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They raced along the narrow corridor for several minutes, going as quietly as they could to avoid detection. There were no lights in this passageway, suggesting it wasn’t used much.

He slowed and scowled before cursing under his breath. “It’s a dead end. We’ll have to try another route.”

“No, it’s not. There’s a ladder.”

Ash looked at the wall. “I don’t see a ladder.”

“Well, it’s a kind of ladder. How are your rock climbing skills?” Georgia pointed to the uneven wall with chunks of rough rock jutting out. “There are hand holds, and they’ve been used. What do you reckon? It could be a way out.”

“It could be a way to get ourselves trapped even worse than we already are. But this is our best option. Let’s do it.”

He cupped his hands together and boosted Georgia up. She grabbed onto the rock and pulled herself up.

The banty jumped off her and bounced from wall to wall, seeming to defy gravity.

Ash jumped and grabbed the rock face. He grunted as he heaved himself up, following Georgia and the banty. Sometimes, there was an advantage to being smaller. She was making this climb look easy and was already far ahead of him.

“Do you see anything up there?” he whispered.

“There’s light. It could be a hatch. How are you doing?”

“You just concentrate on not landing on my face.”

She chuckled. “You’ve never objected to me sitting on your face before.”

“And I want you to do that again real soon. It gives me even more motivation to get us out of here.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Ten minutes of punishing climbing later, and Ash stopped. Georgia was right above him.

“There’s a hatch, but I can’t get it open. It could have been welded shut from the outside. I can’t see anything jamming it from this side.”

He edged his way up alongside her. It was a tight fit, and his back was pressed against the wall, with Georgia against him.

Ash braced his back against the wall so he could take his hands off the rock face. He tested the handle that should open the hatch. “It could be stiff from lack of use.”

“I couldn’t get it to move.”

“That’s because you don’t have these.” He flexed his biceps.

“Less posturing and more action, tough guy.”

He yanked on the lever hard several times, and it budged an inch. “It’s moving.”

Georgia looked down. “You need to hurry. I see lights below. The Siblet must be investigating this corridor. If they look up, they’ll spot us, and we’ll be sitting ducks.”

Ash gritted his teeth, braced himself against the wall again, and leaned his weight on the handle. Metal grated against metal as it shifted.

“Hurry!” Georgia said. “They’ll have heard that.”

Ash used his back to lever open the circular hatch.

The banty jumped out first and scampered around.

Georgia peered out. “It looks good. There’s no one here.”

“You first,” he said.