No one
said a word. No one moved.
Suddenly Zip grabbed the laser pistol that Joe was carrying and leaped
out of the elevator. He whipped around and fired at the control panel
next to the large central elevator. The panel flared red for a second
and then sparked like fireworks. Zip released the activation trigger on
the pistol and stepped back. A few pops echoed in the darkness against
a background of the soft sizzling sound of molten metal dripping down
the wall.
Zip ran to the third elevator, calling out, "Move away from the
elevator! Mark, destroy the controls!" Simultaneously Mark and Zip
demolished the control panels of the remaining two elevators. When the
controls were obliterated, the lights in the elevator went out and the
fourteen erstwhile prisoners stood in the utter darkness of the immense
chamber. The sole illumination was provided by the fading red glow of
the superheated panels that had been their targets and a few bright
orange dots in the gaping holes that remained.
"I don't know if that'll prevent the pirates from stopping at this
floor, but every elevator on Earth I know about can't move beyond any
floor where the controls are inoperable. George! Where do we go?" Zip
asked.
"Does anyone have a light?" responded the asteroid miner. Just then a
pale glow like early dawn rose around them and filled the chamber.
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