Tale of The Broken Sword

Chapter Forty Six : A Piece of the Past

23rd February, AD 2057

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica

I cautiously walked along the long, narrow hallway of the massive station. With each step softly echoing along the white, clean and somewhat endless labyrinth of criss-crossing hallways and rooms large enough to be considered an auditorium, I tried to stay close to the wall. I don't know why I did it but, like in those movies, they add a little suspense into the situation. Basically, there's no point doing it and I'm embarrassing myself in here.

I made my way past a dozen of similar doors and closed shutters and I nearly stumbled upon two befuddled-looking guards. I took off before they could sense anything amiss. Should've just worn a disguise; makes all the work easier. After an unaccountable number of closed doors passing around me, I stopped outside the one I was looking for.

The Maintenance Room.

I quickly dig in my pocket and pulled out a long, paperclip and bent it to look like a wire. Thankfully, the door wasn't the kind that is reinforced with steel plates that would withstand a nuclear blast or something like that. It's just a small, simple door dividing what's in it between the outside. I look around the empty hallway before crouching towards the door.

Sliding the pin into the hole and slowly turning it around. The moment was tense. I could feel the moment when anyone could just walked in and spot a suspicious man trying to get into the maintenance room; which has access to every single part of the station, and they could sound the alarm and things could go for the worst. I've got to hurry up.

After a few fruitless tries and a few minutes of looking around the still-empty hallway, the lock made a loud click and the door pried open. I glanced both ways along the hallway before slipping into the pitch-black room. Slamming and shutting the door, I grope around the wall of the room looking for a button. I always hated tight spaces, but tight spaces in dark rooms would make me go insane.

Flipping the switch next to the door, the fluorescent light flickers for a moment before lighting up permanently and the light casted on every part of the room. The room's tiny indeed. Stacks of bundles of wires sit next to boxes of mechanical junk and myriad of old, and dirty mops. A row of brightly coloured plastic bottles of detergents of some kind line the shelf along the far wall. At the very corner of the room, lay a wide metal tube extending from the floor up towards the ceiling.

"So, this is the maintenance room," I muttered to myself. "Creepy as hell."

"I'm in," I hold against the small button on the earpiece.

"That's great," Janice's voice reverberates out of the earpiece. "The conference room should be just two floors above you. Take the air vent and find the way upwards, and make sure you're from the ceiling looking down. That way, they won't see you. Neither do the guards."

"They're amateurs to not think that a shadow is preying upon them..." Warren interceded with a ghastly voice. "... From above."

"Warren, stop it." She responds, sounding annoyed. "Once you've done whatever was necessary, come and meet us at the lowest levels of the station. Go, and good luck, Kelson."

"And hope that the air vent won't lead you into the dumpster or the icy and cold subterranean ocean from below. No one's gonna save you from that." Warren said, his voice slowly fading.

"Got it," I said before turning the earpiece off. "Just find an empty air vent. This should be an easy one." I spotted a metal grate jutting out from the ceiling at the corner of the room.

Heading towards the far wall of the maintenance room, I lifted myself onto the wooden crate. I struggled with the square metal grate on the ceiling, yanking tirelessly at the corners until it began to loosen bit by bit. Moments later, they popped out from the panel and revealed an open air vent. I bent down and leans the grate against the wall and reached out for the vent.