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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 5140997" data-attributes="member: 3285">Righteous Triad Fists: Part 7 – …and Hand GrenadesJim-Bean and Hammer were dressed in pressure suits, which were sturdier than the diving suits.  The Horseshoe had largely depressurized.  Water streamed everywhere.  They moved past dead bodies floating face up in cramped corridors.Hammer's cistron was hooked into the HUD in his suit.  "According to the deck plans, this is the entrance to the reactor."  They both grabbed hold of the huge wheel on the door.  Nuclear warning signs were plastered everywhere in bright yellow.  It wouldn't budge.  "The pressure from outside must be too great," said Hammer.  "We'll have to blow it.""We don't have enough explosives to blow it!" shouted Jim-Bean.  He was always shouting now, because there was a roaring in his ears.  "That's the only way.  We'll have to make do—look out!"Jim-Bean turned slowly as Hammer extended one pistol and fired past him.  A Deep One's head exploded.  Deep Ones crept down the corridor, hopping along walls, jumping from pipe to pipe, swarming like ants down a tunnel. Hammer raked the area with gunfire.  Suddenly red warning lights began to swirl and klaxons shrieked behind him.The Deep One corpses piled up.  Hammer spared a glance over his shoulder.  The outer door to the reactor had just slammed shut again."Jimmy!  Jimmy, are you nuts?  You can't survive in there!""Maybe not." Jim-Bean's voice betrayed no hint of concern for his plight over the comm. "But I can certainly handle it better than you can."Hammer reloaded, fumbling with the pistols in the darkness.  The suit's limited visibility and the gloved fingers made it difficult. "Damn it, Jimmy!" He didn't get a chance to say more. The Deep Ones, finding their courage, launched another assault.  More of them plunged down the hallway.  Hammer sprayed their legs.  He didn't have to aim, because they swarmed through en masse without regard for their own safety.The door opened again behind him.  Jim-Bean staggered out of the room, gasping.  Whatever had happened to him in the nuclear reactor was not visible; it was impossible to see through his fogged mask. "Hammer?" asked Guppy, who could monitor life signs from the Wallaby via their suits.  "What just happened to Jim-Bean?  His vitals are off the charts."The Deep Ones had stopped their advance, for the moment.  "Can you walk?" asked Hammer.Jim-Bean patted Hammer on the helmet.  "I'm fine," he gurgled back.   But Hammer knew he was not fine. The suits were not meant to handle radiation.  The amount of exposure Jim-Bean had suffered was horrific. Jim-Bean leaned heavily on Hammer as they half-limped, half-dragged each other to the airlock.  The Horseshoe shuddered and groaned around them like an old man."Guys, hurry up!" shouted Guppy through the comm.  "There's Deep Ones headed straight for us! I don't know much more the Wallaby can take!"Hammer and Jim-Bean wheeled the airlock door open.  The umbilical bunched and flexed precariously as the Wallaby struggled to stay attached to the tumbling Horseshoe.  Hammer suddenly felt pressure on his back. He stumbled forward into the lock as the door winched behind him. Hammer whirled, struggling with the airlock door. "Jimmy, what the hell are you doing?"Jim-Bean held up one hand, and telekinesis winched the Wallaby's airlock closed. "Don't worry…" wheezed Jim-Bean, "this is…what I was…built for.""Jimmy!" shouted Hammer, watching helpless as his friend stood framed in the airlock door. Then the umbilical tore apart.The Wallaby spun away, and Hammer could see Deep Ones hurled off in different directions from the violent maneuver.  Lights sparked behind the distant form of Jim-Bean, silhouetted in the open air lock. Hammer stripped off the suit, scrambling back to the bridge.Guppy punched it.  The Wallaby roared forward with every reserve it had left.On the screen, Guppy was able to monitor Jim-Bean and Hammer's vitals.  Jim-Bean's were flaring red.  "His suit's losing pressure!" wailed Guppy.  Hammer closed his eyes.  It was worse than that.  The explosion hadn't gone off.He slowly slumped to the co-pilot's chair.  Even Archive had finally stopped muttering.All that sounded within the cockpit was the long, mechanical wail of Jim-Bean's stopped heart.</blockquote>

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