...And Into The Fire

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 9

After spending half a day walking in the heat of twin suns,
I was absolutely grateful to come across a stream. To hot,
and dry to worry about using my paws, I pulled off my
backpack, fell to my paws and knees, and started to lap up
the water with my tongue.

Next to my I saw Fox do much the same thing, though he
scooped the water up with his hands, his body not being made
to drink as I was.

After the water had run though his fingers for of five
times, he finally just dunked his face into the stream.
After a few seconds he came back up, his face, glasses,
beard, and the hair that always seemed to be in his eyes,
dripping wet.

He let out a sigh, and flopped back onto the ground. I spent
a few seconds longer, before I to rested on the soft grass
next to the stream.

I glanced over at Fox, who was drying his glasses of on his
shirt. His army jacket throw on top of his pack. "I need a
nap." I told him.

He chuckled, putting his glasses back on and looking over at
me. "I'm starting to agree with you."

I sat back up, and started rubbing my feet. That morning,
Fox had tried to get me to wear the shoes he had brought for
me, but I waved him off. I was starting to wonder if he had
a point.

"Oria," Fox said. "I'm sorry about this morning, but I
didn't want to wake you."

I giggled a bit to myself. I had woken up still held in
Fox's arms, and rather enjoyed it. It was only when I moved
to get some breakfast, about ten minutes after waking up,
that I woke him up. He had looked sheepish, and blushed
some, but hadn't anything about it.

I shrugged. "It's ok Foxer, it was kind of comforting
considering."

He sat up, nodding a bit. "Well, some times the best help is
just _to_ listen."

I nodded back. That was when I noticed Fox's pack. He had
dropped it so that it was on the far side of him, and had
put his jacket on it. What I saw was a grey and white fox
sitting right next to it.

"Foxer," I said, "slowly turn around."

He raised an eyebrow, and turn his head. When he saw the
fox, he let out a little gasp. "Is that what I think it is?"
He asked, his voice a whisper.

I nodded, moving next to him. "Ya, it's a fox. I saw another
one this morning, so I checked the database. Then strange
thing is, it's not listed as being transplanted to Prid when
it was terraformed."

He turned to look at me, then looked back at the fox, who
was look back at him. "I've never actually seen one before."

I patted him on the back gently. "Well you have know."

Once again he looked at me, grinning. "Well, I guess maybe
there are a few perks to this walk."

I raised an eyebrow. "Maybe not, look."

"Wha--" he started, as he turned to looked where the fox
was. I saw was, because now the fox was running out of the
small clearing, it's tail flowing behind it, with Fox's
jacket in it's mouth.

"Shit." Fox said, and in one move, jumped to his feet,
grabbed his pack, and started running after the fox.

The instant Foxer started running, I grabbing my back, and
followed him. Both of us where at a dead run, and I could
see flashes of the fox's tail in front of us.

After a few short minutes, thou not short enough for Fox, he
was wheezing terribly, the fox ran through a thick clump of
bushes. I pushed my way through, pulling Fox with me.

The instant I got through the bushes, I gasped. We where on
the outskirts of a large clearing. In the center of which
was a small, log house. Nothing much to look at, but sitting
in the front door was a young human, looking about twenty
years old or so. He was bent down, petting the grey fox on
the head. "What you got Sierra?" He said, taking Foxer's
jacket from it's mouth.

I tapped Fox on the shoulder, as he was half crouched,
looking at the ground, panting hard. Looking up, he saw the
young man. "Holy..." He mutter, still trying to catch his
breath.

By now the man had finished looked over the jacket, and saw
me and Fox. "Hello," he called. "Is this yours?"

"It's mine." Fox said, slowly standing. His gasping for air
finally slowly down.

The human walked over to Fox, and handed it to him. "Sorry
about that, Sierra has a tendency to grab things, and run
back home with them."

Fox nodded, rubbing his side. "I see. Who are you by the
way?"

The human grinned. "Everyone call's me Mike."

"Well Mike, I'm Fox, and this is Oriana."

Mike raised an eyebrow. "Fox... Cutter?" He asked.

Fox nodded. "The one and only."

He grinned. "Well the come inside, let me offer you a
drink."

I looked over at Fox, who was looking back at me. "What do
you think Oria?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I think we could use more a rest then we got
back there."

He nodded back, then looked at Mike. "Thank would be great."

Mike grinned, then started back to his house. "Come on
then." He said, waving his hand for us to follow. Which we
both happily did.

* * *

It was a long crawl to the center air duct. Though quick
compared to the fours hours I had spent in the cramped
tunnel on the first two miles of this trip. The second half
was a rather strait crawl, and only took about an hour and a
half.

When I finally reached the center duct, I balked a bit,
finding myself once again at a drop off. I could see squares
of defused light on the far side of the duct. Each one from
the same type of feeder air duct I was in. Though they ended
at the same level I was. The only light I could see below me
was for four large inset grates, one on each side, about
thirty feet below me.

Turning the flash light on, I shined it down the duct. It
didn't dissipate into the darkness, but stopped at a metal
floor about sixty feet down. 'Wait a second, if that's the
bottom of the shaft...' I paused in my thoughts. '_I don't_
want to know how far I fell back there.'

"Marn?" I called out.

There was a pause as it echoed for a second, then I heard
him call back. "Where are you?"

"Down at the last row of ducts."

There was a pause, then I heard some scrambling. "Shine the
light up."

I turned the flashlight on, and being very careful not to
fall out, I shined it up the wall.

"Over to the left." He instructed.

I started moving that way, when he called again. "No my
left!"

Moving the light the other was, it wasn't long until I found
him. He was about five ducts over, and twenty feet above me.
"Ok," I said. "Now what from here?"

I saw him grin, "We get to the ground. There had to be a
door down there. I've just never been this low before."

"And how do you plan to do that?" I asked.

He grinned wider. "Safety net." Then with a heave he pushed
himself out into the open air of the duct.

I was paralyzed as I watching him fall pasted me, and into
the darkness of the shaft. I was sure a fall of about eighty
feet would have killed him.

Sighing to myself, I was about to try crawling back, when I
heard him called up to me. "I'm all right."

Shining the light down to the bottom of the duct, I saw him
there, grinning like a fool. "How--" I started.

"There's a grav-field down here, it's to catch any workers
if they fall. But the speed it can absorb is limited, that's
why I didn't use it before. A fall from to high up, and your
still vulpine patti."

I shook my head. "Stand back." I said. Then with a gulp, I
held onto the flashlight as tight as I could, and dived into
the open air.

For the first few seconds I plummeted, my speed getting
faster, just as I had expected. About ten feet from the
ground, I suddenly felt myself get pushed upwards. A second
later I landed on my tail with a slight thump.

Standing up, I handing him the flashlight. "How did you know
that was there anyways?"

He shrugged, running the light over the walls of the duct.
"I didn't."

"What?!"

He looked over his shoulder at me, and grinned. "Well, they
use the same kind of thing in high construction. There was a
good chance they used the same thing in the ducts as well. I
was just never low enough to test it."

I shook my head, my hair and fur blowing in the moving air
of the duct. That brought a thought. "Where the fans shut
off too?"

He paused, and looked at me again. "Huh?"

"When they closed the tops of the ducts, did the fans stop?"

"Oh, no. But there unlike to cause the air movement down
here."

I blinked. "Then what?"

He turned keep moving the light over the walls. "Well, the
Hall is what, a ten mile circle, about sixty floors deep.
That's a lot of duct work. Well, some of it's hot, and other
places it's cold, and that changes the air temperature, and
cold air sinks, hot air rises. So, in the end, you get
wind."

He paused for a second, then sighed. "Shit! There isn't an
exit down here! I though for sure they had to have been
one."

I looked at the dull grey walls, and rubbed my chin. "There
may be. I remember reading someplace that when the Hall was
being built, by the same people who terraformed Prid, and at
the same time. Well, these people add some... intruder
safety features on there own. I believe one was hiding the
doors on the inside of the ducts."

Marn digested this for a few seconds, then grinned. "That
explains why I could never find a way out. Perfect! Now how
do we find it?"

I was about to respond, when a gun shot echoed from the
outside of the duct. I looked at him, and he shut his
flashlight off. "was that for us?" He whispered.

Out side of the duct, echoing through one of the big grates,
I heard some voices talking. "don't think so." I whispered
back.

We waited there for at least ten minutes, listen to the
voices wax and wane in the distance. Then, suddenly, one of
the voices yell, and I could clearly make out what was being
said. "Got you, you son' bitch!"

I blinked. I knew that voice, it could only belong to one
person. Page.

I grabbed the flashlight from Marn's paw, and ran to the
nearest wall. Then started slamming the butt of the
flashlight against the wall, causing a deep metallic
ringing.

I keep at it, quickly pounding out a signal Fox had created
for us, made especially for this type of situation. So, with
Marn now next to me, looking at me like I was crazy, I
tapped out 'SOS'.