It's dark here, an unkind darkness, under the ice. Red lights line the walkways, radiophosphor indicators, but for now the power is out, the tunnels are dark, only rote familiarity to guide. Help is coming, it is best to wait, but the main shaft door was open when everything went out. First order of business is to close in this cold, so the worse cold stays out. Uncountable time traversing the red dotted walkways, the dim glow of stars casts down the shaft. Not lit, but light. On approach though, a glow descends. The moon is crossing over the shaft. It's thin crescent offering far more light.
I stand in a hole, surrounded by ice, and metal, bathed in the last light before the coming full moon. We are cold together. It's a climb, to manually close the door, up the emergency ladder. Snow flickers in the column of air between us, in no hurry to land. Climbing the ladder, there's little to look at, a dimly lit rung, a featureless runner, the snow, and above all the moon, still sliding into view, faster now as I ascend. Come to my aid again. Years earlier a similar sight. Climbers in ice, working slowly to scale a crevasse, and the moon watching over.
Rung after rung, easier than rope, pitons, but deeper, and less safe, nothing to catch you. Time passes and the moon stays, if anything brighter now. I look up from the drudge. It's fuller now. Almost half. The snow doesn't flicker anymore, and it doesn't fall. We are held aloft in the moon's warm light. It isn't so hard to climb, with a bit of help. The last few dozen feet to the door are easier than all those before, but now the cold of the surface steals through. The door must be closed, and with it the dark returns, save for a small shadow, a small, round window. It casts the sky into the dark below, a pinhole aperture, bringing the moon inside, dimly, for the descent.
As I reach ground, the crescent is returned. A sliver around the edge, slipping up the wall. Help will be here, in the morning.
Played using Under Strange Moons, ranks only.Draws: 7, Queen of Hearts,Queen of Spades (discarded), King of Spades, 4 of HeartsApproximate play time: 30 minutes.