John felt his PDA buzz and was shaking his head at the message, just like everyone else.
"You've got to say one thing about these guys. They're psychotically happy. Have a nice day, my ass."
Dropping the pickax, John headed over to the door, looking for any sort of locking mechanism. He was starting to feel the first stirrings of real apprehension. Holding them captive was one thing, demanding they complete a nonsensical task or face punishment was taking a solid step over the line into psychological manipulation and, if they made good on the threat of punishment, possible torture. Whoever this aggressively cheerful enemy was, John was one hundred percent certain he didn't want to experience whatever punishment they might have in mind.
"No," he said in response to Sam's question. "We're not doing anything they ask; resist by all means available." He turned back to the room and looked at Sam. "You're a computer guy, right? See if you can find anything to get this door open."