The Pipe

'Shut up Dayla, this was your idea remember,' Idor whispered to the girl crawling behind him.

'But my knees hurt and this metal's scratching my hands.'

'Keep your voice down or someone will hear us.'

Idor kept crawling through the claustrophobic metal pipes, trying to ignore the whining of the girl who followed him. He knew how thin the metal was and how far the sound of their voices could travel, betraying their whereabouts to those pursuing them.

'I'm stopping for a rest and I don't care what you say,' Dayla hissed.

When Idor realised she meant what she said and that she had stopped, he came to a reluctant halt and tried to catch his breath. The air was rank with chemical fumes. His chest heaved from the effort of pulling his scrawny body through the narrow pipes and his mouth was parched.

He wriggled around and sat up as best he could.

The small lamp attached to his forehead cast just enough light to outline the pale features of the girl collapsed on the metal floor behind him.

'You know what will happen if we don't keep moving. I told you the risks before we started. We don't have time to stop, even for a short rest.'

Dayla raised her head and Idor could see she was now crying in earnest.

He sighed and stretched out his hand to touch her. The space was tight so he could only brush the end of her fingers, but his touch seemed to calm her.

'I can't do this,' she wept. 'I've changed my mind I want to go back.'

'We can't,' Idor said bluntly.

'Why not? I'll protect you. I'll say it was my fault and I forced you to help me. They'll shout and carry on for a bit, but they'll get over it.'

'For you maybe, but I'll be lucky to get away with a whipping and banishment to the mines on Altparon. But your father's more likely to have me flayed alive on the control deck and ejected from an air lock. He's very enthusiastic about making examples of those who go against him.'

'I can protect you,' Darla begged. 'My father never refused me anything. He won't punish you if I ask him not to.'

'Like he listened when you said you didn't want to marry this Meronthian prince you've taken such a dislike to?'

Dayla pouted.

'His home planet is the other side of the galaxy. I don't want to leave my friends and go and live in a strange place. Besides I don't love him.'

'You don't even know him,' Idor pointed out. 'You didn't give the poor guy a chance?'

Dayla's started crying again.

'I thought you loved me Idor? You told me you'd do anything for me?'

'So risking my freedom and my life for you isn't enough?'

'I want to go back. I command you to take me back!'

'I told you we can't.'

'Now you're only thinking of yourself,' Dayla hissed. 'I'm going back, with or without you.'

'You can't,' Idor stated baldly.

'Yes I can. I'll just turn around and go. You worried I'll get lost or something?

'Don't you remember anything I said?

What're you trying to say Idor?' Dayla asked, a look of fear flitting across her face.

'I told you we had to be at the outer hatch before the evening shift change siren. They'll only open it for us if we get there before then.'

'I'm sure a few minutes or even an hour won't matter much. Won't they be listening out for us?'

'You do know there are people who've got better things to do than wait around for you?'

Dayla glared at him, her eyes burning with fury.

'Dayla there's not enough time to go back. We have to keep moving forward. We have to get to that hatch in time.'

'Why?' Dayla screeched. 'I need to rest. Have you forgotten who I am Idor? I'm your princess.'

'I haven't forgotten anything,' Idor replied, a grim look in his eyes. 'It's plain you weren't listening when we discussed the risks; probably lost in some romantic daydream of living as an Outsider.'

Idor grabbed the end of her fingers.

'Dayla, I told you these are the main fuelling pipes for the engines right? If we don't get to that hatch in time, we'll be caught as they do the evening fire up. These pipes will be filled with burning fuel in seconds and there will be no chance of escape then.'

Dayla snatched her hand away.

'If we don't keep moving we're going to die. It's probably too late already. You've got to keep up with me.'

He turned and started crawling slowly forward again. A few short minutes later his body tensed as the shrill blast of the evening siren sounded behind them.

They were out of time.