The alarm in the lift had been sounding for the last fifteen minutes. Its constant buzzing had gone from been an annoyance to infuriating, and had now reached intolerable.
Greg banged the lift's control panel with his fist. "I know there are too many people in here!" he screamed. "That's why we're stuck!" The lift responded by giving a sudden jerk and twitching its doors; then the alarm went silent.
"Well, at least that's stopped," Greg said to the other occupants of the lift.
There were a dozen people altogether in the lift. They were far too close for comfort for a short trip - let alone for the quarter-hour that they had been trapped in immobilised car. Although the lift had stopped because it was overloaded, the plate just to the left of the doors stated that it was rated for a maximum of twelve people or 1000 kg. The actual cause of the problem was a mystery.
Maria raised her hand to attract attention. "Maybe we could try the intercom now?" she suggested.
"It wasn't working before," Greg answered. "Why should it now?"
"Well, the alarm's stopped, so something's changed. I think it's worth a try now, don't you?"
There was a chorus of agreement from the other occupants of the lift.
"Alright. I'll try again." Greg jabbed a finger at the intercom button, but there was no response. "See," he said. "Nothing."
The intercom crackled into life. "Hello?" a distorted voice said.
Greg glared at the others, daring them to say something, then bent down to the intercom speaker. "Hi. We've been stuck in a lift, like for the last quarter of an hour. Can you help?"
"Sure," the voice said. "Let me get onto the rescue team. I'll just put you on hold."
There was a click, and the speaker on the intercom began to play a bossa nova version of The Girl From Ipanema.
