Jackie raised herself up slowly. She wasn't dizzy or anything. Cool. But... where was she? She began to crawl along the rough cement floor until she reached a right angle, and then a wall. Steadying herself with one hand, she raised up on the wall until she was standing. Then she began to walk, one hand still trailing the wall, until she reached another right angle, and then another wall.
After about a year- or a few minutes- of slow groping and cautious steps, Jackie touched metal. A door frame! Her fingers were just curving around the frame to touch what must be the actual door when--
GLEBOWWLLKJSKDKEOOOOUNNNDWOWPOAAAAGWEEOOOGGALAKARGGGGG
Jackie's chamber filled with sound. The walls seemed to bend and sway with the force of decibels belting against her eardrums. She clutched her head and bellowed in pain and frustration, and if we were all being honest, fear. It was dark and she was alone and she had no idea where she was or how she'd got there and she was friggin' scared a little, okay?
The ringing died down quickly, her cement... what, cell? absorbed the sounds better than Jackie had expected. In the clear silence that followed that awful noise, another unexpected sound arrived.
"Ahem. We're very sorry about that. Our alarm system can be quite alarming, if you will. We're terribly undermanned out here, and the crew do need to sleep on a regular schedule. We keep everything at top volume, you understand. For emergencies." There was whine, like feedback, and then a few moments of silence. With a crackle, the voice returned. "Oh, drat. I probably shouldn't have said that bit about being undermanned. Forget about it or they'll have both our heads. Worse for you than me, really. But I'm fairly attached to this old mug." Another bit of feedback and then silence.
Nothing. Nothing made a sound here, Jackie had ample time to realize. Even her own breathing was mute. She sat down and leaned back a bit against the wall to focus on the rise and fall of her own chest, just to convince herself she was still actually breathing. After awhile, Jackie felt calm enough to wonder if anything had travelled with her. Sometimes in adventure stories, heroes were transported with special items, right? Maybe her sketchbook was around this room somewhere, and she could draw herself the hell out of wherever this place was.
She was just getting back onto her hands and knees to crawl back in the direction she thought might be the center of the room when there was a sudden sound like hissing steam, and then an agonizing rocket of yellow light paired with a screech. Jackie's back was against the wall instantly and she tried to focus her eyes in the sudden light. She could see only a shadow shape on the floor of her cell. A shadow shape that looked like the Tin Man from Oz.
"Thought I might come check on you, since you're awake now. Boy, have you been out for a bit. Three whole shifts, since we picked you up, and just dozing away. You'd think this was a vacation for you or something."
