“What should I be looking for?” asked Hyrum as he held the radio to his mouth.

“You’re not quite there. Take one more turn in a few more feet. And you don’t need to put your mouth to the radio. I can already hear you just fine without. Otherwise, you keep adding random noises to the radio,” said Liam.

“Ok I will do that next time,” said Hyrum. He lowered the radio and continued to crouch.

The space he was in was a little bit shorter than himself. The hallway he was in was empty except for the occasional breeze. True to his word Liam had been able to get him into the Photon Production facility. Once he arrived he was quickly thrust into this area so he could sneak into the higher security areas. Sounds of machines and other things echoed and passed through the walls as he followed the path given to him.

“Turn left up here and look for the vents. Do you see them?”

“Yeah, I see them. They are pretty small. What do I use now?”

“In the bag take out the metal cutters. These vents aren’t meant to be opened up so there are no clear screws. Make sure to turn off your radio. It is going to be pretty loud.”

Hyrum started cutting into the metal vents.

“I said turn off your radio. And put on the headphones. How can you stand the noise.”

“Oh. I am half-deaf already, so I didn’t notice. Can you speak up next time?”

“Sure. Just get back to work.”

Hyrum took the noise-canceling headphones from the bag and put them. This time he also remembered to turn off the radio. He activated the metal cutter again and it hummed and started to create sparks once it hit the vent. The cutter had hundreds of spikes around its edge that spun with the help of its motor. He slowly started to work on creating an opening for himself. The vent’s metal was very thin compared to the surrounding walls.

Hyrum’s hands shook slightly as he cut. This created jagged lines as he went back and forth between over and under correcting for his mistakes. He knelt down once he started cutting closer to the floor. As he started getting closer to the ground the cutter started making a harsher screeching noise before it started smoking and then stopped spinning.

Hyrum lifted it up and inspected it. He turned it off and saw the blades. They had been ground up and we're barely half their original size and were uneven with many that were completely flat. As he held it the cutter’s smoke turned to fire, and he was forced to drop it. He took out the radio.

“I’ve got a problem here. The cutter stopped working. I was a bit over halfway through. What should I do? Did you pack a second cutter in here?”

Liam responded but it was muffled and unclear.

“Lam. I can’t hear you very well. Something is… Oh. Sorry, my bad.”

Hyrum took off the headphones and he was able to hear the radio just fine.

“As I was saying. You didn’t listen to my instructions, so it is now broken. You didn’t turn it off after three minutes of constant use, so it overheated. The newer models don’t have that problem, but you didn’t listen. Are you at a point where you can pry open the rest of the vent with the crowbar?” asked Liam.

“Let me check but I don’t think it is possible.”

Hyrum searched his bag and took out the crowbar. He found the edge of the vent and started to wedge the edge of the crowbar in. Once he felt it was securely in he pulled back with all of his weight. The vent creaked slightly but didn’t budge.

“I don’t weigh enough to force it open, and it isn’t opened enough all ready for me to get in. I need another way in.”

“Let me think of something. I believe you have all the tools needed to break the rest open. Start with the gas canister. I want you to try melting the rest of the vent off. If it doesn’t work then we can try another day and I will pick you up at the entrance to the Photon Production”

“I don’t want to leave. I am already here so show me how to make this work,” said Hyrum as he grabbed the gas canister out of the bag.

“Get the matches out but be careful with them. You are extremely flammable.”

“I already know that. That is one of my core tenets for when I goof off. I don’t play with fire.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Well, now I want you to play with fire. Set the match off and place it in one of the corners where you had the crowbar. Once it is in a place open up the gas canister and toss it at the open flame. Then run away as fast as you can.”

“I think I got it. I’ve set the match up and it's lit. I’m opening the gas canister now.”

Hyrum started twisting the valve on the gas and pointed the nozzle towards the flame. The gas hissed out and Hyrum winced as he pushed the nozzle closer. With one final push, he got the gas canister as close as he felt he could and ran for it. The flames caught onto the gas and lapped it up. Hyrum was only a few steps away when the flames touched the canister itself. The container exploded outwards, and pieces hit the walls. Hyrum could feel the fire behind him, and it warmed him up for a brief moment before subsiding.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he found that he was unharmed. He turned back around and saw the damage he had caused. Pieces of the shrapnel stuck inside the walls on both sides, but the vent took most of the damage. The heat had forced the partially opened vent inward towards his destination. The metal had warped and fused in various places to the other metals. Hyrum looked the vent over while Liam contacted him.

“How was it? We heard the explosion because of course we did. Are you hurt?”

“I am fine. The vent and walls are totally torn up. Just testing the opening now.”

“That is good to hear. We did have to use up the gas tank so the next part may be a bit harder to get through.”

“The opening is good but a bit uncomfortable. What do I have to get through next? Why would I need that gas?” he said as he snaked through the vent.

“Well, it would have been useful when you hit the lasers. Those machines are difficult to get passed and it would have been much easier to blow them up with a gas canister. Though in doing so we have shut down the facility temporarily in the past.”

“So, either way, It would have gone to making an explosion.”

“Yeah. I can’t really use it for anything else. The tools that I use to have for it have since gone into disrepair and can’t be used anymore so it was a waste of space.”

“And what are these laser machines. I haven’t heard of them before.”

“Oh, they are exactly that. You’ll see what I mean once you get out.”

Hyrum continued to crawl through the small space until he found an opening. As he got closer he heard more noise coming his way. The machine's noise was constant. They rarely changed except to change pitch. Hyrum lifted himself out of the vents and looked around to finally see the laser machines.

The room he was in was large and open. All along with the ceiling, he saw the ‘machines’. Half sphere objects lined the ceiling of the open room. He watched as they shot out different lasers intermittently. The pitch change he had noticed from earlier was from these machines when they stopped. Once they did so the lasers changed with the sound ever so slightly.

“What are these things. Why are all these lasers here and they are all pointing in the center.”

“Yes, this is the photon laser room so of course there are laser guns there. As for their purpose. It has something to do with the device at the center that is absorbing it all. I couldn’t get much information on it other than it is dangerous so don’t touch it. First, tell me about the lasers themselves. They should be shifting color and wavelength every ten seconds or so.”

“It is pulsing x-rays right now and increasing in frequency now. I can barely tell the laser are emitting stuff now.”

“Be careful with it. I want you to stay near the wall and wait for it to drop into the ultraviolet section at least. Once it is there you should be safe to run to the door. It is going to get a bit uncomfortable for a second as the laser's peak in power before dropping in frequency. Go when you are ready because radio signals will drop. Follow the list and the instructions I have given you already. You’ll be on your own soon.”

Liam powered off his radio and set it on the table in his workshop area and sat back. Hyrum watched the lasers above him pulse regularly. He felt his electrons inside excite every time the lasers shot a new set of bolts. It wasn’t helping his nerves. His unsteadiness hit its peak when the power of the laser did the same. The machine at the center spun on the center floor as the latest power entered it. It beeped and hummed with power. Hyrum felt like he was about to throw up. He watched the door waiting for the laser's power to die down. He held himself against the wall.

He felt sick as he waited longer. Eventually, the lasers’ power dropped back down to ultraviolet, and Hyrum decided to get it over with. Taking a few steps forward he started shuffling towards the doors. Once he took his fifth step forward the beeping from the center picked up in intensity. He looked back on the energy-absorbing machine. It seemed to glare back at him and beep more strongly. It followed up the beep with the message “Intruder Alert.” The message echoed in the room and seemed to come from everywhere.

The sound of the laser machines swinging in their sockets hurt Hyrum’s shaky body. Each of the turrets turned to Hyrum and prepared to fire.

“Oh shit. What did Liam send me into?”

Hyrum started running and the two dozen lasers fired towards him. He dodged the initial lasers, and they bounced off the floor and went back and forth. In his hurry, he noticed that some of the turrets were deactivated after being hit by their lasers. He didn’t have long to think on this as he zig-zagged his way towards the door.

As he neared the door the turrets seemed to know he was heading for the door and helped him in a small way. As he ducked, the incoming lasers went over his head and hit the doors. After a few of the shots hit the doors they fell off their hinges as Hyrum slid on his stomach through and rolled over into safety. A few more shots came through the now open doors, but they powered off shortly after.

Hyrum sighed in relief and rolled back over. That however was a bad mistake, and his queasiness came back to the front of his mind and mouth. All of the snacks and food he had stuffed his face with over the past day returned to the outside forcefully with a few coughs. He took a few more deep breaths and laid back against the wall. Once he felt ready he stood back up feeling better. Now on his own with only the task list in hand and a few random items he didn’t know how to use, he started to explore the new room he had been forced into.