Lights Out

DATE: Year 315-A. Sol 12

LOCATION: Pluto Underground Complex (Vault Sector)

The drone smashed into a row of decommissioned terminal racks, sending a shower of parts clattering across the deck plating as what remained of it tried to regain its bearings and complete its mission.

Meanwhile Lijo lunged toward the vault entrance.

-Kora, get out of there! he yelled, grabbing the edge of the reinforced steel door.

Kora emerged from the deep recess of the basalt, her face pale behind her visor. In her hand, she held a thick, analog jumper cable she had ripped from the wall repository.

-The physical relay is thrown, she gasped, holding up the heavy cable. But the vault won’t drop its manual seals until the primary power line to the storage sector is severed. The WIP bot is still feeding an encryption loop into the local backup drives through the ceiling conduit. If that loop finishes, it will delete the indexing records.

-What? Lijo asked, trying to follow before deciding it didn’t matter. Where's the conduit? Lijo asked.

Kora pointed up into the darkness. Six meters above the vault door, a thick bundle of insulated cables was held against the ceiling by a heavy iron bracket.

-That's the high-voltage trunk, she said. If we cut it, the storage sector loses the network entirely. It orphans the system. But my tools are locked.

Lijo looked up at the ceiling, then back at his own hands.

-I don't have a cutter, Kora, Lijo said, as the drone let out a low, pneumatic growl, its blind claws snapping closer to the lift-dray.

-You don't need a cutter, she said, thrusting the analog jumper cable into his hands. You have a heavy-duty wrench and a direct line to a dead freighter battery on that dray. Short the bracket.

Lijo looked from the cable to the massive Core block sitting on his mechanical dray. The copper pins were still cold, holding a massive residual static charge from the station's main grid.

-That's going to blow every fuse between here and the outer docks, Lijo said.

-There's no one left to use the lights, Lijo, Kora said.

Lijo looked at his HUD.

Remaining Time: 2 Beats.Cabin Pressure: 12% (Critical).

He grabbed the jumper cable, slammed one end into the master socket of the extracted Core block, and scaled the rusted framework of the vault door.

Behind him, the blind drone slammed into the base of the lift-dray, its last steel claw screeching against the frame.

-Hold on to something! Lijo roared, swinging the heavy industrial wrench with all his weight, driving the copper end of the jumper cable straight into the high-voltage iron bracket.

The world turned white.