//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirty Six: Woes of Green // Story: We don't go to Sub-Level Five // by RadBunny //------------------------------// One moment Astral was stepping backward. The next, his vision was full of soft metal, broken glass…and green. Lots of green. Apparently, the floor directly below them was completely gone. Astral had landed mostly on his hooves on the floor below that, the large metal counter providing a disturbingly cushioned impact from the two-story fall. The odd liquid coated most of the floor, enough that was about halfway up a counter at chair height. The neon-green fluid seemed normal enough, but considering everything it had touched appeared to sag, it wasn’t good. It didn’t move much, only slightly sloshed when debris fell in as if it was the consistency of warmed jello. “Astral? You ok?” Sassi asked, worry coating her voice over the radio as the mare looked down from above. “Y-yeah. Landed on a counter. Weird green stuff everywhere,” he relayed back. “How do I get out of here?” The counter he was on was in the main hallway, spanning to his left and right. Previously pristine (so he assumed) glass rooms lined the hall. The glass was either dripping, sagging, or was broken. No bodies were seen, so at least that was a plus. “Hallway that leads away from you, towards where we were trying to go is not the way out,” Sassi explained, “that leads to a small elevator that goes up to the lab above you. Or, what used to be the lab. It looks like it’s completely melted through. You want to go away from that.” “Ok. My options of moving are a bit limited. And squishy,” Astral asked. “The metal and plastic feel like cheesecake texture. Uh, any idea what this stuff is?” “Not a clue. Probably a mix of garbage they were experimenting with and didn’t take seriously. If it just melts metal, plastic, and anything non-organic, you might be ok if that’s all it’s targeted to do. The fact things haven’t dissolved completely means it’s not super potent, but we don’t know.” “So, don’t touch it?” “No. Don’t touch it. Can you find your way back? I’ll reset the elevator locks here, but you also need to reset them on your end. They’ll be on your way back, so just flick the switches as I showed you. Otherwise, we’ll have to make another trip if the elevator locks on the floor. It should be the second door on your right after the glass cubicle’s end, just before the elevators.” “Ok, I can do that.” “Let’s get this done. I won’t use the radio unless I need to so you can focus.” Astral nodded in reply, taking a few deep breaths. “Sounds good, Sassi.” There was a pause, and for a moment Astral assumed Sassi was going silent. “Be careful, Astral.” Her tone was a lot less firm, the military cadence cutting out and replaced with genuine care. He couldn’t help but smile despite the circumstances. “You too.” Astral took a moment to plot his route. Ultimately, the path was going to be the worse version of ‘the floor is lava’ ever. There were tables, chairs, tipped-over metal boxes, and cabinets all over. Whether they’d hold his weight or not was a question Astral would find out soon. There wasn’t any other way down the hall. If the hallway had been a bit wider and not had dozens of sparking wires hanging from the ruined ceiling, the Thestral would have given flying a shot. But even then, the heavy armor prevented anything outside of a basic glide. So, jumping it was. Ok, here we go. He cautiously jumped to the nearest island of safety, letting out a yelp as his hoof sank into the material. But it held. Ok. Now I know what to expect. Each jump made Astral’s heart rise in his throat. Yet slowly but surely, he made his way down the flooded hallway- until there was nowhere left to jump. That left only one crazy, stupid option. Poking his hoof into the wall, Astral quickly confirmed his hypothesis. He could make hoof-holds in the material. Like a terrified, armored spider, the stallion shoved his hooves into the wall methodically, clambering above the toxic mess. When the hallway shifted back into the full-length glass rooms, that made it easier. Astral was able to walk tightrope-style across the dividers. Second door on my right. The concentration of fluid was definitely decreasing down the hall, the amount barely covering the floor by the time Astral got past the various glass rooms. The electrical room door opened, only a bit of the green stuff washing in. It was remarkably solid- not at all like water, so it only flowed in the entrance slightly. Slipping on the tile floor as he jumped in from his hallway-clambering, the stallion smacked into the nearest wall with a *thud*. Ok. The switches… Sure enough, the identical piece of equipment was on the far side of the room. Toggling the appropriate switches and dials, Astral nodded as the panel lit up. “Sassi? Locks disable.” “Perfect. I’m almost to the elevators on my end. I’ll be down there in a moment. Is there any of that green gunk near the elevators?” Astral shook his head as he spoke on the radio. “If there is, it’ll be just a thin layer. It’s barely bit-high at the electronics door, just washed in a bit.” “Understood. See you soon.” Astral commandeered a spare chair to slide out the door, then latched onto the wall once again. The material was quickly starting to firm up, confirming the toxic sludge wasn’t as present. Just as Astral spied the familiar elevator lobby, his hoof-holds crumbled into dust. The stallion fell backward, immediately getting coated in the chemical slurry which seemed to move on its own, covering him from head to tail including under the armor. He let out a terrified yell, scrambling onto the nearest item (a file cabinet) and for a moment thought that the green gunk wasn’t anything to worry about. Nothing felt off. That was when a million invisible ants began to bite at his skin. “Sassi! I slipped. I’m covered in the stuff. What do I do?” Astral yelled, panic punching through his thought process. “Take a breath, Astral. You’re good,” Sassi’s voice immediately replied, calm and steady in his ears. “When you head to the elevators, take a right down that hallway. There’s a decontamination station. It should still have power. I’ll meet you there.” Astral nodded. As the sensation of biting ants slowly began to intensify, he resumed his course. With a few jumps to a rogue chair and a sagging metal crate, he managed to clear the final remnants of the gunk. The Thestral slid across the tile and smacked into the opposing wall, leaving a slight green imprint. Trying to force down nausea in his stomach, Astral could feel his limbs beginning to shake. They felt…off. Cold. There! Down the hall, three large doors were visible. The left-most two were the decontamination chamber. One for an observing party, the other for the actual procedure in and out of the lab. While silly, Astral briefly wondered how the observer would be sterile- did they come from the lab-side? The sight of a broken emergency exit latch answered that question. Sassi had made her own entrance on this side, the mare already typing in the observation station. “Ok, Astral. Get into that room and strip off everything. Helmet, armor, guns, bags- dump it all into the large crate to your right,” Sassi instructed. Astral managed a nod, stumbling into the clear plastic room. Taking off his equipment, the stallion shoved it all into the nearby bin. As soon as everything was off, the crate snapped shut with an audible *SNIK*. “Beginning decontamination sequence. You’re going to have to get a shot or two as well. Just stand in the middle of the room, hooves on the markers on the floor,” Sassi instructed, her voice level and calm. Astral matched up his hooves to the four large circles on the floor, a large circular array now descending into the room above him. A simple oxygen mask was attached to his nose and mouth after a blast of water and foam covered his face. A minty, stinging scent was promptly pumped into his lungs. Nozzles then sent water coursing up, down, and sideways across the stallion’s body. Jets recessed in the floor covered him head to tail, nothing being missed. Thick foam was next, the substance fizzing and popping as it seemed to burrow under the Thestral’s fur. Another round of water, and then a thicker, almost slime-like material was promptly dumped onto the stallion. Stopping himself from letting out a shriek, Astral felt his limbs immediately start to shiver. There weren’t many things that he was genuinely afraid of (outside of freakish creatures at least.) But for some reason, slimly textures on his fur provoked an immediate and violent get-away-from-me reaction. It was all he could do to remain stationary, his breathing borderline hyperventilating. The slime was almost rinsed off now, the Astral’s near panic-attack cresting as he quivered. It’s almost off. It was a very specific texture. Jello wouldn’t do it- but this decontaminating slime was just the type of substance to make Astral’s anxiety skyrocket. After another few moments, Astral was slime-free, but then subjected to more fizzing foam and then a final wash of lime-green fluid before a rinse of water. He chanced a glance over to Sassi behind the thick window. While his vision was blurred, she looked genuinely disturbed, her visor flipped up as she watched him and the displays. That didn’t bode well for whatever Astral had fallen into. As fans and pumps both dried the fuzzy Thestral and removed the water, Astral spied a robotic arm. He knew what came next as a large needle entered his vision. It promptly dumped a syringe of something into his bloodstream, a mechanical set of claws slapping some self-adhesive gauze on the injection site. “Decontamination procedure complete. All residual toxins preparing to be expelled,” a monotone voice chimed, Astral staggering out of the chamber with weak limbs. As Sassi hurried over to him (newly decontaminated apparel in tow) Astral managed a weak smile. “T-that wasn’t so ba-HURK!”