Jack and the Beanstalk [SF YA]

CHAPTER NINE - Jack be Nimble - Part II

Awareness returned slowly. I heard a sound, clicking in the darkness. Then I realized it was my teeth chattering. The air lay on me like a blanket of ice.

--Where am I?

(A warehouse, they shot you with a dart.)

--What about the other guy?

"Hello? Is anybody here?" I heard no response. Quietly calming myself I listened carefully. I stopped breathing but the blood in my head seem to rush so loudly in its course that it masked any sounds I might have heard. Rolling to my knees, I reached out where I thought he'd be. The exertion caused the tentative contact with the moon's light gravity to break and I collapsed onto my stomach trying to get the ground to feel more solid. I slowly pushed myself up and inched across the wavering floor. My hands contacted clothing, the stiff khaki material of the guard's uniform. I found his arm and searched for a pulse in his cold wrist, but my own fingers lacked enough sensation to be able tell if it existed or not. Remembering an old first aid lesson, I licked my own wrist and placed it above his nose. I felt his breath like a cold tongue across my skin.

(He's alive, at least.)

--Right.

"Sir? Please wake up." I gently shook him, but he felt like a dead man in my hands. Then he moved. His arms shook me off and he rolled into me and the ground tilted swiftly. As I pushed myself back up, something hit me in the side of the head, hard. Suddenly the world was bright, but the ensuing darkness broken by tiny stars threatened to suck me back into unconsciousness. I fell into fetal position, my arms protecting my face.

"Wait! You don't understand." Another blow caught me in the midsection. I grunted and went back down, scrambling to get out of the way, but my cold, sleepy limbs refused to move under my command in the low gravity. A great weight came down on the back of my head and the floor greeted me with another explosion of light.

"I should kill you," the man growled. The light receded, as did the man's voice as if he retreated down a long tunnel. "But, I'm sure the police can take care of you."

#

I awoke to none too gentle slaps alternated with vigorous shaking.

"Wake up, you son-of-a-bitch." His voice grated across my nerves like a poorly-tuned violin played without rosin on the bow.

"Stop!" I begged. "I'm awake."

He released me and I floated back toward the floor and landed not nearly as gently as I could have hoped. My brain pounded in my head and my whole body shook from the cold.

"Look. If you don't help me, and help me soon neither of us are getting out of here alive. Understand."

"Yes," I answered, hoping not to provoke him.

"Your friends, whoever they were, locked the door behind themselves and took my keys."

"They're not my friends. They shot me with a dart, as well. Doesn't the door work on a thumb switch? That's how we got in."

"Yes," he agreed, dragging me back to my feet and pushing me in the direction he wished to go. "But they've switched the code and taken my override key. The only way out is through a ventilation shaft. It's too high for me to reach alone. There's nothing left in here to stand on, so you're going to have to help me get up into the duct work."

"The ventilation seems to be working all too well," I joked, my arms gently flailing for the wall in front of me as he continued to push.

"Actually, it's not working at all. Not only are we running out of heat, but if that doesn't kill us the lack of oxygen eventually will. Stand here. Now, give me a step with your hands then get me up as high as you can go."

He leaned me back into the wall and put his foot into the step my hands created. I raised him up easily to chest high. The exertion threatened to pass me out again. "Hurry up. I'm feeling dizzy."

"Almost there. It'll take me a minute to get into the ducting, then just pray I can find a way into someplace pressurized."

"You're not taking me with you?"

"If you can climb the wall or jump this high, you're welcome to follow me, but you're probably smarter staying here."

I considered my options as he grunted above me.

"Watch out. Here comes the grille."

As it glanced off my shoulder, his feet became light and left my hands.

"I'm up. Conserve your energy." Scraping sounds indicated his movement. Soon they faded.

(Conserving energy's a good idea.)

--But getting out of here's a better one. The vent can't be much more than three meters up.

(But remember, even though you don't weigh as much your body still has the same mass.)

--I'm not stupid. And I just came from Earth so I'm stronger than the average Loony.

(It's your funeral.)

I bounced gently up off my toes a few times and came back down softly. With a big push of my legs I jumped, my arms sliding up the wall feeling for the opening. My hands found the opening, but my speed was to great. I threw my arms up over my head, and immediately jammed into the ceiling. Pain burned into my limbs. The sound of my body striking the metal panels echoed throughout the dark room. As I fell back down I backpedalled trying to stay verticle, but my violent motion to protect my head had gotten me off balance. My spinning feet met the floor at an angle. The floor slipped out from under me with a clang. The damn grille! My arms again absorbed my force. I collapsed quietly against the floor. Breathing slowly to regain control of my rushing heart.

(Perhaps a bit of patience is in order. Even if you get in the ducting there's no guarantee you'll find a way out.)

--Right.

I lay there still, until the cold of the floor began to steal away what heat I had.

(Simple motion might be good. To retain some body heat.)

I stood, shaking out my wracked arms, before wrapping them tightly across my chest. Though I opened my eyes wide, no light met them. I stepped tentatively forward and when I'd moved a couple meters I turned and retraced my path. Three steps, turn. Three steps, turn. Three steps, turn. After a time, sounds entered my brain--voices. Soon I'll be out of here. The voices called out my name. I called back, but the voices simply continued.

"Why don't you respond?"

(Jack, I think you're hallucinating.)

--Shut up. They're calling my name."

(It's really cold. Can we lie down?)

--No. If we lie down we're dead.

"Jackie? It's mummie. Come here, Jackie boy."

"Mummie? Are you there? Where's Da?"

"He's right here with me. Come join us."

"I can't, Mum."

"Yes, Jackie, you can. Just relax. Lay down and sleep. You can be with us forever."

"No, I can't."

"Come on, son."

A shining glow appeared blinding my eyes.

"Jack?"

"Da?" My father? I sank to my knees.

Strong arms grasped mine.

"Come with us."

"No." But the arms were leading me toward the shining light. Through my closed eyelids I could see the brilliant glow. "NO!" I shoved the arms away. "I can't go. I don't want to go yet."

"All right, give it to him, or he's not going to come without trouble."

A sharp pain grew outward from my right bicep, slowly warming me with heat and pain as it grew. "No."

(No.)

--No.

"