Page 5 of The Viking in the Vault
I just need to get those samples, then I can leave. I’ve got everything I need in my bag. I’ll be okay.
When I reach the door to the Llaekis Prime chamber, I stop. The access panel flickers erratically, and the door itself is slightly ajar, a thin crack of light spilling into the corridor. I glance over my shoulder, half-expecting someone to call out and tell me to turn back.
Maybe I want them to…but nobody does.
No–I’m making this stupid decision all on my own.
I take a deep breath and step inside.
The chamber is freezing, the temperature dropping sharply as the door shuts behind me–still with a crack open. My breath fogs up in front of me and I have to wave the fog away to scan the room, taking in the rows of towering pillars of ice. Some are easily the size of an entire room, taken from alien oceans and frozen tundras.
These are the Llaekis prime samples: pieces of a planet that some climate scientists theorize was once the subject of terraforming experiments. The cores contain millions of years of planetary history–data that could help me piece together a solution for Earth’s rising sea levels.
I move carefully between the rows, my gloved fingers trailing along labeled metal plates as I search for the section I need. The chamber is quiet except for the faint hum of the containment units and the occasional crackle of electricity from somewhere up ahead. The door behind me keeps trying to shut, startling me every time it thuds against debris with a loud pop.
This room seems to have been hit particularly hard by the quake. The walls are cracked in places, and frost coats the floor in uneven patches, making it treacherously slippery. One of the cylinders near the back leans slightly, its base no longer fully stable. I stop in front of it, my stomach tightening as I imagine the damage that could result from a second quake.
Be careful, Elena.
I tell myself it’ll be fine. I just need to collect my data and get out.
When I find the first core I need, I set the scanner against the metal plate at its base and wait as it connects. The display screen flickers to life, showing a stream of data as it begins downloading the information stored within.
I keep one eye on the screen and the other on the room around me, my ears straining for any sign of movement. The cracks in the walls seem to creep closer, and I feel like the room itself is holding its breath, waiting for something to go wrong.
And then it does.
A low rumble vibrates through the floor, faint at first but growing stronger with every passing second. My heart leaps into my throat as I glance around, panic rising.
At first I thought it was just the space settling…but this is another earthquake.
A fine, chilling mist of frozen dust begins to rain down from the ceiling. A sharp crack of splitting ice cuts through the clamor, so loud it feels like the room itself is screaming.
Then comes the groan–a deep, ominous moan from the shifting supports beneath my feet, the kind of sound that makes your stomach lurch and your instincts scream one word.
Run.
The ground beneath me trembles violently, the vibrations making it impossible to keep my balance. I stagger backward, clutching the scanner tightly as the room tilts around me.Another loud crack splits the air, and I look up just in time to see one of the overhead beams give way.
I dive to the side as the beam crashes down where I stood seconds ago, the impact sending a shockwave through the chamber. I hit the ground hard, my head slamming against the icy floor. Stars explode in my vision, and for a moment, I can’t hear anything over the roar of the quake.
When I force myself to move, I can barely stay upright. The cylinders around me shake violently, and I watch in horror as one of them topples over, crashing to the ground and shattering into a thousand pieces–priceless data, gone. Shards of ice scatter across the floor, the glow of the core extinguished.
I have to get out of here.
I scramble to my feet, slipping on the frost as I try to make it to the door. My satchel is somewhere behind me, but there’s no time to go back for it. I can hear the groaning of the walls as they start to give way, and the sound sends a fresh wave of panic through me.
I was so stupid. I let my savior complex kick in for the millionth time, and this time, it backfired.
The floor beneath me shifts again, and I lose my footing, falling hard. My hands scrape against the ice as I try to crawl forward, my breath coming in short, panicked gasps. The air is filled with the deafening noise of collapsing metal and shattering ice, and I can barely hear my own thoughts over the chaos.
I reach for the door, my fingers brushing against the edge?—
And then the wall to my left caves in completely, a cascade of ice and rubble rushing toward me.
The last thing I see is the pale inner glow of the remaining cores, each one of them tilting as I slide back, back, back…
Then everything goes black.
