Tunneling in the Dark

It was over in an instant. That was about the only comfort that she could give. Nerine felt nothing, the explosion consumed her wholly leaving nothing behind. She watched so many of her friends die already that she could only manage slamming the side of her fist into the wall in frustration. They were all taken so cheaply. She would see them again when she completed this world, but now she was alone.

Responding too late to matter, Karen’s panicked voice came over the speakers. “I detected a large explosion in your area! Is everyone alright?!”

“Yes,” she sighed, “But we lost one.”

“Oh…” Before the line cut, the choked up mutterings of more words came out that went too low for Yumi to hear. There was nothing but silence on her end for a while when Yumi started to grow concerned.

They were locked in the room with the explosion trapping them behind rubble and torn structure. It wasn’t exposed to space thankfully, but unless they wanted to go climbing about the inner workings of the station they needed another route back. “Karen? Karen?” She got nothing from the woman. “Can you hear me? We’re trapped in this room and need a way out!”

Silence still.

“Listen, Karen! If you don’t get back on the line, you’re going to let someone else die! You can’t do anything about Nerine, but you can keep that from being our fate as well!” Yumi only hoped that was able to get through to her. If there was an explosion, there was no telling if that was the end of it.

Awkward silence remained.

Over her shoulder in the back corner of the room, she caught a slight condescending glare from Yori who only seemed to want to include himself when it was childishly most unhelpful. “If you’re not going to be useful, refrain from thinking you could have done better.” Yumi looked around at the wall of the opposite side of the room hoping that she might find something that gave them an escape. ‘Was the older brother I knew just an illusion? This doesn’t feel like him…’

Suddenly, Karen broke in over the speaker finally returning, “I’m so sorry! I’m looking for a way out for you right now! Give me a moment!”

Chapter 479 – Tunneling in the Dark

Karen finished explaining to Yumi what the plan was for their return. “That’s pretty reckless,” Yumi commented.

“We’re out of options. Unless you want to climb back.” It seemed that her attitude had recovered from her emotional crisis.

“Lead the way. Let’s just hope that there’s no more explosions. I’m not ready for my life to end.”

“Y-yes! I’ll watch the systems closer.” Making use of the same system as before, Karen highlighted the new path that she found for them. The first step was to pull off the paneling from the wall. With the hall completely destroyed, there was no other way. Even Yumi considered it, though she had no idea where to start. She would have been going around blind without Karen’s aid.

With three panels removed, they had to take down some of the pipes that ran between the rooms. There wasn’t even enough room for more than a paper to fit through, exaggerated as that was, it was closer to the truth. They packed the back of the walls tightly making any sort of attempts to get through impossible. Karen shut down whatever ran through them so that Yumi could pull them out. It granted her just enough room to crawl through trying to squeeze all of herself through.

Even getting her head and shoulders through the small gap she created left her with a new problem. The dark abyss of the in between was less roomy than Karen explained it to be. She didn’t even have half a meter before she found herself bumping into more. “I thought this was supposed to be a maintenance shaft…”

“It is, for our machines.”

Yumi groaned and scraped her torso through fighting the whole way through as she started to get rolled back by the other side. “It’s trying to make me into a tamagoyaki!” The only thing that made the effort easier for Yumi was that the uniform she wore was one piece, so there was nothing to snagged on while fitting through.

Silent muttering and empty complaining continued until she made it fully through with her legs and feet naturally making it through in the easiest fashion. Yet trying to stand in such a cramped way with it feeling like half her body was turned upside down while the other was twisted ninety degrees and strung out completely perpendicular made it seem like what came next was even more impossible than fitting through.

Hanging off the floor or at least what amounted for the floor, a series of pipes, Yumi stared through the poorly lit haze from the path that Karen created for her. “And what happens when your machines break down? Did you ever consider a human needing to come in here?”

“I wasn’t part of the planning, but I guess that is a pretty big flaw, isn’t it?”

“Agreeing with me isn’t making this any easier. I’m starting to think climbing might have been easier.”

“You had a twenty-three percent chance of success climbing.”

“That low?”

“I rounded up.”

“Ugh…and this is guaranteed.” There was too long of a pause from Karen, who up until that point managed a quick replying banter when it was necessary. “You’re not replying. You’re not sending me to my death here too are you?”

“N-no! O-of course not!”

“You’re stuttering Karen.”

“Nothing is guaranteed!”

“How bad are my odds?”

“Seventy-five percent.”

“That’s not so bad.”

“I rounded up.”

“Stop rounding! Damnit! What’s the risk?”

“The station’s really damaged in that area, as you already know. And the computer can’t see into everything. So I'm not completely sure of some of the blacked out areas.”

Yumi sighed, though found it less comforting than she expected being strung up by the inner workings of the station. “I’m a big girl, Karen. You don’t have to shield me from reality. So just be honest with me.”

“I-I’ll remember that.”

Turning her body a little trying to work her profile through so that she might have an easier time shuffling through, she looked down trying to see what her footing would be. Only bits of it reflected from the light of Karen’s path light. “Can you do anything about the light in here? I feel like I’m in more danger of being hurt from something I can’t see than holes exposed to space.”

“Unfortunately no, we don’t have any system set up for that sort of thing. I’m having to run a radioactive isotope through to just create the light you do have.”

Sweat dripped down Yumi’s face as she said that. “Radioactive?” She didn’t want to even consider what sort of effects that would have on her and any long term damage. None of this was technically real. So she should be fine right?

She hoped.

“It’s perfectly safe! The insulation and quantity means you’re safe.”

“…right…” Confidence was back in Karen’s voice, which was all she could really rely on. Getting back to safety was her only objective. The last of her body aligned properly and she could drop down to whatever it was that she used to walk. It kept her from falling further so that was all she could really think about.

Once she got free enough she slapped her hand against the opening. “Come on, Yori! Your turn now. I’m going on ahead.” She didn’t wait for any sort reply that would not come. Making it through the winding tunnels of the interior of the station started to show how reckless of a solution it was, even if it was the only one. ‘Please just don’t put me out into space…’

“You’re coming up to the first black zone, Yumi.”

“Any guesses on what I’ll find?”

“It was damaged from that explosion from earlier. So it might just be a big hole or it could be fine.”

“And there’s no way around it?”

“There isn’t a straight line that I could find for you back to the maintenance room. You’re going to have to travel through a few of these.”

Yumi looked over at the wall of pipes that kept from exiting into what was likely a mostly pristine hall. There was no way out from where she stood, only forward. “Very well.” She braced herself up against the tight tunnel as best as she could in preparation. “Hold on, Yori!”

“Opening the bulkhead now!”

The emergency stutters that cut off the safe parts started to pull back. A crack in the seal started to pull on the pressure in Yumi’s side, though it wasn’t so strong as if it had been in a vacuum. So that at least gave her comfort.

Fully open, Yumi could look inside, relieved that it was at least breathable and not completely consumed in flames or anything nasty like that. However, it was completely black. Based on the little light that she got from Karen’s guide it was no longer the same narrow passage that she had been going through for however many meters. It was too difficult to get any sort of sense of how much had been destroyed. ‘Maybe there’s a hole back out to the hall or room that will get us back safer. That’s probably not something that Karen took into account since this is a complete black zone that the sensors aren’t working in.’

A small hope that she could hold onto.

Taking the first cautious step from safety to unknown, Yumi found there was still enough stability for her. She could press her whole weight on it and not feel it given underneath her, small comforts for now. Another step was safe, but the third was missing. Yumi quickly grabbed back onto the twisted metal that was supposed to hold the pipes in place. She slipped more than she wanted and groaned in pain, but made it back to safety. “It’s just a pit…”

Yumi looked around with the barest of light trying to detect any sort of course. “Karen said to just go straight, but I don’t even know if there is a straight to follow.” She stretched out her foot trying to test for any sort of footing ahead of her while braced against the pipe. It wasn’t enough though, she could not reach anything blind. “I need to get closer…”

There was no other option for her now. She released her hand and braced her feet up tightly as she could in the pipes. Her knees locked up against the narrow tunnel trying to give her body as much support as she attempted the stupid. Moving her hands slowly to the edge of the torn pipes that was her footing, she stretched out to the empty space between.

In darkness only her hands could find anything. She tapped her fingers at the very end of her length. “There’s something on the other side, but I don’t know what it is.” Balancing herself carefully, she pulled herself back to stand up. Yumi took a step back away from the hole judging everything. “Even normal, this should be very doable…I just don’t know about the stability of the other side. But I can’t progress…”

Out of choices, Yumi committed mentally to the path that she had to take. It was completely dark over there. She could only hope that she didn’t hit something as she jumped. ‘I just have to reach the other side. It’s nearly just a stretch of the legs. I don’t need much…’ Convincing herself it wasn’t as dangerous as it seemed did little to ease the anxiety that slowly started to build in her stomach. But before it had time to fester, she just leapt ignoring it all.

Her feet landed on something, but it groaned and wobbled for her. It didn’t like her weight being there. She quickly moved, not letting herself enjoy the moment so that she did not risk a fall. Yumi turned around once it seemed safe. “You can jump—“ But then the metal roared out as everything started to fall apart and Yumi lost her footing.

The abyss came up and ate her. She fell into the unknown.