Each step up the steep metal stairs felt agonizingly slow. The scraping sound didn’t happen again, leaving only the sound of Leo’s own shallow breathing filling the tight stairwell. He reached the top deck and stood before the heavy door of the bridge—the main control room. The moving light was coming from inside. He positioned his shoulder against the steel frame, grabbed the handle, and shoved the door open, bracing himself for whatever was waiting on the other side.
The room was completely empty. Leo let out a ragged breath, lowering his flashlight. The “flickering light” wasn’t an intruder with a lantern. It was a massive, bright red warning screen on the main control console, flashing a single message over and over again. The reflection of the red text was bouncing off the large glass windows, making it look like movement from below.
He stepped inside the command center, the glow washing over his face.