Rising Water

Everyone runs for the door. The captain's message repeats endlessly.

"Steve! Come in Steve!" Doc yells into his I-Browse.

There's no response.

"Steve, if you can hear me, I've got Mark and Thunderhorse. Meet us in the hanger!"

Outside the OUE Campus Security station, Officer MacDougle-Kowalski is warming up a hover cart.

"Can we get a ride to the top?" Doc asks her as she mounts up.

"No can do. I'm going down to the grotto to grab as many people as I can. I need all the seats I can get!" she yells back as she takes off at full speed down the corridor.

Everyone in the corridor is going the opposite way; towards the top of the tower. Many of them are in bathing suits, escaping from the grotto. Very few are really panicing, most of them are calm and collected but moving swiftly. They must've drilled for this kind of thing before. Doc remembers all the terror attack drills he had to endure in college. With the gravity malfunctioning, the floor now feels sloped. It's going to be a long run spiraling up the half-mile high tower.

Doc, Mark, and Thunderhorse join the uphill jog. The captain's message is still repeating. Hovercarts zoom by carrying elderly and handicapped passengers. Doc can hear the sound of rushing water behind them. The crowd seems a little more anxious as they pick up the pace into a full run. OUE Security hover carts go back and forth even faster now, shuttling passengers as quickly as they can to just out of harms way, then running back for more.

It's not long before they reach ground level as they race around the spiraling hallway. More traffic is flooding in from outside as people from all over campus try to make their way to safety. A few foot guards lead the people through the arcade to the inner corridor where the rest of the crowd runs.

The three start to get seperated a little buit as more people flood into the inner corridor, but they can still see each other. Hovercarts race around the outer corridor whisking passengers to safety. A hovercart stops at an arcade in front of the team. A chunk of the crowd peels off to try to catch a ride, but they immediately run back into the corridor, screaming.

The two men in black dismount the hovercart, forcing people away with their pain guns. They step out into the crowd, forcing people aside. They stand right in Doc's way.