Suddenly he noticed that he had stopped eating. He turned to the cook and it was then that he realized that now he was staring at him as if he had been waiting for him to continue the mechanical carrying of food to his mouth before going back to his work. He took a bite, and while munching reluctantly he focused his thoughts on his two new mission companions.
Guide was tall, thin, with slightly dark skin and a trimmed beard that covered most of his face. His physique was athletic. He looked like a man of action. His expression was calm and one could tell that he was a man of few words. His straight hair, neither long nor short, settled on his head with no need for grooming. He seemed to be about 30 years of age. He had a feeling that he could easily develop trust towards him, which struck him as convenient as he would be his companion in the upcoming trip.
Voice, on the contrary, was a short, slightly pudgy man living his 44th year of age. His white skin had become red while laughing, and the shaggy blond hair that populated his head was almost as short as sergeant Yun’s. His light blue eyes were bloodshot, betraying his habit of hitting bed late, and his skin, prematurely furrowed by superficial wrinkles, looked irritated.
Absentminded as he was, he finally got to finish his serving. Then he stood up to go back to his fellows. When he had walked a few steps he reminded the cook, so he turned and once again found him fixing eyes on him. He did not think it before raising his hand in farewell. The cook’s answer never came, so he headed towards the exit not caring anymore about such a grotesque character.
17
Inside the office the woman in charge of controlling the mission was awaiting his return. The two men had left during his absence, leaving her alone. On the table were some documents with the outlines of the plan to raid into enemy territory.
“I will start by explaining the scope of this mission,” she said as he entered. “Our specific objective is a file with the updated intelligence information that all corporations share. It contains detailed espionage strategies and channels of information that the enemy uses in its attempt to control us, as well as listings of codes that allow the interception of communications between the security departments of every corporation. About six years ago we managed to get the previous version, and as a result, we still exist as a free world because it helped us to break up a pro-corporate faction operating within our territory. However, their periodic information update has recently left us outside their movements because we have lost the ability to intercept and decrypt their communications. Your mission is to locate and make a copy of the new file and then bring it back, and all this without leaving any trace of your meddling.”
She paused as she hastily looked through the documents that were on the table to locate some sheets with technical descriptions of some appliances. She put these in his hands. Then she continued:
“On these pages are some of the gadgets you must learn to use. Nowadays, all signals and electrical impulses are likely to be detected, so we will exclusively resort for all tasks to optical equipment that uses very low power, and a storage medium based on light-over-nanoparticles to save the information you will extract. You will use the time until lunch in studying the datasheets I just gave you, and afterwards you will go to Sergeant Yun’s. He will train you in the operation of the instruments that you will carry in your trip. Once you have mastered their operation, you will come back to us to start your operational training. Questions?”
“Yes. Where I can sit to review this information?”
Three doors to the right is a small waiting room, there is where you will always stay if you are not busy with any staff member. Your next meal is scheduled for one o’clock.”
“Well. See you later.”
“Good luck.”
He left the room with a slow pace and a dark look. So he went to the place she had told him to plunge into the papers he had just received.”
In the afternoon he was at the door of Sergeant Yun’s office. He was feeling heavy because of the third meal eaten in a few hours. It had taken him almost 50 minutes to finish lunch. Now he was sleepy. However, his stress of meeting with the strict sergeant was taking care of reviving him. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door; then he did it firmly. From inside the occupant’s voice was heard inviting him to go in. He slowly turned the doorknob and came in. He stopped at the desk to salute in the military mode, and afterwards stood rigid at attention. The sergeant looked up slowly. He held his eyes on him, but just for a moment, when he could not refrain anymore from laughing at the visitor.
“Sit down,” he said once his laughter had stopped. “I see you learned your lesson this morning. Actually, you don’t need to greet me that way. I was just playing a joke on you. I belong to the same workgroup as the others you met this morning. We will treat ourselves in the same informal way. Welcome, rookie.”
The visitor replied nodding with a smile. Then, without uttering a word, he sat in a chair across the desk and put on top the papers he was holding. With an expression still serious, he waited. Deep inside he was relieved to know that he would avoid the uncomfortable military protocol, but he was ashamed to have been a victim of such a joke of initiation.
Yun opened the top drawer of his desk. Then he placed with extreme care the small appliance he had taken from it.
“Can you tell me what this is?” he asked pointing to the object.
“This is a regular remote access unit, just like those that everyone carries around.”
“Check in the papers you were given a few hours ago and locate those dealing with optical communication systems.”
He chose some sheets from the pile and put them on top.
“The regular model of optical intercom is described in the information provided to you. By now you should understand already its working principle and its basic operation, is this correct?”
“It’s easy. I only feel unsure to be able to hold it still during its operation while pressing to generate the energy to make it work.”
“You are right in what you say. This one I am showing you now is a modified version, which is integrated within an ordinary remote access unit, so that it can go unnoticed. During your mission you will not be carrying any object that doesn’t have an ordinary appearance, so that if someone gets to see it, will not guess what it is. Nor will you take any devices operated by mobile power sources because those can be easily detected. All the energy that your equipment will use must be provided by you in a natural way. Now you will find out how. For now, take this device and inspect it.”
The small dark device that he took from the desktop just weighed about two ounces. It was not thicker than those of the better quality, only available to those able to loosely spend their money. In fact, it was so similar to the one he had left in his office when he fled that he could have thought it was the same. He examined it for a moment and then said:
“It is not activated.”
“True,” Yun replied. “This is a brand new unit that must be activated by you. Have in mind that, as soon as you activate it, it will recognize you. Then it will begin to report your position automatically. So it must remain as it is until you are beside your replica and have supplanted him. At that time our support staff will be responsible for blocking the signals of the unit he will be carrying along. Only then you should you put this one in operation, so they cannot detect the change, and should someone got to notice the short interruption in the signal, the most probable thing will be that they let it pass as this is likely to happen.”
“I see. So how will I practice with it?”
“We have a few similar units for that purpose. Keep in mind that this type of equipment is rarely used by our agents, as it only becomes necessary when in enemy territory, whether in the case of impersonation or for infiltrated link personnel.”
“I understand. What about energy?”
“Look closely at the top edge. You will notice two small bumps. There is where the user connects to transfer his body energy. This is one
of the most recent developments of our experimental laboratory. Our enemies will hardly be aware of its existence. We will now turn to the testing room for some practice.”
The ingenious device had aroused his curiosity. Along the way to the testing room he did not stop asking questions to Yun, and with such enthusiasm that he was looking almost childish.
Data transmission by light pulses let the emission be masked if originated among more powerful light sources. It was virtually undetectable if used under sunlight, and at night, the mere headlights of a car could camouflage its pale flashing, which was emitted through a multiple micro-lens at a wide coverage angle in the shape of a triangle to offset the inevitable deviations of the trajectory.
His next few hours were spent at the testing room, developing his skills in handling the amazing transmitter. It wasn’t until he had once more to attend the cafeteria that he suspended the practice session. He was feeling that his day had gone better. In the morning he had perceived an unpromising scenario, however, now he had naturally become a part of the group. Yun’s change of attitude, now being friendlier, was partly due to the unusual interest he had shown in the technical aspects of the gear, which to the sergeant were the core of his existence.
He walked with a lively gait towards his appointment with the cook. He was cheerful after having spent several hours experimenting with equipment that was new to him. His mood was so good that he got caught by the festive ways of his new teammates, so he took the opportunity to greet the chef with a forced salute, as if he were a superior. The crabby man was not amused by such gesture and soon would retaliate by increasing his serving. When he put a heavy tray filled with food in the hands of the novel agent, one could perceive a failed smile on his face.
His good mood made him ignore the cook’s revenge; he merely looked at him intently for a few seconds. However, he knew it would take him longer to finish such an excessive portion. Anyway, he had to do it. He ate slowly, under the watchful eye of his obese guardian, until he managed to empty the dishes. He got up heavily and repeated the salute as a farewell. The bulging cheeks of the man in white turned red. Not paying attention to this, the novice agent let his belt come loose and set off toward his room. His belly looked swollen but in his face was an air of satisfaction. He had planned to take advantage of the rest of the day by studying the datasheets provided by Yun. Afterwards he would call off this training session. He was longing for the next morning already. This afternoon had turned out to be amusing and now he was expecting the same for the next day. Recent events were revealing to him an unexpected vocation that will provide new impetus to his joy of life.
There was still over an hour to get up when a severe illness forced him to leave the bed with a jump and run to the toilet. He felt his stomach flipping with every new spasm that came to force it to empty. This access lasted just over a minute. When he recovered he found that neither the hearty snack with which the cook had punished him nor the late dinner that had been brought to his room would carry out their purpose.
He sat on the edge of the bed for a few minutes; then he lay again. He would never again joke with that man. He would be at his mercy still for several days. Now he had realized that he was more powerful than he originally had assumed.
18
The morning sunlight hurt his eyes as he was crossing the esplanade toward his rendezvous with Sergeant Yun. After having thought it carefully he had chosen to dispose of the contents of the breakfast tray by pouring it at once in the toilet. He would not suffer again the malaise that his diet had brought him last night. Thanks to this he was feeling light and bouncy.
At the office the door was open, but the sergeant was not inside. He entered and sat down to wait. After a few minutes Yun entered the room carrying a box containing some new appliances. He left his cargo on the desktop and then greeted amicably:
“Good morning. Ready for today’s lesson?”
“Ready and eager,” he replied.
“Well. We will begin by learning how these devices feed from the body’s energy. Remember the two little bumps that I showed you in the remote access unit yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Take this piece,” he said as he handed him a gray box with a small screen, “find the two protruding points at the top and place on them the second phalanx of the middle finger of your right hand.”
He did so, but there was no change.
“The trick is to activate it with your will. I know this sounds strange at first, but as a matter of fact, it is something perfectly explained by science. You just have to drain through the electrodes a slight amount of your body’s electrochemical energy, which the device will pick up and get to work. The feeling in your finger may seem strange at first, but you will soon get used to it. It is important to use the second phalanx of the finger because there is where the skin has the optimum thickness for the procedure. Now, try again.”
“Is it necessary to believe in order to achieve this, as if it were an act of faith?”
“Not at all, it is as simple as lifting a finger. You need not to believe it, just to know it. Command your body to do so and it will.”
He put his finger on the indicated points and immediately felt a slight tingling in the skin. The display on top of the device came alive. It read 11. The unexpected sensation caused him to abruptly withdraw his hand, making the device to end inert again.
Yun was amused at the jump his pupil had given. This had remembered him the first time he tried, when he had gotten similar results.
“You did fine, but you have to keep trying until getting the meter to read 100 and being able to keep it there for at least one minute. If you feel that your finger is numbing, use another one for a while. The feeling will go away soon. When draining the energy of this part of the body the muscle becomes fatigued, but since it has not really done any work, the recovery is very fast. I’ll leave you alone for a while; I have some other things to do now. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. By then you must show me that you have mastered the technique beyond failure. By the way, don’t forget your appointment in the cafeteria at ten o’clock.”
The sergeant left the room, leaving him absorbed with the curious device. It did not take him long to get used to the tingling from making contact with the electrodes. A short while later he was experiencing with other parts of his body, until feeling sure that he had dominated the procedure.
He was still focused on this gadget when the time to go to the cafeteria came. This time he was feeling hungry. His stomach had emptied before dawn, so now he was missing the breakfast that he had chosen to skip a few hours before.
He entered the empty room and walked to the bar. The cook was waiting wearing a grin. To avoid further problems, he had thought it better to make peace with him, so he stood before him and said:
“Good morning. If I have been misunderstood, I wish to apologize. I never intended to make fun of you. I urge you to forget what might have happened yesterday so we can have a fresh start.”
“Is it that you did not like dinner?” the sweaty man replied sarcastically.
“You win. Sorry for the misunderstanding.”
Without another word, the cook put the food tray in his hands and turned around to walk away swaying his huge body as he walked triumphantly.
His hunger helped him to finish soon with the ration. He had an urge to go back with Yun. He was eager to find out what each of those strange devices on the desk in the office was for.
When he got to the rendezvous the sergeant greeted him with a question:
“Well, have you mastered it?”
In response, the rookie simply took the gray box and activated it without delay. The screen now was showing the number 100, and it remained so until he heard Yun’s voice saying:
“Enough. Now we will turn to the testing room and you will show me how you handle an optical intercom, this time powered by your body energy.”
Merging both techniques did not prove a major proble
m. It was enough with the time remaining before the usual lunch time for the sergeant to be satisfied with his performance.
“We will go to the next issue,” Yun said as he entered the office, now in the afternoon. “Now you will learn to operate a light-over-nanoparticles storage system. This is the media into which you will copy the information after snatching it from the corporation’s system. Highly classified files cannot be transmitted without the fact immediately being reported to the Internal Security Central. However, this device I will show you now is able to convert the information displayed by the visual interface of a terminal to a new file without leaving any trace in the system. For the records, you simply will have made a query in the normal way.”
“What is the principle governing its operation?”
“It is pretty simple. Inside this device there is a thin plate of quartz coated with a continuous medium consisting of a substance so thin that the particles are extremely small, of the order of two hundredths of a micron. The plate has piezoelectric properties, so that with the simple action of a slight low-frequency vibration it gets polarized. The optical interface operates on the same principle as the intercom that you just have learned to use, with the only difference that it does it with a single concentrated beam of light of the same diameter as each of the particles. The screen image to be copied crosses the main lens, which concentrates it to become a thin thread of light that records on the plate by aligning the particles into a certain pattern. The energy required to operate this device is similar in magnitude to that you used this morning in the testing room, so it will be virtually impossible to detect the electrical activity that happens within because it will be the same electric and magnetic fields emanating from the terminal what will mask it. What do you think about this?”
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