hand and looked deeply into his pleading face.
"Can you even do it
alone?!" she screamed at him. She turned her head and watched some of the
last remaining personnel run away down the hallway still trying to escape.
In that moment, all the tension
and stress driving both of them seemed to leave Korcheck's body. A gentle
sedateness washed over him as he leaned against the back wall of the elevator.
Rone felt her heart flood with
an emotion she couldn’t describe at the sight of the man before her. A sad
determination and look of acceptance had settled across his face, the vision of
a fellow human being knowingly about to embrace his fate.
The sight froze her there. Even
with the flames reaching closer and dome troops now running through the
corridors, she found it impossible to move.
Several large fires ate up the
corridor and scorched the metal on the ceilings. Rone still stood there. A
streaking light whooshed behind her back. An explosion soon followed knocking
Korcheck hard to the elevator floor.
Dr. Katie Rone, head research
scientist of the Hideaway Project crew, however continued to stand. Debris
showered her catatonic figure while dome troops rushed behind her with their
weapons drawn. They ran around and next to her, some losing their balance and
toppling to the ground as the facility shook from additional outside weapons
blasts.
A couple of them knocked hard
into her, but she still did not move.
Korcheck's eyes pleaded for her
to act. Their quiet petition and his outstretched hand finally convinced her
body to comply. She took a step closer and allowed him to reach out and gently
pull her in.
Another explosion blasted
outside the door shaking the compartment. The door whisked shut for the moment
blocking everything out. And then the elevator dropped swiftly beneath their
feet.
"We have to get to the lab
testing area," Korcheck said letting go of her arm. She retreated away
from him and pressed her back against the far side of the descending cabin. Her
eyes focused above the door on the digital readout tracking their rapid descent
deep into the earth. "We can hook up to the ship down there. We made it
possible a long time ago, probably only a few years after I got here, in the
unlikely event the dome command centers were ever discovered or
destroyed."
Only the hum of the moving
elevator filled the room.
"In the unlikely event of
today?" she asked slowly turning to face him.
"I never considered a day
like today to be unlikely," he said grimly. “It’s always been in the back
of my head, and I’ve always planned for it.”
A large blast rocked the
speeding elevator knocking it against the side of the metal shaft. Korcheck
flew through the air and crashed into Rone. Both scientists sprawled dazedly in
a heap across the floor. The lights in the cabin blinked out.
They remained there on the
ground, together on top of each other, until the elevator finally came to a
halt. For the moment, the explosions above seemed far off in the distance.
The doors opened allowing light
again into the confined space of the cabin. The staleness of the filtered
underground air quickly followed.
Rone found herself lying on
Korcheck's chest and staring into his bloody face. His eyes were relaxed and
serene while hers were wide open with apprehension and fright. A dimple on his
left cheek twitched slightly. She could feel the heat of his breath fall gently
across her face.
"Let's go," he said
solemnly while standing and pulling her to her feet. "If I'm right, we
don't have much time."
They left the elevator, and she
followed him into the vast open area of the dome science research facility many
miles beneath the surface of the sun-scarred earth.
The shock of everything
happening around her had started to take leave of her senses. Feeling was
returning to her body, and her mind began to again produce rational, as far as
she could tell, productive thought. She tried to put her fear away, or at least
hold it off until when
"Can you even do it
alone?!" she screamed at him. She turned her head and watched some of the
last remaining personnel run away down the hallway still trying to escape.
In that moment, all the tension
and stress driving both of them seemed to leave Korcheck's body. A gentle
sedateness washed over him as he leaned against the back wall of the elevator.
Rone felt her heart flood with
an emotion she couldn’t describe at the sight of the man before her. A sad
determination and look of acceptance had settled across his face, the vision of
a fellow human being knowingly about to embrace his fate.
The sight froze her there. Even
with the flames reaching closer and dome troops now running through the
corridors, she found it impossible to move.
Several large fires ate up the
corridor and scorched the metal on the ceilings. Rone still stood there. A
streaking light whooshed behind her back. An explosion soon followed knocking
Korcheck hard to the elevator floor.
Dr. Katie Rone, head research
scientist of the Hideaway Project crew, however continued to stand. Debris
showered her catatonic figure while dome troops rushed behind her with their
weapons drawn. They ran around and next to her, some losing their balance and
toppling to the ground as the facility shook from additional outside weapons
blasts.
A couple of them knocked hard
into her, but she still did not move.
Korcheck's eyes pleaded for her
to act. Their quiet petition and his outstretched hand finally convinced her
body to comply. She took a step closer and allowed him to reach out and gently
pull her in.
Another explosion blasted
outside the door shaking the compartment. The door whisked shut for the moment
blocking everything out. And then the elevator dropped swiftly beneath their
feet.
"We have to get to the lab
testing area," Korcheck said letting go of her arm. She retreated away
from him and pressed her back against the far side of the descending cabin. Her
eyes focused above the door on the digital readout tracking their rapid descent
deep into the earth. "We can hook up to the ship down there. We made it
possible a long time ago, probably only a few years after I got here, in the
unlikely event the dome command centers were ever discovered or
destroyed."
Only the hum of the moving
elevator filled the room.
"In the unlikely event of
today?" she asked slowly turning to face him.
"I never considered a day
like today to be unlikely," he said grimly. “It’s always been in the back
of my head, and I’ve always planned for it.”
A large blast rocked the
speeding elevator knocking it against the side of the metal shaft. Korcheck
flew through the air and crashed into Rone. Both scientists sprawled dazedly in
a heap across the floor. The lights in the cabin blinked out.
They remained there on the
ground, together on top of each other, until the elevator finally came to a
halt. For the moment, the explosions above seemed far off in the distance.
The doors opened allowing light
again into the confined space of the cabin. The staleness of the filtered
underground air quickly followed.
Rone found herself lying on
Korcheck's chest and staring into his bloody face. His eyes were relaxed and
serene while hers were wide open with apprehension and fright. A dimple on his
left cheek twitched slightly. She could feel the heat of his breath fall gently
across her face.
"Let's go," he said
solemnly while standing and pulling her to her feet. "If I'm right, we
don't have much time."
They left the elevator, and she
followed him into the vast open area of the dome science research facility many
miles beneath the surface of the sun-scarred earth.
The shock of everything
happening around her had started to take leave of her senses. Feeling was
returning to her body, and her mind began to again produce rational, as far as
she could tell, productive thought. She tried to put her fear away, or at least
hold it off until when
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