hour ago with no explanation! How am I supposed to be calm about that?"

Terra's breath caught in her throat. That was her mother? She was working with Thompson? Her head was swimming with so many thoughts and questions she missed the next few lines of the conversation.

Next thing she knew, Quinn was waving frantically for her to follow him back the way they'd come, and she realized there were footsteps coming their direction. Turning, she hurried after Quinn and followed him into a dark slot between two stacks of supplies. Commander Thompson passed by moments later, seemingly unaware of their presence.

The two waited in silence for several minutes to ensure that neither Thompson or Terra's mother were still in the capsule. Once Terra felt it was save she stepped out of the slot.

"Sorry for squishing you," she apologized, still in a whisper.

"It's no problem," Quinn replied, wiggling free. It was a much tighter fit for him and his broad shoulders.

The rest of the way to the dining capsule, neither spoke of what they'd heard; a silent agreement to wait until they were certain the wrong ears wouldn't overhear. Even through their meal the only made small talk and said goodbye quickly after they had finished.

When Terra returned to her family's capsule she made straight for the small sleeping capsule she and her brother shared, making an excuse to her parents about not feeling well. Her mother showed no sign that she knew about the event with the submarine, and for that Terra was thankful.

Lying in bed that night Terra just became angrier and angrier the more she thought about everything. Eventually she pulled out her glace and sent a message to Quinn:

We need to get onto the surface.

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So I didn't quite make it by the end of April, but I think its reasonable to blame finals and whatnot. Anyway, finally an update, so yay! Lemme know what you think!