5: Overgrowth
The airlock door struggles to open. Rusted metal creaks and grinds as the sections split apart into their respective slots in the frame. Echoes of birds taking flight and the wail of wind through hollow spaces—the idle drip of condensation from the walls. No light on the other side of the airlock, and even with the door now open, it still seems blocked by something more natural.
Both women's eyes widen, and they take a step back as if afraid it would bite. Because they truly don't know whether or not it would. But after a brief moment of examination, they realize what blocks their path now is a dense netting of vines that has grown over the outside of the door.
Marin approaches cautiously to tug on one of the vines gingerly. Finding it much stiffer than she expected. Creaking more like wood with an almost calcified exterior. She runs her hand over more of the net and finds a spot where she can bend two cords apart to peek through. Seeing nothing but near pitch black at first, but her eyes seem to automatically adjust to the difference. Allowing her to see with a degree of night-vision thanks to the lights inside the airlock.
She can make out the silhouettes of all sorts of equipment. Desks, chairs, crates, consoles, and control panels. All of it coated in a thick layer of dirt and overgrowth. Water drips from the ceiling overtaken by hanging roots that flow all the way down to the floor to sink between the metal tiles.
'There must be a forest above us…' She wonders, before turning to face her partner. "Well. I don't think the maintenance guy has been here in a while." She comments, pursing her lips a tad. "And the landscaper..."
Laura chuckles, pulling her knife hilt from its holster. "No kidding. But at least we can be certain this place hasn't been used in a long time." She surmises, scanning the vines as she approaches. "Stand back, baby."
Marin doesn't need to be asked twice, shifting out of the way for Laura before the blonde activates the brilliant blue blade. She tests the blade against one of the vines. Watching the bright edge slice through with zero resistance. Then she simply starts from the edges of the doorframe, cutting the net of vines free until it finally slumps forward into a heap.
The two women scan around the adjoining room. The light from the airlock is now fully spilling in. It's still incredibly dark, but the added light helps their nanite-enhanced eyes make up for the difference.
Getting a better look now, the two can see breaches in the ceiling where the roots are hanging down. Soil caved in along with them. The room itself is not that large and has no other connecting sections. Shaped half hexagonally. The overgrowth is caked across almost every surface. Moss is growing around the little puddles that have formed between the piles of soil that are littered with mushrooms and other fungi.
Marin's eyes brighten at all the nature overtaking the old tech. Gently stepping into the room while being careful not to disturb the unique growth taking place in the soil. "It's like we're in a terrarium."
Laura shuts off her knife and holsters it, following the taller girl in and sliding her hand back into Marin's. "It's beautiful. I wonder if anything is living down here?"
Marin brightens even more at the prospect. The idea of seeing possibly alien creatures is certainly an exciting one. She has always been an avid nature lover just like her parents. Her dad was an ecologist and hunting trips with him are some of her favorite memories. "I wouldn't be surprised. But they might have been scared off or something."
Laura nods, tugging her partner along through the interior grove. The two poke around the consoles and control panels but none of them seem to be getting any power. And they look pretty worn down anyway.
The blonde finally spots what looks like another red airlock door behind curtains of moss. "Hopefully that's our way out." She mutters, stepping up to the wall to start clearing away the squishy plants. Marin stepping in beside her to help.
Within a few minutes, the girls uncover the door to find it heavily rusted. The door itself is much simpler than the ones down in the bunker. Only in two halves that they suppose just slide into the sides of the frame. But it's difficult to tell whether or not it will be able to do that. The edges where the two halves meet look almost fused.
The girls give each other a brief glance before Marin shrugs and tries to will the door open.
The room begins to shake ever so slightly as mechanisms screech and grind within the structure. Echoing from the back walls to the door in front of them as the two halves loudly creak when they try to peel apart. Flakes of rust shed from the red metal surface, leading the girls to shield their eyes. The door tries for a few more seconds before it drops in the frame with a heavy THUD. And Marin flinches as a readout scrawls across her vision.
//Door Mechanism malfunction
//Extensive Damage detected
Marin sighs. "Figures. Door's busted." She puts her hands on her hips and inspects around the frame. "Maybe we can pry it open with something?"
Laura raises a brow and unholsters her knife hilt again. "Or we just cut it open? Isn't that basically what this is for?"
"Ehhh. I don't know if it would cut through metal. I dropped one on the floor earlier, and it just seemed to bounce off and make sparks." The taller girl responds, furrowing her brows at the hilt. "But I guess it wouldn't hurt to try."
The blonde offers a shrug and flicks the trigger, activating the blue blade again. She lines up the blade where the door connects to the frame. When she pushes in, the tip does seem to get some resistance, but it pierces through nonetheless. The metal divides for the blade, letting Laura cut around the edges and splitting the door from the frame. No sign of any melting metal at all. It just seems to erase whatever it touches, which sends a shiver down Marin's back.
Laura makes quick work of the door, shutting the knife off and sliding it back into its holster. "That was frighteningly easy." The blonde admits with a nervous chuckle that Marin echoes.
A creak catches both of their attentions, turning back to the door just in time to see it falling out of the frame towards Laura. Marin's heart nearly leaps out of her chest in a panic as she moves into the path of the door to shield the blonde. Reaching her arm up to at least slow the thick hunk of metal down before it hits her.
Instead, a dull thud connects with her hand, causing her to flinch. Cold metal now touching her palm, but no real overbearing weight behind it. Her brow pinches inward in confusion. Peeling open one eye to see the door leaning harmlessly against her hand.
Laura scoffs. "Must be—some lightweight scifi shit. Yeah?" The blonde comments, along with a sigh of relief. She really wasn't loving the idea of being reborn in a new world just to get crushed by a door.
Marin slowly nods, still fascinated by how light it is. She lets go of Laura, but the blonde sticks close to her like glue anyway. The taller girl tests the door's weight by giving it a few pushes up and down, finding it about as heavy as a standard wooden door back home. "Weird. Yeah, I guess it's some kind of super lightweight scifi shit." She agrees with a scoff of her own. Eventually, she just grabs the door by the freshly cut edges with both hands and lifts it above her head. Walking it over to an empty floor spot to toss it to the ground.
The floor suddenly shakes as the door hits the ground with a loud CLANG. Causing both girls to jump back in surprise. The force of the drop splits the rusted seam and pops the two halves of the door apart.
Marin and Laura stare wide-eyed at the slab of metal in shock until the ringing in their ears subsides. Then slowly their heads turn to meet each other's gazes. Marin's mouth opens to say something but all that comes out is "Uuuuhhh…" Which Laura nods in agreement as if her partner just said anything coherent.
The blonde apprehensively leans down and lifts one half of the door. Nearly stumbling back with just how light it is, only needing one hand to lift it. "Jesus Christ. It is absurdly light. Like it's made out of cardboard." She mutters, glancing to the other half for a moment before grimacing. Holding the door out away from her as far as it will go and then simply letting it drop. And boy does it drop.
CLANG
The floor shakes again, albeit a little less since it's only one half, but still a considerable amount. Enough for the girls to take a step back and stare down at their own hands in horror.
It takes a few moments of internalizing until Marin finally clears her throat. "We—we should go. We can ruminate on whatever the hell just happened—later."
Laura nods in agreement. "Yep."
The duo turns to face the doorway. Inside is another airlock chamber, akin to the one they entered from a few minutes ago. But this one has definitely seen better days. It looks like the overgrowth hasn't managed to breach into it, so it is more preserved at least. And the exit door looks in better shape than the one they just cut through. But everything is still pretty aged and rusty. The plants might not have gotten in, but the moisture sure did.
Both women give each other a brief nervous glance before Marin tries to will the outer door open. Which causes the same sort of grinding and creaking inside the building again. But to their relief, the door panels split open and slid into the frame. Letting bright morning light wash into the chamber.
Bird-like calls echo from behind them just before several small swift shapes swoop past them and out into the light. The girls flinch as a few of them collide with their bodies as they pass.
Marin lets out a nervous breath. "Whew! So they were hiding. Nearly made me piss myself." She admits, frowning a little. "I hope we didn't ruin their little ecosystem in here."
Laura shudders and sighs. "Unlucky for them that we needed to get some fresh air." She didn't get a good look at them because they were too quick, but what she did manage to see made them look like bats. Which is making her skin crawl. "I—unfortunately—was not so lucky. I definitely peed a little."
Marin covers her masked mouth quickly to stifle a giggle before sliding her hand into Laura's and pulling her along. "Come on. We can change your diaper later."
The blonde pouts and narrows her eyes at her partner, but begrudgingly follows. "Shut up..."
Neither girl understood the true extent of their stress during the preceding hours. Not until this very moment, when it seems to be clearing away. The new surroundings lifting away a good chunk of the worries that had been plaguing their thoughts since they woke up. Therapeutic vibrations travel through their bodies from the crunching grass and twigs underfoot.
Both had been terrified of the prospect of a desolate wasteland outside and are now viscerally relieved they were wrong. Around them is a dense forest of large crooked trees covered in pale yellow leaves. Their trunks are webbed with cracks along the bark where vibrant orange coral-like structures sprout from. Vines hang from the branches loosely, tangled into thick nets that seem to writhe every so often. And the knee-high grass changes color from red to white when it's disturbed by movement—a truly alien-looking environment.
Behind them, built directly into the steep rocky terrain of a hill, is the doorway they exited from. Camouflaged to blend in with the rock face. The area directly in front of the rock face looks like it might have been a clearing at some point. No trees have sprouted, and the grass is shorter and patchier than everywhere else. The hillside is open to the sky, which is notably violet. And by the positioning of the sun and the slightly darker tone around, it might actually be early morning.
The girls squeeze each other's hands tightly. Leaning their heads back to let the sun hit their faces. The wind gently rustling through their hair.
Marin sighs in relief and asks the most pressing question. "Nanite buddies. Is—is the air breathable?"
//Host Query: Is the air breathable?
//System Answer: The air in this habitat is perfectly optimized for life. Long-term inhalation is safe.
Marin takes one last breath on the respirator before unlinking it. The straps around her head go limp and she pulls on the mask to break the seal. Slowly lowering it from her face while holding her next breath cautiously. Laura watching nervously from the side.
The first inhale is slow, as if taste-testing the air. And the air that comes through is difficult to describe. It has a flavor to it that Marin has never tasted before back home. But it's not like she has ever really considered what the air tastes like before. It's not something you really notice until it's so significantly different like this.
The taller girl takes a full gulp, holds it, and exhales. "Goddamn…" She mutters under her breath. "Is this what clean air tastes like?"
Laura keeps a firm hand on Marin's lower back just in case something goes wrong. Giving her partner a couple minutes to not suffocate before the blonde finally unseals and removes her own mask as well. Hooking the mask to her belt next to her knife holster. Stalling her first breath for just a few seconds longer until she cautiously inhales. Her face also brightening at the crisp clean air, unlike anything she's ever breathed. "Holy shit—yeah, this definitely hits different."
Marin smiles wide and chuckles. "None of that industrial tang." She remarks while scanning the surrounding treeline. Glints of metal catching her eye deeper in that she narrows her eyes at. Her vision automatically zooms in and focuses for her. On closer inspection, she can make out the edges of a small building overtaken by the elements. A smaller structure sits half-sunken in the grass outside of it. "I can see a building over there. Maybe we should check it out?"
The blonde's enjoyment of the fresh air ceased as her partner draws her attention. Sighting in the structures only a brisk walk away. "Doesn't look too far. Might at least have something in it that will tell us where the hell we are."
Marin nods in agreement, turning back towards the bunker entrance and willing the door to close. The sections of door slide out from the frame, already camouflaged like the rock around it. But as the door seals shut, it reveals an imperfection in the camouflage that sends a chill down the taller girl's spine. A stunned silence taking her for a brief moment until her feet finally move her toward it. "Uh oh…"
Laura frowns at that phrase, spinning around to see Marin heading back towards the doorway. Only taking a few seconds to notice what the problem is. But the blonde isn't quite sure what she is even looking at initially. Following Marin as the tall girl kneels down in front of the door to inspect the damage.
Right in the center of the rocky surface where the sections of the doors meet is an indent that is exposing the actual door beneath it. The stone camo has been melted away to reveal the shiny quicksilver-like material it's made of. A scorch mark is also present on the exposed part of the door panel.
Both girls are quiet while Marin runs her hand over the shiny warped metal of the fake rock. Rubbing her fingers together and feeling not much resistance other than some fine dust that has accumulated. 'No rust. No oxidation.' She thinks, moving her hand down to the ground. Seeing that the grass near the rock wall is burnt mostly away. Some tufts still blackened on their ends. And laying in just a fine layer of dirt are oddly shaped silver pebbles. Pieces that dripped off after being super-heated.
Laura had some time to put her guess together while Marin was quietly investigating. And the blonde truly does not like her guess one bit. 'Uh oh' was definitely not a strong enough phrase for the implications of this. And she swallows an ever-increasing knot in her throat before she asks what she really doesn't want to confirm. "Does—does this mean what I think it means?"
Marin rolls one of the silvery pebbles in between her fingers, still collecting her thoughts herself. And the sharply serious expression on her face when she eventually looks back and up at Laura definitely doesn't make the blonde feel any better.
"Someone tried to get in—recently."