The Descent

Chapter 43 - The Terminal

 "What do you mean, you don't know?" Denton yelled. Passengers around glanced his way and then picked up their pace. Leah put a hand on his arm and gave Denton a look. Denton sighed and shook his head.

"Tanner, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. We just can't afford to lose him now."

There was a long silence before Tanner spoke up again. "I understand. To be fair, I didn't say I've lost him, just that I don't know where he is."

Denton felt his blood start boiling again.

"What's the difference?" he snapped while he opened and closed his fists repeatedly as he resisted the urge to punch the wall next to him.

"I am certain he didn't pass through the second set of cameras. Which means, he must be within the arrival platform area."

"That is true," Denton admitted and scanned the rectangular shuttle arrival area. "If he didn't cross the bridge, he's got to be on the platform."

Passengers came and went while others patiently waited for their turn to board. Those that had just arrived headed straight for the raised walking bridge that led away from the platform. Carter was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't among those seated in the neat rows of chairs placed throughout the arrival area.

"Carter is somewhere close, he hasn't passed across the bridge into the general passenger terminal yet," Denton repeated to Leah.

"How about that door over there?" Leah said immediately and pointed towards the far side of the platform, by the front of the shuttle. "Could he have disappeared through there?"

"I'm not seeing a door," Denton said as he reached to see above the crowd.

"It's by the railing, on the left. You can barely see it. It blends in with the wall."

At first, Denton just saw a white wall with a stripe painted horizontally across it. There was no door there. 

"I don't see it-wait, wait, no, there it is," Denton said as he noticed the rectangular shape, barely visible. How did she see that? "Good catch. Let's check it out," Denton said and walked over towards the closed door. 

"Tanner, where does the door on the forward end of the platform lead to."

"Give me a minute while I pull up the schematics."

The outline of the door became easier to distinguish from the wall as they came closer. Denton wasn't surprised he had missed it, partially hidden by a potted bush and a garbage can as it was. On the other hand, he wasn't sure what to think about Leah's discovery of it. She was obviously very capable, a fact that no longer should surprise him. Not after everything they had been through. So why did it? He kept missing things, and she kept picking up the pieces. He shook his head and rubbed his forehead. Was he losing his mind? He forced the thought out of his mind and shifted his attention to the door.

"How do we open this thing?" he mumbled to himself as he ran his hand around the edges of the door. A square lit up about midway down the door when his hand passed over it. "Ah, here we go. Let's see if we can get this thing open." Denton put his whole hand into the square and waited. The light came back on, flashed white for a moment and then turned red.

"Oh, come on, open up!"

"How about your badge?" Leah said.

Denton looked at Leah and then back at the square on the wall. "That's a palm reader," he said as he put his badge up against the square on the wall. "I've seen thousands of these primitive things around and..." He was cut short when the square lit up green, and the door slid open. Leah smiled and entered through the open doorway while Denton scrambled to find a way to gracefully recover.