Trapped!: The 2031 Journal of Otis Fitzmorgan (16 page)

Instinctively, I reached for her.

My fingertips brushed against her suit, but I missed. I strained harder to grab her, and I lost my grip on the rung.

Now I was floating right behind Charlotte.

She managed to turn around so we could see each other's faces. I tried to give her a reassuring look. We would be okay, I
wanted to say. We're still connected to the ladder by the cable. We just have to pull ourselves back to the Climber.

I started to do just that when there was another CRACK The rung the cable was attached to had broken free. The cable looped
and danced around us like a lazy snake.

Now Charlotte and I were both moving away from the Climber—out into space.

Charlotte's eyes widened. If I panicked now, I knew we'd be lost. Every single second counted.

I quickly formulated a plan. I pulled on the cable that still connected me to Charlotte until we were bumping up against each
other. I managed to turn our bodies so that I was facing the Climber and she had her back to it.

She looked at me like I was crazy.

“Kick off me!” I mouthed. “Do it!”

She understood. Her face lost some of its panic as she held onto my shoulders and brought up her feet so they were pressed
against my lower chest.

CHARLOTTE PULLED ME BACK

Then, as if I were a springboard, Charlotte pushed off from me. Her feet dug into my suit, and I prayed that it wouldn't rip.
Then she was drifting quickly back toward the Elevator.

She gripped the t side of the ladder this time, not the rungs. Once she had one arm looped around the ladder, she slowly reeled
me back in like a giant fish.

“Good work, Charlotte!” I shouted, even though I knew she couldn't hear me.

I took. a quick look at where the broken rungs had connected to the sides of the ladder. The bottom half of each remaining
nub was rough, but the top half was smooth. It was clear that someone had filed halfway through the rungs. Someone had sabotaged
the ladder to keep from being followed.

If Charlotte hadn't come with me, I probably would have been lost in space.

Charlotte had paused to look at the broken rungs as well. Our eyes met, and I mouthed, “Thank you.”

She gave me a harried smile and mouthed, “Let's go.”

We couldn't take a chance that any more of the rungs had been filed, but we could still climb up to Level 5 and return later
by pulling ourselves along the sides of the ladder.

A few minutes later, we had finished our climb. Luckily, there was no way to lock the hatch for the airlock from the inside.
We tumbled through the outer door and into the small depressurizing chamber.

OUR ONLY LIGHT CAME FROM THE FINGERTIPS OF OUR GLOVES.

Day 6 of 6
  
  
4:30
PM

I held a finger in front of my mouth
to indicate that we should be quiet.

Charlotte shrugged and pulled a face, and I knew what she meant. Our entrance through the airlock must have made enough racket
to alert anyone on the level that someone had entered.

A thin strip on the sleeve of my suit glowed green, indicating that there was now oxygen in the chamber. We quickly unsnapped
our helmets and set them silently down on the floor.

As we opened the inner hatch, my ears were filled with the loud hum of working machinery. Much of the mechanical equipment
that ran the magnetic clamps was housed on this level. I could only hope that noise had been enough to cover our entrance.

The lights were off and the space was dark, but I knew it held stacks of boxes, large crates, and pieces of scientific equipment
as well as most of the artworks from the auction. I didn't dare call for lights, knowing that they would give us away to whoever
was hiding here. The working lights on the fingertips of our suits would have to be enough. We were forced to walk like zombies,
our hands stretched out in front of us as we shuffled forward as quietly as we could.

“Otis,” Charlotte breathed into my ear, startling me. I turned and raised my eyebrows, as if to say, What's up?

She fluttered her fingers. The fingertip lights had started to dim. I looked at my own fingers, and saw those lights were
fading, as well. Too late, I realized that the batteries for the lights must be housed in the helmets. Soon we would be plunged
into total darkness. But we had come too far. We couldn't turn back now.

“Let's just look a little longer,” I whispered in her ear as quietly as I could. She nodded, and we continued working our
way through the crates. It grew darker and darker.

I turned to look at Charlotte just before the lights went out. She was shaking her hands, like you might shake a flashlight,
as if that might make the lights stay on longer. But the lights dimmed even more and then died. The last thing I saw was her
wide, frightened eyes. “Oh, no,” she whispered.

I pulled off my gloves and reached out to take her hand… and felt nothing.

There was no one there. She must have wandered away from me in the darkness.

I risked a whisper. “Charlotte?”

No answer. We were now separated. One of my groping hands bumped into something sharp. Very sharp. I pulled back my hand and
sucked on my fingers. The skin hadn't been broken.

What on Earth had I just touched?

Of course! SHARP TEETH!

I remembered that I had asked the 'bot to store the artwork on Level 5 to keep it from hurting anyone. I never dreamed that
I might find myself being the one it hurt!

I was just about to move along when I smelled petunias.

It's said that smells create the strongest memories. And, at least in my case, it's totally true. As the petunia-scented perfume
struck my olfactory nerve, a vivid image flashed into my mind. I saw Ms. Jenkins, the customs guard, grabbing my jacket and
spinning me around.

My mind zoomed in on part of the image. I watched her fingers as they closed around my arm. They landed on the exact spot
where I'd found the DNA that matched that of Charlotte, Lysa, and Mrs. Benato.

My probe should have picked up different DNA for Ms. Jenkins, even though it wouldn't have been able to match it to a name
since I hadn't recorded it.

But it had only picked up DNA for the three clones.

Ms. Jenkins must be yet another clone of Asyla Notabe!

I was thunderstruck. It seemed there was an army of them. Only Ms. Jenkins must be the bad guy we were looking for! She was
perfectly placed to switch the statues. After I had instructed the worker 'bots to load the real statue onto Level 2, Ms.
Jenkins could have told the 'bots to take the real statue to Level 5 instead. Then she must have set up the fake statue on
Level 2. She could easily move about the Climber with her security clearance.

IT WAS MS. JENKINS!

I had to find Charlotte and tell her of my discovery.

But I was too late.

“Lights!” The cry echoed off the walls, and the room blazed with light.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the glare. But I wasn't surprised to find Ms. Jenkins standing there, her hands
on her hips like a mighty conqueror. She took. off the night goggles she'd been wearing and tossed them to the floor. Clearly,
she had been using them to watch us stumble around in the dark. Behind her was the real E
SCAPE BY A
H
AIR
statue.

“I should've known you'd be trouble,” she hissed as she strode toward me.

I moved quickly, pulled my probe out of my belt loop, and turned to S
HARP
T
EETH
.

“What are you doing?” She asked. “You think your little artworks can save you?”

“Yes,” I said, connecting the S
HARP
T
EETH
battery wires to my probe. “Actually, I do.”

Ms. Jenkins said, “Ha!” like any good villain, and continued toward me.

Now! I though, and flicked the switch on my probe.

Instantly, it acted like a battery and sent power into S
HARP
T
EETH
. The giant jaws immediately started chattering. They bounced off the crate they'd been sitting on and clattered across the
floor, heading straight for Ms. Jenkins.

But the teeth were moving too slowly. Ms. Jenkins just glanced down at them and laughed. She easily stepped out of the way,
and the teeth rammed into a stack of large boxes behind her and started gnawing away at the bottom one.