Steams too Good to be True - Part Two

<Continuation>
<snip>
The steam forced itself onto her, finding resistance in its path where she was now held, both handles needing to be pulled at the same time, so there was no way to evade it. She screamed as her flesh burned, but the moment Jamie was through, it subsided. She looked further down the maze she was in, and could see another set of handles. There was no indication what they were connected to though...
</snip>

Now that Jamie thought he knew what was going on, he forged onwards. There was another jet of steam in front of him, and the hard metal floor beneath him wore at his hands and knees. Once again though, he stopped at the steam jet, and tested it. He was prepared though, and didn't get as close as he did before, so no more burns.

This time, he waited. The steam jet behind him had kicked up again, almost as soon as he had passed it.

He almost carried straight through the second jet, but something in the back of his mind caused him to stop. He knelt in front of the steam jet for a moment, wondering if it was all to lull him into a false sense of security.

"Please be the same." he said, steeling himself for the heat. He pulled back, ready to lunge through it again.

___________________________

Jade only just resisted the urge to curl up into a small foetal ball and cry. She saw the monitor ahead flicker into life. One more set of handles between her and the exit. Her skin was pink and tender, scalded like a hot kettle had been poured over her torso and legs. She noticed Jamie had rushed ahead.

"Hold up Jamie. I'm coming." She grimaced and crawled forwards, her legs now protesting as well as her wrists.

She fixed a grip on the handles and braced for the heat. The burning searing heat. She pulled gently and then broke, the steam jet down by Jamie flickering off then on again. Taking a deep breath of air she pulled hard, opeing the valve that redirected the flow so that he could carry on. She screamed with all the air that she had filled her lungs with till there was nothing left. She glanced at the monitor and saw Jamie was only three quarters of the way through the steam jets this side of the maze.

Her resolve didn't break, but the water and blood on one of the handles caused her grip to slip.

Slowly.

Inexorably.

The handle slipped out of her grasp.

______________________________

Seeing the break in the steam as a signal, Jamie lunged through. The dregs of near-boiling water that had condensed from the steam burned his face, but the steam had turned off. He crawled through, thankful for whatever it was that had stopped it. He could accept the first jet being a test of resolve, but didn't feel like the same trick would be used twice.

He got most of the way through, then the steam started up again. Catching him by surprise, the super-heated steam burned his legs, soaking his overalls with near-boiling water. He yelled with pain and tried to pull himself through with his arms, the pain stopping his legs from working.

As soon as he was through, he stopped for a breather. His legs pulsed with pain; he could feel the skin blistering, but knew that he was running out of time.

He turned back to his target, and forged on, wincing further with pain as every movement threatened to damage the burnt skin more.

There was just a short crawl to the control panel that needed resetting. The pressure release system for the exhausts. If he didn't get there in time, the station would explode due to the pressure increase, but all he had to do was release it to save everyone. If they even needed saving...

_____________________________

As soon as the handles were released, Jade could hear Jamie's yells from the monitor. She cried in frustration hearing the echoing cries of pain from Jamie. What she didn't know, was that he would get a perfect video rendition of her efforts after he had reset the console. She reached the edge of the maze.

"I'm sorry Jamie, the rest is up to you." She paused before going forward. Her resolve wavering. The others would be ok right? They had gotten out of their traps right? As if predicting her thoughts, the monitors kicked in again, showing her Jaxx dying, Evelina's dilemma and Cass and Katrina struggling for air sliding towards the vacum of space.

"The rules are changing Doctor Black. You don't have long to save them. You obviously aren't willing to give up enough." It was actually Queeg this time, not his puppet, baiting her into carring on.

"I see. Ok. Lets keep playing." She said, pushing through the pain and opening the next door.

<NEXT!>