Free Overrun: Project Hideaway by Michael Rusch

couple of sharp kicks to propel herself upward away from the command
center floor now buried beneath the churning contents of the shattered glass
towers.
    When her head was finally above
water, her mouth and lungs gulped hungrily for air. When she could finally
breathe again, she looked around in horror at the flooded room.
    The top casings of the command
consoles poked above the water like rectangle islands in the ocean of the vast
cavern. And then she saw Korcheck, waist-deep but standing on the submerged
platform. He clutched a computer monitor and two keyboards in his arms. His
eyes were focused and his expression calm as he tried valiantly to bring the
equipment online. Equipment that would breathe life into the pilots and
ultimately return the Hideaway and the Beam Cannon Hardware back to Earth.
    Reaching for every ounce of
energy left in her weary body, Rone battled the currents and pushed her way to
the platform. When she reached its deck, she pulled herself out of the water
next to him and grabbed the computer monitor from his grasp. While she
struggled to keep her balance against the push of water at her feet, she held
it for him in front of her chest.
    Korcheck looked at her briefly
and nodded slightly. A look of resignation and faint sadness had settled behind
his eyes. He threw one of the keyboards over his shoulder and balanced the
second on his knee.
    The water continued to rise.
Standing ankle-deep on the topmost platform, their bodies were the only things
left uncovered by the rising flood.
    Water rushed at them from all
sides. Rone coughed harshly at what dumped into her eyes and rammed at her
throat.
    "Just a little
longer," Korcheck said evenly. He looked down and away from Rone and
pounded at the keyboard on his knee. She shifted the monitor higher up her body
away from the steadily climbing water.
    "Engage!" he yelled
smashing at the board. "Sequence engage! Goddamn it!"
    The water was now at her chest.
    The ceiling appeared to drop
down and move closer. The room itself appeared to be shrinking beneath the
encompassing flood.
    Korcheck tossed the first
keyboard into the churning water swirls and held the other in his left hand.
With his right, he plucked at it desperately with a single pointed finger.
    Rone stretched her arms and hoisted
the monitor further up, this time almost to her face.
    "That's it," Korcheck
said finally allowing the water to take his keyboard.
    Rone let go of the computer
monitor. She felt it sink next to her body and brush by her feet. No longer
able to keep her footing, she allowed the currents to carry her upward away
from the platform.
    Korcheck did the same next to
her.
    With everything now completely
buried by the rushing water, the room was almost silent. It completely covered
the shattered towers and no longer pounded from above. Its invisible force
pushed slightly at their sides and continued to carry them upward.
    Passively, Rone and Korcheck
allowed their bodies to rise with its surge.
    Within minutes, they floated to
the rock ceiling as the cavern continued to fill. The darkness of the
carved-out earth pressed down towards them and the coming water swell. Rone and
Korcheck stretched their hands protectively out to keep their skulls from
bashing against the hard rock.
    Finally they reached the top of
the room. The command center was now one with the sea.
    Calmly, Rone coughed away the
water that had entered her lungs and waited while it released from her nose and
mouth. She watched Korcheck treading next to her do the same.
    Another push from the currents
underneath brought their bodies closer together and brushed their heads against
the ceiling.
    Rone reached over him to grab
hold of the rock and locked her gaze across his eyes. They were passive and at
ease. She tried to lose herself within them and share their peace.
    Gently, the water continued to
rise around them.
    Korcheck put his arm around her
waist and pulled her after him into a small hole that reached away from