Utterly Mad

Time. Time was getting thin now, scarcer. Catnip had grabbed everything she needed and worked at a breakneck pace, cleaning and fixing. Loosening stuck gears and bolts, oiling the machine. The pump worked and over the hour she felt the water recede from thigh level to just below her knees. If there were shreikers lurking just beneath the waters surface, it was ages too late to worry about it now. From above, George and L watched over her patiently and with a growing tension. Besides the noise of the relatively quiet electric generator, they had marked the odd silence that had fallen over everything with trepidation. If it was down to the three of them, then it would be obvious to Catnip and L who the threat was. It wasn't though, and shortly before Catnip finished her repairs and slammed the wind cell into it's cradle, three other workers arrived looking for tasks. She heard George ask them where the others were at, but didn't catch the answer over the burst of air that erupted from the machine, and the thing that was rattled off the top of the debris shield above the bulk of the machinery.

At first, Catnip believed it to be a tiny screw. It wasn't though, in fact, it looked a bit like one of the charms from Tenny's bracelet. She pulled the chain of bells and icons from the pouch where it had been stashed, and yes there were a few small links on which there hung nothing. 'How...' Catnip mused, then shot a glance up. There was something odd about it, but there was a blank in her mind. How had it got here? Tenny hadn't been down into this part of the rotunda, and she certainly hadn't gone near the machinery. The hole in the ceiling then? That was a long shot, and Catnip had never seen Tenny so much as set foot on the stairs going up to the roof. So then...



"You did it Nip! You did it! What happens next!?" L cried, breaking her out of her thoughts and back into the real world. The workers who'd come in stepped back in awe of the machine. Already the drive shaft of the howling tower spun like a dervish out of control and rattled it's bearings back to life. The Gale within the room was entirely unexpected, but already it was slowing to a more gentle but still brisk cyclone. What little water was left was being whipped up out of the basin now and being thrown against the walls in sousing fans. Deep beneath, the shriekers that still remained gave a long ear piercing wail that went completely unnoticed.

"The-oh-It needs to wind up a bit," Catnip explained loudly shouting to be heard over the machine, "if we're lucky, it'll produce enough excess power to restart the facility and we can shut down the security grid." Catnip climbed back onto the walkway and rubbed at the grimy water clinging to her peach fuzz fur with a rough towel. "All we have to do is restart the buildings systems." She finished, and George added, "which we should be able to do from the console's here in this very room."

"Well what are we waiting for? How long does it take to warm up?" L asked or rather, demanded, furtively. Catnip stayed silent for a long moment listening. Her ears twitched attentively to the roll of the bearings in the driveshaft, the rough grind that evened out to a steady roaring hum as rust was worked out and lubricant spread itself out over moving parts.

"Now." She said. George took to one of the console's and set to work. In short order, the lights came back on around the facility and for a moment, the intercoms crackled to life.

Then, everything went dark.