The Ventilation Shaft Part 1 3D Render, Digital Artwork by RedSpartan

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The Ventilation Shaft Part 1

3D Render by RedSpartan

Mya eyed her new companion uneasily, anxious about what she’d say next. This place had already been an unexpected nightmare, from waking with no memory, cold, naked and alone in a dank and forgotten chamber, to her near death experience with a living horror somehow conjured from the bowels of hell, the glimpses of ancient carnage and returning memories of captivity and torture, she wondered how much more she would be able to take. She was a soldier, highly trained and capable, but nothing in her past had prepared her for this persistent barrage of torment.

‘The lower levels were sealed,’ the girl continued, ‘ in an effort to contain the worst of the ‘things’ that were created here.’

Mya looked at her questioningly, a myriad of queries suddenly popping into head, and perhaps an answer to something that had bugged her ever since leaving the regen room.

‘So how did you get down here, and why?’ she asked, ‘There are no supplies here, and if there were you’d surely struggle to get them out.’

Shaana turned to her, cocked her head to one side and studied her carefully.

‘I was in the upper levels,’ she replied, ‘in an auxiliary control room. A monitor started flashing and I got curious.’

‘A monitor?’ Mya responded, more coldly than she’d intended.

‘It said a regen chamber in the security section had opened unexpectedly and that a category one prisoner had been released without supervision.’

‘And you came to investigate?’

‘Yes.’

Mya considered ger response for a moment. ‘You knew the dangers?’

‘Yes.’ Shaana replied blankly, looking back over Mya’s shoulder.

‘And you came anyway?’

‘A category one prisoner would surely be an enemy of the Confederation, and ally, a possible companion.' She looked away sheepishly, ' I’ve been alone for a long time.’

Mya felt her mood softening a little. ‘It was you I thought I saw outside the regen room?’

Shaana nodded, her mouth forming a concerned frown.

‘What?’ Mya asked.

‘The mutant will be getting closer. We don’t have time for this.’ She turned to go, but Mya caught her arm.

‘Why didn’t you make yourself known then?’

Shaana looked at the hand on her arm angrily and Mya let go. A heated exchange now would do neither of them any good.

‘I had to be sure you were a friend,’ she spat, ‘ and not one of them.’

‘And you’re sure now?’

The girl stared at her intently for a second. ‘No!’ she responded coldly, then turned and began walking away at a brisk pace. Mya watched her go, uncertain now whether she’d found a friend or that she was making a deal with the devil to get herself out of here. Her thoughts were interrupted by a growling sound from behind her, distant but still too close for comfort. The audible stimulation cleared her mind of doubt and pushed her to quickly follow.

Shaana stopped some twenty meters further on, before an open hatch in the tunnel wall.

‘This is the only way down here now.’ she whispered, moving to enter the gap with a finger to her mouth, ‘and the only way out.’

Mya eyed the fading decal above the hatch. ‘A maintenance shaft?’ she asked quietly, her voice still sounding hoarse in the empty corridor. She stepped through after the girl and found herself at the bottom of a very long vertical tunnel, dimly lit with LED’s and swirling with the same smoke and mist that seemed to pervade this whole facility in a menacing cloak.

‘Mainly for ventilation.’ Shaana responded, moving cautiously to the far side where a ladder rose up into the murk. Beneath her feet Mya found herself standing on a grill below which a large fan turned slowly, un-powered, and pushed it seemed from a chill breeze rising from further below. The girl pointed upwards and Mya followed her indication to a series of grill covered openings set every few meters upwards in the shafts side. The third one up, probably corresponding to another floor in the facility, showed signs of damage and its protective grill was missing.

‘Something lives in there.’ Shaana told her quietly, indicating the ladder and that Mya should go first.

‘Something?’ Mya found herself asking, alarmed.

Shaana nodded. ‘I don’t know what,’ she replied, ‘I didn’t see it coming down, but I heard it stirring.’ The girl looked at her, a hint of fear in her eyes. ‘It sounded big.’

Mya looked at the opening above them hesitantly. ‘And round and round it goes’ she thought, then muttered as she took the first rung of the ladder ‘For fuck’s sake…’

She pulled herself up and started to climb, slowly and quietly, keeping a wary eye on the damaged opening as she got closer. Below her Shaana began her ascent, almost silent as her feet and hands mounted the rungs. Mya wondered if her stealthy capabilities were a product of her cybernetic modifications, or a necessary skill she’d had to attain to survive here. Either way she was aware her own efforts to climb the ladder seemed inordinately loud in comparison, and was relieved as she began her passage past the ominous opening. She couldn’t help but peer into the dark orifice as she came level with it, black and forbidding, it was hard to gauge how deep it went, or how far back whatever lurked menacingly within its confines lay. As if in answer to her silent questions something stirred in the darkness, a fleeting glimpse of something sleek and shiny passing momentarily into the light. If it had sensed her it made no more movement, but Mya found herself frozen in fear, her body suddenly coated in a cold sweat. Something grabbed her leg and she almost lost her grip on the ladder in startled shock. She looked down to find Shanna’s hand on her shin, an angry look on her face that said ‘move’. She nodded in embarrassment and continued to climb.

She looked up and could now see their destination, another hatch in the side of the shaft, next to the ladder they ascended. Light poured in, an inviting shaft of dust filled illumination urging her on. As she pulled on the next rung a sudden screeching noise filled the chamber. She looked down once more and saw the horror that accompanied the awful sound. Tentacles, numbering in the dozens, had erupted from the opening and were swirling about in a maelstrom of activity just below Shaana’s feet. All were of differing sizes, but all appeared menacing and dangerous as they cut through the light, appearing in horrible glistening illumination one second, disappearing into shadow and silhouette the next, writhing and twisting as they searched for something to latch onto.

How could all that belong to one animal she mused, what the hell had they created here?

To Be Continued...

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I built the shaft using a brilliant sci fi tunnel construction kit that's free on Sketchfab. The ladder's from there as well, while the various vents and pipes are from CG Trader. Part 2 coming up....

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beachlegsWed, May 07

Karma: 6,339

Awesome image my friend smile

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TenserknotWed, May 07

Karma: 6,255

This is a very action filled render, the vertical drop of the shaft with the monster chasing is like an action movie. And then we get a good story too.

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