My Big Fat Low-Fat Wedding - By Katya Starkey Page 0,87
a chance to crunch numbers into new scientific discoveries, they’re like accountants who actually love their jobs.
“Well what am I supposed to do?” I’m practically asking this of my fiancé’s back as he’s already joined the group of scientist as they walk away.
“Take my badge and get us a couple more beers, I’ll be out in a few minutes honey, I promise.” Callum hands me his CoTechnic passcard and that’s it, I’m left alone inside a top-secret laboratory. Somehow I don’t think the employees of this place take security very seriously. Well, they do have scientist brains, after all. Sometimes the term scatter-brained can aptly be applied to the most intelligent of our species as well.
Just as I’m about to use Callum’s keycard in the elevator panel, I notice another corridor along the balcony. There’s a water dispenser down there and I’m feeling too thirsty for beer at the moment. I’m sure it won’t matter if I grab myself a cup of water, even if it is supposed to be reserved for employees.
When I reach the next corridor I notice there’s another lift here anyway and after I fill up on liquid refreshment from the water dispenser, I turn towards the elevator. There’s no up or down button on the wall beside this lift, just like with the other elevator I have to use Callum’s security card by passing it through the swipe panel. A little light pings green and the lift doors slide open. I step inside and after the doors shut the elevator starts moving downwards rapidly. Only, I think it’s descending over way too many floors. I don’t recall the other elevator taking us up more than two floors when Callum and I had ridden them up to the laboratory balcony.
“Oh shit.” Where the bloody hell am I now? The lift doors have opened and I’m staring out into a corridor that curves away at the end. This is definitely not the same place that Callum and I had entered the building.
What do I do now? This stupid elevator doesn’t have any buttons for floors on the inside and the doors are still standing open.
Oh piss, I guess I’m just going to have to swipe Callum’s keycard again. Peeking around the lift entrance, I spot the card panel. Quickly, I slide my fiancé’s badge through it.
It pings green, but nothing happens. “Oh, duh!” I slap my forehead in disgust when I realise I’m blocking the doors from sliding shut with my big stupid head. I step out of the lift, swipe the badge again and still nothing happens.
“Shit!” I swear and swipe the keycard. Swear and swipe, swear and swipe. And nothing. The dumb elevator is broken. “Stupid piece of crap.” I kick the wall next to the lift. This causes me to stub my sandal clad toe, which hurts, so I swear some more and hobble off down the corridor. I don’t have any other choice really. Unless I want to play James Bond spy and see if I can find a loose panel on the ceiling of the elevator to crawl through, I’m going to have to see if there’s a way out down here.
I assume I’m at sub-basement level. The lift had brought me in a downwards direction past floors and floors. If it weren’t for the vastness of this large corridor and the beaming bright overhead halogen lights, I’d feel claustrophobic as though I were down into sub-terranian levels.
When my foot finally stops throbbing from self-inflicted torture I wrap my arms around myself and shiver. My dress is sleeveless and it’s quite cool down here.
Finally, I spot a door. At least, I think it’s a door. There’s no door handle on the large rectangular cut-out that seems to be stuck into the wall I’m facing, but like the elevator, there’s a passkey panel beside it.
I do the only thing I can do, and that’s to pass the card through the panel.
Ping.
It lights up green and the section of wall in front of me swings open like a bank vault door. The damn thing is thick as a vault door too, I can’t fail to notice this as I pass through the entrance.
Automatic lights blink on.
I haven’t discovered an exit to this blasted building, but what I have found takes my breath away in astonishment.
I’ve stepped into a miniature version of the laboratory upstairs. What isn’t miniature about the room is the size of the robot that’s stationed in the centre. It’s a monstrous