"Oh no," she wailed, thumping the glass with her fist. "Now what do we do?"
"Be quiet," hissed Felicity. "I'm trying to think. And don't hit that again,
otherwise you'll go right through it."
Voltager stared at the glass and saw a tiny crack. She snatched back her hand
and gave a slight yelp.
"Nothing's wrong with your hand," said Felicity, looking at Voltager's now
slightly clenched fist. "Any further, and there would be. Now please, let me
think." Felicity slumped down into a squat and closed her eyes, deep in thought.
Red had to gag Voltager with his hand to stop her wailing. Kacheek tried not
to squeak as he wandered around in the lift. He tried to reach up for the large,
red, emergency button higher up above the numbers which tell the lift where
to go, but he was too short.
"Red," he said quietly, so as not to disturb Felicity, "could you reach up
there and get that button?"
"Not blooming likely," he gasped in one breath, trying to keep hold of Voltager
and stop her from causing a disruption by screaming. "Try jumping, Kacheek.
Even if you can't fly, you'll get somewhere."
With a deep sigh, Kacheek stalked back to the buttons. He bent his feet and
jumped, reaching to push the big button. He missed, and fell down again with
a thud onto the floor, his tail striking his forehead.
"Good try," breathed Red. "Jump, again!"
Kacheek did just that. He leapt up high and reached forward, but again he
fell down with another thud, accidentally biting his arm as he crushed it in
his mouth on the floor.
"Ouch," Red faltered. "That must have hurt. Try again, Kacheek."
Shaking, Kacheek stood up with a blood-streaked arm. He jumped, put his tail
down on the floor, balanced his weight on it, and then bounced high on it. Quickly,
he grabbed one of the buttons that were sticking out of the control panel. It
was marked, "2." Next to that button was a number "3" button.
He pulled himself up on top of the button, wobbling slightly.
"Good job," Red was saying, "just a few more buttons up from here, and that's
the right one. On second thoughts, Voltager, will you stay here please, and
don't yell out loud?"
Red took his hand away from Voltager's mouth. She nodded, without saying a
word. Sweat dripping into his eyes, he swished his wings down on the ground
and pushed his legs off the ground, sailing towards Kacheek's button. As terror
struck, Kacheek quivered and nearly slipped off the edge.
"I won't collide with you Kacheek," Red whispered, hovering almost motionless
in the air, "just jump off there, I'll carry you to the ground. I'll get the
emergency call button... you're bleeding, come on... jump." Red straightened
his wings, legs and tail, forming a platform on his back.
"It's not bleeding too badly, and we've got to get out of here," Kacheek said
feebly. "But all right, I'll get down. Please be careful," he added, changing
pitch as if it were a yo-yo. Felicity was still sitting against the elevator
wall. She looked very much like she was asleep. Pain-stricken and terrified,
Kacheek closed his eyes and took a dive straight through the air towards RedShoyru767.
Red tried to hold still, but the sight of Kacheek sailing through the air
at him in such a manner made him feel airsick, and he struggled to keep his
cool. In fact, he lost it. As Kacheek bounded towards him, just millimetres
away from his outstretched back, he glided to one side, leaving Kacheek facing
the floor with outstretched arms. His faint whimpers were drowned by a loud
wail from Voltager below, who was witnessing the fall. A fraction of a second
later, the scream was loud enough to drown the following thud, which was loud
enough to vibrate the whole lift and rattle the control panel. Then she covered
her eyes and sank to the floor in total silence. Red blinked a drop of sweat
out of his eye, and then a tear.
"Oh no," he said sadly. He looked down from where he was floating and saw
Kacheek lying flat on the floor. He looked further along at the wall below,
and was astonished to see Felicity was moving again, but to add to that, he
was shocked to notice it was a yawn. He took a quick, fierce dive towards the
ground beside Kacheek. A few seconds later, from his mouth, crept some words.
"Fe... FELICITY!"
Felicity yawned again and saw RedShoyru767's horrified gaze, then stood up,
rather startled.
"Mm?" she said.
"You fell asleep, Felicity," Red said shortly, turning from Felicity and pacing
up and down the elevator floor. "I thought you were thinking."
Taken aback by this action, she sank to her feet again and sat down.
"I was thinking, I just couldn't think of a solution other than the red emergency
but-"
"I ALMOST FORGOT!" Red squeaked, rushing back to the wall from which Kacheek
fell. "Look after Kacheek for me, I'll go call for help. Voltager, stay here
and this time, whatever happens, don't scream." Then he sidled his way up through
the air, aiming for the emergency button. His speed was gathering by the blink
of an eye. Voltager simply couldn't bear it any longer, so she hid underneath
her tarred wings for cover. Red's shaking hand moved further towards the large
red button, closer, closer...
Ping! He pushed on the large button, nearly crushing his hand. Voltager heard
the ping and unfolded her wings from over her head, and stretched them in every
compass direction smiling in a big broad smile.
"Well done!" she was crying.
Then silence. Voltager's smile faded from her face as she remembered Shoyru
was left on the ground floor, still with this strange disease.
Red was still hovering in the air when he heard a transmitter beside the button
fuzz into action, just like of those radios the police have with them.
The following voice was fuzzy and slightly distorted. Voltager perked up her
head in confusion, but Kacheek was still lying face down on the floor, supposedly
knocked out. Felicity turned her attention from him to the transmitter.
"Hello," the voice said, a familiar gruff and aggrieved voice. "Emergency
call. What do you want?"
Red glided toward the transmitter mouth and spoke.
"Er, we're stuck between two floors."
The next voice was very annoyed. It was exactly the same, but it became even
more distorted because of the increased noise.
"Do I know you?" it growled, like a Kougra with the toothache. Red backed
away from the transmitter in surprise.
"It has to be Gerald," he mouthed to Voltager. Voltager gulped and pulled
her wings over her head again.
"Mother's been looking everywhere for you!" the voice continued, getting progressively
louder. Even Felicity was holding her head. "And you've been in that lift for
ages, and it's only stuck because a certain somebody must have broken it! Those
lifts were brand new!"
Felicity and Red turned to Voltager, who was now cowering in a corner, losing
the strength even to kneel. She backed further into the corner and curled herself
into a ball.
"And they're so expensive!" Gerald continued. "Why should I help you when
you've BROKEN VALUABLE PROPERTY!"
"Better safe than sorry!" Red bawled into the transmitter, suddenly shooting
backwards from it a metre in a split second. "And besides, what do you think
an emergency call button is for? Decoration?"
"YOU'LL REGRET THAT!" Gerald shouted down the receiver. "HOW DARE YOU TALK
TO ME LIKE THAT!"
The voice snapped to a halt.
"It's all my fault," Voltager said weakly as she rolled in her ball out of
her corner along the floor. Then she straightened out and stood up. "I'm sorry
I broke that lift."
"Now I really have to think," Felicity said, gravely sinking into a sit.
"I'M SORRY!"
"Keep your tar on Voltager," Felicity restrained, covering her head. "We all
have problems of our own, so calm down. You'll get so hot with frustration you'll
lose your protective tar coat. It can be pretty effective, and can help you
store more electricity, Don't lose it. It's possible, if you go on like that."
Voltager shut up at once. She couldn't stand comments like these, although
they themselves did not upset her it made her feel she was doing something wrong.
She opened her mouth to speak again, but Felicity had told her to keep calm,
so she decided not to.
Meanwhile, Red was leaning against the glassed wall of the lift and kicked
the ground with his feet.
"I've blown it," he muttered bitterly. "I had to be sarcastic. I thought he
deserved it. That Gerald is a pain in the neck, he really is. Why leave him
to answer the machine when they could have had Linda sort things out?"
"Linda was looking for us," Felicity told him. Then she waved at Voltager.
"You were in such a hurry that we left her behind."
Red shook his head, sweating all over his face. He sat with his head in his
hands.
"I wonder how Goldy and Wingman are getting on," he said.
To be continued... | 
