The Door but No Key

Posted on Sun Feb 21st, 2021 @ 9:45pm by Lieutenant Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: The Jungle
Location: Jungle
Timeline: Current

Two targets closing in. She surmised if she could see them, they could see her. It stood to reason that not all of the hunters had the fancy helmets. Perhaps only certain ones, engineers or former security personnel maybe. Either way she couldn't risk being caught, and so she kept moving.

Gear slung upon her back, rifle in her good hand, despite her lack of ability to use it, bad hand being used as a machete, hurting with every strike, she moved through the underbrush parallel to the cliff face. She felt like she was making good progress until finally she pulled back a branch to reveal a ravine. It was deep. She peered over the edge, knocking loose gravel into the pit. There was no river, only a tiny stream so jumping down was out. She peered through the helmet at the other side, too far to jump. The helmet gave distance at 20 meters.

But then she spotted a flashing icon in the helmet's hud. It was directional, meaning as she looked about, the icon remained stationary. It was along the ravine and in the direction of the cliff face, an intersection where the two met. Her hunters were getting close, roughly 100 yards now, so she made the choice to follow the icon.

Teetering on the edge of the ravine she pushed tree limb after tree limb out of her way until she reached a small clearing at the cliff's edge. The rock wall in front of her was solid, but her hud showed different. There was an arch shaped hole, big enough for two, hidden in the surface of the rock. She couldn't see it, but the helmet could. The icon on her screen was showing her the access point.

She approached. Nothing happened. "Computer open arch." She was greeted with two negative tones. "Computer, how do I access this door?"

To which the computer responded, "Access can only be granted with corresponding communicator badge."

"Shit." She cursed at herself. Of course now she needed a working badge, which she sacrificed for the working helmet. Her only hope was the power cell in the rifle. But there was no way in hell she could fix it before the hunters closed in on her. She needed a smart idea and she needed one fast.

TBC