The DOOM Chronicles

Chapter 15: Evil Lurking

The platform turned out to basically be a dead end.

It encompassed a glorious stretch of land perhaps thirty feet by twenty between the walls and the acid moat. The crusher itself, which ceased motion as it reached its apex again and dripped down blood and entrails steadily for the first few moments, had nothing of any real value on it. Although Jack personally considered four dead Barons of Hell very valuable. As they finished scouting out that particular little piece of real estate, Jack felt his hope diminish slightly. There was hopefully more on the other side of the room, but...

How did they get there?

There was no way over the acid moat and it was too far to jump, well except at the side near the weird elevator, but the platform opposite it was elevated far too high. Theoretically they might be able to jump from the elevator to that other platform, but to what end? This is what Jack pondered as he and Cortez returned to the lift.

"Now what?" Cortez asked.

"Bidwell, where's the communications booster we want?" Jack called up as they reached the base of the elevator. It felt weird to even call it an elevator. It was more just a big pillar on a piston that shot up and down if you stood on it.

"Behind the blue door," Bidwell replied. "And I believe I have located the blue keycard."

"Where?"

"Directly across from us, across the acid, up here. There is a gap in the pillars here. Theoretically, we should be able jump it..."

Jack laughed. "I guess it's time to turn theory into reality. Step aboard and bring the lift down for us. There's nothing down here."

"On the way."

Bidwell stepped aboard and even though he was ready for it, the stoic man let out a small shout of surprise as it dropped down. Watching it lower from the bottom was even more dramatic. Why the fuck did it move so fast? Jack and Cortez hurried aboard, and it shot back up again just as Jack stepped inside, narrowly avoiding crushing him in the process. It jerked back up and locked into place. "All right you two, off," Jack said.

They stepped off.

"What are you doing?" Cortez asked.

"I'm going to make this jump, grab the key, then jump back. Ideally," Jack replied.

"Be careful," Cortez muttered.

Jack nodded. He waited a little bit, then took a few steps forward until he was at the edge. The pillar lift remained where it was. What the fuck activated it? It wasn't motion. Did it know the difference between someone stepping aboard and someone still on it? Well, if he fucked it up, his suit would probably keep him from dying. He just had to not fuck it up. Jack moved to the back of the elevator, took a few deep breaths, let them out slowly, then made his run. He sprinted across the small space afforded to him, leaped through the small gap granted to him, and sailed across the trench below him. He landed with a small thud on the other side.

And nearly stepped on the blue keycard, which lay on the metal plating as though carelessly tossed there, in the process.

He wobbled as he tried to both stop himself from running into the wall opposite him and trying not to step on the card, and landed hard against the wall, putting his hands to stop him. His weapons clattered against his armor as he did. Turning, he quickly scoped out the situation. The narrow pathway on this side of the room was now beneath and ahead of him. He could jump down and investigate those weird cage rooms that had held the Imps, and now held only corpses, but what would be the point in that? There didn't seem to be a way back up, anyway, as it was a good eight foot drop down there. Ignoring it all and happy to be done with the room, Jack snatched up and pocketed the keycard, then took another running jump.