GENESIS (GODS CHAIN) (62 page)

‘It’s a, do
...
door?
A fucking door
?
’
she
stammer
ed
in disbelief and immediately jump
ed
off
the ladder
, landing on her feet
.
S
he began trying to open the small duct door, crazily feeling the metal edges with her fingertips
and
gliding them along its thin edges.
She was a
mazed
by
just how easy it
would have
been to miss her only escape!

Desperate
ly,
Franc
esca
threw everything out of her satchel onto the wooden floor, looking for the duct key
.
U
nfortunately the key
flew
out
with a bundle of cords
and bounced fast across the wooden floor
, as if it was being pulled away by an invisible force
!
Francesca
screamed loudly in anguish
and
propelled herself through the air like a goal keeper
.

With outstretched arms and fingertips falling along the floor,
Francesca was
conscious of being hunted by some unspeakable monster
that crept towards her,
not far away.
Her
mind focused
entirely
on the escaping key.
Landing heavily on the floor and sliding forward
, she
screamed
‘Got it!’
,
catching the key only just before it fell out of reach and down the gap
.
Other bits and pieces of cable and screwdrivers were not so lucky.
They clattered down the vertical heights, from platform to platform inside the building internals, bouncing off the walls and levels
until they fell
out of
sight
.

             
In her hand now
,
Francesca
gripped the key firmly
—
there was no time to lose
.
Sweating in desperation
,
her hands
shook
uncontrollably with anticipation and excitement
as she approached the door.
The shaft or duct door was about shoulder height and made of solid metal. Not daring to look
behind her,
the technician inserted her duct key into the lock. Francesca felt that the hunter was very close.

‘Ok, ok, come on girl,’
she muttered,
turning the key
.
‘
C
ome on
...
come on
...
.
’
A
rotten smell seemed to permeate the air
.

Click
! the lock turned
.
‘There! Now push!’
she encouraged herself, experiencing only
short relief,
which
quickly disappeared from her face to suppressed panic
.
T
he small metal door still
would
not open!
Her head sh
ook with
tension
and fatigue
.

What next?
The door having no handle
,
the girl could only tug with both hands on the large key head
,
like someone possessed.

Suddenly
the door
opened and
Francesca
blindly sprinted
through the door
and in
to
a
small
,
dark area
.
She
suddenly smacked into something just below wa
i
st level
.

‘Ouch! What’s this?’
Francesca
said,
looking at some kind of flat
-
surfaced
, 2x2 foot
air duct
which was
bent, barring her
from
traversing over the passageway
.

The only light inside
the duct came
from the entranceway
,
and she co
u
ld feel the air becoming colder
.
Her headlamp by this time had lost all power.
Something unseen was approaching!
She smelled it.
She felt it.

That thing must be closing
in on me,
she thought frantically,
staring into the lonely dim passage behind her
.

But n
othing
happened
...
.

Francesca flicked
on
the wall light at the side of the door.

Lock it, lock it, quick
...
quick
...
!
Francesca banged the door shut
behind her,
locking it tight.

Would
a locked door
keep that thing out?
Probably not.

Francesca felt her grandmother
’
s cross heating up
once more.
...

The girl
ran
like an athlete and vaulted with one hand over the curved pipe.
T
h
e
small duct entrance foyer resembled a small room
;
it was very stuffy and warm, unlike where she
had
come from down in the dungeons.
She
fel
t
a little more secure
, enclosed in this place
.

Gurgling sounds could be heard all around as she walked along the narrow room
,
making sure
not to touch any red pipes while observing
the
many grey data cables
that trailed
along the floor for about twenty f
ee
t and then disappear
ed
up the wall into more ducting.

Surely they led somewhere?

The noises all around her were mixed with what sounded like “sparking”
,
or
the sound of
water dripping from a great height from somewhere onto a flat surface
. Francesca remembered again how desperately thirsty she was.
She t
ri
ed
to locate the source of the sound
, but
it proved too difficult.

Strange
,
I cannot see what’s causing that noise
...
perhaps it is
behind the wall?
This place is filthy!

The area was
filled with
old cardboard boxes covered in dust, discarded coke cans and pizza boxes left by a contractor
a
long time ago
...
.

No, this pizza box looks too fresh
.
Somebody has been in here recently,
but
who?
Well,
at least I am going in the right direction!

Observing a large power box fixed firmly onto the wall with large yellow “PANIC” and red “TRIP” buttons
, Francesca also found
an old metal shelf
,
on which an antiquated “Digital VT420” monitor sat alone
,
covered in cobwebs!

Jesus
,
they
gave up making these things back in the eighties.
Francesca could not believe
that the
old computer kit, forgotten and discarded,
had
been
left inside here
for
such a long time!

She walked on, struggling through large chunks of polystyrene packing that made it difficult to move
.
She
eventually reach
ed
another squat metal door at the far end.
It was a familiar design, another small duct door and similar to the one she
’d
unlocked a few minutes ago.
The room was shorter than the last and more enclosed
—
the girl wonder
ed
where this one would lead
—
to another passageway, another tunnel?
Where was she going?

The technician turned the lock and pulled the door back.
It opened easily
.

Francesca was out!
She emerged into a brightly lit and very noisy comms room.
Hearing the familiar humming sounds of electrical fans coming from the numerous central data cabinets and servers, the girl looked relieved.
There was that awful air-conditioning
that haunted her,
blowing hard
as usual
.
She was
not only
inside
a
communication and server room
—she was inside
her
communication and server room
.