Out Of the Vault
The night was silent but for the whoosh of her skis as Zora flew down the mountain slope. Arctic winds lashed against a sliver of her exposed cheeks.
She glanced behind at the rapidly disappearing lights from the small town she’d just left. It was pretty, but Zora couldn’t appreciate it. This close to the heirlooms, all she could think about was the warm sun against her face when it was all over. Facing forward again, she narrowly skirted the exposed rock on her trajectory as gravel spat in her face.
The concrete building jutting out of the snow-covered mountain face was almost invisible but she traveled this route often enough to know when she would be under its looming shadow. Gliding to a stop in front of a solid gray wall, she nodded to Nar who was already waiting.
“Easy ride?” Nar came and hugged her. Zora could feel the tension stiffening Nar’s stout frame. No wonder, Nar was risking her own scientific reputation that had taken decades to build.
“I needed the workout,” Zora grinned, trying to relieve her own stress. “Alright, let’s go.”
Nar trudged to the left of the building, while Zora made her way to the right. She trailed her gloved hand along the wall, feeling for the access pad. Once she found it, she quickly pulled her left hand out of her glove for the five-finger scan. The screen above the access pad pulsed with a sequence of random images that she captured with her reader, and transmitted to Nar on the other side of the building. Nar would’ve done her own scan and only had to enter the same image sequence.
Zora held her breath, her hand still resting on the scan. As a depositor, she’d done this multiple times in the past week during the vault’s annual opening. Nar too, accessed the vault frequently to carry out her experiments.
Zora finally heard a beep, and moved back to the front of the building where the previously solid wall had parted open. Nar came around the corner and they both hurried into the building as the wall silently slid shut behind them.
Zora turned on her flashlight, shining it down the mile-long dark tunnel to get to the actual vault space. They started jogging, both eager to be in and out as quickly as possible. In less than ten minutes, they stood in front of the first freezer.
Zora set her backpack down and took out a large vacuum-sealed canister. Meanwhile, Nar slipped on her cryogloves and tightly grasped the freezer door handle. With her left foot planted behind her and her right foot resting against the bottom of the freezer, she gave the door a firm tug.
Her left foot slipped forward a little. Looking down, Nar frowned. The concrete floor was slick. She glanced at the temperature display on the freezer door: -79C. Probably just residual ice melt from the morning’s deposit, she thought. She adjusted her stance and tugged at the door again. This time, she felt the gasket against the freezer door release and the door slowly swung open. Flakes of ice from inside the freezer door fell to the ground.
Zora started unscrewing the canister, while Nar quickly scanned the box labels to locate the heirloom seeds. As soon as she found them, she opened the box, withdrew five vials and handed them to Zora, who swiftly dropped them into her canister. Nar shoved the box back into the freezer and slammed the door shut.
“Is that okay?” Zora asked, pointing at the temperature display. Nar registered -62C just as a single light came on in the vault. She whirled around.
“Alf!” she gasped at the sight of the lanky man watching her with arms crossed. “What are you doing here?” Zora grabbed the canister, hastily retreating into the shadow of the tunnel behind her.
“Making you the scapegoat,” said Alf, never one to mince words. “The temperature alert will go off in about 5 minutes, and then the Institute will find out that you’re a fanatic out to destroy Earth’s only hope.”
“Alf, the seeds are infected, and I can prove it. I just need these samples.”
“I know you’re right. That’s why I’m here to make sure these seeds never leave Earth. But I also want to be here to rebuild the vault. So, my dear, you’re responsible for the temperature failure that’s about to happ…Aaaawargh!!” Alf screamed, and Nar watched in horror as his face froze into a grotesque grimace. Zora stood behind him, empty canister in hand. The last drops of liquid nitrogen dripped from the canister.
At that moment, a loud siren came on echoing off the vault walls, along with the amplified recording: “Warning, temperature rise!” Nar froze, knowing that the Institute administrators would have been alerted by now.
“Nar!” Zora yelled at her, “We have to get out now!” She started running down the tunnel towards the exit. Alf still lay on the ground, clawing at his head. Jolted into action, Nar quickly ran after Zora. They just had to get these seeds out now, she thought. She’ll figure the rest out later.
