Why does everything have to be so goddamn difficult?!
As soon as we climbed into the open doorway next to our ladder, another dark hallway introduced itself, as if to taunt us. (Just imagine a big wooden sign with the words 'HALLWAY' across, sticking its wavy arms out and shouting, "You are sooooo not smart! I'm better than you!")
Nevertheless, we had a job to do. However, at this point, I'm pretty sure that soon, my purpose to do this stuff will be lost.
"Uh, we should find an intersection soon," Sila suggested, flipping on her light switch. "If I'm right, then there should be a generator somewhere that just might turn on these lights."
I was about to complain why there is a generator just hiding somewhere, but I'm pretty sure that no one would be able to find an answer to that. I mean, this is the future, or the present, but an awesome time period, overall. Not to brag, of course.
In the meantime, apart from my crazy thoughts, we were traversing throughout the corridors, searching for a map, or a source of light, anything to aid us in our time of need.
In addition to our situation, we happened to run into someone familiar to my eyes. This certain someone was in a room with a small desk lamp turned on, shipping boxes filled with important documents and stuff toppled over and open, and this person just happened to be reading these papers.
Of course, we just happened to be passing by the room when the person had started pushing the boxes out of the way, so Sila just happened to notice and nudged my shoulder, causing my faltering attention to direct over.
Said person was a girl who had the curiosity of a cat, willing to learn every inch of information possible, while also being as polite as possible. Her name? Mitsuko. And if I remember correctly, she was with me and Matt at the very beginning of this all, in the forest with everyone I had loved. Maybe she had gotten thrown off into this ship as well?
She wasn't exactly a normal person; in fact, she was absolutely unique. Basically, her young great-grandma had been taken in by bandits or whatever, and had been a part of an experiment which combined human and animal DNA together. She just happened to be paired with a rabbit.
So when she had given birth to Mitsuko's grandparents, the rabbit DNA was committed to being a part of this, so it provided rabbit ears and rabbit fur, or skin. It's kind of sad, but of course, everyone goes through something terrible sooner or later.
Why did I have to tell you this? Because you would have questioned why I would have told you that Mitsuko had light ice-blue skin, and peachy bunny ears, and overly fluffy hair. It's like fantasy, is it not?
Anyways, my good ole' friend Mitsuko was a scientist. She was determined to know everything that came out of the world, wanted to explore, adventure, and create. Determination basically ran through her bones! I had always admired her, and I still do.
But back to our matter, once Sila had shone her flashlight in, Mitsuko immediately looked up, startled. Backing up, she began to raise her fists, but as she noticed my face (and probably my messy outline), she seemed to calm down.
"Faith," her melodic voice muttered, as if new to her tongue. "I'm delighted to see a friendly face here. After all, allies should stick together, or am I wrong?"
I stepped forwards, and kneeled down to the crouching woman; she was quivering slightly, although her face held confidence. Crap, she might be injured.
"Are you hurt?" I implored; biting her lip, she nodded. Rotating so that her back was facing me, I spotted an opening, that almost seemed like a long paper-cut; it nicked from her left shoulder, passing her neck, and ending at her hairline. Dried blood outlined the wound, and with every movement she made came a wince. I think it was pretty deep.
I should have brought the first aid kit, I reprimanded myself. But then again, it wasn't my fault. Besides, my douche friend disappeared on me.
"Come on, we haven't got time for this," Sila muttered, but just loud enough for me to hear. "We have to hurry before something, anything, happens."
For a second, I looked back at her and stared, wanting to stay here longer, but then I remembered the predicament we were in. Nodding back an agreement, I turned back and gently grabbed Mitsuko's hand.
"We're going up top to see what the Captain is doing. Are you going to join us or not?"
For a split second, she seemed as though she wanted to decline the offer, but maybe she thought about the benefits she would keep staying where she is, reading documents. Finally, she replied, "I suppose there is no harm in traveling with you two."
Willing herself to her feet, Mitsuko roughly walked over to Sila and nodded a greeting to the shy woman, I took a brief second to observe the documents Mitsuko had been reading. Words such as 'ship' and 'blasting orbitals', 'Captain Megan', and 'the Entravision' seemed almost highlighted to my eyes; seemed as though it was talking about a ship, and the story about its lift off. I might have been wrong though, like every assumption is.
Backing out into the dark hallway with my two other friends, Sila opened up the map that I had totally forgotten about and remarked about how there are no stairs leading to the top, only back down, and the elevators were a no-go. (Hearing about the stairs just made me wonder: how close were we to the top floor? We should have been close, right?)
Anyways, can you guess what the resolution to getting to the front was? Climbing through vents.
So, you know how in video games from the 2000's that were 'futuristic' and had spaceships, they had these old-school vents that you could climb through? Yeah, that inspired the actual engineers and scientists. They were so convinced that they wanted to join the cool kids, and made technology only a little old-school-like.
And although it might have been frustrating, we finally found it – on the ceiling. So, just for the amazingness, we went the extra mile and grabbed a ladder... I wish I could express my frustration from that moment, but it'll never come back to me. Or if it did, it'd be with exaggeration. And I already exaggerate enough, okay? We don't need more sass.
Back to the matter, we had to open the vent hatch first and foremost, which deducted in Sila gathering books, Mitsuko shining the light, and me standing on top of the very sturdy (not sarcasm at all) books, somehow reaching up and successfully flicking the hatch open. In a pace, we worked together to steady the ladder to resting on the side of the vent, but not blocking it, so that we still had an entrance to go through. Thankfully, unlike the elevator one, this ladder was sturdy – built and muscular, just like it should be!
Mitsuko volunteered to go first (despite her wounds), and carefully clambered up top. As she disappeared into the ceiling, we heard the thumps from her body up top, and then her head appeared back again. "Mind if I got the flashlight?" She murmured, reaching a hand out; I fumbled with the ladder, steadying it, before Sila climbed onto the second step, stretching her arm out. After a few swipes and another step up, the flashlight was finally handed over.
Silence. Nothing but echoes of breaths and now-quiet stomps from knees and elbows – I assumed that Mitsuko was checking out if the vent was a bust, or actually lead somewhere interesting.
And then, after the imaginary ticks from a fake clock inside my head, the woman returned. Not with a cuss, she didn't say "crap" or anything like that; she simply nodded her head and motioned a hand, as if saying anything would wake a murderous beast from a deep slumber.
Either way, I helped make sure that the ladder wouldn't collapse when Sila hauled herself up and vanished, which told of a story for me: no one would be holding the not sturdy ladder. But, you know, whatever happens, happens, right?
Testing the invisible waters, I put my foot on the first step and noticed how it creaked – putting a foot on the second one earned a louder noise. Therefore, I deducted with science and jumped to the vent.
Jumping to the vent caused the ladder to be pushed over, so I was left hanging on the edge of the vent on the ceiling. Just in time, Sila turned around and managed to grab my wrists, yanking me back to my group that I love so much.
The fun part was only beginning: crawling through the vents. And I had thought it couldn't get any worse.
We noisily pounded our way to and fro, Mitsuko in the front with the flashlight leading the way. Pleasant would be an inappropriate example; it was almost suffocating. It was so tight and small – I was forced into a crawl, which made it even slower.
During the journey, we all came across a sturdy ladder that was built into the vents themselves and lead upwards. To the top floor we go! Or whatever is enthusiastic like that.
However, to be frank, I don't think any of us would have been prepared for what was up front.