Rosa and Gal spill out of the maintenance tunnel into a wider access spine, all ribbed metal and pale emergency strips. The floor hums under their boots, and the air tastes clean after the coolant haze.
Ahead, the emergency egress portal glows green through a half-open iris gate. A warning beacon ticks in a steady, patient rhythm, not an alarm, just a reminder that the annex is still on borrowed time.
Gal Incognito
That way, Rosa. We have minutes, maybe less.
Rosa Lewis
We get out. Now.
Rosa pushes forward with her scanner in hand, reading the conduit vibration as she moves. The corridor shivers once, then settles, as if the building is choosing not to break yet.
Gal Incognito
I saw the load flags before the blackout, Dolly and Mariah. If we live through this, we talk about them.
The egress gate cycles open with a hiss, revealing a brighter junction beyond, where station light and evacuation arrows pull them toward safety. Somewhere deeper in the annex, a distant relay clicks into a greener containment state.
Reach the outer bulkhead to safety
Investigate the Dolly and Mariah system flags