Keep out

My first instinct was to get away from the room as quickly as possible.

When I'd travelled before, I'd found random places that all had links to Jen - but that last time, it hadn't seemed to work, landing me right into the hands of The Man With No Name ... though I now thought of him as Mr Twat.

Thinking about it, Smith had referred to the guy in charge of Project Lupus as Lewis: could that be him, or just one of his team? That had no bearing on what I needed to do now, but some part of my mind was annoyed not to know his name. I needed to focus.

Whether or not I could really control the quirking - Mr Smith's name was growing on me, for want of anything better - almost anywhere would be better than here, with Mr Twat due back at any minute. Even if I found myself in front of the guard outside, surely I could just quirk somewhere else? Of course I could. Well, probably.

I took a slow, deep breath - which, incredibly seemed to do its magic in calming my shredded nerves - thought about Jen, and blinked ...

... to open my eyes inches from a door. It looked heavily reinforced; I don't recall ever seeing an armoured door before, but this is how I'd imagine one would look. Heavy, cold, forbidding.

I looked around me, and saw nobody in the surrounding corridor. Feeling - bizarrely, given the situation - like a kid ringing doorbells for a dare, I slapped on its cold metal surface.

"Jen?" I said, as loudly as I dared.

There was a muffled sound from within that could have been her voice. While I couldn't hear distinct words, the tone sounded imploring.

"Jen? Is that you? Hang on, I'll get you out of there."

Looking at the door and its frame, I couldn't see an obvious lock mechanism anywhere: there was just a simple metal doorhandle.

Pressing down on it without any real hope, I was amazed when it opened the door.



Story begins here.