The Aethernet Falls

Chapter 13 - Aftermath - Part 3

It might have been his imagination but Boros could have sworn that the life was taking longer going up than down. It could have been the destruction wrought by the explosion. One thing that was certain was that moving up was louder than going down as rusted rollers ran up aging cables against gravity, rather than with it. More concrete dust was kicking up and the exposed sides of the walls were beginning to show signs of the destruction, cracking in some places.

A large chunk of concrete fell from the walls causing the lift to shudder for a moment, but the added weight was still far below what it was accustomed to during its previous life. Still, Boros was concerned that it might not be able to make the trip a second time. He wasn’t even certain that it could make this journey.

But that was why he was going back up alone. He needed to survey the damage the shock wave and subsequent tremors had caused. He was struck with a fear that he would have to leave his sister and the politician below, stranded because the lift failed. It could very well fail with him still on it, the anchored cables slipping loose of their holds and sending him plummeting to the basement. He acknowledged that lifts, especially ones as heavy-duty as the one he was on, had emergency measures in place to prevent such a deadly fall, but the observatory had been built hastily of concrete and steel, and the parts he could see were heavily corroded. No doubt the parts he couldn't were as well.

Three agonizing minutes past and the lift had slowed to a crawl, the engine, probably in a state not unlike the rest of the lift’s construction, straining with its age. It eventually levelled out with the floor and the doors creaked open on aging rollers. The damage hadn’t made it this far down the hall, but this part of the building was squat and more stable than the rest.

Worrying at the state of the rest of the complex, especially the atrium, he began running. His mind was haunted with images of all the workstations crushed, the ceiling having caved in on them. As he neared the taller parts of the observatory’s construction the damage became more obvious. Jagged cracks appearing on the walls and floor. Bits of concrete strewn about where they had dislodged from the roof, revealing the iron framework within.

He had to hurdle over a large piece that was blocking the path. Not a good omen.

The atrium was a scene that felt like it belonged in the apocalypse; massive sections of the roof had crumbled and fallen on the workstations. Luck alone had spared a few of the computers from the destruction. The dome had taken the biggest hit. Parts of it had collapsed before they arrived, and now the telescope was wedged underneath a massive piece, at least half of the total dome in size. Smaller pieces of the thinner construction scattered about.

The telescope mount creaked under the immense weight it was never intended to support. Boros cursed and, in a panic, ran to the nearest workstation not completely covered in rubble. He dusted it off and activated it. It still had power and a connection to the master server. Luck again. He picked it up off the station and tried to pull it towards the partition, which had managed to weather the storm, only to find the cables coming off it were snagged under a bit of what used to be ceiling. He abandoned it immediately, setting it on the ground and hoping it wouldn’t rain for some time, just in case none of the other computers left were functional.

He began turning the other computers on, and tugging them away. The cables were long, designed to be moved around as the work they were intended to carry out demanded, but each time he found that the cables were snagged on something. He cursed again in as many languages as he could and tried the last, only to find it, too was snagged. He yanked on the cable again in frustration and to his surprise, it slipped free of whatever was pinning it. He dragged it away to the still secure portion near the petition, pleasantly surprised when the trailing cable managed to reach the far side. It would be safe there for the time being.

Now he need only get the others from the basement.