High Heavens (Star Wars - Luke Skywalker)

XIV - A Narrow Escape

"The walls are moving!" Luke shouted.

"The walls are moving?" Mara echoed in disbelief. 

Oh, you gotta be kidding me.

"Don't just stand there, try and brace it with something!" Leia ordered, already trying to hold up a long, metal pole - an architectural scrap, or something - in order to possibly slow down the movement.

Mara began scrambling for something that could somehow help, while the walls edged closer, the room becoming smaller and smaller. Leia was shouting at Han to help her with the pole she was stumbling under, Chewbacca trying to stop one of the walls with brute force. None of them seem to be having any luck. Mountains of trash were slowly growing on all sides, and it was becoming harder and harder to not drown in the muck, Mara finding it a struggle to keep herself from sinking.

And to think she had almost forgotten how much she hated small spaces.

"Wait a minute," she heard Luke say, mostly to himself. He then pulled out the com-link, and yelled, "Threepio! Come in, Threepio!" There was no answer, yet he tried again, "Threepio! Oh, where could he be?"

"Get on top!" Han said to Leia when she started to sink below the trash, trying to hoist the princess up by her waist.

"I can't!" Leia yelled back desperately, struggling to climb up.

The walls continued to come closer together, giving the group of five even less room to move. The only way to go was up, but the room was getting narrower by the second. They didn't have much longer.

Mara let out a shout of pain when something sharp poked into her calf. With some difficulty, she pulled her leg up from a mound of junk, grimacing at the bloody and dirty wound, which was visible through her ripped pant leg. Oh, that was gonna be a nasty infection - that was if they made it out of here.

"Here, grab my hand!" Luke said to Mara, from hardly a few feet above her.

Mara strained upwards, grappling for Luke's hand. She finally grabbed it, just barely, clutching tightly as he helped pull her up as she climbed over the trash, finally steadying herself against the ever-closing wall.

"Well, one thing's for sure – we're all gonna be a lot thinner!" came Han's voice. 

"Shut up, Han!" Mara uncontrollably snapped at him.

Han shouted something back in return, but it Mara didn't pay attention to it. Then, he was presumably addressing Leia, again, "Get on top of it!"

"I'm trying!"

Mara looked around desperately, struggling to catch her breath, her chest rising and falling in a heavy panic. 

Focus, Mara, focus, she tried to tell herself, trying to force herself to be calm. Hyperventilating wasn't going to get them anywhere. 

She looked up at Luke, the person nearest to her, with pained and scared eyes, and he met her with an equally terrified expression. Looked like she wasn't the only one feeling hopeless-

No. Not hopeless. Never hopeless. There's always hope - if she can just-

Suddenly, Luke's comlink let out a little buzz. Mara let out a hopeful gasp, as Luke ripped it off his belt, bringing it closer to his face.

C3PO's muffled voice came in through the link. "Are you there, Sir?"

"Threepio!" Mara yelled, only slightly relieved.

"We've had some problems-"

"Will you shut up and listen to me!" Luke snapped, aware of their time is running out. "Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level, will you? Do you copy? Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level! Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level!"