it through the hungry flames and debris that blocked it.
The brilliancy of her dress was idling, flickering on and off, diminishing rapidly. Its protective effect, it seemed, was continuing to wear off rapidly. “Oh no! My dress!” Lina cried. She coughed several times, her body aching tremendously now.
“Dammit!” she declared vehemently. “What an opportune time to have my powers dim on me!” she stated sarcastically.
The sick stench and gathering smoke was starting to overwhelm Lina. Glaring with poise at the glittering crevice beyond the chaotic clutter, the woman realized what she had to do.
She momentarily placed her steady scepter against the busted hatch, cupped her mouth and nose with one hand, and swayed the mounting smolder with the other. Trying not to look down, Lina stepped over some sludge in front of her to reach a compartment in the wall not far off from the hatch. She opened it. Inside was a pressurized space suit and helmet that were both reserved for outer- “space walks.” She bent back slightly, swung her Head backwards to gather her lengthened locks with her hands, and then cunningly swirled her hair up into a few loops atop her Head, using more of her hair to keep it tied up. She quickly grabbed the spherical dome helmet from the compartment, put it on, and engaged the oxygen flow. She slammed the compartment door shut, leaving the suit behind.
Then Lina opened a compartment on the wall next to the one containing the suit to reveal a fire extinguisher. She grabbed it and flung it with all her might over the muck, toward the origin of the fire by the small opening. Then she jumped over some debris and headed back to the busted hatch to grab her staff.
Her plan was to trudge through the slop, douse the flames that were blocking her escape as much as she could with the fire extinguisher, make it outside by squeezing through the tiny crevice, and survive as long as she could.
There was a great deal of toxic sludge stuck in between her and the opening. With her dress’s powers now fully deactivated, Lina closed her Eyes