Lightning Seeker

A Way Off

Vale startled awake to a loud, angry sound. An alarm. Scrambling to her knees, she scanned the space, trying to remember where she was. When a scolding pain ripped down her back she remembered. 

Staring up through the grate, she saw that the room was quiet, clear of lightning. Sky was already awake, crawling towards his bag. Pulling it over his shoulder, he shoved the grate open and after sliding through to the bridge above, he helped Vale through after him.

Vale was itching to have her arm reattached but knew that the alarm meant they couldn't stop. Run now. Feel complete later. Sky's hand found hers and they ran for the door to the bridge. Vale let out a sigh of relief when there weren't any AI's waiting for them on the other side. "We need to get out of here. Both of us," Vale said as Sky turned the corner, Vale, fast on his heels. Sky ducked behind a crate and scrambled through his bag.

He pulled out a small screen and waited as it booted up, his hands gripping the screen with impatience. It blinked to life and he placed his fingers on the screen, pinching them together. A moment later, a three-dimensional map of the ship stared back up at them. He looked at Vale and motioned to dozens of blue dots on the screen. "AI's," Vale guessed. Sky nodded. Vale let out an unsteady breath. The ship was swarming with them, lit up like a city block when there was enough power to spare. It was going to be nearly impossible to go around unseen.

Sky motioned to a small green dot on the starboard side of the ship and then pointed to Vale. "Destination? A way off?" Vale guessed. Sky nodded and stood up. Grabbing Vale's hand with his free one, he bolted down the hall in the opposite direction of the AI's, as far from the nearest set as possible. 

Sky's eyes were in constant motion. On the screen, on the path ahead, staring at the small halls they passed, most likely mapping out a clear path to their goal. Sky froze halfway down a hall and whirled, a calculating look on his face. He scanned the walls, searching for something. Vale waited, watching him stare at the space like the mechanic he was. Creative with everything he had to work with. 

He knelt in front of an air duct and pried the opening loose. A moment later he disappeared inside, Vale ignored the panic that set in at the idea of crawling into a small space, much smaller than the one they had just emerged from and crawled in after him. Pulling the opening back in place, she crawled after Sky, his glowing screen their only light as they moved. 

Suddenly the light disappeared leaving Vale in complete darkness. She sped up, trying to keep herself from falling into darkness, needing some semblance of light in the claustrophobic inducing space. She realized a moment too late why the light had vanished. The duct dipped, and she lost her balance, sliding down the shoot and crashing into a pile of limbs and metal objects. She was greeted by light and fresh air. Taking in a lungful of air, she blinked, trying to bring clarity to her new surroundings. 

She was laying in a pile of scrap metal and detached metal limbs. A large door with a window sat across the room. The door swung freely, moving as the wind changed directions. A deck stood outside, giving her a look at a set of wispy clouds. 

Vale looked down to find Sky, who had broken her fall. He lay pinned underneath her, her hand pressed against his chest. Her legs wrapped around his hips. He cracked a questioning grin as her cheeks flamed red. 

Scrambling off of him, she pulled herself out of the pile that had been discarded in this strange storage space, keeping her eyes averted from Sky's. He climbed out of the pile, but not before looking through it and placing several items into his bag. Moving around the room, he plucked several wires off of a shelf in the far corner that was covered with gears, screens, wires, and metal plates. 

He ran his fingers gingerly over the gears before plucking up three with care and tucking them into his bag with his other finds. Then turning to Vale he motioned her over to his screen. Vale bit her lip as he showed her the map. Most of the blue lights were back near the bridge. Two blue lights hovered nearby, close to the green light that symbolized their exit.