#Jon Teleros

[ericbarkman]

Tales of WID 72 #11 The ESS Job

     The lock clicked open and Diego Serrano put his lock pick equipment back into his bag.  He opened the safe, and found a stack of cash, a folder filled with papers, and a handgun.  He grabbed the cash and the folder, but left the gun as he closed and relocked the safe.      “We’ve got a problem,” Jacques Dupont said over the comm.  “The maid is making her way up to the office.”      “That’s not a problem,” Diego said.  “I can just leave through the window, I’m not too high up.”      Diego looked out the window as he opened it up.  He grabbed his whip from his belt, ran, jumped out the window, flicked his whip towards a streetlamp, which it curled around, and he swung down to the ground.  Jacques was waiting in the car, and Diego ran up, got in, and Jacques took off.      “So, you go the folder?” Jacques asked.      “Yep, and a bit of cash too.  Looks like about $100,000 so not bad of a bonus.”      “Hopefully our employer doesn’t have a problem with that.  She just asked us to get the folder.”      “What she doesn’t know can’t hurt us,” Diego said.      “Here you are,” Diego said as he slid the folder across the table to their employer.  They were in a coffee shop.      “Good work,” she said.  “The money has been transferred to your accounts.”      “It was a pleasure doing business with you,” Jacques said.      “And I understand you two also got a bit of a bonus on this job,” she said.  “Don’t worry, it’s fine that you took that $100,000.  Although, if you would like to make a bit more money, I do have another job.”      “What kind?” Diego asked.      Their employer opened up the folder and looked through it.  She took out a paper, and put it on the table.  “This is a set of blueprints,” she said.  “It is quite valuable to us, but the prototype has already been built, and that would be even more valuable.”      “What is it?” Jacques asked as he picked it up and looked at it.  “Is this some kind of weapon?”      “Nothing so crude,” their employer said.  “But I don’t want to bore you with the technical details.  I think you’ll be more interested in the price I’m willing to offer.”      “I can’t believe we accepted that job,” Jacques said as he drove them back to their apartment.      “It’s a lot of money,” Diego said.  “We could retire after this job, if we want to.”      “If we wanted to we could have retired years ago.  But that’s boring.”      “Which is exactly what stealing from the ESS will not be.  Like, we’ve dealt with their security before, but this is the main ESS headquarters.  The most secure building on the planet.  Just think, we pull this off, we’re legends.”      “Can we pull this off though?” Jacques asked.  “Like this feels like it’ll be more than just a two man job.”      “So, we put together a crew then?  I mean, it’s been a while since we’ve been part of a larger crew, but we both know a few people we could bring in.”      “Oh yeah, who are you all thinking?”      “This is an FBI building,” Jacques said the following morning.  “Why are we outside an FBI building?”      Diego checked his watch.  “She should be getting out shortly.”      “Who?”      “Remember Roz?”      “Of course I remember Roz.  Why are we here for Roz?”      “She’s the best lock breaker we know, but she got caught a couple years back in Vegas, so decided to work off her sentence with the FBI,” Diego said.  “And there she is now.”      Jacques looked over as Roz was coming out of the building.  She noticed them almost immediately, and a frown appeared on her face.      “Hey Roz, long time no see,” Diego said.  “How’s Sam?”      “We broke up after I got caught,” Roz said.  “What are you two assholes doing here?”      “We’re putting together a team,” Diego said.      “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m on the other side now,” Roz said, pointing her thumb at the building she had just come out of.      “Good point,” Jacques said.  “We’ll just be on our way.”      “Wait,” Diego said.  “Would it interest you if I told you it would be enough money to disappear and start over?”      Roz pulled up her pant leg a bit to show off an ankle monitor.  “I’d need to disappear first.  And once that happened, there’d be no going back unless I want to spend my time in prison.  How difficult is the job?”      “You ever hear of the ESS?” Diego asked.      “You can’t be serious,” Roz said.  “I know you guys think you’re the best of the best, but the ESS are so far out of your league it’s not even funny.”      “If you’re not interested, that’s fine,” Jacques said.  “Plenty of other people we can ask.”      Diego took out a piece of paper, wrote something on it, and handed it to Roz.  “In case you change your mind.”      “Uh huh.”  Roz stuffed the paper into her pocket without even looking at it.      Jacques knocked on the door, and waited.      “Is this really a good idea?” Diego asked.      “You wanted to get help from Roz.  You lost your right to criticize my suggestions.”      “Did something happen between you and Roz?  Like, that seemed like you had more of a problem than just her being with the FBI now.”      “Just drop it.”      The door opened, and Jacques’ brother Marcel was there.      “Jacques, it’s been too long,” Marcel said.  “How are you doing?”      “I’m doing okay,” Jacques said.  “You remember Diego?”      “Hey,” Diego said.      “Ah yes, your annoying friend,” Marcel said.  “Come in, come in.  What are you two doing in town?”      “We’ve got a job, and it’s more than just a two person operation,” Jacques said.      “Who else do you have so far?” Marcel asked.      “It’s just the two of us, so far,” Diego said.  “Unless you’re in.”      “Tell me about the job,” Marcel said.      “We’ll be stealing something from the ESS,” Jacques said.      “What was Dad’s number one rule?” Marcel asked.      “Don’t steal from law enforcement,” Jacques said.  “But he’s long gone.”      “It was a good rule though,” Marcel said.  “Remember when Uncle Jean tried stealing from Interpol?  Remember what happened?”      “This is different,” Jacques said.      “You’re right it’s different,” Marcel said.  “It’s the ESS, that’s so much worse.  And besides, I thought you were done working with family.”      “So you’re not in?” Diego asked.  “Not a problem, we can find someone else.”      “Of course I’m in,” Marcel said.  “Jacques is my brother, and family is important to me, even if it’s not important to him.”      Diego and Jacques entered the gym, and looked around.  There were a handful of people exercising, but not a lot.  And most of the equipment looked old, with some of it no longer even looking functional.  They went to the manager’s office, and knocked.      “Come in,” someone said.      They went in, and saw the manager, Darren Jefferson, working on the computer.      “Jacques, Diego, good to see you guys,” Darren said.  “Please, sit down.”      “Thanks,” Jacques said as he sat down.      “So, how are you doing?”  Diego glanced at the computer screen as he sat down.      “Eh, I’m doing okay,” Darren said.      “Business is down though, I see,” Jacques said.      “I’ll figure something out,” Darren said.      “Before bankruptcy?” Diego asked.  “I couldn’t help but notice those financial reports you’re looking over.”      “It is what it is,” Darren said.      “We’re putting together a crew for a job,” Jacques said.      “You know I went straight when I married Greg,” Darren said.  “I mean, not straight straight, but I stopped being a criminal.”      “We could really use you on this one though,” Diego said.  “You’re the best bruiser I’ve ever worked with.”      “What about Ivan?” Darren asked.      “Ivan’s good, but he’s not you,” Diego said.  “And last I heard he’s in a Russian prison.”      “Carlos?” Darren asked.      “He’s getting chemo for his cancer,” Jacques said.      “That sucks, I hadn’t even heard about that,” Darren said.  “But surely there’s someone else you can go to.”      “With your cut from this job, you could afford to keep this gym open for the rest of your life,” Diego said.  “You don’t have to decide right now, but call us if you decide to join.”      “You think he’ll decide to join us?” Jacques asked as they walk through the city.      “Yeah, I think so,” Diego said.  “Roz too.”      “I’d be very okay with her not joining us.  Besides, even if she did, how would we know she wasn’t just going to turn us over to the FBI.”      “Come on, we know her, we can trust her.”      “The fact that I know her is why I don’t trust her.”      “I know you asked me to drop it, but really, what happened.”      “Well…” Jacques started saying, before a teenage girl bumped into him.      “Sorry,” she said before running off.      “Did she just?” Diego asked.      Jacques checked his pocket, and his wallet was gone.  “She did.”  He looked up, and she was gone from sight, so he took out his phone.  “Looks like she took a left up ahead.”      “I can loop around and get ahead of her,” Diego said.      “No, I have a better idea,” Jacques said.      Carlie looked through the wallet after she had returned to the warehouse attic she was living in.  There were a couple twenties in it, a driver’s license, and a few other IDs.  No credit cards though, that was interesting, but cash was nicer anyway.  Harder to track.      As she was looking through it, she heard someone coming up the stairs.  She hid behind some crates, and looked out, to see the guy she had taken the wallet from.  And after looking at his phone, he was headed straight for her.      “Could I get my wallet back please?” he asked.      Carlie stayed in her hiding place, as he continued to approach.      “And are you interested in a job?” he asked.      “What kind of job?” she asked, standing up.  There was not really any point in hiding anymore.  “And how did you find me?”      “I have an app for that.  Well, for tracking my wallet that is.  And I’m a fellow thief.  My partner and I are putting together a team.”      “So we have a pickpocket for our team?” Diego asked, later that day.  “No offense, but this might be a bit out of her league.”      “Not much more out of her league than it’s already out of our league really,” Jacques said.  “And we need all the help we can get.  So far we have a pickpocket and an impersonator.  That’s not much.”      “We’ll have a bruiser and a lock breaker as soon as Darren and Roz agree.”      “If they agree.  But even still, we’re trying to steal from one of the most secure places on the planet.  It’s not going to be easy.”      “We don’t want too big of a team though.  After a certain point, adding more people is just going to complicate matters.  Especially since we’re apparently already including some pickpocket we just met.”      “How long were you planning on waiting for Roz and Darren?” Jacques asked.  “I don’t think our employer wants to wait forever on us doing this job.”      “No worries, we can start on the planning right away, and bring them up to speed when they get back to us.”      “And if they don’t?”      “Don’t worry, they will.  Have I ever steered you wrong?”      “Malibu, two years ago.  Tokyo, five years ago.  Brisbane, six years ago.”      “See, only three times in the decade that we’ve known each other, that’s not bad.”      “Those were just the big ones.”      “So, what exactly is the ESS?” Carlie asked.  “And what are we stealing from them?”      It was the following day, and Jacques, Diego, Marcel, and Carlie were beginning to work on the plan.      “The ESS are a secret organization that dates back to World War 2,” Diego said.  “Possibly even older.”      “They are an international organization,” Jacques said.  “They deal with threats of advanced scientific natures.”      “A secret science police, essentially” Marcel said.  “Some of the most advanced technology on the planet.”      “Uh huh,” Carlie said.  “Like, I’m just a pickpocket here, what are you expecting from me?”      “You’re a really good pickpocket though,” Jacques said.  “You managed to get my wallet, and I almost didn’t notice it.  That’s no easy task.”      “You haven’t answered her other question though,” Marcel said.  “What are we stealing?”      “Don’t know exactly,” Diego said.  “It’s a device of some sort, and we know what it looks like, but we don’t know what it does.”      “Ah yes, this sounds like it’s going to go amazing,” Marcel said as he rolled his eyes.  “How much intel do you have on the ESS base?  And which one for that matter?”      “We know a fair amount about it,” Diego said.  “Probably one of their more well known bases, at least amongst those who know of the organization.”      “Well known also tends to mean better security,” Marcel said.  “Wait, please tell me it’s not their London base.”      “It’s not their London base,” Jacques said.  “It’s their Winnipeg base.”      “Dammit, that’s almost worse,” Marcel said.      “How is that worse?” Carlie asked.  “London is controlled by an evil alien empire.”      “Yeah, but the Winnipeg base is better secured,” Marcel said.  “It’ll be easier to get to, but harder to deal with once we’re inside.”      “What we’re thinking is that you’ll be posing as a government official doing an inspection,” Diego said.  “The rest of us will be your staff.  Roz and I will be your security specialists, Darren will be your bodyguard, and Jacques your driver.”      “And me?” Carlie asked.      “You’ll be an intern or an assistant or something,” Diego said.      “They’re not going to let an intern in, even if they let the rest of you in, even if we’re able to fool them in the first place,” Marcel said.      “Thus why I said ‘or an assistant or something,’” Diego said.  “And don’t you have that friend in the Spanish government?  He could get you credentials.”      “It might work, but it will take more than just his assistance, and I still can’t promise we’ll be able to get your entire crew in,” Marcel said.      “We’re also still assuming Roz and Darren are going to join said crew,” Jacques said.      “Wait, so not everyone you’re planning on including in this has even agreed to join?” Carlie asked.      “Not yet,” Diego said, before his phone started ringing.  He took it out.  “Oh, this is Darren right now.”  He answered it.  “Hello?”      “So, assuming this plan doesn’t totally fail, and we get in, what happens next?” Marcel asked while Diego was on the phone.      “We have a basic layout of the base,” Jacques said.  “So we know where the device is, and we just need to work our way in that direction.”      “Okay, Darren is in,” Diego said after he hung up the phone.  “So, now we’re just waiting on Roz.”      “Question,” Marcel asked.  “Do we have a computer person?  Like, I know Roz is good with locks, and I’m sure we all have decent computer skills, but doesn’t this seem like the kind job where we need a dedicated computer person?”      “You have anyone in mind?” Diego asked.  “I know a number of hackers, but none that we can reach out to for this.”      “Gregor?” Marcel asked.      “He’s living on Maltork Four these days,” Jacques said.      “Cinda?” Marcel asked.      “She’s working with the Scorpio Syndicate on some project in Antarctica,” Diego said.      “What about that Dalton chick?” Marcel asked.      “Diana?” Diego asked.  “Maybe, she’s not really a thief though.”      “Did you hear about that job in San Francisco three months ago?” Marcel asked.  “With the cars?”      “That was her?” Diego asked.  “Impressive.”      “Do you know her?” Jacques asked.      “I know someone that does,” Marcel said.  “I can reach out.”      “With her we might not even need Roz,” Jacques said.      “If they just have computer controlled locks, sure,” Diego said.  “But if they have any others, we’re still going to want Roz.”      Diana Dalton checked the status of the program she had running on the computer to her left.  It still had another three minutes to go, at least.  So she turned to the computer on her right, and made sure the virus was ready for upload.  She then turned to her center computer, and checked the floor plans of the building.      “You’re going to want to make a left turn up ahead,” she said over the comm.      “Is the security down yet?” came the reply.      “It’ll be down by the time you get there.”  Diana checked the computer on the left.  “I hope.”      Her phone started ringing.  She did not recognize the number, but the program she had on her phone identified it as Marcel Dupont.  She picked it up.  “Bonjour?”      “Hello, this is Marcel Dupont, although I assume you already know that.  And your accent is atrocious, by the way.”      “You’re Lisette’s cousin, right?  I worked with her on the San Fran job.”      “Yeah, and I’m part of a crew looking for a hacker at the moment,” Marcel said.      Diana checked the computer on her left.  Still another minute on it.  “What kind of job do you need my help with?”      “We’re going up against the ESS.”      “I’m in.”      “What, just like that?”      “It’s the ESS, that’s like, the ultimate challenge.  I’ve been developing a few things I’d like to really put through some tests, and this is the perfect opportunity.”      “Oh…okay,” Marcel said.  “I was expecting to need to convince you.”      “No worries, but I need to get back to my current job first, so I’ll talk with you later.”  Diana hung up the phone, just as the computer on her left finished running its program.  She turned to the right, and uploaded the virus.  Then over the comm, “Okay, security is down, you have five minutes to get in, get what you need, and get out.”      “So, you never really told me why you decided to ask Carlie to join our crew,” Diego said as he sat down with Jacques for some drinks.      “A teenage pickpocket?” Jacques asked.  “Honestly, she reminds me of you at that age, back when we first met.”      “I mean, I can’t deny that there are some similarities, but we don’t really know anything about her.”      “I didn’t know anything about you back then, but I knew you were in a world that had failed you.  I didn’t know how back then, but I could sense that was the case, and I sense that with her too.”      “I mean, anytime someone’s living on the streets that is a pretty big indicator right there,” Diego said.  “But bringing her into this isn’t necessarily the best idea for her.  Like, the rest of us, we’re career criminals, that’s not going to change, but she still has a chance.”      “It changed for Roz and Darren, and you still went to them.”      “That’s different, we know them.”      “You’re taking this job because of the challenge and the money.  I’m mostly just taking it because you are.  Darren actually needs the money to keep his business afloat, and Carlie is in this because she needs the money to get her life afloat.”      “I just hope we don’t end up sinking them,” Diego said.      “We could always back out, if you’re worried about that.”      “No, no, we’re still going to do this.”      After the crew arrived in Winnipeg, they met up at the hotel they were all staying at.  Diana was setting up her computers.  Darren was doing pushups in the corner.  Carlie was playing with a yo-yo.  Diego was writing on a whiteboard.  Marcel had fallen asleep on the couch.  And Jacques was ordering some pizza.      “Yeah, and extra cheese on that last one,” he said.  “Thanks.”      “So, what are the chances we run into one of the local superheroes?” Carlie asked.      “Probably not very likely,” Diego said.  “I doubt they’d get involved in ESS business.”      “You’d be surprised what superheroes all involve themselves with,” Diana said.  “But even still, they’re probably busy enough with other stuff.  It’s a decent sized city.”      “So, how long until we go in?” Darren asked.      “What do you think, Diana?” Diego asked.  “How long until your system is up and running?”      “I’ll have everything set up in about an hour or so,” Diana said.  “After that, it’s a matter of how long it takes me to get into the ESS computers.  That I can’t really predict.”      “If you even can get in,” Jacques said.      “I haven’t met the computer system that was able to keep me out yet,” Diana said.  “It’s a matter of when, not if.”      “Okay, let’s go over the plan one more time,” Diego said the next day after Diana had finally gained access to the ESS network.  “Just to make sure everyone knows what we’re doing.”      “I’ll be posing as a government inspector from Spain,” Marcel said.  “I had to call in so many favors in order to get the right credentials, so we better pull this off.”      “And Roz and I will by your security consultants,” Diego said.      “Despite Roz still not being here or even contacting us,” Jacques said.      “She’ll be here,” Diego said.      “I’m his bodyguard,” Darren said.      “And I’m his personal assistant,” Carlie said.      “I’ll be driving you all in, but I’ll be waiting in the car,” Jacques said.  “If I have to do anything else than driving, that means things have gone wrong.”      “Once you’re inside, if you can get ID cards, I can rewrite them,” Diana said.  “They have a built-in computer, and I can rewrite the information to fit you guys.”      “Are you sure you can do that?” Jacques asked.      “Yep,” Diana said.  “That said, the less I have to change, the less likely I am to be noticed, so preferably go for people that already have the right security clearance.  That way I’m just changing personal information, although if you can get people of the same size and hair and eye color and such, that would certainly help as well.”      “And gender, I assume,” Darren said.      “That’s only in the medical data section of the card, which can only be accessed by medical professionals under normal circumstances, so I’m not even going to bother dealing with that section,” Diana said.      “Okay, and once we’re able to pose as ESS agents, we’ll need to get away from any that we’re with,” Diego said.      “I’ll be figuring out security blindspots for that,” Diana said.  “Or creating them, if I have to.”      “And then we find our way to the device we’re after,” Diego said.  “Which according to the base layout we have, is likely in this area.”  Diego pointed to a spot on the printout they had on the wall.      Jacques drove the limo into the parking garage.  He stopped before the barrier, and rolled down his window.  There was a panel with a button to print out a ticket, but also with a number pad.  He typed in the sequence that Diana had got for them, and then hit the button.      The ticket it printed out included a parking spot on it which was located on the lowest level, so he drove down there, and parked in the spot the ticket indicated.  As soon as he put the car into park, the parking spot started descending, eventually coming to a stop in a much nicer looking parking garage, even further underground.      “Okay, we’re here,” Jacques said.      Darren got out of the car first, and looked around.  There were a few ESS agents in the garage.  Most appeared to be arriving or leaving, and did not pay them much attention, but there were a few that looked to be security, and they were eyeing him up.      Darren opened the door for Marcel, who got out, with Carlie and Diego following after him.  The four of them walked over to the elevator, where two guards were standing.  One of the guards held out a computer pad with an outline of a hand on the screen.      “Good day,” the second guard said.  “What is your business here today?”      “My team and I are here on behalf of the Spanish government, to inspect the base security,” Marcel said as he put his hand on the computer pad.      “We weren’t informed of any inspection,” the second guard said.      “Well, it wouldn’t be a very good inspection if you knew it was coming, now would it?” Marcel asked.      “His credentials do check out,” the first guard said.  “Now the rest of your team.”      Darren put his hand on the computer, and the guard nodded, then Carlie went next, and the guard nodded again.  And finally Diego did so.  The guard raised an eyebrow as he looked at the screen.      “Something wrong?” Marcel asked.      “The system says he checks out,” the first guard said.  “It just took a moment longer than usual.”      “And this is your whole team?” the second guard asked.      “My driver is in the car, where he’ll be waiting.”  Marcel pointed at the car.  As he was doing so, they noticed another car come down into the garage, and Roz stepped out of it.  “She’s also with us.”      “Sorry, I’m late,” Roz said as she came up to them.  “Hit some traffic on my way here.”      The first security guard held out the computer pad to her, and she put her hand down.  He nodded.  “Okay, you all check out.”      “You’ll have to go to the visitor check-in,” the second guard said.  “That’s the only place the elevator will take you until you get an ID card.”      “Thank you,” Marcel said as he entered the elevator, along with the rest of the crew.  As soon as the elevator doors closed behind them he turned to Roz.  “I’m surprised you actually showed up.”      “I said she’d make it,” Diego said.      “This better not go sideways,” Roz said.      “Guys,” Diana said to them over the comms.  “Could you warn me if you’re going to start talking about stuff you don’t want overheard while in places with security cameras.  I’ve got footage on loop to cover your conversation, but some warning would’ve been nice.  Oh, and unless I say otherwise, assume you are always in a place with security cameras.”      “Right,” Diego said.  “Oh, you’ll need this.”  He handed Roz a comm which she stuck in her ear.      After going down to the visitor check-in, they were given visitor IDs and an escort to show them around the base.  No one seemed exactly pleased at this random inspection, but no one seemed to think it was suspicious either.      “Right this way,” their escort, Agent Evelynn Woods said.      Diego looked around as she led them down a corridor.  There were a lot of people around, more than he had expected, and a lot of them seemed to be in a rush, running one way or the other.  “Something big going on?” he asked.      “I don’t know all of the details, sir” Evelynn said.  “But the UES Unity is back at Earth for some restocking of supplies, and apparently they brought back some sort of intel.”      “What kind of intel?” Roz asked.      “I’m sorry ma’am, but I don’t know myself,” Evelynn said.  “It’s for level eight security clearance and above.  I’m only a level five.  Hopefully this won’t get in the way of your inspection.”      “Quite the contrary,” Marcel said.  “It’s when people are at their busiest that security is most likely to be vulnerable, thus making it the perfect time to locate said vulnerabilities.”      “I suppose,” Evelynn said.  “Okay, right in here is the main security room,”  She led them into a large room.  The walls were lined with screens and there were various holographic displays throughout the room.  There were about two dozen agents in the room, who looked up at their entrance, before most returned to their work.  One came over to them.      “Agent Woods,” she said.  “These are the inspectors?”      “Yes,” Evelynn said as she introduced them to Agent Kate Zimmerman, who was in charge of security on the base.      “A pleasure to meet you,” Marcel said.      Uh huh,” Kate said.  “Just try not get in the way of my people while you’re working.”      “We’ll do our best to make sure you don’t even notice us,” Marcel said.      “Right,” Kate said.  “There’s a computer over there you can use, and if you need anything else, you can have Agent Woods talk to me.”      While most of the crew gathered around the computer, Carlie made her way around the room.  She was pretty good at being ignored, so most people did not even take much note of her, with the exception of the few she bumped into, who gave her dirty looks as she apologized.      One, though, actually looked her over as she was apologizing.  “You’re here with the inspection team?  You look a little young.”      “Yeah, I get that a lot,” Carlie said.  “Just the random nature of genetics, I suppose.”      “Uh huh, just try to pay more attention to where you’re walking.”      “Right, yes, I’ll do my best,” Carlie said before going back to the crew.      “How did it go?” Diego asked.      Carlie lifted the sleeve on her left arm to show five ESS ID cards she had nabbed.  “All level ten or higher.”  She passed them out, just before Evelynn returned to the group with some coffees.      “So, what do you think so far?” Evelynn asked.      “Everything in here certainly looks good,” Marcel said.  “But we’ll need to check out a few areas.”  He brought up a map on the computer screen.  “There, there, there, and there.”      “The first two and the fourth will be no problem,” Evelynn said.  “But the third area is restricted.  You need special permission from the Director to go there.”      “Don’t ask about the Director,” the crew all heard Diana say over the comms.  “There’s a complicated situation with him, and I haven’t figured out how much you would logically know.”      “Then just the three areas for now,” Marcel said.  “I’ll take one of my consultants to the first, while my assistant takes the other consultant to the second.”      “Oh, you want to split up?” Evelynn asked.  “Umm, right, about that…”      “It would be more efficient,” Marcel said.  “And allow us to get out of your way faster.”      “No, yeah, that’s, yeah,” Evelynn said.  “I’ll just go grab another agent to escort the second group.  Not a problem.”  She looked around the room.  “Agent Barnes, get over here.”  The agent came over as she introduced them.  “This is Agent Luke Barnes.”      “Excellent, let’s go Barnes,” Marcel said.      Diego and Carlie followed Evelynn as she lead them into a power station room.  There was a generator in the center that took up most of the room, and a few computers on the wall for diagnostic purposes.      “Okay, I’ll walk you through what you need to do,” Diana said to Diego and Carlie over the comm.  “Carlie, you might want to distract Agent Woods while Diego is doing this, or else she’s probably going to notice.”      “So, Agent Woods, how long have you been with the ESS?” Carlie asked as Diego started working on the computer.      “Six years,” Evelynn said.  “My mom is an agent too, and my dad is an engineer, so I was able to join right out of high school.”      “That’s pretty cool,” Carlie said.  “My parents kicked me out when I was fourteen, so I can’t exactly rely on them for job opportunities.”      “That sucks,” Evelynn said.  “But you seem to have done pretty well for yourself.”      “Yeah, I’m pretty resourceful, if I do say so myself,” Carlie said.      “Be careful what you say to her,” Diana said over the comm.  “Don’t want her learning too much about the real you.”      “But that was years ago,” Carlie said.  “I know I look like a teenager, but I am in my twenties.”      “No, don’t bring that up if you don’t have to,” Diana said.  “That just sounds more suspicious.”      “I didn’t want to say anything, but yeah, you do look pretty young,” Evelynn said.  “I mean, I still get carded myself whenever I try to buy some drinks.  And up here the drinking age isn’t even twenty-one, it’s eighteen.”      “Okay, I think she might be flirting with you,” Diana said.  “Maybe try asking if she’s interested in going out for drinks later.”      “Do you want to maybe go out for drinks later?” Carlie asked.      “I mean, maybe, it’s pretty busy here, so I’m not sure when I’ll have some free time, but maybe,” Evelynn said.      “Okay, I’m done over here,” Diego said.  “We can move on.”      Marcel, Darren, and Roz followed Luke down the corridor.  Marcel was about to nod to Darren, when a door opened, and three people came out.  They were wearing uniforms that showed them as UES fighter pilots.      “So then, do you know what Pandaherbs said next?” one of them asked.      “What did she say?” the second one asked.      “She said that those Ghotelon ships looked like butts.”      “That wasn’t me,” the third one said.  “That was Dino Chick that said that.  I mean, I agreed with her, but she was the one that said it.”      “Are you sure?”      “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I know what I did and didn’t say.”      As they passed them, Marcel waited until they had turn down a different corridor, and then nodded at Darren, who grabbed Luke in a chokehold and held him until he lost consciousness.      “Over here,” Roz said, checking a door.  “This broom closet should be a good place to hide him.”      “Right,” Darren said as he stuffed Luke into the closet.      “How far down to the vault?” Marcel asked.      “It’s three floors down,” Diana said over the comm.  “There’s an elevator just ahead you can take down there.”      The three of them went to the elevator and rode it down.  There was an automated checkpoint just after they exited it.      “Let’s hope this works,” Marcel said as he swiped his card on it.  It asked for a fingerprint and eye scan, so he put down his finger and lined up his eye, and the light turned green.  “Green is good, right?”      “Yeah, green is good,” Diana said.      Darren and Roz did the same and got through as well.  They went down the hallway, which had multiple doors.      “The next one on your left,” Diana said.  “There is a keypad, but I can’t get into that remotely.”      “Don’t worry, this is where I come in,” Roz said.  She sprayed a film on the keypad, which revealed fingerprints.  “One, four, seven, and zero make up the code.”      “It should be a five digit code,” Diana said.  “One wrong attempt will alert security.  Two wrong attempts will lock down the door.  Three will release a knockout gas both inside the vault, and immediately outside it.”      Roz looked at it.  Without touching it she started moving her fingers over the buttons in different orders.  “One definitely follows from seven, zero is last.  Four is probably the double.  I’m thinking it’s four, seven, one, four, zero.  Unless it’s the seven that’s the double, in which case it’s four, seven, one, seven, zero or seven, one, seven, four, zero.”      “Just make your best call,” Marcel said.  He kept glancing down the hallway.      Roz pressed four, seven, one, four, zero.      “Security alert was just sent,” Diana said.  “I can take care of it, but the next attempt needs to be right.”      Roz looked over it a bit more before pressing seven and one.  She stopped and looked again, and then pressed four, seven, and zero.  There was an electronic sound coming from the door, and after ten seconds it opened up.  They went inside, and found the walls lined with safes.      “Okay, it’ll be the one marked KR-052,” Diana said.      “It’s over here,” Darren said.      “Okay, now comes the fun part,” Roz said as she looked it over and frowned.  “It’s a hybrid lock on this thing with both a mechanical and an electronic mechanism.  I’m going to need some silence here.”  She put her ear up against it as she started turning the mechanical lock.  “Never mind, it has a silencer on it.”      “Meaning?” Marcel asked.      “Meaning I can still do it, but it’s going to take even longer,” Roz said.  “I’m going to guess it’ll be at least an hour.”      “There’ll be security patrols down there multiple times in that hour,” Diana said.      “Then everyone else will just have to keep them distracted,” Roz said.      As Diego and Carlie were being led to their next destination by Evelynn, Diana contacted them over the comm.      “There’s been a slight change of plans,” Diana said.  “Apparently the lock on the safe is a bit more complicated than we thought it would be, so we need to keep security from finding them for the next hour or so.”      “So, Agent Woods,” Diego said.  “Could you tell us a bit about security patrol schedules.”      “Of course,” Evelynn said.  “We can go back to the main security room, and I can show you them.”      Over the comm Diana said, “The next patrol will be in about ten minutes.”      “Actually, first, is there a restroom around somewhere?” Diego asked.      “Yeah,” Evelynn said and pointed.  “Just over there.  We can wait for you outside.”      Diego entered the bathroom, and did a quick check to see that all of the stalls were empty.  “Okay, what happens if Darren just takes out the security patrol?” He asked over the comm.      “When they don’t check in, a much bigger security team will be sent down there,” Diana said.      “What kind of check in?”      “They make an audio report after each floor they look over, and if they are late, their supervisor gets a notification.”      “So, in theory anyone could make the report.”      “Their voices are on record,” Diana said.  “The computer will recognize if it’s someone else.”      “Well, then I guess we’re about to figure out who’s better, their voice recognition, or Marcel’s voice imitation.”      Darren stood next to the door, and waited until it opened.  Two guards came in, and started pulling out their weapons as they saw Roz and Marcel.  Darren punched the one closest to him in the side of the face with his right fist, before pushing the guard with his left arm, causing him to get knocked into the other guard so they both hit the wall.      The guard that Darren had directly attacked had dropped his energy pistol, which Darren kicked towards Marcel.  The other guard though still had his as he stood back up and tried to aim it at Darren, who grabbed the first guard in a chokehold, and tried to use him as a shield, while also causing him to pass out.      “Drop your weapon or I drop you,” Marcel said as he pointed the energy pistol at the guard who was still armed.      The guard turned and pointed his pistol at Marcel.  “Do you even know how to fire that thing?” he asked.      Darren used the momentary distraction, and threw the now unconscious guard he was holding aside, before kicking the energy pistol out of the other guard’s hand.  He then went over and grabbed the guard by the shirt collar, and punched him a few times until he too was knocked out.      “What was that?” Darren asked as he put the guard down.  “We’re not trying to kill them.”      “These things have a stun setting,” Marcel said.  “And it would have been nice if you had left one of them conscious a bit longer, so I could have heard more than just a single sentence from one of them.”  He searched through the pockets of the one who had spoken, and took out their comm and ID.  “This is Agent Chandler,” he said, his voice mimicking that of the guard.  “Everything on this level seems to be normal.”  Then into his own comm.  “So, did that work?”      “I think so,” Diana said.  “There don’t seem to be any alerts raised, at least not yet, but I’ll keep my eyes on them.”      Diego and Carlie were back in the main security room with Evelynn, who was showing them security patrol schedules.  Diego was only half paying attention to them, as he noticed the doors open, and some security rush in, and go to Kate.  They whispered something to her, and she said something to them before they came over to Diego, Carlie, and Evelynn.      “Could we have a word?” Kate asked.      “What seems to be the problem?” Diego asked.      “Agent Barnes was just found unconscious in a broom closet, and the rest of your team is unaccounted for,” Kate said.      “That’s odd,” Diego said.  “Have their been any breaches in security?”      “Cut the bullshit,” Kate said.  “I’m having my people do a closer inspection on your credentials, but you could save yourselves a lot of trouble and just confess now.”      Diego glanced at Carlie, who’s eyes were wide.  “There’s nothing to confess to.  Whatever’s happened here, it’s not our fault.”      “We’ll just see about that,” Kate said.      Jacques was still waiting in the car, which was parked in the garage.  He was increasingly noticing looks from the guards, who were clearly being told something over their comms.      “Did something happen?” he asked over his own comm.      “There has been a complication,” Diana said.      “What happened?”      Diana filled him in on what had been happening.      “That’d explain why those guards keep looking at me funny.  Oh great, and now they’re coming over here.”      “The cameras will catch it if you do anything to them, and I can’t put these ones on a loop without someone noticing.”      “What about the elevator?”      “I can loop that before you get on, but someone might still notice you entering the elevator on the garage cameras, and not being in the elevator on the elevator cameras.”      The guards were up to the car.  “Please step out of the vehicle, sir,” one of them said.      “Do it,” Jacques said before he opened the door, and slowly got out.  “Something wrong, gentlemen?”      “You’re going to have to come with me,” the same guard said.      “Of course,” Jacques said.  “That’s not a problem at all.”      He got out of the car, and the guards led him to the elevator, with one of them bringing him in, while the other went back to his post.      “No cheesy elevator music in here?” Jacques asked the guard who was standing behind him in the elevator, who did not respond.  “Also, you probably should have brought another couple guards with you, I’m not just a driver.”  Jacques backed into the guard, pressing him back against the side of the elevator, grabbed his arm and twisted his wrist, causing the guard to drop his energy pistol.  Jacques elbowed the guard in the chest, before picking up the pistol and pointing it at him.      The guard coughed.  “What the hell are you…”      “This thing is set to stun, right,” Jacques asked, looking at the setting.  “Excellent.”  He fired at the guard, knocking him out.      “What are you doing?” Diana asked.  “Even without them seeing that on camera, it’s only a matter of time until he’s found.”      “You said Roz needs time to crack the lock, so I’m providing a distraction, I suppose,” Jacques said.      The elevator came to a stop, and the door opened, showing three guards, who quickly reached for their energy pistols, but Jacques managed to shoot all three of them first.      “Okay, that was definitely caught on camera,” Diana said.      “Figured as much,” Jacques said.  “Where are Diego and Carlie at?”      Carlie and Diego were being lead down a hall by four guards.  Two were in front of them, and two were behind.      “Jacques is on his way to you,” Diana told the two of them over the comms.  “But they are also after him, as he’s knocked out a few agents.”      Carlie looked at Diego who was looking at the guards in front of them.  “Well, I guess the jig is up,” he said before spinning around, his whip coming out of his sleeve, and he used it to knock the pistols out of the hands of each of the guards behind them.  Then he turned back to the front where the other two guards were turning around, and did the same to them.      Carlie backed up to the wall, as Diego kept turning around and around, whipping at the guards hands whenever they tried to pick up their guns.  Eventually, two of them charged at him and tackled him to the ground, while the other two were finally able to get at their guns.      Diego got his arm out and flicked his whip at one of the pistols still on the ground, and managed to sent it flying over to Carlie who caught it.  She aimed it at one of the guards who was just picking up his, and fired, then aimed it at the other one going for a gun and fired at him too.  Then she shot both of the guys on Diego, and he pushed their unconscious bodies off of himself.      “Good shooting,” Diego said.      “I used to play a lot of shooting games on the Wii,” Carlie said.      “Uh, we’ve got a slight problem,” Diana said over the comm.  “Remember how earlier we were talking about the local superheroes?”      As she was saying that, the superhero known as Amazing Archer and and his teen sidekick Dark Hawk came around a corner.  Amazing Archer had his energy bow drawn, and was aiming straight at Diego.      “Oh shit,” Diego said.      Carlie aimed the energy pistol at Amazing Archer.      “Surrender and we won’t have to hurt you,” Amazing Archer said.      “I could say the same thing to you,” Diego said.      “My costume will diffuse the stunshot from that pistol,” Amazing Archer said.  “And I can drop you long before you get close enough to use that whip of yours.”      “Yet you haven’t shot us yet,” Diego said.      “That’s because I’d prefer you just surrender,” Amazing Archer said right before getting tackled from behind by Jacques, who knocked away the bow.      Amazing Archer tossed Jacques over his head, and Diego ran over to help, while Dark Hawk tried running over to Carlie, but she aimed the energy pistol at him.      “Don’t come any closer,” she said.      “Hey yeah, no problem,” Dark Hawk said, as he slowed down but still continued moving forward.  “But you know, my suit will disperse the stunshot, same as Amazing Archer’s.”      “You sure about that?” Carlie asked as she fired, and the stunshot was indeed dispersed by Dark Hawk’s suit.      “Pretty sure,” Dark Hawk said.  “You know, you’re really cute.”      “What?  Are you hitting on me or trying to arrest me?”      “Oh, right, sorry, surrender and we won’t have to fight.”      “I mean, I’m not exactly fond of either of those options,” Carlie said.      “Oh, umm, well those are kind of the options here.  I’m not exactly used to criminals not fighting back.”      “Are you making progress here?” Marcel asked as he stood over Roz.      “I’m working on it,” Roz said as she was continuing to turn the lock on the safe.  “And could you not hover over me?”      “Sorry,” Marcel said as he backed off.  He walked over to Darren who was watching the door.  “No more patrols yet?”      “No, according to Diana they’re being kept busy by the rest of our crew,” Darren said.      “Hmm, I hope they aren’t doing anything stupid,” Marcel said.      “You don’t much care for Diego, I’ve noticed.”      “After Jacques started running with him, he stopped running with our family.  And family is important.”      “You ever ask Jacques about it?” Darren asked.  “Find out what his reasons were?”      “Does it matter?”      “Of course it matters.  When I came out to my family, a lot of them stopped acting like family.”      “No one in our family cares that he’s bi, if that’s what you insinuating.  And it’s not like him and Diego are a couple anyway, I don’t think.”      “Maybe no one cares, maybe someone does, but either way there could be any number of reasons that he stopped running with family.  And it’s not like he cut off contact, did he?  I mean, you’re still here.”      “He still talks with a few of us, but not many.  He wasn’t even at our father’s funeral.”      “Then you should talk to him about it.  Communication is important.”      While Diego and Jacques were still fighting Amazing Archer, Carlie was continuing to talk with Dark Hawk.      “I mean, I suppose it doesn’t matter too much,” Dark Hawk said.  “Like, your friends over there are going to lose and be captured.”      “Says you,” Carlie said.      “Come on, I’m sure you’ve heard of Amazing Archer.  Have you ever heard of him losing a fight?”      “Well, no, not exactly.”      “Exactly,” Dark Hawk said as he took a pair of handcuffs out of his utility belt.      “Cuffs?  Shouldn’t you at least buy me dinner first?”      “Wait, are you flirting with me now?”      “Sorry,” Carlie said.  “Although you are probably pretty cute under that mask.”      “Yeah, I’m not falling for that and taking off my mask.”      “Suit yourself.  And fine.”  Carlie put her hands out in front of herself, and let Dark Hawk come over and cuff her.      “See now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Dark Hawk asked.  He glanced over to see Diego and Jacques were still giving Amazing Archer trouble.      “No, it wasn’t, Bobby,” Carlie said.  He looked back to see her drop the cuffs on the ground while looking at his learner’s permit.      “How did you do that?”      “I’m a pickpocket.  I’m also half decent at picking locks.  So, Bobby Anderson I was right, you are pretty cute under that mask.  And I thought driver’s license pictures always looked horrible.”      “That’s…um…just a fake ID for preserving my secret identity.”      “For someone with a secret identity, you’re a pretty bad liar.”      “Aha,” Roz said as she turned the lock, and it clicked into place.      “You got it?” Marcel asked.      “Part of it,” Roz said.  “Like I said, it’s a multi-part lock, but I’ve got the mechanical lock figured out, so next is the electronic lock.”      “Hurry up in there, if you can,” Diana said over the comm.  “Diego and Jacques are in a fight with Amazing Archer.”      “How are they doing?” Marcel asked.      “They’re still conscious,” Diana said.  “Although I’m not sure for how much longer.  And there’s more security on it’s way to their position.”      “I can go help,” Darren said.  “I don’t think you still need me down here.”      “Yeah, we can handle ourselves,” Marcel said, and Darren took off.  Marcel turned back to Roz.  “How much longer are you thinking?”      “Could be a few minutes, could be another half hour,” Roz said.  “Hard to say for certain.”      “You said it was an electronic lock, so what if we…”      “That might work,” Roz interrupted.  “Unless they have a failsafe in place, in which case, we’ll be screwed.”      “Right,” Marcel said.      Darren rode the elevator up to the level that Diego, Jacques and Carlie were on, but it was a short distance away.  As the elevator doors opened, he saw a bunch of ESS agents running down the hall.  He reached out and grabbed one.  “Sorry,” he said before hitting the guys head against the wall, knocking him out.      Darren stepped out into the hall, and there were five agents who had run past but were turning around now that they noticed one of them was missing.  One had just passed the elevator, and was within range for Darren to grab his wrist, and twist it, causing the guy to drop his gun.  He then punched the agent in the throat, before grabbing him by the shoulder and forcing him to turn around.  “Sorry,” he said.      The other agents were trying to get a shot on Darren, but he was doing his best to keep the agent he was fighting between him and them.  He then grabbed the agent by the top and bottom of his shirt, and threw him at the others.  Darren used the momentary confusion to run up to the rest of them.      He bodychecked one of them into the wall before elbowing the next one in the back of neck, and moved from that motion right into a punch in the back of the head of the third one, and then kneed the fourth one in the side, saying, “Sorry,” after each hit.  While the last three were knocked to the ground by the blows, the one he had bodychecked came at him from behind, and tried to grab him.      Darren let him, but then pushed back causing them to both trip over one of the people on the floor.  Darren’s head hit the agent in the nose, and Darren was pretty sure that nose was now broken.  “Sorry,” he said as he jumped back to his feet.  The final one, the one he had kneed in the side, was getting back up at the same time, and Darren used his momentum from the jump to punch the guy in the forehead, knocking him back down.      “Sorry,” Darren said as he made sure each of the agents were knocked out before moving on.      “You could have just taken an energy pistol and shot them with it,” Diana said over the comm.      “I don’t like guns.”      “They have a stun setting, which does a hell of a lot less damage than you beating them into submission.”      “I don’t like guns.  And the worst I did was break a nose.  ESS medical tech can fix that no problem.  Medical tech they chose not to share with the general public, for that matter.  How much further to the others?”      “Take the next left, and you’ll see them.”      Darren took the left, and saw Diego and Jacques being beaten pretty soundly by Amazing Archer, while Carlie and Dark Hawk were off to the side talking.  Darren ran up to Amazing Archer, who did turn around and catch Darren’s right-handed punch, before Darren kneed him in the stomach.  Amazing Archer barely flinched, but Darren did not let up, and punched him in the head with his left hand.      That staggered Amazing Archer for a few moments, enough for Darren to get him into a chokehold.  That caused Dark Hawk to run over, but Jacques and Diego started fighting him, while Darren choked Amazing Archer until he seemed to lose consciousness.  He then continued for a bit longer, just to be on the safe side, before dropping him to the ground.      In the meantime, Diego and Jacques had managed to restrain Dark Hawk long enough to tie him up.  “So, should we check who they are under those masks?” Jacques asked.      “It’s not really our business,” Darren said.      “I already figured out who Dark Hawk is,” Carlie said as she tossed his wallet on him.      “Doesn’t really matter though,” Diego said.  “I’d rather not become an arch-nemesis to a superhero.”      “Y’all might want to get out of there,” Diana said over the comm.  “There’s more agents on their way.”      Marcel was pacing back and forth as Roz continued to work on the lock.  He was trying not to keep asking her how much longer it would be, when he heard something in the hallway outside.  He went over to the door and listened.  Someone was just getting off the elevator, but it sounded liked it was just one person.      “Who’s down here with us?” he whispered into his comm.      “There shouldn’t be anyone else down there,” Diana said.  “Just give me a second.”      Marcel listened as whoever it was got closer and closer.      “Someone else is looping the camera feed,” Diana said.  “I mean, besides me.  It’ll take me a bit to get past it.”      Marcel sighed, before stepping out into the hallway.  Admiral Jon Teleros was there, and Marcel immediately recognized him.  He did not have a weapon drawn though.      “Admiral Teleros,” Marcel said.  “I wasn’t expecting to see you down here.”      “Yeah, I have a habit of showing up unexpectedly,” Jon said.  “And I suppose this explains the distraction the rest of your team is causing upstairs.”      “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Marcel said.  He put his hand close to the pocket he had hidden an energy pistol in.      “You can pull that out if you want,” Jon said.  “But I should warn you, that I am pretty quick on the draw.  I wouldn’t have come down here on my own if I couldn’t handle myself.”      “Look, I’m as confused by all of this as you are,” Marcel said.  “I was lead down here as part of my inspection by Agent Barnes, and then I don’t know, he said he was going to use the restroom or something, and he never came back.”      “He was found in a broom closet, and three other members of your team, your driver and your assistant, as well as one of your specialists, have all been seen assaulting agents.  Not to mention that we’ve discovered that the video cameras in several sections of the base are running on a loop.  I had our technicians put this section on an additional loop, as I assume your team was still getting the actual feed.”      “It’s possible my team was using this as a method of infiltrating the base.  My specialists were assigned to me by my government, I did not choose them personally.  And my driver was hired from a local company for this trip, recommended by your organization, I might add.”      “You’re a good liar, I’ll give you that,” Jon said.  “But I’ve been going over your credentials, and tracing back messages and while some are legitimate, others are not, so I did some digging, Marcel Dupont.  Your driver is your brother Jacques, and Diego Serrano is one of your specialists.  Our computers almost caught him when you came in, but you apparently have a really good hacker on your hands.”      “You sound pretty sure of yourself there.  So, do you think you know who everyone else is?”      “Not yet, but we’ll figure it out,” Jon said.  “If you willingly surrender yourself, and give the real identities of the rest of your team, things will go a lot better for you.”      “So, what’s next?” Darren asked as they got into an elevator.      “How’s Roz doing?” Diego asked.      “She’s still working on the safe,” Diana said over the comm.      “How long is that going to take?” Jacques asked.  “We should’ve been on our way out by now.”      “She’ll get it,” Diego said.      “I’ve got some bad news though,” Diana said.  “Marcel’s comm just shut off, but before that happened he was talking with Admiral Jon Teleros, who knows who he is, and who Jacques and Diego are.”      “That’s bad, that’s very bad,” Jacques said.      “What about the rest of the crew?” Diego asked.      “From what I heard just you three have been identified, but Teleros is trying to get Marcel to turn on the rest of us.”      “That’s bad, that’s very bad,” Diego said.      “He won’t turn on us,” Jacques said.  “Family is important to him, and I’m his brother.”      “Teleros already knows about you though, so he wouldn’t be turning on you,” Diego said.  “And the rest of us aren’t his family.”      “You’re the only of us he doesn’t like though,” Jacques said.  “I don’t even think he’d give away your name, but since that’s not a concern, I think we’ll be okay.”      “Then why did he turn off his comm?” Darren asked.  “I don’t want to be insensitive to the idea of you guys getting arrested, but I have a family.  And then there’s Carlie.  She needs a home, not prison.”      “Definitely don’t need prison,” Carlie said.  “Not sure on the home thing though.  That didn’t exactly work out for me.”      “Even if he gives you up, which I don’t think he will, Diana should be able to get you a new identity,” Jacques said.      “I like my name,” Carlie said.  “Plus, he only knows my first name.”      “Although if you want I could get you set up with Carlie as your legal name when we’re done here,” Diana said.      “Yeah, that would be great,” Carlie said.      “If we get through this,” Darren said.  “And I don’t want to have to change my name either, and I have a life that I don’t want to leave behind.  And Marcel does know my full name.”      “Then we’ll just have to hope we get down there before he says anything,” Diego said.      “If he says anything,” Jacques said.      “Aha,” Roz said as the safe door unsealed, and she opened it up, revealing the device within.  She had no idea what the device was, but it matched the picture she had been shown, so she picked it up and stuffed it in her bag.  “Roz to everyone,” she said over the comm.  “I have it, let’s get out of here.”      “There’s a slight problem,” Diana said over the comm, and explained about Marcel and Jon.      “Shit,” Roz said, as she stood up and turned around, just as Marcel and Jon came into the vault.  Jon was now holding his energy pistol, and had it pointed at Roz.      “Hello Roz Montoya,” Jon said.      “You gave him my name?” Roz asked.      “I had little choice,” Marcel said.  “We’ve lost.”      “Put the bag down,” Jon said.      “Right,” Roz said as she slowly lowered it to the floor.  “Just out of curiosity, why are the lights so bright in here?”      “What?” Jon asked.      “Now?” Diana asked over the comm.      “Yes, please,” Roz said, and the lights went out, and Roz grabbed her bag again, while trying to silently move from where she was standing.  She was trying to circle around to the door without being noticed.  She just managed to go through the door as a flashlight was turned on, but it was still pointed inside the vault, and Roz went running down the hallway, in the opposite direction from the elevator.      The elevator that Jacques, Diego, Darren, and Carlie were on, lurched to a stop, as the lights went out.      “What happened?” Jacques asked as he turned on a flashlight.  “Did they locate us?”      “No, that was me,” Diana said over the comm.  “Had to take out the base power a bit sooner than we would’ve liked, or else Roz would’ve been captured.”      “Of course,” Jacques said.  “Well, then let’s get going.  Only ten minutes until it comes back on.”      Darren went over to the door and pried it open.  They were just passing a floor when it had stopped.  “It’ll be a tight fit, but we can get out,” Darren said.  “And looks like this corridor is empty.”      They all pulled themselves out, and started walking down the corridor.  “What floor are we on anyway?” Jacques asked.      “Let me just bring up the base plans,” Diana said.  “Okay, you are on the floor with…the experimental vehicle storage.”      “Experimental vehicles?” Jacques asked.  “Give me a rundown on whatever you can find out about what’s stored here.”      Roz turned a corner as she kept up her run.  “Where to?” she asked.      “There’s an emergency staircase not too far from you,” Diana said over the comm.  “Take the next right, and then a left after that.  But be careful, without power in the base I can’t be watching what’s happening through the security cameras.”      “Yeah, no worries, I can take care of myself.  Do the stairs lead all the way to the top?”      “No, they only go up a single floor, but that’s where the rest of our crew are at the moment.”      “And where do we go from there?”      “Still working on that, just try and get there in one piece.”      “Right,” Roz said before she heard something behind her.  She made the right turn, just before an energy blast went past, and hit where she had just been, a second earlier.      “You’re only making this harder on yourself,” Jon shouted.      “How much distance between the turn I just made, and the next one I have to make?” Roz asked.      “Five hundred feet,” Diana said.      “And then how long to the staircase after that?” Roz asked as she shut off her flashlight and counted in her head as she ran.      “There’ll be a door the staircase on your left after one hundred feet,” Diana said.      A light appeared behind Roz just before she made the left turn, and she increased her pace as she went down the this hall until she stopped and felt along the wall for the door.  She opened it and went through to the staircase.  For that she turned her flashlight back on, and started running up the stairs.      Jacques looked over the controls of the hovercar as he got in the driver’s seat, and they looked simple enough.  It was really more of a hoverbobsled though, as its shape was long and thin.  It seated five, and it was the only vehicle they could find that would fit through the doors in this place.      “How do they even get the other vehicles in and out?” Carlie asked as she got in the second seat.      “Teleporters,” Diego said as he got into the third seat.  “Unfortunately those aren’t an option for us.”      “This seems like a bad idea,” Darren said as he got into the fourth seat.  “Even if this thing fits through the doors, it’s still going to be a tight fit.”      “I can manage it,” Jacques said as he started it up and it lifted a foot off the ground.  He turned a dial, and it raised another half foot.  He put his hand on a lever and twisted it, and the hovercar started moving forward.  He pulled it back a bit to increase speed.      “How’re you figuring this out so quickly?” Carlie asked.  “There’s no labels on anything.”      “It’s what he does,” Diego said.      Marcel faked himself tripping as he ran alongside Jon.  Jon glanced at him, but continued running, leaving him behind.  Marcel turned his comm back on as he got up.      “I’ve got myself away from Admiral Teleros,” he said into the comm.      “Yeah, after giving up the rest of the team,” Diana said.  “What the hell were you thinking?”      “I only gave up Roz’s identity, and she’s going to need a new one either way because of the whole FBI thing.  It was something I could give him to earn some trust, but it doesn’t change anything.”      “And if she hadn’t got away from him in the vault?  You could have at least lead him away from that.”      “How?  If I had run, he’d have just shot me, and would have checked the vault anyway.  I did what I had to do.”      “Right.”      Roz exited the stairwell, and found herself in a hallway that was being lit by an approaching vehicle, which stopped right before her.      “Get in,” Jacques said.      “Right,” Roz said as she got into the backseat, and Jacques drove off.      “Guys,” Diana said over the comm.  “Marcel turned his comm back on, and he’s telling me that he just gave up Roz’s identity, since it won’t matter anyway, and that he didn’t give up any of the rest of us.”      “Screw that,” Roz said.  “Like I believe him now.”      “I believe him,” Jacques said, as he came to a stop.      “What are you doing?” Diego asked.      “We need to go back for him,” Jacques said.      “No, we need to get out of here,” Diego said.  “And even if we wanted to save him, this thing is full.”      “He’s my brother, I’m not leaving him behind,” Jacques said.      “Fine,” Diego said as he got out of the hovercar.  “I’ll go get him, you get the rest of the team out of here.”      “What?” Jacques asked.      “None of the rest of us are going to be able to drive this contraption out of here,” Diego said.  “So get the rest of the team out, and I’ll get Marcel, and we’ll figure something out.”      “But…” Jacques started saying.      “Get Carlie and Roz and Darren out of here,” Diego said.      “Right,” Jacques said.      Marcel was going down the hallway.  “Is there just the one staircase from this level?” he asked over the comm.      “Yeah, sorry,” Diana said.      Marcel opened the door and listened.  He did not hear anyone in the stairwell, and started going up the stairs, when the lights turned back on.  The staircase only connected the two levels, so he as he approached the top, he stopped and listened again.  He still did not hear anyone, so he went up and out the door.  But that is when he heard someone, and saw that someone, Jon, come running down the hallway.      “Finally caught up?” Jon asked.  “Your team has escaped, so I’m going to need the names of the rest of them now.  If we can get them before they leave the city, that’ll take years off your sentence.”      “Yeah, about that,” Marcel said.  “You already know all of the names that I know.  I don’t know the names of the bruiser or the kid.”      “And the computer hacker?”      “Sorry.”      “That’s too bad, but…” Jon started saying, before he suddenly turned around, and brought up his energy pistol, right before it was knocked out of his hand by the crack of a whip.      “Sorry, I’m late,” Diego said.      Marcel picked up the fallen energy pistol and pointed it at Jon as he went next to Diego.      “Ah, the famous Diego Serrano,” Jon said.  “Although maybe a bit too famous now?”      “Naw, I’m fine with my level of fame,” Diego said.      “Even if you escape, we’ll be able to track you down,” Jon said.      “You’re hardly the first to claim that,” Diego said.      “We’re the ESS,” Jon said.  “There’s nowhere you can run to that we won’t find you.”      Darren covered his eyes as the hovercar went down the hallway at ludicrous speeds, but then peeked out through his fingers to watch as Jacques seemed able to turn on a dime every time they came to an intersection in the hallway.      Up ahead now, there was a door that was closed, and Jacques started slowing down, but then it was opened as a bunch of security came through.  “Everyone down,” Jacques said as he started speeding up again, and the agents started shooting at them.      The hovercar raised up, and went just above the agents, and through the doorway, with less than an inch of clearance, into a stairwell, where it went up the stairs, in a spiral, at a speed that left Darren wondering how they had not yet crashed and died.      Eventually they made it to the top, after having passed multiple floors, and Jacques slowed to a stop, so he could get out and open the door.  He then went back to driving the hovercar, and brought it out onto the roof of the parking garage the ESS used as a cover for their base.  He drove off the roof, and a few blocks away, before letting everyone out.      “Now what?” Carlie asked.      “Now the three of you go meet up with Diana, while I go back inside for Diego and Marcel,” Jacques said.      “By yourself?” Darren asked.  “Look, I don’t exactly want to have another go in that hovercar, but I think you need me.”      “Maybe,” Jacques said, but then he took off, before Darren could climb back into the hovercar.      “Well, let’s get back to the hotel room then,” Roz said.      “We can’t just abandon them,” Darren said.      “We have the item we were supposed to steal,” Roz said, holding up her bag.  “And whatever I may think of Jacques, him and Diego are some of the best.  If he doesn’t think he needs us for this, I’m inclined to trust him.”      “Fine, we’ll go back to the hotel, and decide our next move from there,” Darren said.      Diego and Marcel ran down the corridor, in the same direction that the rest of the crew had gone.  As the they were approaching the staircase, twelve ESS guards came out, their weapons at the ready.  Marcel pointed his stolen energy pistol at them, and Diego had his whip at the ready, but they knew they were outnumbered.      “Put down the weapons,” the lead guard said.      “Dude has a whip, that’s not much of a weapon,” another one of the guards said with a snicker.      Diego briefly considered it, before slowly putting his whip down, as Marcel put down the energy pistol.      “Cuff them,” the lead guard said, and two of the others went forward to do exactly that, when a sound came from the staircase, and suddenly the hovercar came out, and went over the guards, and landed between them, and Diego and Marcel, on its side.  The bottom was facing the guards.      “Get in,” Jacques said, and both Marcel and Diego climbed in, while Diego grabbed his whip.      Jacques brought the hovercar back into the air, and as they were going back past the guards, Diego flicked his whip outside the hovercar, and knocked the energy pistol out of the hand of the guard that had laughed at it earlier.  The hovercar once again shot up the stairs at a ridiculous speed, but then it started slowing down.      “What are you doing?” Diego asked.      “It’s not me,” Jacques said.  “It’s running out of power.  We’re going to make it to the roof, but that’s about it.”      And sure enough, the hovercar stopped just after exiting out onto the roof.  The three of them got out and went over to the edge of the roof.  It was five stories tall.      “Okay, they’ll have the exits guarded, so we’re going to need to climb down.”  Diego said.  “We should be abled to drop down from level to level without much difficulty.”      “Maybe you can, but I’m not, no, I can’t,” Marcel said.      “Me neither,” Jacques said.  “If I try, we’re going to have another situation like in Boston, at best.”      “The hovercar you were using should have a couple jetpacks in it,” Diana said over the comm.      Jacques checked in the storage area.  “There’s one.”  He handed it to Marcel.      “I’m not leaving you behind,” Marcel said.      “Don’t worry, I’ve got an idea,” Jacques said.  “Just go, and then Diego and I will be right behind you.”      “You’re sure?” Marcel asked.      “I’m sure,” Jacques said.      Marcel strapped on the jetpack, turned it on, and tested it.  It worked perfectly, and he flew off.      “You don’t have an idea, do you?” Diego asked after Marcel was out of hearing range.      “Not really,” Jacques said.      “I could try and help you down my way.”      “Even then, I don’t know.  You should just get out of here.”      “You know I’m not going to leave you behind.”      “Yeah,” Jacques said.      At that moment two dozen ESS guards came out onto the roof.  They did not even say anything, just shot Diego and Jacques with their energy pistols, knocking them both out.      “We have to go back for them,” Darren said.  He was back in the hotel room, with Carlie, Roz, Diana, and Marcel.      “How?” Marcel asked.  “They know all our faces, except for Diana.”      “And I’m not really wanting to go in there,” Diana said.  “I’m strictly a voice over the comm for these kind of jobs.”      “They also know who both Marcel and I am, thanks to him,” Roz said.  “So that introduces even more problems.”      “I had to give them something,” Marcel said.      “So you say,” Roz said.      “And you’re going to need to change identities anyway,” Marcel said.  “That’s why I gave them your name, and not Darren or Carlie’s.”      There was a knock at the door, and everyone looked at each other, before Diana checked the security camera feed in the hotel hallway.  “It’s an older woman,” she said.      “Possibly our employer?” Marcel said.      “But how did she find us?” Roz asked.      Marcel walked over to the door, and opened it.  “Hello?”      “Can I come in?” she asked.  “I believe you have the object you were hired to procure.”      “Diego and Jacques aren’t here, so how do we know that you are our employer?” Marcel asked.      “How else would I know where to find you?” the woman asked as she pushed her way in.  “Now let’s see the object.”      Roz took it out of her bag.      “Excellent,” the woman said as she took out her phone.  “I’ll transfer the money to your accounts right away.”      “And what about Diego and Jacques?” Darren asked.      “They’re getting paid as well,” the woman said.      “Yeah, but they are in ESS custody at the moment,” Marcel said.      “Oh, don’t worry about that,” the woman said.  “I’m sure they’ll be fine.”      Jacques and Diego were in an ESS holding cell.  Diego was pacing, while Jacques was leaning against the wall.  It was a standard ESS holding cell, with walls on three sides, and a forcefield on the fourth.  There were beds and chairs inside, as well as an attached bathroom.  There was even a touchscreen computer built into the wall, but it was not on a network.      “This is my fault,” Diego said.  “You didn’t even want to take the job.”      “It’s fine, we’ve been arrested before, and at least the rest of the team got out.  And thanks to this, Darren will be able to keep his business, Carlie won’t be living on the street anymore, and Roz can start over.”      “Marcel’s going to have to start over too though, and he didn’t need or want to before this.  I may not like the guy, but even still.”      “Yeah, I know what you mean.  Whatever problems I have with Roz, I’m still glad she’ll be able to start fresh.”      “You never really told me what happened between you two.”      “You remember how she used to be dating Sam?”      “Yeah?”      “Do you know who Sam was dating before that?”      “Wait, you and Sam?” Diego asked.  “Really?”      “It was before we met.”      “I mean, obviously.  Pretty sure I know everyone that you’ve dated since we met.  But anyway, what’s our next move here?”      At that moment, someone walked in front of their cell.  It was the woman that had hired them.  “Good day gentlemen,” she said.      “How did you get in here?” Diego asked.      “I work here,” she said.  “Quite impressive work you did, even if the two of you did get caught.”      “Wait, what the hell is going on here?” Jacques asked.      “We needed to test for vulnerabilities in our security,” she said.  “After finding out that you two broke into a former apartment of Jack Masterson last year, we thought you’d be the perfect candidates, and were we ever right.”      “Wait, this whole thing was a setup?” Diego asked.  “Then our crew?”      “They were still paid, and are being let to go their own way,” she said.      “And the two of us?” Jacques asked.      “You’re being transferred to my custody,” she said.  “You see, I’m putting together a team of my own.”

[ericbarkman]

Tales of WID 72 #14 My Alien Friend Menok

     Richard Isley looked at the results.  He put the paper down, stood up, and started pacing in his kitchen for a few minutes before sitting back down at the table.  He picked up the paper and looked at it again.  It showed the same thing, he knew that it would show the same thing, but somehow he had hoped it would have changed.      He took out his phone, and started scrolling through the contacts.  He had hundreds, but he scrolled past every single one of them.  There was no one to really talk to.  No real friends, no family left, just colleagues and acquaintances.  He put his phone down, and went to bed.  There were things he would have to do, but those could wait until the morning.           Richard woke up in the middle of the night to an extremely loud noise, like something had crashed into the yard outside his house.  He went over to the window and looked out to see that something had.  It was sort of spherical, and about the size of a golf cart.  Some kind of escape pod, he wondered.      He put a robe over his pajamas, and grabbed a golf club as he went out into his backyard, and approached the craft.  There initially did not seem to be any obvious doors, but then a section slid open, revealing a green-skinned alien.  It had two legs and two arms, but calling it humanoid would be a bit of a stretch, as its limbs were a lot thinner than that of a Human, and its torso had different proportions.      The torso also two holes straight through it, around where the belly button would be on a Human, and little under the neck.  They were each a few inches wide but only one inch high and did not look like wounds.  And the head was shaped kind of like a football, but with the points at either end looking like ears, and a third point in the front for a nose and mouth.      “Who are you?” Richard asked, the golf club still in his hands.  “What are you doing here?”      The alien looked at him and closed it’s eyes for a few seconds.  “My name is Menok, I am an Arkon.  You speak English and look Human.  Is this Earth?  This should not be Earth.”      “It is Earth, why shouldn’t it be?”      “I need to contact…no, I don’t know who I need to contact.  But if this is Earth than I am way off course of where I should be.”      “Where should you be?”      “I cannot tell you that,” Menok said.  “I do not know if I can trust you.”      “I don’t know if I can trust you either,” Richard said.      “Where is the nearest spaceport?”      “What, can’t you just use that thing again?”  Richard pointed at the pod.      “That is an escape pod, my ship was sabotaged and destroyed itself.”      “Well, there’s only one spaceport on Earth, so far, well, other than whatever the Caldore have, but I don’t imagine you’re going to want to go there.”      “No, I do not.  Nasty people, those Caldore.  Where is this spaceport?”      “In Australia, by Sydney, so other side of the world.”      “Hmm, that is unfortunate, but I suppose I have little option.”      As they were talking, Richard heard the sound of vehicles driving down the road, and parking in front of his house.  “Well, it sounds like someone else noticed your crash too.”      “Please, I can’t be taken in,” Menok said.      “If you’re going to want me to trust you, you’re going to need to give me a reason.”      “I am a diplomat, but recently I discovered some information that certain individuals in my government have been keeping secret, and they found out that I discovered them, and are now trying to kill me.”      “It’s a good story, but how I do know it’s true?”      “I sense there is something wrong with you,” Menok said.  He reached for a device on his belt, and Richard tensed.  “Don’t worry, this is just a medical scanner.  Hmm, yes, I see what is wrong with you.  Do your people have a cure?”      “No, there’s no cure.”      “My people have a cure for it,” Menok said.  “If you help me, I can help you.”      Richard heard his doorbell ringing.  He looked at the escape pod, and at Menok, and up into the sky.  “Okay, yeah, we can’t hide the pod, but I should be able to hide you.  You’re just going to need to do what I say.”           ESS Agent Kimberly Ford waited, and rang the doorbell again.  Finally, after about a minute, the door was opened, and an older man stood there, wearing a bathrobe over his pajamas.      “Hello, sir,” Kimberly said.  “I’m special agent Ford.  We detected an object from space crashing in your backyard, and we’re here to investigate.”      “Hmm, oh yes, of course,” Richard said.  “It was quite the shock, let me tell you.  I was just sleeping and then that happened.  I almost didn’t hear you ringing the doorbell after that.”      “It’s quite all right, sir.  If you could just let us into your yard, we’ll make sure it’s safe, and then we’ll take it and get out of your way right away.”      “Go right ahead.”      Kimberly nodded at her agents, and they went to the backyard, before she turned back to Richard.  “Did you go look at it yourself?”      “I saw it,” Richard said.  “Looked like an escape pod or something.”      “That matches what we saw on our sensors.  Did you see anyone come out of it, Human or otherwise?”      “No, I did not, but I was not watching it the whole time.”      “Of course, of course.”  Kimberly noticed her comm beeping.  “If you’ll excuse me for a moment.”  Richard nodded, and she went outside.  “Yes?”      “Agent Ford?” came the voice over the comm.  “This is Admiral Teleros of the United Earth Spacefleet.”      “Sir, what can I do for you?”      “I’ve been informed that you’re investigating a crashed escape pod in Montana.”      “We still need to confirm that’s what it is, but yes.”      “It may be an escaped Arkon criminal.  So make sure you and your people are prepared for that, and if you encounter him, you are to capture him.  Do not use lethal force unless absolutely necessary, and also keep me up to date at all times.  If you manage to capture him, as soon as you have him in custody, no one is authorized to speak to him until I arrive.  Understood?”      “Yes, sir, understood.”           Richard waited while his yard and house were searched by the agents.  He had just realized that they never actually said what agency they were with, as they finished loading up the pod onto a truck, and it drove off.      “Well, there doesn’t seem to be anything else on the property, but please call me if anything else should happen,” Kimberly said as she handed Richard a card.  He looked it over and it had contact information, but did not specify any agency either.      “I’ll be sure to do that,” Richard said.      Kimberly and the rest of her agents went out front, got into their vehicles, and drove off.  Richard waited until they were out of sight, and then another five minutes before he went down to the basement.  It was a fairly small basement, with half of it being used for laundry, and a desk in another corner with an old computer on it.      Richard went over to the computer, and typed out a password on it, causing the walls in the other corner to slide open, revealing a much larger part of the basement, with a lab set up in it.  Menok was sitting at a table, looking at a plant growing inside a glass box.  There was no soil or water in the box with the plant, but it looked healthy in spite of that.      “It’s fascinating,” Menok said.  “How does it survive without water?”      “It’s not surviving without water, it just needs a lot less, so that even just the water vapor in the air is enough for it.”      “And how did they not find this room?  Those were ESS agents, and the kind of sensor technology they have would not be fooled by a wall.”      “I don’t know what the ESS is,” Richard said.  “But I did get some fairly advanced sensor blockers on the black market for my lab.  Some of the work I do here is…not exactly legal.”      “Oh?” Menok asked.      “It’s just a matter of laws not keeping up with the rate of scientific progress.  I’m sure it will be legal in a matter of decades, but I don’t know that I have that long left, even if you do manage to cure me.  I’m not exactly a young man anymore.”      “Either way, I thank you, once again, for your assistance.  And now I have to figure out how to get to this Sydney, Australia, was it?”      “That’s where the spaceport is,” Richard said.  “And how exactly are you planning on getting there?”      “I do not know.  I am not particularly familiar with your world.  Are there teleporters I can use?”      “Those haven’t made their way to public use yet.  For travelling around the world, you’re going to want to go by airplane.  But without a passport you’re not going to be managing that.”      “A passport is a form of identification, yes?”      “Yes.”      “You mentioned a black market earlier.  Could they assist in that?”      “I don’t know.  I could put in a call to the person I know, and find out, but I don’t know for certain.”      “I would be extremely grateful if you would.”           A few hours later, after multiple telephone conversations, Richard went back down to his lab, where Menok was sitting in what looked to be a meditative position.  Menok’s eyes opened, as Richard came in.  “Were you successful?”      “Yeah, it��ll be pretty expensive, but I can afford it,” Richard said.      “You are most generous.”      “You said you can cure me, and if I die I’m not going to need the money anyway.”      “When do we leave?” Menok asked.      “We’ll be picking up the passport and other necessary IDs in the morning, and as soon as we have them, I’ll book us a flight to Sydney.”      “Us?”      “Well, I should go with, should I not?” Richard asked.  “To make sure you get where you’re going safely?”      “And to make sure I keep up my end of the bargain?”      “I’m not going to lie, I still don’t exactly trust you.”      “I understand.”           Kimberly entered the lab where the escape pod had been taken.  It was in the center of the room, and several scientists were running scans on it.  She walked over to the lead scientist, Sam Wagner.  “What’ve you found?”      “Hmm?”  Sam looked up from her computer pad.  “Well, it’s definitely Arkon tech.”      “Yeah, I could tell that just by looking at it.  What can you tell me about who was using it, and where they went?”      “We found some trace amounts of DNA left behind by the occupant, and are comparing that to the sample we were given by Admiral Teleros, so we’ll know in a couple minutes.  As for where he went, I couldn’t tell you that.  Earth wasn’t where he was headed though.  The navigation systems overrode the commands he put in, because his destination was too far for the pod to travel, but a malfunction kept the display from showing him that.”      “Where was he trying to go?”      “A planet called Nerva, it’s on the edge of the Cardaillian Empire.”      “Hmm, so it’s possible he’s more than just a regular criminal, could be a traitor.”      “That isn’t for me to guess at,” Sam said.  “Although Nerva would be a strange choice to go to for that, as it’s just a small mining colony.”  Her computer pad beeped and she looked down at it.  “Oh, good news, the former occupant of this pod is indeed the individual that we’re looking for.”      “Not sure if that’s actually good news, but thanks.”           Menok was acutely aware of all the people staring at him as he followed Richard through the airport.  Even with aliens being known about on Earth, they were not exactly common.  Several were taking pictures with their phones.      Menok had done his best to disguise his identity, but he could not exactly make himself look Human, so he just had to hope if pictures of an Arkon visitor to Earth got back to his people, his disguise would at least be enough to keep them from realizing it was him.      In addition to the stares, he was also aware of the emotions, which were mixed.  Some felt excited or curious or amused.  But others felt scared or angry.  Most, if not all, of these people had first learned about the existence of life beyond their planet when the Caldore attacked, and he supposed that for many the distinction between different aliens was something they had yet to learn.      “Please put any metal objects in the bin,” a security guard said as they were in line by the metal detector.      Menok put his medical scanner into the bin, as well as his computer pad.  He stepped through the metal detector, which did not go off, and on the other side the security guard was looking at the objects in the bin.      “What is this?” the guard asked pointing at the medical scanner.      “It is a medical scanner,” Menok said.      “You some kind of doctor?” the guard asked with a raised eyebrow.  “I better call someone down here.”      “He’s not a doctor,” Richard said.  “I’m a scientist, Doctor Richard Isley, and he’s an associate of mine, we’re on our way to a conference in Sydney, and going to be showing off that device.  And I’d rather not miss our flight.”  Richard looked at his watch with a scowl.      “Right, sorry,” the security guard said.  “You can go on.”      They walked a distance past security, before Richard spoke again.  “It’s a good thing I did come with, or else you wouldn’t have made it through there.”      “Yes, he did not trust me.”      “It’s his job not to trust, but old, rich, white men often get trusted automatically.”           Menok sat down in his seat on the airplane, and Richard sat down in the seat across from him.  This area of the plane was pretty spacious, Richard had said it was first class.  Menok was glad for that, as the other parts of the plane seemed pretty cramped with people.  But even with less people in this area, he was still getting a lot of stares.      The emotions he could sense were generally along the same lines of those he had sensed in the airport, although amongst these there was more of the curiosity and amusement, and less of the fear and anger, but some of it was still there.  There was also something else he could just barely sense, but he could not recognize what it was, just that it felt off.      “It’ll be a little over twenty hours until we get to our destination,” Richard said.  “Just get comfortable and enjoy the flight.”      “Do I not look like I’m already comfortable?” Menok asked.      “You keep glancing around, and looking nervous.”      “This is an unfamiliar place to me, and I am simply trying to observe and understand my surroundings.  Also I am sensing something that I can’t identify.”      “What do you mean exactly by sensing?  You mentioned earlier that you could sense something was wrong with me, I assumed you were just reading body language or something.”      “My species has some telepathic abilities.  The exact amount varies from individual to individual, but I can sense the emotions of those around me.  Sometimes thoughts, but that is a lot harder, especially when the person knows I can do so.”      “Have you read any of my thoughts?”      “No, despite your strong emotions, you have a firm grasp on your mind, and it would take considerable effort for me to pick up even an errant thought.”      “Thanks?  So what does it mean that you’re sensing something you can’t identify?”      “There are multiple things it could mean,” Menok said.  “While some emotions are common across species on various worlds: fear, anger, curiosity, happiness, and so on, there are others that are not, so it’s possible there are Human emotions I am simply unfamiliar with.”      “I assume that’s the best case scenario.”      “It could also mean that there is someone here purposely trying to hide themself from me.  Which could be as simple as a person familiar with my species’ telepathic abilities trying to block them out just because of paranoia, but it could be something more.”      “You think someone is tracking you?  Like those agents that were at my place?”      “Possibly.”           Kimberly was in her office, checking for any reports of Arkons on Earth.  There were thirty-four officially on Earth at the moment.  Most of those were in Australia or Asia, with a few in Africa and the Americas.  Only three were currently in the United States, with one in California, and the other two in New York.      So, knowing that there were none supposed to be in Montana, and having that as a starting point, it did not take long to locate social media posts of an Arkon at an airport in Billings.  She managed to use the pictures to figure out which flight he had gone aboard, and also made a note of the fact that Richard was in the pictures alongside him.           Richard reclined in his seat, and started dozing off as the lights were dimmed in the plane for the night.  But he was awoken a few hours later by Menok lightly shaking him.  Richard opened his eyes, and saw Menok looking around the darkened cabin.      “What is it?” Richard whispered.      “What I sensed earlier, I think there is someone here to kill me,” Menok whispered back.  “And I think they are getting ready to strike.”      “What do we do?”      “Follow me.”  Menok got out of his seat, and Richard followed after him.  It looked like everyone else was sleeping.  But then he heard a sound of movement, and saw someone coming in from the coach section.  The person looked Human, but was carrying an energy pistol.  Menok and Richard ducked behind some seats before the person saw them.      They glanced through a crack between seats as they watched the person go to where their now-empty seats were.  Menok jumped out at the person from behind, and managed to knock the energy pistol out of the person’s hands, and it skittered across the floor.      Richard went for it and picked it up.  The grip was not quite shaped for Human hands, but it was close enough, and he stood back up to aim it at the attacker, but the person Menok was fighting, no longer looked Human.  In fact they now looked identical to Menok.      “What the hell?” Richard asked as the Menoks backed away from each other, and Richard kept moving the gun back and forth between pointing at each of them.      “He has a holographic disguise,” the Menok on the right said.  “And now he’s using it to look like me.”      “Don’t believe them,” the Menok on the left said.  “They are the one with the holographic disguise looking like me.”      Richard looked at the left side of the energy pistol, which had some sort of setting dial, but the symbols on it were unfamiliar to him.  “What is this thing set to?”      “It’s set to kill,” the Menok on the right said.      “Move the dial two notches clockwise in order to set it to stun,” the Menok on the left said.      Richard turned the dial two notches clockwise, then shot the one on the right who fell to the ground, unconscious.      “How did you figure it out?” Menok asked.      “I initially suspected when you said they, and they said he, considering they presumably know who you are, but we have no idea who they are under that disguise.  Then when they knew what the pistol was set to, despite the dial being on the wrong side for them to see, that confirmed it.”      “Luckily no one seems to have woken up during our struggle.”      “But when they do, we have a problem,” Richard said.  “What do we do with the body?”      Menok searched the body, and pulled off a small circular device, causing the person’s appearance to change to that of another Arkon.  “Hmm, so it is one of my people,” Menok said.  “Which means they know I am here.”      “Did they follow you to Earth, or was this someone already here?  And if so, how did they find you.  The pictures taken at the airport have probably found their way onto social media, but that wouldn’t have given them enough time to get aboard the plane, unless they were already at the airport.”      “I only started sensing her after we had come aboard.  It may not have been enough time to come aboard normally, but there could be another way.”      “What way?”  Richard asked.  “And she?”  He looked at the attacker, and while he could see differences between her and Menok, he was not certain which, if any of them, indicated her gender.      “Now that she is unconscious, the mental blocks she had in place are no longer in effect,” Menok said.  “There’s not much I can sense while she is unconscious, but I can tell her gender identity.  As for how she got aboard, I am not certain.  Based on what I know of your world, it seems unlikely that there’s a teleporter aboard this plane, so it’s possible she has a cloaked ship that attached itself.”      “If that’s the case, is that something we’d be able to use?”      “Potentially,” Menok said.  “Follow me.”  They went through to the coach section of the plane, where the attacker had come from.  “Hand me the energy pistol,” Menok said.      Richard looked at it for a moment, and then at Menok, before handing it over.  Menok changed the setting on it again, and started firing at the ceiling.  An energy beam, instead of single shots, came out of it, and hit the ceiling, but did no damage.  Menok moved the beam over the ceiling, until a certain point where it caused the ceiling to shimmer.      “Boost me up there,” Menok said, and Richard helped him climb through a spot in the ceiling, which shimmered as he went through it.      “Another hologram?” Richard asked.      “Yes,” Menok said as he reached down, and pulled Richard up through the hole.  “She must have attached, made a hole, and used a hologram to hide that fact.”      “If we detach…”      “We’ll attach a cover first, so the plane doesn’t depressurize.”      “And then what?” Richard asked as he looked around.  It was a small vessel, like a shuttle of some kind.  There were three seats up front by the controls, as well as benches along the sides.      Menok went to the controls and sat down in one of the seats.  “This vessel is space capable, and with a superspace drive, so I can use it to continue on my journey.”      “Does it have what you need to cure me?” Richard asked.      Menok brought up a different page on screen.  “No, the medical supplies aboard this vessel are rather limited.”      “Then I am coming with you,” Richard said.      “It’s going to be dangerous out there,” Menok said.  “The fact that an assassin tried killing me in such a public way here on Earth means this is even more dangerous than I thought.  Even if we can get what we need to cure you, I can’t promise you won’t die anyway.”      “I’ll take my chances,” Richard said.           Kimberly and her team were in Sydney, Australia, and as soon as the plane landed, they went aboard.  The pilot showed them the tied up Arkon.      “This isn’t the Arkon we’re after,” Kimberly said, and she showed him a picture of Menok with Richard.  “This is who we’re looking for, and he’s with this Human.”      “Well, they aren’t aboard anymore, and this one was, but you might also want to see this.”  He showed Kimberly the ceiling of the plane, where a plate was covering a hole.      “Agent Derrickson, get over here,” Kimberly said.      Agent Derrickson came over, and ran a scan on it.  “This plate is made of a plastic of Arkon design.”      “Probably that Arkon over there came aboard to capture or kill the one we’re after,” Kimberly said.  “But then Menok overpowered that one, and got away aboard their ship, and presumably Richard is still with him.  Keep looking over the plane for clues.”      Kimberly got off the plane, and found somewhere private, before she contacted Jon over the comm, and told him what they had found.      “I was worried that the Arkons might try sending one of their own people in,” Jon said.      “So, what does this mean?” Kimberly asked.      “For one thing it means I am going to have a massive headache in dealing with the Arkon government over this.  But also, that Menok has presumably fled Earth, which means he’s outside your jurisdiction.”      “Sir, with all due respect, I would like to continue the search.”      “Continue it then.  Maybe I’m wrong, and he is still on Earth, but if he has left, and you find anything to suggest where he left to, make sure to let me know, so we have a better idea of where one of our ships can continue the search.”      “Of course, sir.”

[ericbarkman]

Tales of WID 72 #13 Disunity

     “And Lieutenant Commander Tanaka has increased shield efficiency by five percent,” Commander Katherine Tartovsky said as she was giving her report to Captain Benjamin Grayson.  She was the first officer about the UES Unity, and he always had her give a daily report on what was all happening on the ship.      “Excellent,” Benjamin said.  “We were cutting it pretty close in the battle against that Argosian warship, so that is a welcome development.”      “The next item on my list has to do with fraternization amongst the crew.”      “Regulations permit dating, as long as it’s not amongst members of the same department, or between department heads.”      “Yes, sir, unfortunately it has come to my attention that there are two cases where that’s being violated.”      “Which two cases?” Benjamin asked.      “Lieutenants Harris and Banman, as well as Lieutenants Anderson and Delgado.”      “Hmm, I’ll have to have a word with them.  Is there anything else?”      “No sir, that’s the final thing to report.”      “You wanted to see me, sir?” Lieutenant Jane Anderson asked as she entered Benjamin’s office.      “It’s been brought to my attention that there have been some breaches of regulations as of late,” Benjamin said.      “Sir?” Jane asked.  “What sort of breaches?”      “When out in deep space, when the only people you see a lot of days are other members of the crews, it’s only natural to form bonds.  That was understood when designing regulations regarding fraternization amongst starship crews.”      “Of course, sir.”      “So for most crew they are simply not allowed to date amongst their own department.  Department heads, however, are also not to date other department heads.”      “Of course, sir,” Jane said.  “I understand.”      “Excellent,” Benjamin said.  “You are an excellent security chief, and Lieutenant Delgado is an amazing fighter squadron leader, and I’d hate to lose either of you.”      “So yeah, that’s what the captain said,” Jane said as she finished explaining to Leandra Delgado what Benjamin had told her.      “That’s too bad,” Leandra said.  “We were having some fun.  Although he also asked me to go have a chat with him later, so that’s probably what that’s about.”      “He also has meetings scheduled with Wesley and Chuck.”      “What about Tanaka and Cerise?”      “What?  Are they seeing each other too?” Jane asked.  “Are all of the department heads seeing other department heads?  Either way, he’s probably just unaware of them.”      “Possibly, hopefully that’s all it is.”      “What do you mean?”      “Well, it looks like he’s talking with the same sex couples, but not the straight one.”      “Come in,” Benjamin said when he heard his door chime.  He looked up as Leandra entered his office.  “Ah, Lieutenant Delgado, please have a seat.”      “Of course, sir,” Leandra said as she sat down.      “Do you know why I called you here?”      “I have a pretty good idea.”      “Yes, I assumed Lieutenant Anderson would have talked with you by now.”      “Permission to speak freely, sir?”      “Go ahead.”      “How many relationships are you aware of that are against regulations?”      “Only two,” he said.  “Why?  Are there more I should be aware of?”      “There is a third I am aware of, but unlike the two you are dealing with, the third is a straight couple.”      “I hope you’re not insinuating that I am selectively enforcing rules as a result of my religious beliefs.”      “No, sir, I am simply pointing out how it looks.”      “What is the other couple?”      “Lieutenant Martel and Lieutenant Commander Tanaka,” Leandra said.      “Then I will talk with them as well,” Benjamin said.  “I was honestly unaware of this.”      Doctor Fareed Karim was just finishing up a physical on one of the fighter pilots that was in Leandra’s squadron, Pandaherbs.      “You seem to be in good health,” Fareed said.  “Although make sure to keep up with the stretches.  Spending time cooped up in a cockpit can definitely have an effect on your body.”      “Not a problem, Doctor,” Pandaherbs said as she stood up.  She left just as Benjamin arrived.      “Good to see you, Captain,” Fareed said.  “Here for you regular physical?”      “Another time, perhaps,” Benjamin said.  “I actually came here to ask for your opinion on something.”      “Of course, on what topic?”      “I notice that you’ve made multiple requests to UES Command regarding fraternization rules.  Specifically regarding department heads on a starship entering into relationships with other department heads.”      “It makes sense not to have people date within their own department, no doubt,” Fareed said.  “That can cause all sorts of issues.”      “The department heads are all also in the chain of command to captain the ship though, if something were to happen, which makes them a department of sorts.”      “If something were to happen to you, Commander Tartovsky would be in charge.  After her would be Lieutenant Commander Teng, and then Lieutenant Commander Tanaka.  So that’s three people that would be out of commission before it would become relevant.”      “Which is not an impossibility,” Benjamin said.      “Maybe not, but the ship is often out in unexplored space, and the only Humans are those aboard the ship.  You have a wife and family back home, but not everyone does and most Humans crave companionship, which can be important for mental health.  I’m not saying the rules should be completely gotten rid of, but perhaps that starship captains should be given a bit more leeway in their application.”      “You mentioned Commander Tanaka.  So then I assume you were already aware of the relationship he’s in.”      “I’m the chief medical officer aboard the ship,” Fareed said.  “There is a great deal I am aware of, or at least suspect.  In this case it was more of a suspicion than actually knowing.”      “Are there any other suspicions you have?”      “Of course, Captain, but I’m assuming you already know more than I do, and that’s why you’re here talking with me.”      “Even if I were to convince Command to amend the rules, is it really a good idea to let the relationships in question continue?  Tanaka and Martel aren’t even the same rank.  They may be in separate departments, but that is still a thing to consider.  And when it comes to Anderson and Delgado, Anderson is the chief of security.  That means that she has a certain level of authority on most people on the ship even outside of her department, and even more so on away missions, since she generally leads those.”      “Lieutenant Delgado is in charge of the fighter squadron though, so it’s not exactly like she goes on the same type of away missions.”      “True, that is a fair point.”      “I don’t suppose you have any issues with Harris and Banman though, beyond just the current status of regulations.”      “I don’t think it has any negative effect on ship operations,” Benjamin said.      “That’s a very specific way of answering that question,” Fareed said.  “Captain.”      “Perhaps.  My religious views are not something I push on those under my command, but that doesn’t erase them.  I’m sure you understand that.”      “Yes and no.  But it isn’t always easy to separate yourself like that.  Even if you don’t overtly evangelize, it can still affect how you interact with others, and how you make decisions.”      “Everyone has views on the world, and those views affect them in those ways,” Benjamin said.  “You can’t just pretend something is false, which you believe to be true.”      “That’s not what I’m saying, not exactly.  But plenty of people believe things to be true about you, based on your skin color, and even if they don’t overtly act on that, it still affects how they treat you.”      “Hmm,” Benjamin said.      A few hours later, Benjamin was talking with Admiral Jon Teleros over the long range comm.      “Yes, I have read the requests from Doctor Karim,” Jon said.  “And I will say, I don’t entirely disagree with him.”      “But you do partially disagree?” Benjamin asked.      “The UES is an interesting organization at this point.  It’s a military, no doubt, but not everyone in it has actual military training, since most of us were transferred over from the ESS.  Some, like you and I, were in the military as well, but not everyone was.  And the ESS is far more lax with fraternization rules.”      “That they are.”      “There have been debates at Command about the requests.  Most of those who previously served in a military are opposed, while those who did not are mostly in favor.  There are a few exceptions though, of course.  And I haven’t made an official decision either way.”      “Why not?”      “Well, for one thing everyone knows my history, so everyone is going to think I’m biased.”      “You and Isabel didn’t get together until later though.”      “True, but that’s never stopped the rumors.  And I’m already not exactly popular amongst the other admirals.  I’m not the only one pulling double duty with both the UES and ESS, but I am one of the more high-profile examples, and the one that deals with the stuff everyone else wants to ignore, or has to ignore.  Stuff like Harkon Smith’s department, or Aaron’s kid and his friends.”      “I don’t envy you on that,” Benjamin said.  “I hope to be a starship captain for as long as I can.”      “Yes, that’s something I’m sad to have missed out on, but let’s get back to your request.  If you want me to back your doctor on this, then I can do so.  I don’t know that it’ll do any good, but I can certainly try.”      The next day, Benjamin was in his office, when the door chimed.  “Come in,” he said, and Katherine entered.      “Sir,” she said.  “I’m here with the daily report.”      “Good morning, Commander,” Benjamin said.  “Please sit down.  What’s on the docket today?”      “Lieutenant Martel was wondering if we could divert course to run some more precise scans on a nearby system that’s giving off weird readings.”      “We are out here to explore, so I’d say that sounds like a good idea.”      “Next on the agenda, Lieutenant Harris has done some more work on translating the Uthrareenn language, and he is fairly certain that we inadvertently insulted them during the trade negotiations.”      “How insulting?”      “They may be charging us about double what they normally would.”      “Not ideal, but it could be worse,” Benjamin said.  “I’ll let the diplomats on Maltork Six know.”      “Next up, I heard about your conversation with Doctor Karim.”      “Did you now?”      “I have some concerns,” Katherine said.      “I can’t say that I don’t myself, but I’m more concerned with what you all heard of my conversation, and how?”      “I didn’t hear the details, just that it happened, and then I heard that Admiral Teleros finally took a position in the debate.”      “I did talk with him as well, if that’s what you’re insinuating.  I am impressed at how much you’ve been hearing.”      “As your first officer, it’s my job to be on top of things,” Katherine said.      “Indeed, which is why it’s somewhat surprising you didn’t hear about the relationship between Tanaka and Martel.”      “It must have slipped my notice.”      “Of course.  Unless there’s anything else, you are dismissed.”      “What can I do for you, sir?” Jane asked as the entered the captain’s office.      “How often do you check the ship for bugs?” Benjamin asked.      “With the size of the ship, and the size of my security staff, along with our other duties, the entire ship gets checked over the course of each week.  The details are all in my regular logs.”      “Yes, I was looking them over, and I notice you always have teams of two working together.”      “Of course,” Jane said.  “As much as Earth is trying to show off a united front when dealing with other worlds, we are still a world of many nations, and thus a ship with a crew of many loyalties.  Is there something specific you want to know?”      “What I am about to tell you stays between the two of us.”      “Of course, sir.”      “Commander Tartovsky was aware of a conversation I had with Doctor Karim.  She claims to not know the details, just that it happened, but I’m unconvinced.”      “She is the first officer,” Jane said.  “She is aware of the schedule we follow, and thus if she did plant anything, she’d know when to remove it.”      “Which is precisely my worry.  I’d like you to change up the schedule, but don’t update the files for now, just let your team know the details face to face.”      “Understood, sir.”      Jane was in sickbay with one of her security officers, Yun Liu, and they were scanning for listening devices, when Katherine came barging in.      “What’s going on in here?” Katherine asked.      “Just doing routine security sweeps,” Jane said.  “Nothing to worry about.”      “This isn’t scheduled for today,” Katherine said.      “Wasn’t scheduled for today, ma’am,” Jane said.  “The Captain asked us change around the schedule a bit.”      The scanner chose that moment to start beeping.  “We’ve found something,” Yun said.  She reached under the desk that scanner indicated, and pulled out a small listening device.      “Good find,” Katherine said.  “And I suppose it was a good call on the Captain’s part.”      “We’ll get this taken apart and studied right away,” Jane said.      “Of course.”  Katherine stepped aside, to let them pass through the door.      “What have you found out?” Benjamin asked as he entered the security room.      “Do you want the good news, or the bad news first?” Jane asked.      “The good news,” Benjamin said.      “The bug is Russian made,” Jane said.      “But the bad news?”      “We have nothing to tie it specifically to Commander Tartovsky.  She’s hardly the only Russian on the ship, plus it’s not like anyone else couldn’t have gotten a Russian listening device.”      “Keep working at it,” Benjamin said.  “But yeah, if we go forward with this, the Russians will claim we’re just trying to get rid of their person.”      “That’s why I’m leaving it out of my official reports for now,” Benjamin told Jon over the comm.  “But I thought you should know anyway.”      “Yeah, that’s a good call,” Jon said.  “If nothing else, knowing about it helps me understand some motivations better.  I think the Russians are trying to make you look bad.”      “Oh?”      “You’re the African-American captain of the first Earth starship.  A starship called Unity, and with an international crew, since we’re trying to portray ourselves as United Earth when dealing with the interstellar community.  But if they can show you applying regulations in a discriminatory fashion, that makes you look bad.”      “Based on reports from my Russian first officer though,” Benjamin said.  “They’d risk her looking bad as well.”      “It’s a risk they’re willing to take, I’m sure.  Russia is far more obvious in its homophobia than America.  And on top of that, she’s not exactly popular amongst her Russian colleagues and superiors.  She’s good enough at her job to have got this far despite it, but they wouldn’t consider it a major loss if her career was destroyed.”      Leandra entered the security command center, where Jane was still hard at work on learning about the listening device.  No one else was in the room, and Jane looked up at the intrusion.      “What are you doing here?” Jane asked.      “Curious, mostly, about what’s all been going on.”      “Not much I can share, I’m afraid.”      “I don’t even mean on the investigation, although the rumors on the ship about that are certainly interesting.”      “What are the rumors?”      “Everyone knows that a listening device was found, but there are various theories about what sort, and who placed it, and what this could mean for the future of both this starship and the United Earth Spacefleet in general.”      “All very good questions,” Jane said.  “We’re supposed to be a unified crew, but you take people from a bunch of varied backgrounds, each with their own cultures and prejudices, and sometimes it works out, but other time it doesn’t.  Not sure yet which this is going to be.”      “You wanted to see me, sir?” Katherine asked as she entered Benjamin’s office.      “Yes, please sit,” he said, and she did so.  “I’ll be frank.  You know all about the listening device we found, and neither of us are idiots.  We both know that you’re the one that placed it.”      “I doubt you have any evidence towards that,” Katherine said.      “That’s irrelevant.”      “If you’re trying to remove me from my position, accusations without evidence will only hurt your case.”      “Which is why I’m not trying to remove you.  I’m not going to lie, I don’t like you, and I don’t trust you, but I do respect you, and I do think you are good at your job.”      “Thank you?”      “I would very much like to trust you, but for that to happen, you’re also going to have to trust me.”      “How do you mean?”      “I’ve been looking over your service records, both ESS and Russian Armed Forces.  I, of course, did so back when you were first chosen as my first officer, but I’ve been giving them a closer look.  Specifically I’ve noticed several situations in which, despite ESS regulations, you ended up in situations where you had to choose between following ESS orders or Russian orders.”      “Real life is rarely as neat and tidy as the people making regulations wish it to be.”      “Oh, I am fully aware of that, but what interests me the most, is that in most of those situations, you chose to follow the ESS orders.”      “I made the best choices I could, based on what I knew at the time.”      “Do you regret any of them?”      “Some, but not all, and I also regret some of the times I made the opposite choice.”      “Well, now I feel like you’re in another of those situations,” Benjamin said.  “Your superiors in Russia want me out of the captain’s chair of this ship.  And they are trying to use this situation to that end.  So, you have a choice.  You can continue following their orders, and maybe you’ll succeed.  But ask yourself, why are you doing that?  Do you think I am a bad captain?”      “No, sir.  I may not agree with all of your decisions, but I do respect you.”      “Then is it about advancing your own career?  Perhaps your government is planning to recommend you as the new captain.  But if they don’t, what’s going to happen to you then?  If they manage to get a different Russian in as captain, the other governments are not going to be okay with this ship having both a Russian captain and first officer.  So then, you’ll be moving backwards in your career, laterally at best if the UES goes with another American captain, or really any non-Russian.”      “Like you said, that’s assuming they don’t recommend me,” Katherine said.      “You know your superiors and your government better than I do.  You tell me.”      “What do you want from me, hypothetically speaking?  If all this was true, and I admitted to it, I would be discharged anyway.”      “Give me the names, off the record, and we can move forward, with a greater sense of trust.”      “You know what bugs me about this whole situation though,” Leandra said.  She was still in the security room with Jane.      “That we weren’t even really a couple?” Jane asked.  “We were just having a bit of fun, letting off some steam.”      “It’s the fact that here we are in the year 2017, and we’re out here exploring the galaxy, and doing all this Star Trek shit, and yet not only are people still full of prejudice, but some are stoking that prejudice and using it for political gain.”      “People are flawed, and just because we’ve jumped forward in our understand of science and technology and the universe, that doesn’t just erase the flaws we have.  That’s part of why I joined security.  I keep seeing flaws in people, and want to keep them from hurting others as a result.”      “How’s that working out?”      “Dealing with physical threats is a lot easier than less tangible ones.”      “Don’t I know it.”      “So, I hear the vote went in our favor,” Benjamin said, over the long range comm.      “It went the way we wanted, thanks to the information your first officer provided,” Jon said.  “It remains to be seen if it’s in our favor or not.”      “What did you do with that list of names anyway?”      “I just had conversations with them.  Although the less you know about those conversations, the better.”      “Of course, sir.”      “That said, I’m sure there will be a cost to pay for this.  Politics is a never ending game, and while we might have the upper hand for the moment, that’ll hardly last.”

[ericbarkman]

Tales of WID 72 #9 A Puzzling Encounter

     Charles Thorne wiped away the dirt from the base of the statue, revealing an inscription.  “It looks similar to Mayan,” he said.      “So, you can translate it?” Colonel Geoffrey Gordon asked.      “It’s not that similar,” Charles said.  “And it’s curious, the Mayan civilization was in Central America, not South America.      “Is there anyone else that would be able to translate it?” Major Jon Teleros asked.      “Not anyone I’m aware of,” Charles said.      Captain Aaron Hammer climbed down from the tree he was on.  “There’s some movement a few klicks north from here,” he said.  “Don’t know if it’s anything we need to worry about, but we’re not alone.”      “We’re in the rainforest,” Jon said.  “There’s no such thing as alone around here.”      “I meant people,” Aaron said.  “Unless monkeys have started using Jeeps.”      “Seems unlikely,” Geoffrey said.  “Are they moving towards us?”      “Not at the moment, but you know how trails are around here,” Aaron said.  “All the winding and such.”      “Yeah, get back up there and keep an eye on them, while Thorne tries figuring this statue out,” Geoffrey said.      “Aye, aye, sir,” Aaron said.      A few kilometers north, Harold Thompson was looking at the map as Isabel Reaves was driving their jeep down whatever paths they could find.      “I think we made a wrong turn back there,” Harold said.  “We really should have asked for directions when we went by that village an hour ago.”      “We’re fine, it’s fine,” Isabel said.  “We’re getting closer, right?”      “We are getting closer,” Hiroshi Tanaka said from the backseat.  “The artifact is continuing to glow brighter and brighter.”      “But we might end up running out of paths this Jeep can fit on this way,” Harold said.      “Then we’ll walk the rest of the way,” Isabel said.  “Don’t tell me you’re getting soft in your old age.”      “Don’t worry about me,” Harold said.  “I was old long before you were born, and will continue to be old long after you’re gone.”      “Looks like the Jeep is either not moving anymore, or it’s in deep enough foliage that I can’t get a glimpse of it,” Aaron said.      “You remember what it was like driving out here,” Jon said.  “Fifty bucks says they’re continuing on foot.”      “Canadian or American dollars?” Aaron asked.  “If we’re talking Canadian, I’ve got that on me, and you’ve got a bet.”      “I mean, I was hoping to make a bit more than that, but sure,” Jon said.  “I’ll take your weak-ass money if that’s all you’ve got.”      “Careful there, Major,” Geoffrey said.  “Don’t forget I’m from Canada too.” “Right, sir,” Jon said.  “I meant to say polite-ass money.”      “Much better,” Geoffrey said.  “Any luck yet, Thorne?  I don’t know for certain these people are out here for the same reasons as us, but even still I’d prefer we be quick.”      “I might have figured out something,” Charles said.  He pressed on one of the eyes of the statue, then grabbed the arm, which he was able to twist.  Almost immediately the statue slid to the side, revealing a staircase going underground.  “Correction, I have definitely figured something out.”      Hiroshi chopped away at the foliage as he tried to clear a path.  Isabel and Harold followed after him.      “I still think we could have avoided this if he took a different route,” Harold said.      “Either way, we’re getting close,” Isabel said.  She was now holding the artifact, which was continuing to glow brighter and brighter with every step.      “Wait,” Hiroshi said, holding up as his hand as he stopped.      “What is it?” Isabel asked.      “We’re being watched,” Harold said.  “Up in the trees.”      “Yes,” Hiroshi said.      “By who?” Isabel asked.  “Who else would even know about this?”      “Not a person,” Hiroshi said.  “It’s a jaguar.  It’ll probably leave us alone, as there is much easier prey than the three of us, but it is considering.”      “What do we do?” Isabel asked, as she unslung her rifle.  “Where is it?”      “Don’t shoot it if you don’t have to,” Harold said.  “But it’s over to the left of us, a bit ahead.”      “I have it in my sights,” Isabel said.      “Then keep it there, in case it makes a move,” Hiroshi said.  “But if it doesn’t, we don’t want to alert anyone that we are here if we don’t have to.”      Geoffrey took point going through the tunnel they had found at the bottom of the staircase.  Charles was following behind him, then Aaron, and Jon was talking up the rear.  They had been expecting to need to use their flashlights, but as they had come down, the place had lightened up, although they could not tell the source.      The place was clearly ancient, the walls and ceiling were made of stone bricks, while the floor was just a dirt path, which just made the mysterious light seem even more out of place.      “My money is on magic,” Aaron said.      “You always bet on magic, and you always lose,” Jon said.  “We have yet to discover anything that suggests magic is real.”      “But when we do, that’ll be the day I can say I told you so,” Aaron said.  “You can be wrong a hundred times, as long as you’re eventually right.”      “I’d guess it’s more likely some kind of alien tech,” Charles said.  “This seems similar to some of the stuff from my father’s notes.”      “One day, I’d like to see those notes,” Geoffrey said.      “If I ever find them, I’ll let you know,” Charles said.  “I have no idea where he left them before he died.”      “Speaking of, I’ve been looking into the accident again,” Jon said.  “And I’m starting to think it might not have been an accident.”      “I asked you to leave it alone,” Charles said.  “I don’t want to know the details of how my parents died.”      “Right, sorry,” Jon said.  “Didn’t mean to…      “Wait,” Charles interrupted.      “I was just apologizing,” Jon said.      “No, I mean, over in the wall there.”  Charles pointed to a brick that was a slightly darker shade than the rest.  He went over to it, and pressed it in, causing a section of the opposite wall to slide open, revealing a room.      It looked like a massive lab, but not like a lab any of them had seen before.  It was like something out of a science-fiction movie with all sorts of unfamiliar equipment and materials.      “The jaguar seems to have left,” Isabel said.      “Or it just moved out of our view,” Harold said.      “Either way, it seems we have found what we are looking for,” Hiroshi said as he stepped out of the trees into a small clearing in front of them.      “This is what the artifact was leading us to?” Isabel asked as she looked around.  “A statue and an underground staircase?”      “Presumably what it’s leading us to is down the stairs,” Harold said.      “Someone else is already down there,” Hiroshi said as he looked around the area.  “In fact, I believe the statue was covering the staircase before they opened it.”      “What are we thinking?” Harold asked.  “ESS?  Although it is the Amazon, so it could also be KOKON remnants.”      “A team of three,” Hiroshi said as he bent down and checked the ground.  “No, four.  One of them was in a tree providing lookout while the others presumably puzzled out the statue.”      “Team of four suggests ESS,” Isabel said.      “As does the fact that three of these people were military, and the other was a civilian,” Hiroshi said.      “You can tell that from footprints?” Isabel asked.      “Military tend to all wear similar boots, but one of these guys clearly has more expensive tastes,” Hiroshi said.      “Fascinating,” Charles said as he looked around the lab.  “I don’t know what I was expecting, but this certainly wasn’t it.”      “So, what is all this?” Geoffrey asked as he picked up a small blue cube off a table.      “I haven’t the slightest idea,” Charles said.  “So be careful what you touch.  Who knows what any of this could do.”      Geoffrey quickly put the cube back on the table.      “I think this is some sort of computer over here,” Aaron said from over where he had found a screen.  “I don’t see any kind of mouse or keyboard though.”      Charles went over and looked at the writing on the screen.  “It’s the same language as on the statue.  Also, I think it might be a touchscreen.”      “A touchscreen?” Jon asked.      Charles pressed down on one of the words, and the screen changed to show some images of the ground outside the entrance they had come in.  And they just had the briefest glimpse of someone going down the stairs.      “We’re about to have company,” Geoffrey said.  “Let’s get ready.”      The four each took up a position behind cover where they still had a clear view of the door.      Hiroshi put his finger up to his mouth to indicate silence as he moved towards the door in the hallway.  Isabel and Harold followed after him.  Hiroshi had his sword in one hand, and his gun in the other.  Harold took out his sword, while Isabel grabbed her gun.      “We know you’re out there,” someone said from inside the room.  “What are you doing here?”      “We could ask you the same question,” Harold said.  “You’re ESS, right?”      There was silence for half a minute before the same voice spoke up again.  “What do you know about the ESS?”      “We know that this is a bit outside your jurisdiction,” Hiroshi said.  “You deal with scientific threats, not mystical.”      “I don’t know, I’d say this seems pretty sciencey in here.”      “Are you planning on shooting us if we go in?” Isabel asked.      “Not if you don’t shoot at us.”      Hiroshi put down his gun, but kept it and his sword in his hands as he slowly entered the room.  Just like he had predicted, three military men, and a civilian.      “My name is Hiroshi Tanaka, and these are my associates, Harold Thompson and Isabel Reaves.”      “I’m Geoffrey, and my men here are Jon, Aaron, and Charles,” Geoffrey said, pointing to each member of his team in order.      “No last names?” Harold asked.      “Not for you to know,” Geoffrey said.  “So who exactly are you people?”      “We’re part of an organization you’ve probably never heard of,” Harold said.  “The Custes.”      “Latin for guardians?” Charles asked.      “Our organization was founded at the same time as Rome,” Harold said.      “You said you deal in mystical stuff?” Aaron said.  “I’d definitely like for you to be right, as that’s what my money was on, but this does look pretty high tech.”      “He’s got a point,” Isabel said.  “But the artifact was pointing here, so obviously something’s up.”      “Artifact?” Charles asked.      Hiroshi removed it from one of his pockets, and as he did it glowed very brightly, right before everything went to black.      Aaron woke up with a pounding headache, and looked around.  He was still in a lab similar to the one he was just in, but this one was smaller.  Harold was there as well, and was just waking up too.      “That was strange,” Harold said.      “Any idea what happened?” Aaron asked as he realized that this lab had no doors.  “We’re trapped in here.”      “Must be some kind of security system,” Harold said as he got up.  “Some kind of field to knock us out, and then put us here.  Wherever here is.”      “If it’s supposed to be a prison cell, why lock us up with all sorts of crazy tech?” Aaron asked as he picked a small device up off a table.  He looked it over, and had no idea what it was.      “Maybe it won’t actually do anything,” Harold suggested as he started looking at the different types of equipment available.      “This looks like some kind of high tech bow,” Aaron said picking something up.  He tried pulling back on the bowstring to test the weight, and an arrow made out of energy appeared in it.  “Huh, that’s cool.”  He fired it at a wall, which it hit without doing any seeming damage.      “Be careful,” Harold said.  “For all we know there could be something explosive in here.”      “Right, sorry, looks like there’s different settings on this thing, not sure what they mean though.”      “Let me see,” Harold said and Aaron handed it to him.  “Hmm, yeah, I’m not certain myself.  I’d imagine there are setting for like stun or kill or whatever.”      “Like in Star Trek?  Never much cared for that series.  But we should probably try figuring out what the settings are for certain, it may help us with getting out of here.”      “Yes, and I’m also curious what happened to the rest of our teams.”      Jon got up to his feet.  He was not sure where he had been moved while he was unconscious.  The room he was in was a cube, with walls, floor, and ceiling that were smooth and white, with no doors or windows or anything else.  And the room was completely empty except for him, and Isabel who was also getting up and looking around.      “What happened?” Isabel asked.  “Where are we?”      “I have no idea,” Jon said.  “The last thing I remember was your friend removing that glowy thing from his pocket, and then everything went black and now we’re here, wherever here is.”      “Yeah, that’s what I remember too,” Isabel said.      “What was that thing anyway?” Jon asked.      “It’s a magic artifact that locates other magic artifacts.”      “I’ve been with the ESS for a long time, and there have been multiple instances of something seeming like magic, but they always end up with a scientific explanation.”      “Maybe because most of the time, we deal with the actual magic stuff before you guys ever get there.”      “Uh huh,” Jon said.  He was feeling along the wall, looking for any sort of seam or indent or protrusion, but had yet to find anything.  “I don’t suppose you have any magic tricks to get us out of here.”      “Sorry, I’m not a magic user of any sort myself.  And most of the equipment I have with me is guns.”      “Don’t think those are going to help with our current predicament, but I do appreciate a well armed woman.”      Hiroshi woke up and looked around.  He still had his artifact and it was still glowing, which was good as he was in a dark cave, and it was the only source of light.  But he was not alone he noticed, as Charles was there too, and also waking up.      “What happened?” Charles asked.  “And what’s with this splitting headache?”      “We are not where we were,” Hiroshi said.  “Possibly we were teleported somewhere?”      “Is teleportation a thing?” Charles asked.      “Not that I am aware of,” Hiroshi said.  “I am just throwing ideas out there.”      “We’re in a cave,” Charles looked around.      “A cave with no obvious entrances or exits.”      “So, what do we do?”  Charles started looking along the walls for anything.      Hiroshi did the same.  “This, I suppose.  And if we don’t find anything, we’ll have to figure something else out.”      “And how do we know we can trust each other?”      “I gave you my full name, so I’m showing a bit more trust than you are, Mr. Thorne.”      “You recognize me?”      “My son has been asking for a computer for a while.  The ones made by your company are at the top of his list.”      “Oh, your accent doesn’t sound British.”      “My son has been looking at computers from all over the world.  And he says yours are the best.”      “Well, if your kid has that kind of taste, I suppose that’s a good start for me to trust you.”      Geoffrey woke up and looked around.  He was sitting on a recliner in a normal looking living room.  Not a living room he had ever seen before though.  There was only one door in the room, so he went and opened it, and found a kitchen.  Again, it was a pretty normal looking kitchen, but also one he had never seen before.  There was a man by the oven, who looked to be making an omelette.      “Who are you?” Geoffrey asked.  “Where am I?  What’s going on here?”      “Oh, good morning,” the man said, without turning around.  “You can call me Samuel.  As for where you are, well, that’s a bit more complicated.”      “The last thing I remember, I was in that lab with my team, and those other people, and then what happened?”      “One of the Custes members took an artifact out of his pocket, and that woke me up.”      “So, that lab is yours?”      “Not originally, but I’ve since set up shop there.  It’s a nice enough place to live, if a bit boring.”      “And what’s all this?” Geoffrey indicated the kitchen with his hands, and realized the only door in here was the one back to the living room, other than cupboard doors and the fridge anyway.      “It’s a test of course.”      “A test?  What do you mean?”      “I mean, there’s only one way for you to escape this place, so good luck,” Samuel said before he vanished into thin air.      Geoffrey started looking around the kitchen, and the living room, going back and forth between them, trying to find any clues as to what to do.  The only door connected them, and there were no windows.  He checked the fridge and cupboards in the kitchen, which were well stocked with a variety of foods and dishes, but did not provide any clues, at least not that he could figure out.      He checked under all of the furniture, but found nothing out of the ordinary.  There were three books on a shelf on one of the walls in the living room.  He checked each one in turn, but pulling them off did nothing.  And looking through the books themselves, none of them were in English.  One looked to be Japanese, and another was Russian.  The final one was in Latin, he was pretty sure.      He started looking through the Russian one, flipping through pages, looking for anything in it.  He did not understand Russian, but he was hoping there might be some kind of clue he could find in it anyway.      “Look at that,” Isabel pointed to the ceiling, where a small square had turned blue.      “Huh, I wonder why that happened,” Jon said.  “I haven’t felt any buttons or anything along the walls.  You?”      “No, it’s all been smooth for me.  But speaking of buttons, should we maybe try pressing the blue square?”      “Maybe?  I don’t know, but then, I don’t understand any of what’s happened here.”      “Same, but I have no other ideas, besides maybe just waiting and hoping something else happens.”      “Okay, I’ll boost you up, and you can try pressing it,” Jon said as he put his hands together, palms up.      Isabel stepped on them, and he stood up straight as she tried to stay steady.  She reached up as high as she could, but her hand was still about a foot away from the ceiling.      “Can you reach?” Jon asked.      “Not quite, uh, one second.”  Isabel reached into her jacket and pulled out a rifle, and used that to press the blue square.  As soon as she did, the square turned back to the same white as everything else.  “Huh, not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.”      “Or maybe it’s neither,” Jon said as he let her back down.  “For all we know it did absolutely nothing.”      As Geoffrey was paging through the book, it suddenly vanished, as did the shelf on the wall and the other two books that were on it.  And the part of the wall where the shelf had been turned into a door.  Geoffrey opened it, and it lead to a garage, although one without a garage door.  The only type of door in it was the one he had just opened.      There was a car parked in it, a Honda Accord.  There were also various tools hanging from the walls of the garage.  The wall where the garage door should have been though, was mostly empty, except for the book shelf, with the same three books as had been in the living room.      Geoffrey walked over to them, and considered.  More of this house had been revealed while he was looking at the Russian book, even if he could not actually read it.  So, should he try looking through it again, or perhaps one of the other books.  He grabbed the Japanese book at random, opened it up, and started leafing through the pages.      The cave that Hiroshi and Charles were in suddenly lit up as glowing symbols appeared on the walls.      “Hmm, that’s interesting,” Charles said.  “I don’t recognize the symbols though.  Do you?”      “No,” Hiroshi said.  “If they are a writing of some kind, I am unfamiliar with the language.”      The symbols were all at the same height on the walls, about halfway between the floor and ceiling of the cave, and went around the entire cave.  Hiroshi counted them up, and there were exactly twenty-five, with each of them being unique.  They were a variety of different shapes.      “They might not be letters though,” Charles said.  “It might be some kind of test?”      “But testing what?  The pattern?”      “Maybe,” Charles said.  “If there’s a pattern.  Umm, let’s see, this symbol has four lines in it, then the one to it’s left has five lines, and the one after that has six.  Oh, but the next one has only two.”      “That could still be a pattern, if we count up the lines in all of them,” Hiroshi said.  “Assuming that’s what the pattern is.  And assuming a pattern is even what we are looking for.  But it’s a start, I suppose.”      Geoffrey had been looking through the Japanese book for as long as he had been looking through the Russian book, but nothing had happened as of yet.  At least not in the garage.      He went back into the living room, and it seemed to have remained the same, as did the kitchen when he looked in there.  He wished he could read either of those language, or Latin, so he would at least have an idea of what was in the books.  He returned the Japanese book to the shelf, and then grabbed the Latin book, and started looking through it.      “Look at that,” Harold said as he pointed at a container that contained a green liquid, which had just started boiling.      “What is it?” Aaron asked.      “Not sure,” Harold said.  There were two other containers next to it, one had a purple liquid, and the other had an orange liquid.  There were also three buttons behind them.  One was red, one was blue, and one was yellow.      “A test maybe?” Aaron asked.  “Although it seems a bit of an easy one.  Yellow plus blue equals green, so if it’s a test, presumably we just press both those buttons at the same time.”      “Or we might press just the red one,” Harold said.  “The problem with tests like this is you don’t know what they’re asking, if this even is a test.”      “So, do we just do nothing?” Aaron asked.  “Are we supposed to just sit around waiting?”      “You young people are so impatient.  But if you must do something, go ahead.”      Aaron pressed the yellow and blue buttons at the same time.  The green liquid immediately stopped boiling, and the orange liquid started.  He pressed the red and yellow buttons, and this time the purple liquid started boiling as the orange stopped.  He pressed the blue and red, and then all three started boiling, so he pressed all three buttons.  They all stopped.      “Nothing seems to have happened,” Harold said looking around.      “So possibly that wasn’t the right thing to do?” Aaron asked.  “But at least nothing bad has happened.”      “Not here anyway,” Harold said.  “At least not that we can tell.”      After a few minutes, the books and bookshelf once again disappeared.  Geoffrey looked around the garage, but it still looked the same, other than the missing bookshelf.  He went back into the living room, where there was now a set of stairs where there had previously just been a wall.      He walked up the stairs and found a hallway.  No doors, but the book shelf was now on the wall at the end of the hallway, with the same three books on it.  He went to the end, and picked up the Japanese book again.      Hiroshi and Charles had been halfway through writing down the symbols, when the symbols had disappeared.  But now they suddenly returned.      “Did you figure out any pattern to them?” Charles asked.      “Nothing yet,” Hiroshi said.  “You?”      “Same, there has to be something to them, but I have no idea what it is.”      “Maybe it’s something to do with the amount of them, twenty-five.”      “One less than the English alphabet,” Charles said.  “But if it is the alphabet, just missing one letter, I don’t see how that helps us.  And counting up the number of lines in each symbol hasn’t provided any sort of pattern.  Like look at this bunch in a row, four, four, three, three, three, one.  It almost looks like a pattern, but, doesn’t fit with anything else.”      “Wait, what?” Hiroshi said as he looked at them.      “I mean, it’s hard to decide at some points what to call a line, but I’m pretty much going with curves continue a line, sharp angles separate lines.”      “No, yeah, that makes sense, but that fits the amount of lines per character in my name, if it’s written in hiragana.”      Charles looked at the next bunch of symbols.  One, two, two, two, one, two, one.  “And the rest is my name, but in the English alphabet.  So what does that mean, and what do we do with it?”      Hiroshi put his hand on the symbol that represented the start of his name.  “This maybe?”      Charles put his hand on the first symbol for his name.  Nothing happened.  “Maybe if we each run a hand across our own name?”      They did that, and as they finished the symbols disappeared again.      “Were they disappearing again for the same reason they did before?” Charles asked.  “Because it happened right as we finished what we were doing.”      “Hmm, it’s possible that this time it’s because of what we did,” Hiroshi said.  “But it’s hard to say for certain, and we don’t know the significance either way.”      After a little while, the books and the shelf disappeared once again, and Geoffrey looked around.  The hallway he was in now had a door in it, and he went and looked inside.  It was a master bedroom with a nice large bed, and everything else you would expect to find in a normal bedroom.      And of course there was the bookshelf, with the same three books.  Geoffrey walked up to them, and considered them again.  Clearly they were doing something, although he still had no idea how or why.  And the Japanese book had only caused changes the second time he had looked at it.      He thought about the books, as well as the Custes people he had met.  Hiroshi was definitely Japanese.  Isabel was a name that could be Russian, although her last name Reaves did not sound that way.  And what about Latin?  Maybe Harold was Catholic?  This was all assuming the books were even connected to them.      But without any other ideas, Geoffrey just took a book off of the shelf again.  This time he picked the Latin one again.      In the lab, Aaron was pacing back and forth, while Harold was continuing to look over and study everything.      “Fascinating,” Harold said.      “Learning anything useful?” Aaron asked.      “I don’t know yet.”      As they were talking one of the wall shimmered and a door appeared.  There was a computer panel on the wall next to it.      “Huh, that’s new,” Aaron said as he went over to it.  The door had no handle or knob on it.  Aaron pressed his hands against it and tried to slide it open, but it did not move.      “The computer panel will potentially open it,” Harold said.  “It’ll probably require a code though.”  He touched the computer panel and it lit up with six squares.  Red, blue, yellow, orange, purple, and green.      “Related to the buttons and liquids from earlier?” Aaron asked.      “Perhaps, but again, we don’t really know what it’s asking,” Harold said.      “We might as well try something,” Aaron said.      “Go ahead then.”      Aaron thought back to earlier.  He pressed the green button first, then the yellow and blue buttons simultaneously.  Then the orange, then the red and yellow together.  He then pressed the purple button, then the blue and red at the same time.  He then pressed all three of the green, orange, and purple, followed by all three of the red, yellow, and blue.  The door opened.      “I think you’ve just been overthinking things,” Aaron said.  “Sometimes the simplest solution is the best.”      “Occam’s razor,” Harold said.  “Good point.”      They looked through the door, which lead into an office with a desk and some chairs.  There was a computer and a phone on the desk.  The office had no doors other than the one they were looking through, and no windows.      Aaron went in and picked up the phone, but it was dead.  Similarly, the computer was not on, nor did it turn on when he hit the power button.      Geoffrey was getting used to it as the books and shelf disappeared once again.  He looked around the room, which was unchanged.  He checked out in the hall, which now had an additional door, and going in, he found a small office with a computer and a phone.  No books on a shelf this time though.      He checked the computer first, which was off, and the power button did nothing.  So then he picked up the phone and heard the dial tone.  He dialed an ESS number, but that did nothing.  He tried a few other numbers he knew, including his own, but nothing was working until he tried the number belonging to Aaron.      It rang for a few seconds before it was answered.  “Hello?” Aaron asked.      “Hammer?” Geoffrey asked.  “Are you back at home?”      “Colonel Gordon?” Aaron asked.  “No, I’m in a small office attached to a lab that looks similar to the one we were in, but smaller.  Why would you think I’m at home?”      “Because that’s the number I just dialed,” Geoffrey said.  “I’m in a house of some sort, but there’s no way out, at least not yet.  Is anyone else with you?”      “That Harold Thompson guy,” Aaron said.  “And originally there was no office here, a door to it just appeared a few minutes ago, and we needed to input a code based on some puzzle thing we solved earlier.”      “A puzzle thing?  There was a man here earlier that told me this was a test.  He said his name was Samuel.”      “Weird, but yeah, that was maybe half an hour or so ago.”      “There are three books that keep appearing over here,” Geoffrey said.  “One in Japanese, one in Russian, and one in Latin.”      “Japanese, Russian, and Latin?” Aaron asked.  “Okay.”      “When I look through them, more doors keep appearing in here.  Those two events line up with me looking at the Latin one.”      “One second, Harold would like to talk to you,” Aaron said.      “Hello, this is Harold,” Harold said.      “Do you know what’s going on here?” Geoffrey asked.      “I don’t,” Harold said.  “But those languages you mentioned are interesting.  Hiroshi is Japanese.”      “I gathered as much,” Geoffrey said.      “And Isabel is Russian on her mother’s side,” Harold said.      “And I take it you know Latin?” Geoffrey asked.      “Yes, I most definitely know Latin,” Harold said.  “It’s my first language.”      “I’m sorry, what?” Geoffrey asked.      “The reason isn’t that important,” Harold said.  “Do you have the books on hand?”      “No,” Geoffrey said.  “Every other time a new room has appeared in the house I’m in, the books have been in the new room, but not this time.  I haven’t gone to check the other rooms yet though.”      “I’d recommend you do so, and then we can see if I can translate them,” Harold said.      “Makes sense,” Geoffrey said.  “I’ll be right back.”  He went through the house, checking the hallway, master bedroom, and then going down the stairs and checking the living room, kitchen, and garage.  All were the same as before, and none had the shelf with the books.  He returned to the office and picked up the phone.  “Nope, they aren’t here anymore.”      “Hmm, I don’t suppose you remember anything from them,” Harold said.      “I’m only familiar enough with the languages to recognize them, nothing more,” Geoffrey said.      “That’s unfortunate,” Harold said.      In the cube room where Isabel and Jon were, a book suddenly appeared in one of the corners.  Isabel went and picked it up, and started looking through it.  “I don’t suppose you know any Latin?” she asked Jon.      “Sorry, no.  The only language I can read fluently is English.  I understand bits of others, but not Latin, as it’s not usually that relevant.”      “That’s unfortunate.  If Harold were here, he’d be able to read this.”      “Charles too,” Jon said.  “That guy knows more languages than I’ve had girlfriends.”      “Too bad he’s not the one here then,” Isabel said.      “Well, we’ll just have figure out something ourselves.”      In the cave where Charles and Hiroshi were, Charles was pacing while Hiroshi was sitting on the ground.      “I don’t know how you can remain so calm, when we’re trapped in here, with no apparent way in or out,” Charles said.  “At least when those symbols appeared we had something to work on, but near as I can tell they did nothing.”      “Worry won’t help with the situation,” Hiroshi said.  “All we can do at the moment is wait.”      “Wait for…” Charles trailed off as he noticed a book wedged into the wall.  He was pretty sure it had not been there before.  He pulled it out, and opened it up.  “Are you at all fluent in Russian?” he asked.      “No,” Hiroshi said.  “Isabel is, but I am not.”      “Hmm, I know a bit of it,” Charles said.  “It’s not one I’ve needed to study much, but relations between the USA and USSR being what they are, I’ve picked up a bit of it.”      Harold was still on the phone with Geoffrey, when Aaron came back into the office from the lab.  And Aaron was holding a book.      “No, I have no idea who this Samuel might be, or what these tests are about,” Harold said on the phone.      “The Colonel said one of the books was Japanese, right?” Aaron asked.      “Is that it?” Harold asked.      “It’s a book, and it’s written in Japanese,” Aaron said.      “What’s that?” Geoffrey asked over the phone.      “We have a Japanese book here,” Harold said.      “And it wasn’t here before,” Aaron said.      “Let me see, I know a bit of Japanese.”  He traded the phone to Aaron for the book and started flipping through it.  “Hmm.”      “What?” Aaron asked.      “It seems to be gibberish,” Harold said.  “Like, the katakana and hiragana don’t form any words I know, and the kanji don’t form any coherent statements.”      “Is it possible it’s a code of some sort?” Aaron asked.      “It’s certainly possible, very likely I’d even guess,” Harold said.  “But I don’t know where I’d even begin.”      “Okay, like I said, Russian isn’t one of my specialties,” Charles said.  “But I’m pretty sure this is gibberish.”      “Or it’s another code,” Hiroshi said.      “That’s certainly possible.  Maybe even probable.  But we don’t really have a starting point on how to decode it.”      “What’s the title on the book’s cover?” Hiroshi asked.      Charles looked at it.  “I’m pretty sure it translates to ‘Betrayal of Family’.  So the title sounds like an actual title.  But I have no idea what it could refer to.”      “Hmm, I may have an idea.  I mentioned earlier that Isabel is fluent in Russian.  That is because her mother is Russian, but her father is American.  I won’t go into details, but let’s just say things went badly, and that title sounds like it is referring to her.”      “Strange, but I don’t know if that helps us.  Unless…” Charles opened the book, and took out a pencil, and started writing in it.      “What?”      “I’m trying to see if yeah, on the last page, this might be a cypher, but it was incomplete.  I’m putting in Isabel’s name, and it looks complete, but it’ll take me some time to start decoding the book, and seeing if it’s correct.”      “Well, it’s not like we have anything else to do at the moment,” Hiroshi said.      “What about the title on the cover?” Aaron asked.  “Is that gibberish too?”      “No, the title is actual words,” Harold said.  “It roughly translates to ‘End of a Legacy’.”      “Does that mean anything to you?”      “It might refer to Hiroshi.  His family has long been part of the Custes going back several centuries, but he doesn’t want his kids following in his footsteps.”      “Okay, how does that help us?” Aaron asked.      “I don’t know.”      “Hmm, I think this word maybe means death,” Jon said.  “It’s similar to the French word.  But I’m not sure of the rest of it.”      “‘Death of a Saviour’ maybe?” Isabel asked.      “That looks like it might fit.”      “Plus it seems like it relates to Howard’s history.”      “Oh yeah?  How’s that?”      “It’s…complicated,” Isabel said.      “I’m sure it is, but it’s not like we have much else to do at the moment,” Jon said.      “I’m not telling you someone else’s secrets.  Maybe at the end of all this, he’ll tell you, but they aren’t my secrets to tell.”      “Fair enough.”      “You guys figuring anything out yet?” Geoffrey asked over the phone.      “Maybe,” Aaron said.  “Harold’s been going through the book, and he might have found a cipher that was complete when he filled in Hiroshi’s name.  He’s trying to decode the book now.”      “Well, hopefully he figures something out, I’ve been up and down throughout this house, and have yet to figure anything new out.”      “Yeah, there’s a lot in the lab we have here, but who knows what it even all does.  I did find this cool energy bow though.”      “Energy bow?”      “Yeah, it’s like a bow and arrow, except with energy bolts instead of arrows.”      “That Samuel I talked to said this was a test, but I don’t know, all of these puzzles seem to be rather arbitrary.  Like what is even being tested here?”      “I don’t know,” Aaron said.  “Perhaps he’s just toying with us.  Giving us random situations and seeing how we deal with them.”      “That thought had crossed my mind.  The question is, why?  What is he gaining from this?”      “Hmm, that’s interesting,” Charles said as he was working on decoding the book.      “What is it?” Hiroshi asked.  “Are you finding anything useful?”      “Maybe, not certain yet.  Could you start knocking on the cave walls, and see if you can find a location that sounds hollow?”      “Sure,” Hiroshi said as he started on that.  After a minute or so, he found such a spot.  “Okay, now what?”      Charles went over also, put the book in front of the spot, and then punched the book.  He took it away from the wall to reveal a hole in the wall.  Inside it there was an electrical outlet, and a cord that was not currently plugged in.      “Is that what you were expecting?” Hiroshi asked.      “I really had no idea what to expect.  But we might as well plug it in.”      Geoffrey was pacing back and forth in the office, when the computer suddenly turned on.  He picked up the phone.  “The computer in here just turned on.  Did you guys do anything?”      “No, I don’t think so,” Aaron said.  “The computer here is still off though.”  There was a pause.  “Harold is asking what’s on the computer.”      “Looks like a word processor of some kind.  Nothing’s written in it yet.”  Geoffrey pressed a few keys on the keyboard, spelling out <Hello> on the screen.  “Presumably this is yet another weird test of some sort.  But I have no idea what I should do about it.”      “Well, that’s new,” Isabel said as she looked up at the ceiling, where the word <Hello> had appeared.      “So, someone’s trying to communicate with us,” Jon said.  “But who, and how do we communicate back?”      “Can you hear us?” Isabel asked.  They watched the ceiling, but nothing else immediately appeared.      Jon walked over to the wall, and started tracing his finger in the form of letters.  Nothing appeared though.  “It’s possible there isn’t even a way for us to communicate back.”      “So, we’re not really in a different position than before anything appeared on the ceiling.  This is getting annoying.  Are you figuring out anything with the book?”      “Not really,” Jon said.  “That’s where it would be really nice to communicate back, assuming that hello was from one of the people we know who knows Latin.”      “Aha,” Harold said.      “What is it?” Aaron asked.      “Ask your boss if there is a car in the house he’s in,” Harold said.      Aaron picked up the phone and asked.  “Yeah,” he said after listening.  “There’s a Honda Accord in the garage.  But he says there’s no keys in it.”      “Tell him to check the cupboards, there should be some boxes of cereal, one of which is a sugary kid’s cereal that has a prize inside.  The keys should be in there.”      Aaron told Geoffrey about that.   “Okay, he’s going to check.  What’s this supposed to do though?  He mentioned earlier the garage doesn’t actually have a garage door.”      “I don’t know,” Harold said.  “But it’s something to do, at any rate.”      Geoffrey looked through the cupboards.  He quickly found several boxes of cereal, and tossed them out until he found one that mentioned a prize.  He opened it up, and sure enough, there was a car key inside it.      He went to the garage, and started up the car.  The radio turned on with it.  He heard two people talking, and he instantly recognized one of them as Charles.  He was fairly certain that the other one was Hiroshi.  That just left Jon and Isabel unaccounted for.      Charles and Hiroshi were talking about a Russian book, which explained where that went.  And apparently they had just plugged in a cord a few minutes ago, which lined up with the computer turning on.      But the pressing question now that he could hear them, how could he communicate back to them?  He was not hearing anything about them seeing the message he had typed on the computer, so that was probably not what that was for.      “Clearly we’re missing something,” Jon said.  “That ‘Hello’ is still on the ceiling, we just need to figure out what it means.”      “Maybe we press it like those colored squares that appeared up there earlier?” Isabel asked.      “It’s as a good a theory as any.”  Jon once again lifted Isabel up to the ceiling, and she pressed on the <Hello>.  Nothing happened so she came back down to the floor.      “Okay, we’ve tried responding verbally, and nothing,” Isabel said.  “Pressing it doesn’t do anything either.  What if someone is on the other side of one of the walls?”      Jon walked over to a wall, and started knocking on it.  “Sounds pretty thick and solid.”      “Maybe not the whole thing though?  Let’s see if we can find somewhere that sounds thinner or hollow or something.”      “I suppose it’s as good an idea as any.”      “Do you hear that?” Hiroshi asked.      “Hear what?” Charles asked.      Hiroshi put his ear next to the cave wall, and started walking alongside it.  “Yes, there’s a tapping sound here.”      Charles went over and listened.  It started out as random tapping, but then it turned into morse code.  Charles took out his notebook, and started marking it down.  “Hello, can anyone here us.  This is Jon Teleros and I am with Isabel Reaves.”      “Hmm, that’s good,” Hiroshi said.  “We’ve finally made contact with someone.  Can you respond back?”      “Yeah,” Charles said.      “You hearing that?” Jon said as he listened to the tapping on the wall.  “Someone is responding.  It’s Charles and your friend Hiroshi is with him.”      “That’s great,” Isabel said.  “Or are they trapped too?”      “He’s saying that they’re in a cave.  And yeah, they’re trapped in there.”      “Do you know if that message on the ceiling was from them?”      “I’ll ask,” Jon said, before tapping the message in morse code.  After a bit there was a response.  “No, it wasn’t them.”      “Hmm, so was it some of our other people, or was it someone else entirely?” Isabel asked.      Geoffrey listened as Hiroshi and Charles talked about what Jon and Isabel were telling them.  He was not sure the <Hello> they had seen was the same one he had typed, but it seemed like a decent enough theory.      He returned to the office, and informed Aaron and Harold of what he had learned, while typing a new message on the computer, and going back down to the garage to listen in some more.      “Huh, look at that,” Isabel said as she pointed to the ceiling, where words were starting to appear.      <This is Colonel Geoffrey Gordon, and I am hoping this is being read by Major Teleros and Isabel.  I can listen in on Charles and Hiroshi, and know they can communicate with you.>      “Right,” Jon said.  “I’ll let Charles and Hiroshi know that we’re seeing that, and they can let the Colonel know.”      “Excellent, it’s good that we’re finally making some progress here,” Isabel said.  “At least, I hope this is progress.”      “Okay, so now we can all communicate with each other,” Aaron said.  “Even if some of that communication is limited.”      “Yes, the question is, what do we do next?” Harold asked.  “I suppose the obvious answer is to pass along the contents of each book to those that best understand the language.”      “That’ll take a while.  Like, we have the Japanese book, so we need to tell Geoffrey over the phone so that he can type it out for Colonel Teleros and Isabel, so they can use morse code to tell Hiroshi.”      “It’s not ideal, but it’s the best we can do.”      Over the next several hours they slowly communicated the contents of the book to those that could understand them fluently.  Each book contained a number of instructions and tests and puzzles, and they started working on them.  Some were as simple as finding the right location on a wall to tap, while others were more complex and required things like advanced mathematics, or chemical concoctions, amongst other things.      With every task they completed more was opened up for one of them.  Some caused new rooms to appear in the house that Geoffrey was in.  Others started created tunnels and new caverns in the cave Hiroshi and Charles were in.  And some created more side rooms for the lab that Aaron and Harold were in.  However, nothing new was created in the area that Jon and Isabel were in.      Geoffrey was checking out the new additions to the house.  He had just come up from a newly appeared basement, and decided to check out the garage.  It now had an actual garage door in it.  Geoffrey went over and opened it, revealing a vast emptiness.  It was like space, but without any stars or anything.  He was also not being sucked out into it, and was able to breathe just fine.  He walked to the edge, and put his foot out, but there was nothing solid to step on.      He got into the car, and checked the gas gauge.  Despite how much it had been running, it was still full.  It had been backed into the garage, so he slowly inched forward.  The front of the car started going out into the emptiness, and he continued, until the front wheels were right on the edge of the garage floor.  He slowly continued forward, and the car continued staying level.      He continued on until about half of the car was out of the garage.  He opened the car door, and stuck one of his feet out.  He could not feel any solid ground, and his foot was able to go further below the point that the bottom of the wheels were at.      Geoffrey backed the car back into the garage, and got out.  He went over to the edge, and stuck his foot out again, and he still felt no solid surface beyond the garage, yet somehow the car had still been driving on it.      “There’s nothing in any of the books about that,” Harold said after Geoffrey had told him about what was outside the garage.      “Maybe not, but we’ve done about everything we can find in those books, and this looks like the next step,” Geoffrey said.  “I’m just a bit worried about completely leaving the garage with that car.”      “Understandably so,” Harold said.  “And it brings up so many questions about where you are, and where the rest of us are for that matter.  Is this some sort of illusion, or perhaps a simulation.”      “And if so, how was it created,” Geoffrey said.  “Your team deals with mystical stuff, or so you said, and that’s what you were investigating.  I’ve never put much stock in magic, but this is not like anything the ESS has encountered before.  Or at least nothing that I’m aware of.”      “Honestly, our team has never encountered anything quite like this either,” Harold said.  “And there’s very little our group has encountered that I’m not aware of.”      “Why are all of the other areas expanding, but not this one?” Isabel asked.      “That’s a good question,” Jon said.  “Possibly the nature of this room.  Like the other places are a house, a cave, and some kind of laboratory.  Those are all perfectly regular places, even if the lab is like something from sci-fi, but this is different.  Who would make a room like this?”      “I mean, it’s a pretty good jail cell, if you don’t mind driving your prisoners mad.  Might even be the goal.”      “You feeling like you’re going mad?”      “No, but we haven’t been in here for very long yet.  It also helps that there’s the two of us, so we can talk with each other, but can you imagine being in here by yourself.  Things like the book appearing, or the text on the ceiling from your Colonel.  That would seem like hallucinations before too long.”      “Hmm, so you think that might be the intended purpose of this room?  Then why put us both in it?”      “No idea, but this whole thing just seems so strange,” Isabel said.  “Like, these supposed tests, there’s no rhyme or reason to them.  It just seems so pointless.”      “What if that is the point?” Jon asked.  “What if that person that Colonel Gordon saw is just toying with us, like a kid with a magnifying glass toys with ants.”      “That’s kind of a terrifying thought.  We’ve certainly faced our fair share of powerful beings, I mean hell, the Custes used to assist the wielder of the twin swords of Mars in keeping Alket out of our world, but our organization isn’t exactly what it used to be.”      Geoffrey got back into the car, and started driving forward again.  He slowly drove out of the garage, the front wheels seemingly on a surface which did not otherwise seem to exist.  He kept going until the back wheels were right on the edge of the garage.  He took a deep breath and then continued driving the car forward.  It stayed level.      He kept going, looking out the window, as he was seemingly driving on and through nothingness.  He looked back at the house, which was pretty big, and seemed to be about the right size for what he had all seen so far inside.  But then he noticed something behind the house, a shed.      He drove over to it.  Just like the house it was floating in the void.  He opened the car door, and tried stepping out with a single foot, but just like before he could not find any solid surface with his foot.  He went as close as he could to the shed door, and reached out to open it.  There was floor inside, and he jumped over.  It was dark inside, but he felt around, and found a light switch, which he turned on.      “Good to see you again,” Samuel said.  He was sitting in a chair next to a work desk, whittling away at a piece of wood.  “I was wondering how long it would take you to find me.”      “We’ve been passing your tests,” Geoffrey said.  “It’s time to let us go.”      “Not quite, not quite, but nearing that, yes.”      “What else do we need to do?”      Samuel tossed the wooden object he was working on to Geoffrey.  It was shaped like a duck.  It took him a moment, but luckily not a very long moment, to realize the significance, and duck as something was swung at him from behind.      Geoffrey turned around as he came back up, and punched his attacker right in the side of the face.  The attacker stumbled back into the wall as Geoffrey looked him over, and grabbed a hatchet off a table next to him.  The attacker looked identical to Samuel, and Geoffrey glanced over to make sure Samuel was still sitting where he had been.      “Yeah, I know,” Samuel said.  “He stole my good looks.”      The attacker came at Geoffrey again, with the baseball bat he was holding, and Geoffrey parried the blow with the hatchet, before punching him in the face again with his other hand.  He then brought the hatchet down, and with the blade pointed away, he hit the attacker in the legs tripping him.      Geoffrey then held the blade of the hatchet to his attacker’s throat.  “Who the hell are you?”      “My name is irrelevant,” he said.  “But I will not allow you to free him.”  His eyes glanced at Samuel.      “I’m trying to free myself and my team,” Geoffrey said.  “As well as that Custes team.  I wasn’t even aware Samuel was trapped here.”      “Samuel, is that what he called himself?”      “It’s a decent enough name,” Samuel said.  “And at least somewhat appropriate.”      “You are a pretender, a fake.”      “Would someone tell me what the hell is going on here,” Geoffrey said.      “All you are seeing is an illusion,” the attacker said.  “He has created it in order to trick you into helping him escape.”      “Is this true?” Geoffrey asked.      “He’s the one that attacked you, not me,” Samuel said.  “It’s true that I am trapped here, and would like to leave, but the same is true of you and your people.”      “Then why the deception?” Geoffrey asked.      “Because he knew you would never agree to the final thing that he needs to do to escape.”      “Luckily for me, that’s all that remains,” Samuel said as he disappeared in a flash of light.      Hiroshi was flipping through the Russian book.  He did not understand any of it, but they had already translated most of it.  “What about this page?” he asked as he compared it to the notes they had.  “I’m not seeing a translation of this.”      “Hmm?” Charles asked as he looked.  “Oh, that’s nothing major, I was able to translate that page on my own, and didn’t need Isabel’s help.”      “What is it about?” Hiroshi asked before Samuel suddenly appeared in the cave.  “Who are you?”      “I’m Samuel, and it is time.  He can’t hear right now.”      “Time for what?” Hiroshi asked before he felt something piercing into his back and out his chest.  He looked down at a sword blade, and looked back at Charles holding it.      “I’m sorry, you seem like a nice enough guy,” Charles said.  “But that page explained what was required to let the rest of us go, and I for one have no intention of being trapped here.”      Hiroshi fell to the ground as the world went dark.      Jon blinked, and suddenly he was back in the lab he had originally been in.  Isabel was still with him, and Charles, Aaron, and Harold were there as well, as was someone he did not recognize.      “What happened?” Jon asked.  “Who’s that, and where’s the Colonel?”      “And where is Hiroshi?” Isabel asked, turning to Charles.      “I’m Samuel, and I’m not really certain why your Colonel isn’t here, although Hiroshi isn’t because he’s dead.  It’s been fun, but I am off now.”  With that Samuel disappeared.      “Hiroshi is dead?” Isabel asked.      “That Samuel killed him,” Charles said.  “He said it was the only way to escape.  I tried to stop him, but there was nothing I could do.”      “You…he…no,” Isabel said.      “I’m sorry for your loss, but we still need to figure out why Colonel Gordon isn’t here,” Jon said.  “And I’m not sure if we’re really equipped to deal with this Samuel anyway.”      “Unfortunately, I think you are correct,” Harold said.  “But I’m not sure what we can do to help your Colonel either.”      “What do you mean?” Geoffrey asked.  “What’s the final thing for him to escape?”      “It has to do with how we were trapped here.  You and your people were simply trapped by the illusion that he had created, with him free they are now as well, but I have kept you here, for two reasons.  The first is so that I can explain.”      “I thought you were trying to keep him trapped, but you’re trapped too?”      “I am indeed.  There are multiple locks on this place, which is why he had you go through those bizarre tests, to unlock them, because we are unable to.  But after all of the locks are undone, there is one final thing that he needed to do to escape.  Someone had to die.”      “He killed someone?”      “He is unable to kill anyone himself, or at least was unable while here.  One of the members of your team was made to kill one of the members of the other team that was with you here.”      “Who was it?”      “I could tell you, but it matters not.  You see, with him free, I need to free myself as well, in order to stop him.”      “That the second reason you kept me here,” Geoffrey said.  “You want to kill me.”      “I do not want to kill you, but I have my duty.  And unlike him, I am able to do so while trapped here.”      “I beat you once.”      “I underestimated you.  That will not happen again.”      Jon, Aaron, Charles, Harold, and Isabel were still in the lab, when the guard who looked just like Samuel appeared.  Everyone immediately pointed their guns at him, except Charles who did not have any.      “You bastard,” Isabel said.  “You killed Hiroshi.  Give me one good reason I shouldn’t end you now.”      “I am not the one you know as Samuel, I have simply taken the same form as him.  And I must chase after him to capture him and return him to this prison.  Although I must apologize first for what I had to do in order to get out myself.  I had to kill Colonel Geoffrey Gordon, and for that I am sorry.”      “You what?” Jon asked, but the guard had already disappeared before he was finished asking.      “So, now what?” Aaron asked.  “We’ve lost our commanding officer, they’ve lost one of their team, every answer we’ve got here has just lead to more questions.”      “We’ll head out, let HQ know what happened here,” Jon said.      “Please don’t tell them about us,” Harold said.  “It’s already become increasingly difficult for us to operate this past century.”      “Does it even matter?” Isabel asked.  “Our organization once had hundreds of members.  Now it’s the two of us.  We already can’t be what we need to be.  Maybe it’s time to let someone else take over.”      “There are still others that are still around,” Harold said.  “Some might return.  Leonardo and Nicholas are two I know that I can still contact.  And we could try recruiting more.”      “Hiroshi was the person that recruited me, and he was the reason I stuck with the group as it dwindled,” Isabel said.  “You can try rebuilding if you want, but I think I’m out.”      “And I’m sorry, but I can’t leave you out of my report,” Jon said.  “Whatever happened here was much bigger than any of us, and I can’t take the risk of leaving out anything.”      Harold sighed.  “I understand, I just hope you understand the severity of what you’re doing.  The Custes have existed for over two thousand years, and have protected humanity against innumerable threats.  Your ESS is still a young organization, with much to learn.  I just hope you are able to deal with the threats we will no longer be around to handle.”      “You could always come join us,” Aaron said.  “Teach us what we need to know.”      “Hmm, me as a teacher?” Harold asked.  “Maybe, I’ll have to consider it.”      “If either of you are interested in joining the ESS, I can help with that,” Jon said.      “I don’t know what my plans are now,” Isabel said.  “I just don’t know.”      “I may assist in an advisory role,” Harold said.  “But I have no interest in becoming an actual agent.”      “I understand, but the invitation is there, if you ever choose to accept,” Jon said.  “But for now, let’s just get out of this place before anything else happens.”

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #35 I’m With Her

     Harkon Smith sat down in his chair at the end of the meeting room table.  He looked around at his top people.  “Okay, so someone claiming to be Rupert Teleros wants to have a meeting with us.  Apparently he is the head of the TDD, which is quite surprising to me.”      “Who exactly is Rupert Teleros?” Jack Masterson asked as he leaned back in his chair, and used another chair as a footrest.  “I assume he’s related to the other Teleros’ we’ve met.”      “He’s a descendent of them,” Melinda Summers said, as she brought up information about him on her computer.  “He was a great general, but also one that truly cared for the people under his command.  He had a strong moral compass, and I find it hard to believe he’d be willing to alter the timeline.”      “So, we’re thinking this isn’t really him?” the ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack asked.  He was floating off to the side.      “I don’t know,” Harkon said.  “With what we’ve now learned about the Palore, it could be that the reason the TDD is working to alter the timeline is to figure out how to stop the Palore from doing that.”      “We’re going to go to this meeting regardless though, aren’t we?” Mary Bishop asked.  “I mean, just to figure out what’s going on?”      “Probably,” Harkon said.  “But the more we can figure out, the better prepared we can be.  Do the Palore we have in custody know anything about the TDD?”      “Not that I’ve learned so far,” Jack said.  “But I didn’t really have much time to question them what with Merlin attacking.  And we’re sure he’s stuck in that coma?”      “Sesla and Imhotep have been stuck for months,” Melinda said.  “We also need to figure out what to do about our missing agent.”      “Yes, Calvin Nichols is on my mind,” Harkon said.  “I’m going to send Tesla and ERK-147 to try and investigate that.  Jack, I want you to continue questioning the Palore.  And we still have some time until the meeting with Rupert Teleros, assuming it is him.  So in the meantime Melinda, you and Mary see what you can find out about him.”      “Understood, sir,” Melinda said.  “I would also like to bring Abigail with.  She has an interest in investigations, and I would like to see how she does.”      “That seems prudent,” Harkon said.  “I’ll be interested to hear about that as well.”      Doctor Jeri Quill was going through her daily rounds.  Imhotep, Sesla, and Merlin were all still in comas, luckily in Merlin’s case, less so in the case of the other two.  All three were otherwise in good health though.      Next up she checked through her supply inventory.  She was a bit low on a few medicines, but not out of stock on any of the ones she tried to keep a supply of.  She made a note to restock when she next visited a time period where they were available.      Mary found Abigail Esau in the cafeteria, eating a stack of pancakes while reading a tablet.  “Hello Abigail,” Mary said.      “Oh, hi Mary.”  Abigail looked up from her tablet.  “What’s up?”      “You’ll be joining me and Melinda on a mission.”      “Oh yeah?  What kind of mission?”      “We’re going to be doing an investigation of Rupert Teleros.”      “Teleros?  Any relation to Jon Teleros?”      “You know Jon Teleros?” Mary asked.      “My friend’s dad used to work with him.  And he helped save the lives of me and some friends of mine a while back…”      “But?”      “But not my friend’s dad.  He was killed.”      “I’m so sorry.”      “It’s my fault,” Abigail said.  “The only reason we were targeted was because I wasn’t as careful as I should have been, and I was looking into things that made that dangerous.”      “You shouldn’t blame yourself for what someone else did.  My father was killed, and the only person I blame is the man who did it, Tom Eastwood.”      “He’s one of the people down in the holding cells downstairs, right?”      “Yes, it’s better than he deserves, but it’s the best justice I can have.”      Jack passed by the various holding cells towards the ones where the Palore prisoners were.  Most of the prisoners ignored him, except for one.      “Hello Jack,” Aphrodite said.      “Mother,” Jack said.      “Has my message been passed on yet?  I did make a deal for that intel I gave.”      “Yes, your message has been sent out.”      “That’s excellent news.”      “I’m sure it is.  How much are we going to regret it?”      “I guess you’ll just have to wait and find out.”      “So, what’s our first move?” Abigail asked after she had followed Mary and Melinda through the time door.      “The first step is fairly easy,” Melinda said.  “We’ll have to talk with whoever would have most recently seen Rupert.”      “And that would be?” Mary asked.      “Don’t know for certain,” Melinda said.  “But his wife would probably be a decent choice.  Call Sandra Rodriguez, and see if she’s willing to fly us out to Maltork Four.”      “Does she have a new ship?” Mary asked.      “Not that I’m aware of,” Melinda said.  “Which is why we’ll be paying her by purchasing a new ship for her.”      “Set up the equipment over there,” Nikola Tesla told the agents as they unloaded it from the hovercar.      “Yes, sir,” one of them said.      “Is the building still invisible to your sensors?” Nikola asked ERK-147.      “It is,” the little bot said.      “Excellent, that means things are consistent, if nothing else,” Nikola said.  “To work!”      “Captain Rodriguez has agreed,” Mary said.  “She was rather excited after I told her how expensive of a ship we’d be getting for her.”      “Good to hear,” Melinda said.  “Did she say what kind of model she’d like?”      “Yeah, she sent me the info on it, so we can put in an order for it.”      “How long will that take for the order to come in?” Abigail asked.      Melinda looked over the tablet that Mary handed her.  “It should be ready within a few hours,” she said.  “Which is good, because I’d prefer to be on our way as soon as possible.”      Jack sat down outside the cell with the Palore in it.  “{Good day,}” Jack said in their language.  “{How are the accommodations?}”      “{They are the same as every other time you’ve asked,}” one of them said.  Her name was Arlos, and she seemed to be the leader.  “{What do you want?}”      “{Just to talk,}” Jack said.  “{I’d also be fine with talking to your associate over there, if he ever wants to speak up.}”      “{I have commanded him to be quiet, and he will not disobey me.}”      “{No problem then,}” Jack said.  “{I’ll just ask you questions.  What was your mission here?}”      “{That is none of your concern.}”      “{Considering you captured and locked me up, it kind of is.}”      “{And now we are the ones who have been captured and locked up.  But our reversal in fortune does not mean you have the upper hand.}”      “{Maybe not, but maybe.}”      “Thanks again for you’re help,” Melinda said as she sat in the second seat of the cockpit of Sandra Rodriquez’s new ship.      “In exchange for this ship?” Sandra asked.  “I feel like I’m getting the better end of the deal, even after I lost my old ship because of one of your people.”      “Even still, Maltork Four isn’t exactly the safest place to visit.”      “Eh, I’ve been there a few times, it’s not really a big deal.  I know how to handle myself in tough situations.”      “Yeah, I gather as much,” Melinda said.  “You’ve been a big help to us.”      “Well, I suppose protecting the timeline is pretty important.  Anyway, I have the course laid in and we are on our way.  Care to play a game of Jakut with me?”      “I’m not familiar with that game.”      “No worries, I’ll teach you.”      Abigail was looking through the food pantry, when she heard someone else come in.  She turned and saw it was Mary.  “You’re hungry too?” Abigail asked.      “A bit,” Mary said.  “This ship came fully loaded with food?”      “Apparently.  Probably an incentive that they do, like when you get free oil changes or whatever when you buy a car.”      “Okay?”      “Right, I sometimes forget you’re from the 1870s,” Abigail said.  “You’re so much more familiar with all this time travel stuff than I am.”      “Give it a bit of time, pardon the pun.  You’ll get used to it.  Goodness knows I’ve gotten used to a lot of things.”      “It’s definitely a learning experience.”      “So I can’t move the Tikal piece over to that spot?” Melinda asked.      “That’s right,” Sandra said.  “Because then it would be next to the Lakit piece, and they can’t be adjacent to each other.”      “Okay, I’ll move it over here instead, which I believe gets me five points.”      “Only if you can keep it their until the end of my turn, which it looks like you might be able to do, as it’s worth more to me to do other stuff than block it.”      “Happy to be back at base?” Jack asked Philip Wilson as he sat down across from him in the cafeteria.      “Yeah, just watching an empty building was getting kind of boring,” Philip said.  “Glad to leave that to the scientists now.  And I hear you’re interrogating those aliens in custody?”      “Yeah, just taking a lunch break at the moment.”      “Any progress?”      “I’m definitely learning stuff, but I’m not sure how much yet.”      “Uh huh.  So, I did get one bit of break while I was watching that building.”      “Oh yeah?”      “We hadn’t heard from base in a while, so I went to go look into it.  I wasn’t allowed back here, because of the Merlin situation I have since learned.”      “Yeah, that was an interesting series of events.”      “So, I visited the outpost in the 1940s, and I met your friend Abigail.”      “Oh yeah?”      “Yes.”      “She’s a nice girl, and pretty smart too,” Jack said.  “Should make a valuable addition to our group.”      “Does she get along with Deanna?” Philip asked.      “Mostly,” Jack said.  “I mean, she doesn’t trust Deanna, but then not many do.”      “Do you?”      “It’s complicated.”      “Maltork Four,” Melinda said as she stepped out of the ship with Mary and Abigail.      “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy,” Abigail said.  “We must be cautious.”      “Accurate,” Melinda said.      “How do we get in contact with Kathryn Teleros?” Mary asked.      “I’ve already scheduled a meeting with her,” Melinda said.  “And the walk there should give us enough time to fill you in on what you need to know.”      “Like what?” Abigail asked.      “She’s the leader of one of the three major criminal organizations on this planet, for starters,” Melinda said.      “She’s a criminal?” Mary asked.      “I mean, it’s a crime planet,” Melinda said.  “Most people are.  The criminal organizations essentially run everything, the actual government is mostly ineffective.  Kathryn is mostly a good person, but she does what she has to.”      “A lot of people use that as an excuse for a lot of things,” Mary said.      “Yeah, us included,” Melinda said.      Jack entered the gym, where Ohm was hitting away at a punching bag.  “Hey buddy,” Jack said.  “How is it going?”      “It is going good,” Ohm said.  “I feeling a bit useless lately though.”      “Your English is improving quite a bit though.”      “I have a lot of time to study and work on it.”      “Ah yeah.  I’m doing some studying myself, of a sort.”      “Oh?”      “I’ve been spending the past while questioning some of our prisoners.  This is my first break since lunch which was a while ago.”  Jack looked at his watch.  “A long while ago.”      Abigail and Mary followed Melinda into the building where they were meeting Kathryn Teleros.  Security patted them down, and took their weapons, before leading them into a meeting room.  Kathryn was already sitting at the head of the table.  Abigail, Mary and Melinda sat down, and all but one of the security guards left the room.      “So, you’ve got the meeting you wanted,” Kathryn said.  “Now who are you and what do you want?”      “My name is Melinda Cathars, and these are my assistants,” Melinda said.  “We are looking for your husband.”      “Yes, you told me your name when you set this up, along with a whole host of information on me that I have no idea how you learned.  That’s the only reason we are sitting here.  But your name tells me nothing about who you are, or why you are looking for my husband.”      “As you have no doubt determined, we are agents of a government organization,” Melinda said.      “You certainly carry yourself as such,” Kathryn said.  “Your assistants less so.”      “They’re new,” Melinda said.  “In the course of our work, we have been contacted by someone claiming to be your husband, but it seems unlikely, for a few reasons.  We are simply trying to determine whether or not we are being lied to, before we walk into a trap.”      Kathryn studied Melinda’s face, before looking at Mary and Abigail next.  “How long have you been working with Agent Cathars?” she asked Abigail.      “Not long,” Abigail said.  “Less than a month.      “And how old are you?” Kathryn asked.  “You look to be in your twenties, but the way you carry yourself, I’d guess you are a bit older.”      “I guess I’ve just experienced a lot,” Abigail said.      “No doubt,” Kathryn said, before turning back to Melinda.  “I haven’t seen my husband in over a year.  We’ve been going through some…marital troubles ever since I went to war with Bob Alverado.”      “He’s one of the other major crimelords on this planet?” Mary asked.      “Yes,” Kathryn said.  “He is also Rupert’s best friend.  Bob was the best man at our wedding, and our daughter is married to one of his sons.”      “Why are you at war with him?” Mary asked.      “The connections between our families are a matter of public record, but the reasons behind the war between Bob and myself is not, nor do I have any intention of making it so.  This meeting is over.”      “Any progress on the building?” Harkon asked as he stepped into the outpost that Nikola had set up.      “Yes, no, maybe, not really,” Nikola said.      “It’s been a few days since you set up here now,” Harkon said.      “Yes and no.  Technically we’re still setting things up.  Every sensor we set up tells us one of two things.  Either they are like ERK-147’s sensors, and detect nothing where the building should be, or they are like our senses, and pick up a building that is perfectly normal in every way.  So we are setting up more and more sensors, and looking at the differences between the ones we have set up, and are trying to determine what makes the difference, but so far there is nothing that makes any sense.”      “Well, keep at it.  We have a missing agent, and we are not going to just leave him,” Harkon said.      “Not like that agent that was taken by the TRD?” Nikola asked.  “What was her name again?”      “So, what next?” Abigail asked.  “We meet with this Bob Alverado?”      “I’ll be meeting with Alverado on my own,” Melinda said.  “I don’t expect much to come from it, but it’s worth a shot.”      “And us?” Mary asked.      “Samantha Alverado is the daughter that Kathryn mentioned.  Her husband, Rick Alverado, is the captain of a starship in the Tarkatan Space Fleet, and she is the chief science officer on that same ship.  That will be our next stop, so you two should go back to the ship and see if you can figure out where to find it.”      “Right,” Abigail said.      “{And that’s the point where I regretted asking Debbie to prom,}” Jack said.      “{Did that story have a point?}” Arlos asked.      “{You refuse to tell me anything, so I figured I’d start sharing,}” Jack said.  “{Open up a dialogue, as it were.}”      “{If you think that will get me to start talking, you are sorely mistaken.}”      “{You’re talking right now.}”      “{Just to inform you that you are wasting your time.}”      “{Maybe, but it’s my time to waste.  I mean, sort of.  Technically I’m following orders from the boss man, so you know how it is.}”      “Yes, thank you,” Abigail said as she closed the comm channel.      “Any luck?” Mary asked as she came into the room.      “Yeah, I found out what sector the ship is in.  I just made up a story about having a cousin on the ship, and luckily it’s current location isn’t classified so they were fine with letting me know.”      “Well, if we’ve already completed our task, and Melinda isn’t back yet, it seems we have a bit of free time again.”      “I suppose so.”      “Can we talk?” Mary asked.      “Sure, about what?”      “When we met, you told me about my friend, Rosalie, and how she cared about me as more than a friend.”      “Yeah, I didn’t mean to upset you with that though.”      “No, it’s…in the time period I’m from those sorts of relationships are considered very sinful.  Women with women, men with men.”      “Ah yeah, in my time they are…more accepted depending on where you’re from.  My hometown isn’t super accepting of them though.”      “Oh, are you a…a…”      “A lesbian?  No, I like guys.  I used to have a big crush on this friend of mine, Drake, but that…that didn’t exactly work out.”      “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”      “No worries, it’s in the past.”      “I’ve never really had those sort of feelings,” Mary said.  “At least not for a man.  There were plenty of men interested in me, but even with the nice ones I was never really interested in being anything more than friends with them.”      “Oh?”      “I don’t know, I’m almost starting to wonder if my feelings for Rosalie might have been similar to her feelings for me.  That’s why I panicked when you told me about them.”      “Oh, yeah, I suppose that makes sense.  Well, I’m not exactly an expert, but if you ever want any advice, feel free to ask me, and maybe I’ll even be able to help.”      Melinda sat down in front of the booth in the restaurant.  “Hello, Bob,” she said.      “Melinda,” Bob Alverado said.  “I heard you had a meeting with Kathryn earlier today, Melinda Cathars.  Last time we talked you were Melinda Larkin.”      “That identity got burned,” Melinda said.      “I’m sure.”      “How’s Riley doing?”      “My son is doing fine,” Bob said.  “So is his daughter, Chantelle.”      “That’s good.”      “But I don’t imagine that’s why you’re here, especially if you went to see Kathryn first.”      “I’m looking for Rupert Teleros.”      “I can’t help you.  I haven’t seen him since Kathryn and I have been at war.  Far as I know he just up and left.  I’d recommend you ask his one of his kids.”      “Samantha is the next person were going to check with.”      “His other kid, Jake, would probably have a better idea,” Bob said.      “I’ll keep that in mind.”      “I’m not just doing this out of the goodness of my heart.”      “I thought there might be a cost,” Melinda said.      “Stay away from Riley and Chantelle.”      “Of course.”      Dorian Winters was on duty in the time door room, when the time door activated.  He checked the computer display, and saw that they were receiving Joshua Teleros’ signal code, so he lowered the barrier, and sent a return signal through.  Shortly afterwards, Joshua Teleros came through.      “Sir,” Dorian said.  “Welcome to the base, but what are you doing here?”      “I’m here to see Agent Wilson,” Joshua said.  “He had asked me to look into something recently, and I’m here to let him know.”      “Of course,” Dorian said.  “I’ll let him know to meet you in the briefing room.”      “Do we have a location on the starship that Rick Alverado captains?” Melinda asked as she returned to the ship.      “We have the sector they are currently operating in,” Abigail said.  “Captain Rodriguez already has a course laid in, and we were just waiting on you.”      “Let’s go then,” Melinda said.      “You didn’t get anything from Bob Alverado?” Abigail asked.      “He suggested that Rupert’s other kid, Jake, might know more than Samantha about where their father is.  But we’ll still check with Samantha first, since we have a better idea where she is.”      “It’s good to see you, sir,” Philip said as he entered the briefing room where Joshua was sitting at the table, waiting.      “You too, Agent Wilson,” Joshua said.      “I take it you have something?”      “I’ve had my people keeping an eye on Deanna.  The one that you asked me to, I mean, since there’s technically two of her out there in my time.  All this time travel is pretty weird.”      “You get used to it, well, some of it.  What did your people find?”      “She’s been gathering up a number of artifacts from museums, I have a list written up for you.”      “Gathering up how?”      “As far as we’ve seen so far, it’s been legitimately, by purchasing them.  She’s fairly wealthy, which I suppose is not that hard when you’re thousands of years old.”      “Thanks for the help,” Philip said.  “I’m sure this will be useful.”      Melinda moved a game piece, and then a second one.  “Your turn.”      “I take it your meetings didn’t go well,” Sandra said as she moved a piece.      “Why do you say that?”      “You left yourself open for an attack.”  Sandra moved another piece.  “You’re new to the game, but you were doing much better earlier.”      “The meetings went fine, as far as what we’re after.  We didn’t get much, but I wasn’t sure how much we would get anyway.  But it did drudge up some old memories.”      “Bad memories?”      “Some good, some bad.”      “Ah yeah, I have a few of those situations myself.  Being constantly on the move can make it difficult to keep up relationships.”      “Yeah,” Melinda said.  “Time travel adds in even more complications.  That’s why I mostly try to avoid anything serious these days.”      “I’ll drink to that,” Sandra said.      “And that’s when Curtis’ dad was killed,” Abigail said.      “You can’t blame yourself for that,” Mary said.  “You didn’t even know what the documents were about until Jack helped you decode them.  And at the point you had to do something with them.  You couldn’t know that this shadowy organization would find out.”      “That doesn’t exactly make me feel better.”      “You’re a smart girl, and inquisitive,” Mary said.  “Those are great qualities, and it’s not your fault that this group fears people gaining knowledge.”      “Thanks, I know that, but emotions aren’t always so easily swayed by logic.”      “Well then, I’ll just have to keep complimenting you until you are swayed,” Mary said.  “You’re smart, you’re interesting, you’re kind, you’re fun, you’re beautiful.”      “I’m fun and beautiful?  Now you’re just making things up.”      “Oh come on, we’ve barely met, and already I’ve had more fun with you than anyone since…”      “Since?”      “Since Rosalie…”      “Oh?” Abigail asked.  “Oh!”      “I mean, I don’t know if…I mean, I, umm…”      “No, no, that’s fine,” Abigail said.  “And I’m flattered, and umm…”  Abigail leaned over and kissed Mary.      Mary leaned into it, but only for a few seconds, before pulling back.  “That was…that was really nice, but I thought…I thought you liked guys.”      “I mean…I do, but I don’t know.  Maybe I like girls too?  At the very least, I do like you.”      “Yeah, I like you too.”      They kissed again.      Meanwhile in another part of the ship, Sandra got out of her bed to answer a beeping on the communicator.      “What’s that?” Melinda asked from bed.      “We just dropped out of superspace, and someone is hailing us,” Sandra said as she put on a bathrobe.  “Probably, the starship we’re looking for.  You should get dressed while I answer.”      “Wait, keep those settings exactly as they are,” Nikola said as he hurried over to one of the sensor technicians.  “Let me put those settings on another sensor.”      “Why, they seem normal?” the technician said.      “You don’t see that blip?” Nikola asked.      “It’s within normal parameters.”      “Excellent, the blip is on these sensors too.  Keep them on your sensor, while I magnify them here.  Hmm, I’m not sure what this means, but there is something happening here.”      “Hello Captain Alverado,” Melinda said over the comm.      “Melinda Larkin?” Rick Alverado asked.  “My father sent me a message saying you’d be coming.”      “Can I come aboard?” Melinda asked.  “I need to talk to your wife about her father.”      “She’s leading a scientific expedition on a nearby planet, but I have talked with her,” Rick said.  “She hasn’t seen Rupert since the war between her mother and my father began.  Neither have I.”      “Would you happen to know where your brother-in-law is?”      “Jake is the captain of a small cargo ship.  He’s currently on his way to Trantor, I believe.  Probably a day or so out from there.”      “Thanks,” Melinda said, as she closed the comm channel.      “I take it we’re going to Trantor next?” Sandra asked.  “I’ll go set a course.”      “You found something?” Harkon asked as he looked up from his desk.  Nikola had just entered his office.      “Yes, I believe so,” Nikola said.  “I finally got some readings that were anomalous, so I’ve been looking into them, and they are like nothing I’ve ever seen.  Well, no, that’s not entirely true, they bear some superficial resemblance to temporal readings, but only superficial.  After looking into them some more, I believe I have a theory.”      “Yes?”      “I believe they lead to another universe.”      “Another universe?”      “I believe there is a micro-wormhole in the building, but with an area of effect that’s causing some of our sensors to not detect the building at all.  I also believe it can occasionally grow into a larger wormhole, big enough for a person to fit.”      “How occasionally?”      “Assuming the I’m right about the readings, it seems to be approximately every fifty-two hours and seven minutes.  It then stays open for only two minutes and three seconds.”      “Hmm, good to know.”      “Have you seen Mary and Abigail?” Melinda asked as she entered the cockpit.  “I haven’t seen them in a while.”      “Probably just in their quarters,” Sandra said.  “We should be dropping out of superspace soon.  I’ll contact the port authorities when we arrive and find out if Jake Teleros’ ship has arrived yet.”      “So,” Abigail said.  “Making out is fun and all, but there’s other things we could do as well.”      “Oh, umm, I’m not sure if I’m ready to take things farther than that,” Mary said.  “I mean, I was brought up to save myself for marriage.”      “Oh, okay, yeah, no worries.  I don’t want to pressure you into going further than you feel comfortable with.  We can definitely wait.”      “I mean, I don’t know if we’ll be needing to wait for marriage, or whatever.  I mean, I never really considered getting married to a woman.”      “My neither.  I mean, to be perfectly honest I never really thought about getting married.  I mean, I was okay with getting married if I was with someone that wanted to, but it’s not like it’s a big deal to me.”      “I mean, I never really gave it too much thought either.  Like I said before, I’ve never been interested in men, and never realized that being interested in women was an option, until I started time travelling.”      “Yeah, time travel certainly changes your perspective on things,” Abigail said.      “What kind of things has your perspective changed on?”      “Well, for one it’s nice to know that Human civilization is still around in the year three thousand.  I was kind of worried after the clusterfuck that was 2016.  Celebrities dying left and right, an alien invasion, and Donald Trump almost became President of the United States.  I mean, I would have preferred Hillary Clinton over Jargos Gordon, but better him than Trump.”      “I don’t know who any of those people are.”      “Sorry, don’t worry about it.  Let’s just get back to making out.”      “I like that plan.”      “Good news,” Sandra said.  “Jake’s ship is currently on the planet.  I’ve set up a meeting with him.”      “That’s great,” Melinda said.  “When is it?”      “In an hour.”      “Any luck so far?” Harkon asked as Jack entered his office.      “I’m slowly getting the Palore to talk more, but nothing really relevant yet,” Jack said.  “They don’t seem familiar with the name Rupert Teleros though, although they seem at least somewhat aware of the TDD.”      “Well, that’s something, I suppose.”      “You must be Jake Teleros,” Melinda said as she and Sandra sat down with him at the cafe.      “That would be me,” he said.  “Which of you is Captain Rodriguez?”      “That would be me,” Sandra said.  “This is my friend, Melinda.  She’s the one that wants to talk with you.”      “Oh yeah, what about?” Jake asked.      “Your father, Rupert,” Melinda said.  “The organization I’m a part of recently got a message claiming to be from him, and we’re trying to figure out if it’s really from him.”      “It seems unlikely,” Jake said.      “Why’s that?” Melinda asked.  “Do you know where he is?”      “I do, but I’m not going to tell you where that is,” Jake said.      “Or when that is?” Melinda asked.      “When that is?” Jake asked.  “Maybe the message you got is from him, if that’s a question you’d know to ask.”      “So, he is involved in time travel then,” Melinda said.  “When did you last speak to him?”      “A while back,” Jake said.  “There were regular message for a while, and then they just stopped.  You know, I’ve heard about you before, Captain Rodriguez.”      “Oh yeah?” Sandra asked.      “Yeah, you had been missing for a while, and I had managed to pick up a few new clients that usually went with you,” Jake said.  “That was around the time I lost contact with my dad.”      “Huh, weird coincidence,” Sandra said.      “So, how goes things?” Ghost Jack asked as he floated down into a chair across from Jack in the cafeteria.      “Oh, you know, keeping on keeping on,” Jack said.  “What’ve you been up to for the last while?”      “Keeping Sesla up to date on things, mostly,” Ghost Jack said.  “I’ve also been continuing to try and find Imhotep within his dreams, but that’s still turned up nothing.”      “That’s weird, right?”      “Very weird.  I’ve done some experimenting with other people’s dreams, with their permission of course, and no problems there.  It’s just Imhotep that I can’t find.”      “But he’s having dreams, which means there’s still someone there to dream.”      “Yeah, that would be my understanding of the situation.”      “How’d the meeting go?” Mary asked as Melinda and Sandra returned to the ship.      “Good, it went good,” Melinda said.  “Where have you girls been?”      “We were…” Abigail started saying.      “Around, just talking and such,” Mary interrupted.  “Did you learn anything?”      “We still can’t say anything is guaranteed, but it seems likely that Rupert Teleros may be the one who actually contacted us,” Melinda said.  “And if not, we’ve likely learned as much as we can without taking the meeting.”      “So that’s what we’re going to do?” Abigail asked.      “It’s up to Harkon, but I’d imagine so,” Melinda said.  “I’d imagine so.” To be continued…

[ericbarkman]

Simple Complications #603

     “General Teleros called again,” Elizabeth Johnson said as she entered the Lair.      “And?” Curtis asked as he pounded away at a punching bag.      “I told him that you’re still not taking any calls.”      “Thanks.”      “I’m not your secretary, you know.  I’m your friend, and I mean, yeah, technically I work for you, but secretary was not what I signed up for.”      “I’m not asking you to take my calls.”      “You’re not asking me to do anything,” Elizabeth said.  “You’re just staying down here hiding away from the world.”      “I still go out.”      “At night, to beat up criminals, and that’s it.  You’ve dropped out of school, you avoid all of your friends except for me, you haven’t done anything in the store in months, leaving me to run it completely by myself.”      “You don’t have to do that,” Curtis said.      “And what happens if I don’t?  Are you really willing to lose your dad’s store?”      “Do I even deserve it anymore?”

[ericbarkman]

Simple Complications #281

     "So, what do we do next?" Rachel asked.      "Who are you?" Jon asked, seeming to notice her for the first time.      "She's with me," Ricardo said.  "And I'm Ricardo Lopez."      "Yes, I know who you are," Jon said.      "She does bring up a good point," the Director of the CIA said.  "I can stop my people from being used in these operations, but I can't stop the operations altogether."      "What's going to stop them is this."  Jon held up a flash drive.  "Everything Aaron had on the organization behind this.  If they keep going after those kids, or anything happens to them that I even think might have been done by this organization, that info becomes public.  I have sent the data to multiple people who I trust."      "I'll get the message to the appropriate people," the Director said.

[ericbarkman]

Simple Complications #191

     Drake typed ‘ESS’ into the search engine.  A bunch of results came up, but nothing that seemed relevant.  He then tried typing ‘Joshua Teleros’ in.  Still nothing relevant.  ‘Jon Teleros’ brought up a few articles, but nothing that seemed to be of use.      Drake deleted the browser history, before getting up and leaving the library.  As he walked away from it, he tried thinking of other avenues of search.