The station was quiet. Dead quiet. The four girls were the only ones aboard, as far as any of them could tell. While Three tended to Seven in the infirmary after a brief move, Two and Five had begun to explore further from the main hall. The dormitories had more than enough room for each of them to claim a personal room. They didn’t lack for room to move around and settle on the station, but they agreed not to let themselves be caught alone outside of the dormitory, lest they befall the same fate as Four.
It was clear that the rooms had been lived in once. Clothing and other personal effects were left behind as if their owners had just vanished one day. Two was the first to don a found t-shirt as a makeshift dress. It was clear from the construction of the station and the size of the found clothing that all four of them were very young. On the cusp of becoming teenagers at most. But they had the knowledge and presence of mind of adults.
Three was the first to suggest that perhaps they were manufactured this way, and the chambers they awoke in were in fact some sort of birthing pods.
“So that makes us… what, clones?” Five asked darkly, leaning against a wall of the infirmary.
“It would explain why we all look like the same person.” Two nodded at the medic’s suggestion “Seven clones on some kind of mission in space. But then why not let us grow more though?”
Three shrugged “Maybe they didn’t have a choice?”
“This makes less sense the more we think about it. Are you sure there was nothing readable on that… slate thing you called it?” Five motioned to Two “You got me to the point where I wanna know what’s going on here too.
“Well…” Two started, looking down at the device and tapping futilely again at the disconnected central database “There’s a database that it keeps trying to connect to, but it’s not there. Could be that it’s shut down with most of the station. If we want answers, we’re going to have to get the power on.”
“There’s also the matter of food.” Three looked over Seven, who was asleep in one of the beds “I think she’ll be okay to lie here by herself. It’s probably best if I come along with you two this time if we’re going to go looking into the electrical areas.”
“Those machines kept us alive till now, right? Wouldn’t they have food of some kind pumping into them?” Five asked, standing up straight and getting ready to take another walk around the station.
Two nodded “Good point. That room is gross now, but it’s probably a good idea to look over those machines again. Power first, though.”
“Do either of you know how to work a space station generator?” Five asked as the three started to move toward the door “Because I’ve only got a vague idea.”
“It was probably supposed to be Six’s job.” Two sighed and followed out into the hall, closing her eyes to mitigate the effect of the gravity shift that she was slowly beginning to become accustomed to “Missing half our team is going to be a problem, especially One.”
“That would make who’s in charge around here a little more clear.” Five muttered, crossing her arms and following along with the same ease as Two.
“No one needs to be in charge. We’ll figure this out together.” Three scolded as she came along, carrying one of the first aid kits and tripping momentarily at the gravity shift through the door. Between the three of them, she was the least physically intimidating, with a thin, lanky body compared to Two’s fitness and Five’s bulk, but she carried a kind of stern presence with her that the other two couldn’t help but step back from, keeping their egos in check. “Now which way to the generator?”
“Should be on the left side going this way.” Two looked over the walls as they moved, mentally mapping each door as she shined the slate’s screen in front of them. They passed the dormitories, several labs, and finally they arrived at a large door with a lightning bolt symbol and the word ‘engine’ under it “That’ll be it.” Two declared as she looked the door over “… This one’s more secure though. I’m not sure if Five can force this one open.
“That a challenge?” Five asked as she stepped forward, looking for a handle to get purchase on the door before settling for gripping her fingers on the opening in the center.
“Be careful, if you crush your hands, I can only do so much.” Three warned. The larger girl pulled at the door with great effort, but it didn’t even so much as creak.
Two examined the walls around it as Five continued trying to pull it open. “There’s gotta be a manual release somewhere, right?”
“Probably…” Three pondered, just watching from a distance for now “It’s more a question of if it’s built for people our size to reach and use.”
“Hang on… this place had to be maintained by someone at some point, right? Maybe we can find some tools. A prybar or something?” Two asked “Simple machines. A lever and fulcrum.”
Five finally let go of the door with a grunt of wasted effort “Yeah, this is getting nowhere. It’s too heavy to do this by hand.”
The group started making their way back toward the labs, waiting for Five to work open each of the doorways. Some had strange machines none of them could identify, empty boards that may have once had data scrawled on them, cabinets full of empty papers and drained writing implements, more dead slates that Three and Five took with the expectation that they would be able to charge them up as well at some point, and various smaller tools irrelevant to the problem of the moment that they set aside for later use.
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It wasn’t until they opened a fourth new room that they hit the jackpot. The lab was filled with all sorts of mechanical parts and construction tools. It was an engineering bay, and there were more than a couple things that might help them with the door.
As the girls carried back metal prybars and a jack, Five spoke up “So… Leader, recon, medical, survival, labor, science… what’s Seven?”
“Didn’t get a chance to look yet. Three was afraid she’d get locked in.” Two shrugged.
“Can you blame me? Look what happened to One.” Three muttered, struggling to carry everything she’d picked up.
“Still don’t know what happened to One, but I get what you mean.” Five shuddered “That smell… no way she’s alive in there, right?”
“Not a chance.” Two sighed “It must be toxic in there, and she’s been floating around in that for… probably years based off of the timers on everyone else’s chambers. The power was off too, so it wasn’t… incubating her like it was for us anymore. I’m guessing she just never woke up. I kinda hope she just never woke up.”
“I’d rather not think about it too much.” Three said, dumping the jack down next to the engine room door as they arrived and reorienting her slate and medkit. “Please tell me there’s more clothes, by the way.”
“More than enough.” Two nodded, setting her slate down on the floor so she could hold her prybar in both hands “We’ll get you something next time we pass by. Now let’s see if we can do this.” she set the bar against the crack in the middle of the door, but quickly found there just wasn’t enough room for it to get a grip “Hmm…”
“Just hold it still.” Five said, backing up a step.
Two did as she was told but looked at the other girl with a raised eyebrow “What are you…?” she didn’t get a chance to finish before Five held out her own bar and let out a primal grunt as she charged right at the door, smashing the metal pieces together and eliciting a loud metallic crunch as Two’s bar forced its way through the door. Two stumbled back, shocked by the blow, but the bar was stuck firmly between the two doors now “Wow… th-that works.” she sounded amazed.
Five panted, rubbing her shoulder where she’d made contact with the metal “Yeah… yeah it did. Like you said, simple machines. Good thing it worked too, cause ow.”
Three sighed and picked up Two’s slate for some light “Let me see it… just a bruise, you’ll be okay. Hopefully next time you’ll let me make a brace for you before you do that.”
“Thanks, mom.” Five said sarcastically. Meanwhile, Two was leaning into the prybar, and as she put all of her weight behind it, something gave. The prybar fell and the door opened just an inch. “Any monsters in there?” Five mumbled quietly.
“Shut up.” Two grabbed her slate back from Three and shined it through the crack “Yeah, it’s dark. But I think we can fit the jack now.” she slid the metal plate between the two doors and started to crank at it, grunting as it went tight “What did they make this door out of?” she muttered.
“Here.” Five motioned for Two to move out of the way and she took over, slowly forcing the door open inch by inch as the jack expanded “It must have been powered. Probably gonna slam shut if it goes back on.”
Two grimaced at that conclusion. The whole point they were going in there was to power it on. Did that mean they’d be stuck in there afterward? No, there had to be a way to open it from the inside once power was on. She took a long deep breath before she declared “I’ll do it. I’m recon, I’m supposed to be the one exploring the dangerous place.”
Five looked up from the jack, having made just enough room for one person to barely squeeze through “You sure? Don’t die.”
“I’ll do my best.” Two sighed and sidled up to the door, squeezing her way between it and into the darkness before shining the light around to get her bearings. It was a generator room, alright. She at least knew enough to recognize what the machines were at a glance. They definitely weren’t her specialty, but she was the only one here now. “Okay… so… this almost looks like a breaker box. That’s simple, right?” she told herself as she stepped up to the machine of switches. Every one of them was switched to an ‘off’ state, except for one, labeled genetics lab. It had been forcibly tied to the ‘on’ state with a metal wire that looked to be reinforced and welded into place, making it basically impossible to trip. Two clicked her tongue again. Even she knew what a horrible idea that was, but it seemed to have kept the lights on where it needed to be, so she couldn’t really fault whoever had set it up.
She called out back to the door “Hey girls, it’s a breaker box type of setup. I don’t think I should try to turn on more than we need. Should I light up the halls?”
“We got enough light out here,” Five called back “Just turn on what we need.”
“Well…” Two had so many options, she wasn’t sure where to start. She supposed the engine room itself would probably be the best place to start, so it would distribute and regulate the power better “Step back from the door, this might make it close.” she said before she flipped it on. Faint lights coming on over head instantly before there was another crunch of metal, the jack collapsing under the strain of the doors coming to life and squeezing in. The heavy door had crushed the tool, almost flattening it and leaving just a small gap where the metal shard was now stuck. “Ah… okay. Yep. Closed in here now.” Two took a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm as the room continued to light up.
There were all kinds of machines, no doubt all focused on regulating power or some other aspect of the station. But with her eyes drawn to the door, Two was entirely focused on finding a way to make it open for now. Several buttons lie next to the door, and she was too scared to not try to press them. The first that was positioned within her reach just a little bit over her head did nothing. She hammered away at it a few times, but it just didn’t seem to do anything at all. The second was a larger button, but it had a cover over it. She definitely wanted to save that for last. However, the last one was high up on the wall, beyond her reach. She’d need to climb up on something to get to it. Looking around, she was dismayed not to find a stepladder. There was a scratching noise at the door. She assumed Three and Five must have been trying to pry the door open again.
Two closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This wasn’t the time to panic. She had to stay cool or nothing would get done. Taking another look around, she found one of the shelves was on wheels, and none of the machines on it were connected to anything. Just a storage shelf. With effort, she pushed it over to the door, trying to ignore the other girls’ frantic scratching. She wasn’t going to get stuck in here.