Edan Osborne

Meanwhile, deep below the ESC, Quill was huddled inside the pod. The creature had stopped just outside the door, its rancid breath permeating through every crack and gap in the door.

Quill, however, had a plan. Not a good plan, but maybe something that could make sure nobody could find themself in the same predicament. Quill took out their flamethrower, and disconnected the gas canister. A strip of fabric from their skirt would act as a fuse, which the flints from the igniter would set alight. They were going to blow up the Jumpstation, as well as themself.

They stuffed the fabric into the nozzle, forcing it half open, and lit the fuse. The bare steel walls of the pod lit up with a golden colour, but then something unexpected occurred. The light in the pod suddenly seemed brighter, colder. The smell changed from that of rotting meat, to a familiar scent of burning metal and... honey?

Before they knew it, Quill was tumbling out of the pod and onto a teal linoleum floor. The canister flew through an open door and promptly detonated, blasting the wall opposite with shards of glass, and startling something — no, someone — behind a counter.

The small creature scampered out from her hiding place. She looked human, impeccably dressed, but with horns and a forked tail: an imp. Pinned to her jacket was a sticker, reading “Hi! My name is MAX”. Quill barely had time to think about her appearance, as the smell of smoke filled their nostrils. They leapt up and rushed in to pull the fire alarm.

“Oh, fuck, is that your lab?” inquired Max.

“Not for much longer if I can't get this fire out!” Quill replied. “Oh shit, my experiments! How powerful was that bomb‽”

“Ah, yes, the bomb. The bomb destroyed your chemicals. Not me. Definitely the bomb.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Nothing...”

Quill emerged from the doorway, covered with soot.

“The sprinklers aren't doing shit. We're gonna have to do this the old fashioned way.”

They produced a dagger from inside their labcoat and cut a hole in the linoleum floor, exposing the wood below. They prised one of the blocks away with the dagger, and then pulled up the rest by hand to reveal a glass orb, filled with a clear liquid.

“Right, you're gonna want to hold your breath.” Quill warned before lobbing the orb into the lab and slamming shut the door.

The orb shattered, spilling its contents throughout Lab 273½. The flames dwindled and died as the carbon tetrachloride pulled all of the oxygen from the air.

“Looks like you'll be needing a new lab, huh”, said Max. “You don't seem too upset, though.”

“Well, I'm a bit more concerned about the giant nightmare creature living under the- OH MY FUCKING GOD THE CREATURE!!!” Quill replied, shortly before collapsing to the floor for the fourth time since Thursday.