Gar’s elevator sped down toward the main level. He kept sending out the distress signal from his communicator. No one responded. He continued to check the indicator, which would blink with a green light the moment someone picked up the signal.
“Come on, Director, something is not right here.”
The lights in the elevator flickered off, and it came to a screeching halt. Gar waited a moment and then said, “Elevator, deck five please.”
The elevator’s speaker buzzed and beeped. Just when Gar was about to turn on the little flashlight on the comm unit, the elevator sped off again, this time going sideways along a tunnel. Then it went up, back down, back up, right, left, up, down. A hard stop just long enough to throw Gar into a wall met each change in direction, then it would blast off again. A warning buzzer screamed when the inertial stabilizers went offline. Gar’s crashing into walls became stronger as there wasn’t any system cushioning the inertia changes.
The elevator shot up, slamming Gar into the floor. He felt as though it was going to blast right out of the station. It abruptly stopped, crashing him into the ceiling, and then sped downward, keeping him pressed against the top. It moved faster and faster, rocking and screeching as it careened the full length of the station. Now Gar was certain it would smash through the base of the station and fly off into space. At the mercy of this speedy freefall, the elevator crashed into something and Gar hit the floor. His body made a full indentation in the deck plating, his wings even cutting into the sides. If he were organic, this would have been the end of him.
Ripping himself out of the Gar-shaped hole, it relieved him when the door partly fell open. He yanked the door away, bending the metal inward. With a lot of work, he squeezed through the opening and flopped out on the floor on the lowest deck of the station. He lay on his back and recovered from that ride.
“What...is happening?”
Just then a white blur rushed up to him and stopped in the middle of his chest. EB looked down at Gar. “Boy, you’re hard to follow. I was looking for you and ran all over the place.”
“The elevator went crazy.”
“Everything’s going crazy around here. I sense magic on the station and it’s messing with the systems. Lights are going on and off, screens are making horrible noises, and robots are dancing and singing, which is hilarious if you really think about it. This one robot was doing the bunny hop, I wanted to join, being a bunny and all, but I had to find someone. Did you know I invented that dance, just for fun...”
“EB.” Gar stopped the rambling.
“Sorry. Um, oh, right. I think Skelanimal has something to do with all this.”
Gar sat up and set EB on the ground. “What? How can he?”
“Dunno. I talked to him and realized he was sent here. I mean, Krampus meant him to be caught and brought here.”
Gar got himself up and looked around. “We need to get back up to the main decks.”
“Where are we?”
Gar ran down the corridor. “This is the reactor, it powers the station. This is the bottom of the station. We need to be up. We can’t take an elevator.”
“Yeah, not a good idea.” EB hopped ahead of him.
“The ladder system is ahead. We’ll go that way.”
“Good. I’m sticking with you.”
Gar opened a door and mounted a ladder that climbed up the dizzying height of this station. EB sat on his shoulder and cheered him on. Fortunately, EB didn’t annoy Gar as much as he did Nova.
Chaz stopped and held the wall as he huffed and puffed. “How...big...is this...station?”
Chromatic stopped and rolled his eyes. “It’s huge. Why do you keep stopping?”
“I’m a reporter, not a hero. This is a long run for me.”
Dr. Hostetter stopped as well. “I haven’t been much of a runner in years. A breather might be nice.”
Chromatic scoffed, “This is a bad situation and I’m stuck with a dweeb and nerd. I’mma going ahead. You guys can catch up.”
“No, wait,” Chaz yelled as Chromatic left them.
“It’s okay. I think I know the way to the...what did he call it? Operations.” Dr. Hostetter said.
Chaz held his knees, “I’m going to get the interview, I’m going to get the interview.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Just affirming something.”
Just then their communicator buzzed and Chromatic came through. “Hey, guys. Head for the arboretum, that’s the safest place.”
“Arboretum? Where’s that?” Chaz asked.
Dr. Hostetter said, “Oh, I know. It’s right near the food court.”
“Good, lead the way.”
EB and Gar stepped out from the ladder chute. They had come to a dead end of the climb and were now walking out into the primary area of the food court.
“Why doesn’t it go all the way up?” EB asked.
Gar said, “Director said that the upper levels are higher security and require special access.”
“Oh, makes sense. Now, where do we go from here?”
Gar was already looking for a way to go up further. “We need to get to communication room.”
“That’s up to deck two, we...” EB stopped when Gar’s comm device beeped.
“Gar...come in...Gar...” Nova’s voice came through.
“DIRECTOR!” Gar grabbed the device.
“Good. Get to the arboretum right away. Our culprit is in there.”
“The arboretum?” Gar asked.
“Move...we...” the sound fuzzed off.
“Who’s our culprit?” EB already had a weaponized egg ready to throw.
“I don’t know. The arboretum is right around this corner.” Gar raced off with EB speeding ahead of him.
They left the dining area and rounded a corner into another large walkway that had windows lining the side. Doors led into the enormous gardens. In the distance, they saw three people running toward the far doors.
“CHROMATIC!” Gar waved.
Chromatic, Dr. Hostetter, and Chaz Hamilton all raced into the arboretum. None of them noticed Gar or EB.
EB hopped back to Gar, “I don’t like this. I sense some powerful magic.”
“It might be Krampus!” Gar ran toward one of the open doors.
EB raced behind him. “Wait! I...” Just as Gar reached the door, he vanished as though he had run through a mirror. EB went right in, running across the soft grasses. “Gar? HEY GAR! WHERE’D YOU GO?” He looked around and found nothing. “CHROMATIC! DOCTOR! ANYONE!” He hopped through the gardens.
Suddenly the area filled with a glowing orange hue. A deep, horrid cackling echoed off the glass walls of this massive arboretum.
EB’s ears fell back, and he dropped his egg. “Oh, my god.”
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