Damn it. Did he figure out my lie? I thought I scared them enough to not check with my mother for real. I don’t have time to lose with the train procedures right now. Much less be arrested by security.

Despite my worries, he addresses me with a big smile.

“Before you go, can you give me your number, miss Lauren? I enjoyed our small talk. We can exchange Lunarian collectibles, talk about our favorite singers. We can go to the next show together”

“Oh, ok.” I am surprised and relieved “but I am in a hurry now”

Confused by his approach, I gave him my number. It is the best to do, given the circunstances.

“I saw the hologram in your bag. I have one too. You didn’t miss their comeback, did you?”

“It was amazing,” I answer, trying to get away “me and my buddies got a seat by the second floor. It crowded, but we had a great view.  Here you go. I sent my contact to you. See you later, then.”

“Definitely, Malcolm is the best male lead singer since Otis. I thought the group would die after he quit. But Malcolm’s voice has that pitch that…” he tries to engage in a conversation with me, but his timing could not be worse.

“Sorry Dennis, I need to go, but I’ll add you to my Vellabook. That way we can talk, OK? Message me later.” I say while rushing through the open door of the girl’s toilet.

Inside the narrow room I take a deep breath. Lock the door to avoid any unwanted interruption and wait a few seconds before making any noise.

The only access to the engine is from a ventilation duct inside the restrooms.

Time to suit up for the task ahead.

First the belt they need to be tight in a way that I can breathe and not open when they hold my weight. Then the cables connecting the gauntlet. Passing them through my back and attached to the nanoconstrictor in the backpack. I press the button to check if everything is working right. A counter starts the diagnostic procedures.

“What are you doing? Track the sign of the terrorist and jam it before he can activate the bomb.”

“No! It is the wrong course of action. I will disarm the bomb myself.”

“Are you out of your mind? I can’t allow you to risk your life like this. Your father would kill me if he was alive.”

“Well, my father is not here. Listen, this is the best way. Didn’t you say you trusted me? Time to prove it. I know what I have to do.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I will use the magnetic field on my mags to emit a located electromagnetic pulse. That way no matter what kind of bomb is there, this will fry the circuits. It will be impossible to detonate from a distance.”

“Hmm, not a bad idea. Keep text contact all the time. If this bomb gets off, we will have a situation in our hands worse than the Dark Years. Do you understand?”

“Yes, now give me some space and let me do my work.”

The Dartboard is gone. The screen in my glove tells me that the routine inspection ended. Release grip is functional, duplicate and shaping check, mag oscillator checks. Everything is in perfect order.

I climb in the cylindrical molecule recycler and remove the crate of the vent duct. The hole is enough for me to fit inside, but I need to crawl in the tight opening. I can’t raise my head more than a few inches and it is getting dark inside the tube.

I need not look at the schematics in my lens; I am moving by instinct, never missing a corner.

A few minutes later I reach the end of the corridor and the grid separating me and the engine room. With ease, I remove the object and place it by my side.

Now, an acrid smell of lubricating oil and ozone fills my nostrils. A loud symphony of motors breaks the silence, showing that I am in the right place.

Inside it is pitch black. I turn on my shoulder’s flashlight. The light beam cuts the dark, revealing the enormous metallic legs of the tentacles down a wide circular pit. Below them, levers rise and fall in a cadenced motion. Stretching and releasing the huge tubular legs to propel the train.

If one of those legs hit me, they will squash me like a bug and thrown my remains in the walls. There is not much space to move between them, and I must be precise to not get caught by any tentacles or levers.

With a positioned spin, I place a cable in the center of the roof. The engine is in a section 8 feet below me, according to the schematics.

I am ready to slide down.

I should have protected my ears. The sound is getting louder and louder as I approach the place where the levers connect.

There she is, right where I imagined she would be. They mounted the bomb in the center of a disk holding the root of the tentacles.

An explosion there would send the huge tentacles flying to the crowd. Their massive weight would kill everyone in the junction platform.

I spin a second cable to hold my weight and allow for a horizontal sliding.

The bomb gets covered by the moving tentacles for a few minutes. Unable to reach the explosive device by hand, I have to send a thin cable. A calculated narrow window of time. This needs to be enough to oscillate the magnetic field when it touches the bomb.

This is easier said than done. If the tentacles hit my cable, the magnetic flow will divert from the original path. Instead of going to the bomb’s circuit, it will disperse. Driven outside the train by following the tentacle’s length.

The adrenaline flow is high, it is hard to contain my excitement.

Okay, down, now be careful Lauren. Let’s shoot this cable.

I regulate the thickness to be 80% thin.

As I am about to shoot the train shakes. I am oscillating to the right and one tentacle missed my head by a few inches. I could feel the air in my nostrils when the huge tube passed in front of me. I have to shoot another piece of cable to stabilize my oscillation.

Damn... we must be inside a sharp turn.

Not only did I miss the shot, but lost a precious length of cable when I almost collided with one of the massive tubes.

I look at the nanocounter. It is marking 2.2 million nanopieces. This will give me only 3.5 feet of cable, unless I retract the ones I am standing on. That is impossible. If I retrieve any of them, I will fall and the moving gears below me will grind my bones.

That means I have one shot left. I must give everything in this one. I am glad the Dartboard is not seeing this.

OK, here goes nothing. The levers aligned again.

I hold my breath and shoot my last piece of cable.

USER LAUREN THE GREAT DISCONNECTED

ATTEMPTING CONNECTION…

CONNECTION FAILURE

WAITING…

ATTEMPTING CONNECTION

ALL ATTEMPTS FAILED

VELLA BLOG HOME WILL CLOSE AFTER 15 MINUTES OF INACTIVITY

WAITING...

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This is by far one of my favorite episodes of this series. I want to know if you guy got as excited as I got when I wrote this. We can see our reluctant hero in action and understand more about what drives her. As always comment to your hearts full, subscribe if you didn't do that already and share the love. Lauren will be back, will she?? In the next episode.