Frank Schätzing - Limit

At a quarter past nine, the first load-bearing constructions slowly began to give way.

‘No, it was absolutely right not to use the elevator,’ they heard Lynn say through the intercom system. She sounded tired and drained, robbed of all her strength. ‘The problem is that we can only make assumptions from down here. The sensors in the neck have failed; it’s possible that it’s still burning down there. The fire-extinguishing system was clearly able to make some progress in Chang’e, but there’s still contamination and considerable vacuum pressure. Almost all the oxygen has gone to blazes. I imagine the ventilators will balance that out in the course of the next two hours, just like in the shoulder area.’

‘But we can’t wait two hours,’ said Funaki, with a sideways glance at Rebecca Hsu. ‘And it’s getting hotter in here too.’

‘Okay, then—’

‘What about the ventilator shafts? We could climb down over the staircase.’

‘The data for that is contradictory. There seems to have been a slight loss of pressure in the eastern shaft, but that might just be because a little bit of smoke forced its way in. The western shaft looks okay. As far as the guest elevators are concerned, E2 has broken down, its cabin is stuck in the neck, and the staff elevator is in the cellar. E1 is in the lobby, near us. We’ve used it several times without any problems.’

‘E1 won’t be of much help to us,’ said Funaki. ‘It stops in the neck. If we’re going to use anything it can only be the staff elevator – that’s the only one that goes through to Selene.’

‘Just a moment.’

Muffled voices could be heard in the control centre. First Tim’s, then Walo Ögi’s.

‘I’d like to remind you that E1 and E2 are a good distance apart,’ Funaki added. ‘If E2 has been compromised, that doesn’t affect E1. The staff elevator, on the other hand, travels between the two, and would get very close to E2.’

‘Lynn?’ O’Keefe leaned over the intercom. ‘Could the fire spread to the other elevator shafts?’

‘In principle, no.’ She hesitated. ‘The likelihood is very slim. The shaft system is connected via passageways, but structured in such a way that flames and smoke can’t spread that quickly. And besides, the shaft itself is inflammable.’

‘What does “that quickly” mean exactly?’ asked Eva Borelius.

‘It means that we should test it,’ said Lynn with a steady voice. ‘We’ll send the staff elevator up to you. If the system considers it to be safe, its doors would open in Selene. After that we’ll call it back, look inside, and if there’s nothing to suggest otherwise, we’ll send it up again. Then you should be able to actually use it.’

O’Keefe exchanged glances with Funaki and tried to make eye contact with the others. Sushma was frozen in a state of fear, Olympiada was gnawing at her lower lip, and Karla and Eva were signalling their agreement.

‘Sounds sensible,’ said Mukesh.

‘Yes.’ A nervous laugh escaped from Karla. ‘Better than smoke-filled ventilation shafts.’

‘Okay,’ decided Funaki. ‘So let’s do it.’

‘Nothing can shock me now anyway,’ warbled Miranda.

The re-enlivening effect of having a plan seeped into the bloodstream of the small group and motivated them to climb down to Selene, where the temperatures were significantly higher. Funaki threw a precautionary glance at the bulkheads on the floor. There was nothing to suggest that smoke or flames were making their way upwards.

They waited. After a short while they heard the elevator approaching. For what felt like an eternity, the doors remained closed, then finally glided silently apart.

The cabin looked the same as it always did.

Funaki took a step inside and looked around.

‘It looks good. Very good even.’

‘Mukesh.’ Sushma grabbed her husband’s upper arm and looked at him pleadingly. ‘Did you hear what he said? We could go now—’

‘No, no.’ Funaki, with one leg still in the cabin, turned around hurriedly and shook his head. ‘We’re supposed to send it down empty. Just like Miss Orley said.’

‘But it’s fine.’ Sushma’s shoulders were quivering with tension. ‘It’s intact, isn’t it? Every time we send it back and forth, it could only get more dangerous. I want to go down now, please , Mukesh.’

‘Oh, honey, I don’t know.’ Mukesh looked at Funaki uncertainly. ‘If Michio says—’

‘It’s my decision!’

The Japanese man pulled a face and scratched himself behind the ear.

‘I’m in,’ said Karla. ‘I agree.’

‘What, you want to go down now?’ asked Eva. ‘Do you think that’s a good idea?’

‘What is there to debate? The cabin made it up, so it will make it back down again too. Sushma’s right.’

‘I’m coming in any case,’ said Hsu. ‘Finn?’

O’Keefe shook his head.

‘I’m staying here.’

‘Me too,’ said Olympiada.

Funaki looked helplessly at Miranda Winter. She ran her hands through the singed tips of her hair and pinched her nose.

‘So, the thing is, I believe in voices,’ she said, rolling her eyes towards the ceiling. ‘Voices from the universe, you know – sometimes you have to listen really closely, then the universe speaks to you and tells you what you have to do.’

‘Uh-huh,’ said Karla.

‘You have to listen with your whole body of course.’

O’Keefe gave her a friendly nod. ‘And what does it say, the cosmos?’

‘To wait. I mean, that I should wait!’ she hurried to confirm. ‘It can only speak for me after all.’

‘Of course.’

‘We’re losing time,’ urged Funaki. ‘They’ve already called the elevator back down again. The light’s flashing.’

Mukesh grasped Sushma’s hand.

‘Come on’ he said.

They walked past Funaki into the cabin, followed by Hsu, Karla and Eva, who peered in sceptically.

‘You’re coming too?’ asked Karla, surprised.

‘Do you think I’m going to let you go down by yourselves?’

‘It’s best if you stay in Selene.’ Mukesh called out to those staying behind. ‘We’ll send the elevator back right away.’

The doors closed.

Am I too cautious? wondered O’Keefe. When all is said and done, am I just a coward?

Suddenly the disquieting feeling crept over him that he’d just thrown away his last chance of getting out of here alive.

‘It’s awful,’ said Eva softly. ‘When I think of how Aileen and Chuck—’

‘Don’t think about it then,’ said Karla, staring straight ahead.

The cabin set itself in motion.

‘It’s moving,’ commented Hsu.

‘I just hope it will a second time too,’ said Sushma, concerned. ‘The others should have come with us.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Mukesh reassured her. ‘It will .’

The familiar feeling of weight loss set in. The elevator sped up, past—

—the cabin of E2, the interior of which was shimmering with red-yellow embers as the oxygen tank incessantly spat flames out into the wasteland of the neck. Inside the lift it was getting hotter and hotter. In spite of their density, the panes of the glazed section at the front were straining to brace themselves against the fire, but in vain, as the pressure began to shift to the inside and forced the components of the cabin slowly but steadily apart. The elevator shafts were separated from one another by thin, longitudinal walls, that were pierced by passageways a metre square. Contrary to their outer appearance, they were incredibly robust, made of mooncrete and designed to stand up to even heavy loads.

Not as heavy as this, though, admittedly.