Season 03 - Episode 12

‘up but now’

Ty has given up.

He is lying on his side on yet another identical landing, a few half eaten mushrooms congealing and drying out beside him. The floor is brutally hard and cold and the arm on which he is lying is numb. He doesn't care.

He is staring but seeing nothing. Occasional thoughts attempt to form but then stumble and collapse so that his mind is as blank as his stare. He can't go down and there's no point going up. There's no point doing anything anymore so he doesn't. His body aches but he ignores it. He waits to fall asleep, hoping he won't wake up.

But now there is a noise so that everything sharpens up.

A strange scratching sound is coming from the steps below. As he watches, still not moving, a tiny metallic creature skitters up the steps onto the landing. Ty's eyes widen and his mouth opens as the creature stands there, just a few feet away.

It has a long, thin, flexible body with lots of little legs running down either side. Where it should have a face there is instead just a flat black circle and on it's back is a tiny, round hump that occasionally flashes red.

Seconds of stillness tick past, then the creature scuttles towards his face so that he scrambles backwards and away until he feels the wall against his back. The creature rushes towards him but stops a few inches short. It arches its back so that its front legs rise from the floor and its flat black face looks straight at him.

Ty goggles at the thing, not daring to look away. He tries to guess how quickly he can reach the next set of steps. The little thing is quick though, too quick and will certainly catch him if he runs. As he watches however, the tiny metal creature begins to move in a circle.

It races around a few times then settles back to face him again. Now it rocks itself from side to side so that all the legs down one side leave the ground and then all the legs on the other. It curls itself into a ball and rolls around, again finishing to look at him as if awaiting a reaction. Ty feels himself soften and relax and realises there is a smile on his face.

Slowly, he reaches out a trembling hand towards the thing. Just as he is about to touch it, it takes a little step forwards and rubs itself against the side of his finger. It is cool and smooth. Then, as he watches, frozen to the spot, the thing scuttles up to sit on the back of his hand. His heart is pounding as he raises his hand to hold it before his face, inspecting the creature more closely.

“Hello,” he says then, his voice tiny and fragile in the vast, hard walled space.

The thing walks a quick little circle on the back of his hand and flashes its little red light.

“Can you...” says Ty, marvelling at the creature now. “Can you understand me?”

The thing repeats its little dance. Ty chews his lip and thinks.

“I know!” he says, his voice suddenly louder than before. “One flash for yes, two for no. Can you understand what I'm saying?”

The light on the little creature's back flashes once and Ty laughs with delight.

“I'm lost,” he says then. “And I'm all alone. Are you all alone too?”

The creature flashes once and curls to rub itself against his skin again.

“Would you...” says Ty, biting his lip again. “Would you like to be friends?”

Another single flash, this time followed by an excited jig. Ty grins broadly.

“I don't know where to go,” he says. “Do you know a way out of here?”

The creatures flashes once then leaps from his hand, zipping along the floor towards the upward steps. At the bottom of the steps the creature moves onto the wall instead, slipping along it just as easily as the floor.

Ty laughs and cries out with joy as he scrambles after the creature, using his hands as well as his feet to race up the steps. They climb floor after floor, the creature tracing great circles on the walls to allow Ty to catch up, then racing off again.

Eventually, just as Ty thinks his lungs might burst, the creature stops. As Ty huffs and puffs up the last few steps, yet another landing comes into view. Except this one is different, it has no steel shuttered door. Instead, right in the middle of the wall, where the creature is waiting patiently, is a hatch.

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