Camping Ch 11

 

"Mallory."

"Yes?" Crackle. 

"How close are we to...uh... Quadrant 2?"

"Well," she said, speaking to someone on her end at the same time, "you're getting close. The lift will get you to A24 and from there you can walk into 2. You're almost there!" Mallory seemed rather upbeat. 

"What's the plan when we get there?" Maia asked. "Stella said I was unessential. Will they shoot me?"

"No," Joon replied. "They're not going to shoot you!" 

She gave him a skeptical glance. 

"Honestly, I don't know," Joon continued. "No, I don't mean they'll do THAT," he added hastily after her sharp look. "But they may send you back to your team. I'll try and keep you in Command as long as I can."

She squeezed his arm and he stopped, turning towards her. 

"You know, we could just... leave all this. Find one of those dimensional gateways and just... find our own world. Just you and me."

She smiled. "You'd never make it though."

He laughed. 

"We could raid the kitchen and just... not be found."

"Are you serious?" she asked, half seriously. 

"Well, no," he sighed, "but it sounds good, doesn't it?"

"It does," she replied, and stepped closer. She touched his face, and for a moment the horrors of the past few hours- or had it been days?- faded. It had been a while since they had been together with any real quality time, and for a moment they just clung together, in a hallway with no one around for who knew how far. Joon wanted to never let go, but then the communit broke the moment. 

"This is Stella. Report."

Joon sighed. 

"Joon here. We're at the lift." He hoped. 

"The lift? I assume that means something to Mallory. At any rate I'm told the ops center is tentatively back in our hands. There are still squatches running around, though. So be careful." 

"Lovely," he muttered. "How did the call with the president go?"

"That didn't happen. The Directorate put the kibosh on that. We are on our own." 

Joon wasn't surprised. 

"Things are a little better. Energy readings from the Gate are still off the charts though- we're worried about... other things coming through." 

Joon didn't have a reply to that. 

"Anyway, you'll get a full update when you arrive." 

"Noted."

Stella clicked off so Joon glanced over at Maia, shrugging. They kept walking until, around a corner, they found the hoped for lift. Hastening to it, Joon hit the call button. It opened quickly, but they were taken aback by the sight within. There was blood on the walls, and a dead technician slumped inside.