Blue droplet

Holding your nerve tight in your will, you request as calmly as you can for the blue crystal. The dark figure does not respond beyond a grunt as he leans down and turns a dial on the rotating bench. Its spin slows and stops and it is soon conveying you forward beneath the blue symbol and the curtain beneath. The temperature rises as soon as you go beyond it and the humidity too. The dark blue of the first crystal is echoed by more crystals dotted around the side of the track you follow. The deep shadow is replaced by glints against tiled wall smooth and cold all around you. Living noises are soon replaced by the sounds of trickling, faint swooshes of steam and the occasional glug of liquids moving around tanks or pipes. The humid air continues to warm.

The leather clad jester appears oblivious to the rising temperature, marching patiently alongside the steadily moving bench as it moves along the corridor and slightly downhill until it turns a corner. The slabbed floor has several grates, and where moisture condenses and pools it swiftly drains. A large cube stands at the centre of the tiled room which is at the end of the track you are on. With a grinding noise and a judder you lurch to a halt.

Your silent guard steps up beside you and, drawing a complex looking key from a chain at his belt, spends a long moment beneath the bench. With a sudden ratcheting sound every band securing you withdraws into the surface. The freedom to move is almost a shock and you swing yourself upright into a sitting position with your head dizzy. The leather gloved hand which attaches itself to your upper arm is so intractable it might as well be mechanical however. You flex your joints as if they are stiff but inwardly your thoughts still turn toward trying your luck at escape, despite a spinning head and shaky legs. Your eyes roam the room and the vents, though none is large enough to accommodate even your slim frame, and nothing which would seem to make a weapon. You are also very aware of the floating orb still twitching this way and that, it’s magical gaze no doubt trained upon you. The only way out appears to be back the way you came. Surely this is the best chance you have had so far..