I took a deep breath as I reached the top of the hatch. The kobolds were all wandering around as if in a daze, the hold on their minds all but gone.

“Hero!” Eshami cried, clearly happy to see me alive. She wrapped me up in a tight hug, then immediately resumed her placid comportment.

I grabbed her back and swept her low in an impassioned kiss, holding her in place for several long seconds as she stared dumbfounded into my face. I released her and she took a dizzying step back, smiling slightly, but ultimately remaining silent.

“Thanks for saving my ass back there, Eshami,” I said earnestly, wringing out my clothes as best I could. She didn’t respond; she seemed preoccupied with trying to hide her flushed cheeks, touching her lips as if I’d stolen them from her face. “Uh, Ketal, where should we go now?”

Ketal ceremoniously spun up from the floor with his usual grace and poise. He pointed to a metal ladder set into the wall on the far end of the Ballast Room.

“This access leads to the crawlspace. From there, you can travel unobstructed back to the Control Room.” His image fizzled, then disappeared.

“Ketal? Ketal!”

Something was wrong.

Eshami and I climbed the rungs up into the crawlspace. It was cramped, but seemed as well-maintained as other areas of the Ark that we’d seen. I crawled for a minute or two, the temperature in the crawlspace slowly rising before pressing my palms on the deck became quite uncomfortable.

I rounded two corners before finally coming to another metal ladder set into the wall. Dripping with sweat, I could see a hatch above and below me.

I looked back to Eshami, who seemed even less comfortable in the heat. Elves didn’t like the extreme heat, I remembered. I encouraged her to climb up the ladder before we both got cooked!

We began our sweaty climb up the crawlspace ladder. Within minutes, the temperature cooled considerably, and I was pleased that I chose this route.

After a lengthy ascent, I found an open hatch set into the wall beside the ladder, and I peered out.

It was a long hallway. The lights flickered but it looked deserted. And it was far more spacious than the crawlspace or the ladder gangway.

“Up here,” I whispered down to Eshami before I swung my legs over the leading edge of the hatch and pulled myself in. I spun around and helped my elven companion through the hatch as well, and for a moment we both rested and caught our breath.

We walked cautiously along the corridor until we finally rounded a corner. Beyond was another long hallway.

“Ketal, I’m all turned around. Is this the way to the Control Room?”

Ketal’s comforting image spun up out of the floor. “Affirmative. Take the first hall to your right.”

I tightened the grip on my blade and pressed onward. “Let’s go, Eshami.”