Wared and Randee both stared at Shea.

"Wake her up?" Randee said. "Are you out of your mind? What would we do with her?"

"We would bring her back to the outpost of course. We would bring her home," Shea said.

"But why, and why her?"

"Because my father knows her. Many others know her, and countless others know of her. They know her story. My family's story."

"Maybe that's not such a bad idea," Wared said and paced the room. "How do we prove to those back home that the Departure isn't what they think it is? Are they going to take our word for it? I don't think so. I wouldn't believe me if I rolled into town and claimed the most sacred event of our society is just sham? They'd kick me out of town. I think the idea has merit."

Randee looked at Wared and rubbed his chin as he thought in silence. He looked at Shea, then back to Wared. Finally, he nodded his assent.

"You make a good point, Wared. I see the benefit as well. At the very least, bringing back a Candidate that has already departed will make many question what is going on."

"The Protectorate isn't going to like it," Shea said.

"You're right," Randee said, "But does that matter? What can they do? You can't suppress the evidence if it's walking around right in front of you."

"I wouldn't count on it. We have to be prepared for anything."

"The important thing is," Wared said, "That we can get the word out, that we can present evidence of what we know. It's hard to know how people are going to react to the truth. We can't really say for sure if they'll even believe us, right?"

"We have to try," Shea said.

Wared nodded and punched his palm with his fist. "We have to. Randee, what do we need to do next?"

"I'll get to work on that," Randee said. "But, we have a more pressing problem."

Wared turned to Randee. "What do you mean?"

Randee pointed to a screen with flashing red notifications. "It looks like the Protectorate have found this place too. I'm seeing perimeter breaches in several places."

"They're already inside?"

"In a manner of speaking. From what I can tell, the facility is built with an inner core and and outer ring. We're in the core, they breached the outer ring."

"Isn't that what we did?" Wared said.

Randee nodded. "Pretty much. But, they came through the front door, so to speak. They're the Protectorate. It wouldn't surprise me if they knew where to go and also had they key to get in."

"What do we do?" Shea said.

"I need you two to slow them down. There are security doors between the core and the outer section. We need to close those and lock them."

Wared looked at Shea and then back at Randee. "How do we do that?"

"You'll have to head back up to Operations. I saw a security panel up there earlier."

Wared nodded. "All right. We'll get them closed. Then what?"

"Come back here. Once I figure out how to wake up our Candidate, I'm going to need your help. Shea, it's going to be really important that you're here when she wakes up. She will likely be confused when she regains consciousness and having a friendly face nearby will help."

Shea nodded. "I'll be here, you can count on it."

Wared and Shea left Randee behind and returned to the Operations Center.

The security panel Randee had mentioned was easy to find. Shea tapped a few buttons and the screen in front of the them came alive.

"Now what?" Wared said.

"Let me find the security options," Shea said and scrolled through menu after menu until she found what she was looking for. "Ah, here," she said and pointed.

"Bulkhead doors?" Wared said.

Shea nodded. "They're positioned around the core according to this. Once activated, they protect the core from fires and other external threats."

"So we activate them and shut the Protectorate out."

"That's the plan. Obviously, if they were able to get in, they'll likely find a way through these as well but at least this should buy us some time."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Hopefully it's enough."

"We'll find out soon enough," Shea said and reached for a red button. She flipped the cover and put her finger on the button and paused. "Here goes," she said and pressed the button.

Above them, red lights flashed as an alarm sounded. On the screen in front of them, a diagram of the facility appeared. The various entrances to the inner core flashed green, then orange and finally red as they closed. All except one.

"What's wrong with that one?" Wared said and pointed to the one door that flashed red.

"I'm not sure," Shea said and tapped a few buttons repeatedly. "It's not responding. I think it's stuck."

"That's not good. Are you sure?"

Shea tried again, but the control panel didn't respond. She nodded and looked at Wared, worry in her eyes. "Yes, it's stuck open."

Wared looked at the flashing red light on the control panel as his mind raced a thousand miles an hour. Leaving the bulkhead door open was not an option. The Protectorate would have no difficulty walking straight into the inner core with the door open. Yes, they may be delayed slightly by the other closed doors, but he had no doubt they would be able to quickly find the one that was open.

"Do you think it can be closed manually?"

Shea shrugged. "I don't know. Most doors back at the outpost that are automatic can be closed both manually and remotely."

"I'll go down there and try to close it."

Shea turned, her eyes wide. "Wait. You can't do that. It's too dangerous. The Protectorate could be there."

"That's unlikely," Wared said while his mind screamed the opposite. "If they just managed to get into the facility, don't you think they'll be taking their time advancing? I know I would, just to make sure I wasn't walking into a trap or anything."

Shea looked at Wared a few moments in silence. He thought he spotted a tear in the corner of her eye but she looked away before he could say for sure.

"I don't know..." she said.

"It has to be done. It can't be you," Wared continued. "You need to be there for your grandmother. She'll need a face she recognizes when she wakes up."

Shea looked at Wared. "You make it sound like this is a one-way mission. Like whomever is going is not coming back."

Wared opened his mouth to protest but realized she was right. Whether it was his intention or not, he had made it sound like it was one-way mission. He felt a shiver run down his spine. Was it?

He shook of the creeping feeling of unease and shook his head. "Of course not. Like I said, I'll go down there, shut the door and we'll meet back here."

Their eyes met for a few silent moments. Shea nodded. "I'll keep an eye on your progress from here the best I can." She paused then grabbed his hand. "Please be careful."

Wared was surprised by the gesture. The sudden emotion from Shea was unexpected. He felt the warmth of her hand and the concern in her eyes and could tell there was real concern behind her words.

He nodded and squeezed her hand. "Of course. I'll be back before you know it. Besides, I have the radio, right? Now, show me where I need to go."

Shea pulled up a diagram of the facility on one of the screens and showed Wared the door he needed to close and where it was in relation to their current location. Once Wared felt comfortable with the directions, he left Shea behind in the Operations Center. He ran through the Hall of Memories and towards one of the dark hallways that branched out from it. As he approached, bluish lights flickered on above him as he advanced, leaving a trail of light behind him as he rushed towards the dark corridor ahead.

It only took Wared a few minutes to reach the faulty bulkhead door. A red light flashed above it and stream of steam hissed out from the side of the door. The control panel mounted on the wall next to the door flashed an angry red.

Wared approached the door with caution. The temperature around the door was noticeable higher than it had been elsewhere throughout the facility, in part due to the steam. He had to be careful. The steam by itself appeared hot enough to burn him if he got too close.

He stepped up to the control panel and wiped the condensation off the screen. Door Failure flashed red on the screen. He dismissed the error on the screen and was presented with three actions: report, disable and manual.

The was no point in reporting or disabling the door. Neither of those would accomplish what he came for. Instead, he pressed the button labeled manual. A panel next to the screen slid open almost immediately, revealing a handle that was about two feet long. At the same time, the hissing steam ceased.

What is this?

Wared grabbed the handle and pulled. Nothing happened. He tried to push, but the result was the same. It didn't move. Wared sighed and leaned closer. The way the handle was positioned, the only possible movement was towards him. He grabbed it with two hands, took a deep breath. Then he pulled again as hard as he could.

The metal groaned but didn't budge. Wared let go of the handle and took several deep breaths. "Come on, you," he muttered. He grabbed hold of the handle again, put one foot against the wall and pulled as hard has he could. With a high pitched screech, the handle finally budged and moved towards Wared. Thrown off balance by the sudden movement, Wared let go of the handle and was thrown backwards onto the floor.

"Are you all right?" Shea's voice came through the radio.

Wared grunted and sat up while he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm fine, just fighting with a door handle."

There was a long pause. "A what?" Shea said tentatively.

"A door handle. There's a manual override for the door. The handle was stuck from all these years of just sitting there, I guess. It's not stuck anymore." Wared noted that the door had closed by a couple of inches.

"Good. I just wanted to let you know that movements have been detected further down the corridor from where you are."

"Is it the Protectorate?" Wared said as he got to his feet and peered into the darkness of the corridor on the other side of the door threshold. "I don't see anyone. Yet."

"The cameras are off-line in the outer ring, so I don't have visual confirmation. But, motion sensors are being triggered throughout. Keep your eyes open."

"Will do," Wared said and nodded. He grabbed the door handle again, pushed it towards the door and then pulled it again. The door squeaked and then moved another couple of inches.

After half a dozen repeated motions with the handle, Wared had to pause to catch his breath. The handle was much hard to operate than he had expected. The resistance on both the pushing and the pulling motion was extremely high, as if the mechanism needed lubrication somewhere. The squeal of the door each time he pulled the handle supported this theory. Unfortunately, there was no way for him to remedy that issue. He could only continue to push and pull.

As the door passed the half-way mark, Wared noticed that the dark corridor beyond the door that previously had been pitch black now had a barely visible light on the far side. He paused and squinted towards the light as he tried to make out what was happening. Every few seconds, the light seemed to grow in size and intensity. It's coming closer.

He felt a chill run down his spine. The lights in the corridor were illuminating automatically, just as they had been when he had left the Operations Center earlier. It could only mean one thing: someone, or something, was approaching his location.

"Shea," he whispered into his radio, "I think we have company."

~~~