Only that seemed an eternity ago, now.
Jerking the door shut, dragging the girl by one wrist, Craig raced for the force shaft. Slamming back the panel on the down-side, he jammed it ajar. Then, sliding open the other unit, he pulled Narla into the lift-current, closed the gate behind them, and let go of the hand-hold.
Together, they surged upward, level after level.
Narla's face showed pale and drawn. "Where ... are you taking me?"
Craig laughed aloud. His head swam, as if he were suddenly drunk on danger and recklessness and tension. "You'll see."
Overhead, the shaft-cap loomed closer ... closer. They reached the top level, hung there, suspended.
Then Craig slid back the panel, and they stepped out into the bare, echoing hallway's darkness. Still gripping the girl's wrist, he groped his way up the stairway and out onto the flat top of the tower.
The disc still lay where he had left it. Far to the west, the sky was already turning turquoise, Roh's blue beams dimming. In minutes the great green morning sun called Boh would climb above the far horizon.
Pulling Narla to the edge of the roof, Craig peered down.