OUTWORLD: Ott and Cold

OUTWORLD: Ott and Cold Part 11

Skip and Ouran pounded through the corridor, the hissing chants gradually fading behind them. "Okay," Skip panted as she palmed the release pad for the door leading back to the cargo bay and turned to face her companion, "we'll get back to the others, and then..."

Ouran's eyes suddenly widened and her mouth dropped open as the door whirred aside. Skip followed her gaze to the doorway, and felt her heart stop.

The cargo bay was gone, replaced by a corridor identical to the one they were in. Skip shook her head in utter disbelief and stumbled over the lintel, goggling helplessly at the scene.

"Did we take a wrong turn?" Ouran cried.

Skip blinked, trying to make sense of it. "No." She looked to Ouran. "Let's... let's just keep moving."

"But..." Ouran stammered.

"I know," Skip told her. "Let's just go."

At the end of the mirror corridor was yet another door; Skip hoped that she had simply underestimated the distance, and was swiftly disabused of that notion when she opened the second door.

Beyond lay a stairwell; as Skip approached and looked up, she could see that it climbed for at least three levels. "Okay, now that definitely wasn't there before," Ouran whimpered.

"Only one way to go," Skip growled, feeling her teeth emerge.

The stairwell seemed to go on forever. Skip grunted as she reached the third landing, and snarled when she saw the stairs spiralling ever higher.

"My feet hurt," Ouran sniffled as she joined her. "Where's the exit?"

Skip looked down, and promptly regretted it. The floor below had disappeared, the stairwell continuing down into darkness. The hoarse chants from the crew corridor began to swirl once more. The fury welled within her. "I know this is you, Lydia!" she bellowed, her voice deep and wrong. "I know it's you!"

Ouran was sobbing uncontrollably, paws to her ears. Skip moved to comfort her. "It's alright," she told the Hedgehog. "We'll make it out of this, I promise you. We just have to keep going. We can't let her win."

Ouran wiped her snout and nodded, but her expression remained hopeless. "We can't let her win," she echoed.

Skip clambered up the next flight and onto the next landing. To her infinite relief, a door was there. "Think we've found our way out."

Skip opened the door, and was less than enthused to find yet another long corridor. "We might have a way to go yet."

"There's no way out," Ouran sobbed.

"We just have to keep looking," Skip said. "Come on."

This corridor was a lot gloomier than the last one, and Skip hoped that whatever Lydia was doing, they were heading away from it.

"I want Merson," Ouran cried. "I wanna go home."

"He's waiting for you," Skip told her, keeping her voice soft and soothing despite everything inside of her. "We're gonna find him, and then we're getting out of here."

"I hate this ship," Ouran blubbered.

"Not too fond of it myself right now," Skip murmured.

A low mist began to form around their legs. "What the," Ouran said.

Skip peered ahead, making out a low, crouched form on the deck a few metres distant. "Stay close," she advised Ouran, moving toward it slowly. "Hey. Is someone there?"

The form got to its knees and sat up. It was a Deer, in a medical gown.

"Tilda," Skip breathed. "Tilda!"