Posted by Commander Mason Black (Executive Officer) in Taking a Break

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Paris Carisi (Chief of Security) in Taking a Break

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Paris Carisi (Chief of Security) in Taking a Break

Snip

“Stand back Paris,” Mason said, his voice sounding calm through the comm as he pulled a Phaser from his belt and aimed it at the door. With a flick of his thumb, he turned the setting to maximum. “If it won’t unlock, we just burn through it.”

He waited just a moment until Paris has stepped back, and then fired. The stream of energy reached out and struck the door, and Mason held it in place before starting to run the Phaser across the hatch.

After several seconds he stopped, and took a few steps forwards to the hatch. Where the Phaser had struck it, it glowed red hot, but was otherwise unharmed. “Um, drats.” he said, and looked around at Paris as the ground continued to shake and little bits of rock fell from the ceiling.

“Drats? Drats,” Paris yelled with her voice getting more high pitched. “That is your response Not you lousy son of,” Paris began her more colorful rant as the area around them began to react violently.

A large lurching shake rumbled from deep below them at that moment, and a larger piece of the ceiling broke away, Mason and Paris watched it seem to float to the ground before smashing into the cavern floor. It didn’t just stop and smash however, it seemed to break through the cavern floor and the red orange glow of something very, very hot appeared with a few streaks of liquid fire splashing up and out from the crater, landing on numerous bugs and sizzling. Mason was glad he had on a sealed Hazmat suit at that point, the gases were likely very dangerous for Humans.

“Is that lava,” Paris said gazing at the red, bubbling viscous liquid now seeping up from the crack. It was thick and slow-moving but definitely was going to be a problem in the long term. “Are we safe,” she kicked a rock into the molten mass from the edge of the crack on the cavern floor. The loose stone seemed to bob like a black ice cube for a moment on the surface until is slowly sunk down in the bubbling folds and disappeared.

“Mason,” Paris said nervously. “You do have a plan for getting out of here right?”

As if on a single queue, all the bugs in the cavern began to stampede away from the lava towards the opposite end of the cavern. Pointing at them and grabbing hold of Paris’ hand, he pulled her towards him. “When in Rome,” he said, “follow the bugs. They live here, they should know how to get out.” Moving as one with her, he began to run alongside the bugs. Looking sideways, he realized that some of the bugs were not just the size of small cats, there were a number of goat and horse sized bugs as well. Luckily for them, he thought, none of them were taking any notice of the humans as a fiery well of burning death bubbled away behind them while more and more rocks began to fall from the ceiling.

Cmdr Black, XO

“I don’t think this is a good idea. Mason, I hate bugs,” Paris yelled trying to keep up with Mason’s strides. They seemed twice the length of Paris’ which meant Mason was pulling her along to the point of dragging her. Three times she had stumbled over something running between her feet but Mason’s firm grip kept her from falling down. The pair seemed to be running faster yet so many creatures slithered and buzzed over her head that Paris let out involuntary yelps from time to time. The forward progression abruptly stopped when the cavern they had been running in ended in a meter high hole in the rock. The space was large enough for the insects to pour through. It was large enough for Paris and Mason to pass on their hands and knees but the horde of insects that would be accompanying them trying to escape the lava presented a tunnel Paris was not willing to enter.

“There’s our escape chute,” Mason said, pausing and bending down to look inside and placing his hands on his waist as he caught his breath. “We’re going to have some company but they know it goes out, or at least somewhere other than here.” He stood up again and looked back the way they had come, the orange glow of lava growing behind them as the tremors continued to get stronger.

“Mason I can’t go in there,” Paris said and shuddered as a three-meter long centipede scurried down the cavern wall and into the top of the exit point. “Oh god,” she bent over putting her hands on her knees as she got a good look at the insect stampede Spiders, centipedes, and a host of flying creatures crawled over each other trying to get in the hole at the same time. The mental image of the insects crawling over her body because she was too slow almost made her ready to puke. “You go. Contact the city engineers and just come back for me.” Her tone was sincere in this request and her eyes said there was no way she could follow the bugs out.

Lt. Commander Paris Carisi COS

As Mason looked back, a fountain of lava seemed to erupt in the distance back where they had entered the underground cavern, and more sprouted even before the globs of molten rock from the first landed amongst the still escaping insects. A large indistinct black shape began to form between them and the lava, and as more fountains erupted closer the glow of the lava revealed a huge, horse sized spider crawling towards the exit they stood in front of. Deciding not to draw attention to it, Mason turned back to Paris.

“Yeah we’re not staying here, somebody has to save our skins. Into the chute Princess.” Before giving her time to respond, Mason lifted his boot and placed it squarely on Paris’ rear end. ‘Placed’ was a subjective term really, it was a firm ‘place’ that could easily be mistaken for a strong, sudden shove that propelled Paris headfirst into the chute far enough that she wasn’t going to back out quickly, and right behind her Mason crawled in as well. “Move it, the only way out is forward unless you want a whole cavern of crawlies behind us to get grumpy that the Humans think burning alive is more preferable to living.” A sudden and large jolt and cracking sound behind them lent weight to Mason’s urging to move. Seeing that she wasn’t yet moving, Mason let out a breathe and raised his hand, bringing it down hard on Paris’ rump. “Mush! Woman! Git moving!”

Cmdr Black, XO

Bump