A Way Up

Calvo said nothing as he followed the petite brunette guard woman down the corridors of the abandoned ship. They had been searching for about fifteen minutes now and every console they had come across was inactive. A cold shiver ran down his back, he felt like he was being watched, but the scans had clearly read no life forms on board and so far they had come across nothing to refute that information. “Too many years in lockup,” Calvo whispered under his breath.

“What’s that?” the guardswoman turned to Calvo, her deep blue eyes catching his. God she was hot and not just hot for a man that hadn’t seen pussy in half a decade either, she was fucking hot.

“Nothing,” he mumbled, preferring the solitude of his own thoughts to conversation. She persisted.

“Do you hate us… for imprisoning you I mean?” She asked softly. Obviously this had been on her mind for a while.

Calvo thought about it for a moment before responding. Finally he shrugged, “I knew the risks when I got into smuggling.”

She nodded and turned away from him, continuing down the hall. It wasn’t long before they got to the next lift. “Activate lift.” Twelve commanded the darkened console. Nothing happened. She let out a disappointed sigh, “Any idea?”

“Well, there has to be an alternate way up.” Calvo answered, “It’s a fundamental rule of ship design that in case of power failure or structural damage you always need an alternate way of getting between decks.” He thought about it for a moment, “Despite its size, this ship really isn’t all that different than other ships I’ve seen. More than likely, we are looking for a hatch or something in one of the walls.”

They looked up and down the hall; the walls looked to be created out of a single piece of metal (if it even was metal). However, about four and a half feet up the wall of every 3-way intersection, there was a square hand sized indent in the otherwise flawless surface. Calvo walked up to the nearest one, twelve standing behind him, clutching her jacket around as he tentatively touched the indentation.

The first few touches had had no negative effects so Calvo grew more bold, pushing the surface harder and finally, placing his palm in the indentation. Immediately, the indentation began to glow and within seconds a three foot wide section of the wall had disappeared, revealing a ladder extending through the entire length of the ship. Cautiously Calvo peered up the shaft, the distance was dizzying, however far above him he could make out a ceiling. Looking down he noticed that they were only two floors from the bottom of the ship.

“What do you see?” the anxious twelve asked behind him.

“A way up.”