Trial 017 - 2019 Wattys Sci-Fi Winner

Chapter 5

We rushed outside of Palmer Hall, stopping only enough for Peter to snatch a few items from his lab. There were very few students in our area, but the ones we ran into were just as confused as we were. In between siren wails, an announcer could be heard directing people to shuttle stations.

"Students and faculty, please proceed in an orderly fashion to the nearest shuttle lift," echoed the announcer. The same announcement continued to repeat over the sirens in varying languages I couldn't understand.

I whirled around, half-panicked. On all of the days I could be visiting, why did this have to happen today?

"Does this happen a lot?" I asked. "Peter, do you know what's going on?"

My little brother stalked past me, clutching a datapad tightly to his chest.

"No and no," he answered firmly, shoving a lunchbox sized capsule and a tablet into my bag before handing it back to me. "This way, Charlie."

Despite being in the middle of an evacuation, he seemed awfully calm. Still, it was an evacuation, and I jammed a hand into my pocket, grasping the shell there for good luck. Then, I slipped the backpack back on, feeling his box digging into my back. There weren't that many items in my bag at the moment. Maybe when we came back, Peter would give me more junk from his lab to fill it with.

"Why aren't you worried?" I demanded. "Isn't this an emergency?"

"No, it's not," he said. "The school is large. If something were to happen, the sheer size of this habitat gives us ample time to retreat to safety via evac shuttle before the incident becomes life-threatening. That is, anything short of an explosion on the dome. And even then, it needs to be one hell of an explosion to break through this dome's exoskeleton."

He started to lead me toward the center of the department, but instead of turning onto the street with the tram station, he continued on ahead. I stared after him in confusion, then caught up and spun him around.

"Alright, fine," I said, pointing to the side. "But the nearest shuttle station is a long way off. We have to take the tram to get there. Where are you going?"

"It's too far," he answered. "We're zoned for a nearby lift."

He glanced back at me. "Hopefully they have an extra seat."

I followed, wondering just how an evacuation would work with such a large dome. After a minute, I noticed that the students and staff appearing around us were all headed in the same general direction. Surprisingly, very few people were in a rush, and some kids were even chatting amiably as they walked. It certainly didn't feel like an evacuation to me.

It wasn't long before I noticed we were headed for a tall thin tower, standing nearly a kilometer tall. I could see the students that arrived before us splitting and disappearing down large hatches and stairwells, lit by red emergency lighting. Peter and I followed them, winding down a particularly wide staircase. Along the way we passed several doors, but Peter kept tugging on my arm, forcing me to keep going. When the crowd finally began to thin out, Peter stopped us at the next door and shoved me in, pushing me toward a seat next to the door.

"There," he said, dropping into the seat next to mine. "I really hope we didn't unseat someone important."

I glanced at him, horrified. Peter looked up and saw my confused face.

"A joke," he said. When my face still didn't change, he sighed and reached over my lap. "Just buckle yourself in."

As we strapped in, Peter turned to the side, tugging at the sleeve of the nearest staff member.