September 28, 2003.09.28.03. - sequengics [imogen][sequengics lab]
what james knows:
Okay, what Imogen would have told James?
Would be that she would call him before entering the building, but would be in the building for about half an hour to an hour before getting anywhere near the shafts. But she had no idea where she was getting into the shafts, though she was going to the fourth floor.----
(seq)
Rutgers frowns at her for a long time. Then he looks up at the nearest vent. Back at her."Would it be absolutely necessary? It's not company policy to let non-personnel wander around the compound, much less in the ventilation shafts. They aren't designed to support human weight. They aren't safe. If you were to fall out of them, we'd be potentially looking at an enormous lawsuit. On top of all this." A nod to the dead body. "Isn't there some sort of assay you could run that doesn't involve your physically getting into a vent shaft?"
(imogen)
She nods her head slightly, "It would be necessary, unfortunately. I'd need air samples as best as I can, and preferrably swabs of the vents." She exhales, lips thinning briefly, as she stares half pensively at the vents (wondering mildly if they would hold her weight, or James's, and why in the bloody hell did she not think of that before?), the pensiveness ends, and she shakes her head again, "No, it would 'ave t'be the vents. 'ave any idea 'ow much they can hold?" A deprecating smirk, "It's not as if I'm that 'eavy."In fact, the doctor was positively childlike in some respects. Most children outgrow her height by about grade six or seven.
(seq)
The self-deprecating smirk and comment draws Rutger's attention down. He sizes her up (checks her out) and then shrugs. "Stay on the braces as much as you can. You'll see them at the edge of the shaft sections. They're reinforced steel and bolted into the framework of the building. They'll probably support a few hundred pounds. Do you want a ladder?"(imogen)
Crouched as she is, there isn't much to see. The hooded sweater was deliberately loose fitted, and the vest beneath the fabric would do more to disguise what might be considered appealing. Pity for him, perhaps.She nods, acknowledging the advice, and glances upward again toward the shafts, "Yes, I guess I'd better have one."
(seq)
Rutger clicks his comlink on - "Sam, can we get a ladder up there? Yeah, 8-foot's fine." Pause, glance at Imogen. "Make it a 10-foot. And make it quick."In a matter of minutes, an aluminum ladder is set up and a vent shaft grille is pulled down. "Shout if you need help," Rutgers reminds her as she disappears up the ventilation.
The vertical shaft is very narrow, a square of about 18"x18". It empties up into the hall shafts, which are about three feet across, two feet high. Because the vertical shafts empty into one side of the floor of the hall shafts, there's room beside the opening to crawl around it with little difficulty. The pipes branching into the rooms are about two feet across, one high, and would be a tight squeeze even for Imogen. There's no lighting in the shafts themselves, though light does seep up from below.
It's also freezing cold and drafty in here as air conditioned air continually circulates. She'll soon find that as long as she stays on the braces, she can move with relative silence as long as she doesn't try to move too quickly. If she steps between braces, however, the metal buckles down and pops back up again in her wake with a hollow thump.
(james)
she said she'd call when she got into the building
which was just fine and dandy
but it's the first phone call that had him up and movingjust the fact she, y'know, called
close to fourty five minutes after that no-call call
four toes spread on the slabs of metal that make up the shaft
calloused pads give just that smidgen more grip
not to mention, it's a lot easier and quieter to creep in lupus than it is to shimmy down a shaft in homid
weight distributes with each stretched step that places a foot precisely on the braces
(nah, he hasn't done this before... honest.... though my god that breeze)
somewhere, in the maze of drafts (!) and tunenls
there's a scent there
one redhead kin
that's what he's followinghopefully she'll see the dreads that never fully go away and not freak.....
(imogen)
While she waits for the ladder, she prepares to go up, snapping off her gloves and placing them in a plastic bag, and then opening up the aluminium brief case to take what she needs up with her, since obviously the case would be in appropriate. There is, however, a cloth bag which would be slightly more appropriate (OCME emblazoned in yellow across black), within which she places various pieces of equipement, including a piece of equipment that looks like it may be a suction cup attached to some sort of electronic reader. Swabs encased in plastic, a thermometre and a few other things make their way in. most of this is done behind the screen of the raised lid of her brief case, simply by design. She was facing Rutgers, and when lifting the brief case, of course, the lid had faced him, too.She's ready by the time the ladder shows up, and shuts the lid of the brief case as the elevator doors whoosh open in the distance.
"Leave this down here, shall I?" she inquires non commitally, as she straightens, the movement somewhat arrested by a stiffness to her back, and toes the brief case to indicate what she means. She does not sling the cloth bag over her shoulder, instead carrying it in one hand. Even from here, it looks like a tight squeeze, and a bag over her shoulder might take a bit.
"Don't worry if I'm a bit. It takes a while t'get what I need. I'll be as fast as possible." That, at least, was the truth.
She acknowledges that yes, she'll shout if she needs anything, and begins up the ladder, the bag preceding her into the ventilation, tugging shoulders and hips through the tight fit and into the frigid ventilation shaft. It's tight, but she manages; the metal is cold beneath her hands and that is almost comforting. The darkness and close space, however, is not. Breath deeply, and this too, shall pass.
She doesn't give herself a chance to discover what would happen if she stepped between the bracers. One can guess it would make sound at best, and at worst, buckle and collapse beneath her weight.
James is a dark bulk in the shadows and she freezes as she catches sight of him, and the stillness is near animalistic, before she exhales, and unseen in the darkness her eyebrow arches. Well. If this wasn't James, this would be a problem all of its own, and she'd worry about that later.
First she had to go up a floor. And make a phone call, provided her cell phone worked; her foolishness for forgetting until the ladder was already there, and then not being able to come up with an excuse for a phone call in the seconds that followed, she had abandoned the idea.
Parallel to the elevator shaft. Right. Goddamn it was cold. She moved in the appropriate direction without a word.
Not that it was likely she could say anything without being overheard, just at the moment.
(seq)
Like the hall below, the vent shaft curves. Since she is headed toward the elevator, the curve is to her left, and while it seems slight enough not to cause any problems of fit and size at first, the added strain of always crawling toward the left soon begins to wear on Imogen and James. Their right sides tire before their lefts. It's a relief when an opening appears on their right, a single straight tube leading across toward the east. Through it, they can dimly glimpse the vent shaft feeding the east ring, and between there and here, the gaping holes, at least five windy feet across, in the ceiling and floor of the shaft.The main vertical shaft.
It's even darker there. The only light comes from the halls outside and below the shafts; here, there are no halls nearby. Between floors is almost total darkness. Imogen's eyes, sharper than James' wolven ones, can make out rungs in the shaft, though - a very crude ladder built into the vertical wall for maintenance crews. Thank god for the small things.
Between the crawling and the waiting for the ladder, it's now 2:20. The guards on the fourth floor are in the south of the east ring, circling clockwise toward the Perseus lab.
(james)
dark furry bulk cuts out most of the light that would reflect off the surface of the shaft
not the most heartening of things to come across in a shaft, that's for sure
but as the good doctor freezes animalistically - he answers in kind
weight sinks ever so slightly into a crouch
shoulders shifting until whiskers on his chin brush the floor
the light silhouetting him brightens
he's not about to roll belly up at this exact moment
it's the closest "I'm not going to eat you" move that's possible in such a cramped space in near total darknessbut what.... did she expect him not to show up?
please.she pulls ahead by about a yard before he follows
(that breeze. is....... refreshing)
but at least the crawling position is a little more natural for his current frame than the kin's
though since he's in the dark - in more ways than one at this point - he just follows
more by scent and sound than sight
hopefully she knows where she's going
(what he'd give for a totem phone with the kin about now....)
(imogen)
At least there's a ladder. That was something.This was as good a place to stop as any. She is acutely aware of passing time, as if each passing second were a heart beat, and certainly she could hear her heart right now, pumping blood through veins and doing all such things required for life.
Her cell phone light flicks on illuminating the shaft in an unnatural glow, and she glances toward the wolf behind her. Chances are, if it had occured to her, the kinfolk would give much to have a totem connection to the lupus formed gnawer, as well.
She's checking for a signal on her cell phone. That she might be able to make the phone call now, as she slides the bag over her shoulder to get on the ladder that the Garou cannot quite see.
(seq)
Well...let there be light, at least. The cell phone isn't a halogen bulb, but it's a bit more light than they had before.Unfortunately, there's no signal this deep in the building, surrounded by metal, and next to the elevator shaft. Maybe if she tried again in one of the rings.
(james)
it's not much, but that's a little light
it's enough to vaguely make out the shadows cast by the rungs on the wall as she moves the phone around
(this should be fun)
and yet again, he gives her the time it takes to pull a short distance ahead before he's following
it would probably be easier in homid, true, but he keeps up with Imogen
(just call him Rin-Tin-Tin)
carefully navigating his way upwards
occasionally grabbing onto a run with his teeth for support[pause, rl shit]
Posted by james at September 28, 2003 12:00 AM
CommentsPost a comment