Climbing in the Dark

Keep your voice down. The night shift just killed the overhead lights. I moved from behind the centrifuge up onto the conduit junction box. The steel casing here is thick and holds my magnetic joints like a vice. From this perch, the path to the ceiling vent is directly above me—just three more feet along the cold water pipe. I tapped the seam to test its strength, and it didn't budge. I'm staying pressed flat against the metal in the dark until the security sweep finishes.