STARDIVER FOUR, CHAPTER 7, PANIC ON THE SPACESHIP

CHAPTER 7

PANIC

          Ashley jumped out of the lounge chair. "What was that?" 

          "All personnel report to emergency stations. This is not a drill." The voice was all around her and echoed in the communicator in her space suit.

          "What?" She looked around. People were running past. There was panic on their faces. Something bad was happening. 

          "Where am I supposed to be?" She tried to remember. Dad said something about going someplace in an emergency, someplace with kids and families, but where? Was it the assembly hall below or the cafeteria aft? "Why didn't I pay attention?" 

          She touched the button on her collar. "Dad! Dad! What's going on?" There was no response. She started to run. "Dad, I am going back to quarters, I'll meet you there." 

           Static came out of the radio in her collar. "Dad!" She ran.  Running in gravity boots is hard and slower. People blocked her way, some were pushing from behind to pass her, and others ran toward her.

           Quarters seemed farther than she remembered, they were only three decks below. At the stairs, she jumped down and let the boots "catch" her as they automatically adjusted the magnetic field to soften her fall, but she was leaning forward and tumbled when she landed on the floor below.

          "Damn it girl. Outta the way." The man shouted as he collided against her from above throwing her head hard on the steel floor. "Aren't you supposed to be somewhere?" he yelled as he ran down the hall. 

          Dazed, Ashley got up and took a dizzy step forward. "Look out!" Someone bounced off her throwing her against the wall. Her eyes didn't quite focus. 

         "Quarters, I must get to quarters."  She stumbled forward looking for the down stairway. When she came to one she held the railing and took each step carefully as people pushed past her going up or down. The stair ended at a landing with another stairway going further down. She continued.

          "Is this "B deck or C deck?" she asked the racing people but no one answered. Quarters were only three decks below the observation lounge. She kept going down. There was a narrow hall. Fewer people were running past now. 

          "Excuse me, is this D deck?" She called out as people ran by. "Sir. Is this D deck" 

         "No, it is not," he called as he passed, "You have to go up, this is G deck." 

         Ashley was confused; she had gone too far.  Her eyes still couldn't focus right. "Is that a stairwell?" She ran through a portal hoping it would lead up but found a room full of black pipes going up and down and green pipes going across a wall; another wall had dials and levers. A bucket with a mop was standing close by. Turning to face the door she slipped on the wet floor. Reaching out her hand struck the mop knocking it against a lever on the wall. The door shut, the light went out and Ashley screamed. 

        "Help! Let me out!" She panicked and fumbled in the dark as she groped for the door.  

         The lights on her shoulders were supposed to come on in the dark but didn't. She tapped them but nothing happened. She tapped again harder and again until the light came on.

          "Help!"

           Overhead a green light began to shine. A second light on the wall began to glow, a white square. Ashley slapped her hand against it. The door opened. She jumped through and ran. 

      "Daddy!" She whipped tears as she ran up one corridor and down another hall. "Daddy, where are you? Daddy."   Ashley was lost on the huge ship, a ship about to know war.

(c) Adron

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