Sam grabbed a heavy steel crowbar from his pack, jamming the tip beneath the outer latch while Elena struck the handle with a sledgehammer. But the locking wheel was fused solid, encased in decades of compressed frost and rusted bolts. Every blow sent a harsh shockwave through Sam's arms, but the heavy hatch refused to budge even a millimeter.
"It's completely seized!" Sam yelled in frustration, throwing his weight against the bar. "If someone’s still breathing in there, we can't break this seal with hand tools alone!" As if in answer, the heavy thud of rotor blades cut through the storm as a massive military rescue helicopter finally broke through the clouds, landing in a swirl of whiteout snow near the base of the cliff.
A team of support personnel and specialists rushed out with hydraulic cutters, heavy thermal torches, and emergency medical gear. "Get back!" the team lead ordered, directing technicians to set up a perimeter around the spherical capsule while medical staff stood by with oxygen tanks and stretchers, expecting to pull out an unconscious survivor from a recent aviation crash.