Pana: Flight from the Past

Sickness

Balancing was easy. Making sure to not look down...not so much.

Pana and Laiyk had waited on top of the structure's sloped center while Waveskimmer went back to the plateau to pick up Bob, Tallie and MC. With the footwork of someone who had run around a ship all her life, Laiyk easily strolled around the structure, even walking out over the spokes that spread out from the center and grabbed onto the wall of the sinkhole, seemingly at ease on the tilted surface. Pana, meanwhile, sat down on the cold metal, pressing down with their feet to keep them from moving. It was easy to be unafraid of heights when one was strapped to a flying, kind-hearted lizard that could catch them if needed. Perched on a building that may still house a weapon capable of destroying a good chunk of the earth and that happened to be suspended over a giant, bottomless hole, Pana found it slightly more difficult than usual to remain entirely calm.

It was with delight that Pana heard their friend roar as he returned to them. Waveskimmer landed with a thunk, and then scabbled to keep from sliding off the metal. He managed to plop down onto his belly, his scales providing the necessary friction to keep him in place. His claws couldn't find a steady grip on the metal. Pana scooted over and grabbed onto him. Now, if they both fell, Waveskimmer could fly them back to safety.

"How'd we miss this?" asked Tallie, gazing out over the structure. Most of its surface was smooth, but panels were haphazardly strewn about it, as well as a few short poles attached to dish shaped ends.

MC threw up her hands as everyone looked at her. "What? The plateau was the sensible location. But I suppose whoever went through the trouble of building a death machine can't be relied on to think rationally when they planned where they wanted to place said death machine. Forgive me for thinking the apocalypse was a little more orderly than it apparently was."

"It's fine, MC," Pana said. They smiled at her. It was because of her that they had even made it this far. "We made it here in the end. And without your maps, and your knowledge, we probably wouldn't have been able to even estimate where the weapon was." MC lowered her arms, and though she didn't exactly smile back at them, she no longer looked so annoyed.

Off to the side, Bob was tapping on one of the panels with a hammer. He leaned forward, pointing his ear at it as he continued to tap. When he looked up, he called out to the rest of the group. "Yep, there's a room on the other side. If we were able to heat the metal here at this panel, it should be thin enough to break through."

Waveskimmer squirmed over to the panel without standing up. He breathed a few times, preparing himself. Then, with a slight and slow exhale, a hot blue fire was directed from his mouth towards the edges of the panel. The metal glowed red. Bob struck out at the heated edges with his hammer. Already weakened from the fire, the panel began collapsing inward with each stroke of the hammer. With a final hit, Bob smashed the panel downwards, pushing it into the room below.

"Sloppy workmanship if I do say so myself. But anyway, there you are – our way in."

The floor wasn't too far below them, but the group tied ropes to the roof and slid down into the hall anyway in an effort to avoid any minor injuries. With their left arm still bandaged, it was difficult for Pana to grab onto the rope, but they still managed to slow their descent. When Pana reached the floor, they looked back up at Waveskimmer. He couldn't fit through the opening. Burning more of the roof would take all day, and that was assuming that Waveskimmer could release that much fire. They never saw him run out of flames, but there must be a limit to just how much fire he could produce in a day.

Pana looked around for any other way into the structure. Light peeked through the hole that they had entered from, revealing the dust covered metal floor, but the rest of the room was dark. There was no telling what waited for them inside.