Eternals Among Us: Book one

by Larry W. Miller Jr.

  The maintenance man chuckled. “Nice kid, little bit too nice for the job they just gave him. I will be watching how he handles himself for a while. He’s going to need me sooner or later.” He mumbled to himself. Then he returned to his regular duties as well. After all, we all must appear normal, mustn’t we?

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  The school was bustling. There was news of a new concert to be held over at the Agro-dome. The last one had trashed the entire contents of the dome and there were strict warnings that such activity would not be tolerated twice. However, the sales of concessions and the cost of admission usually paid for any refurbishment that was required. Plus, what plants did survive thrived on the loud music. It was a strange thing about plants in space.

  Lock found his way to class and sat down. Jamie was behind him almost immediately.

  “So, what did you find out?” Jamie asked.

  “About what?” Lock replied before he thought about it. Jamie hit him in the shoulder from behind.

  “The hydraulic system, duh, what does it control?” He asked directly. He was trying not to speak too loudly.

  “Let’s not talk about that here. We’re going to need a quiet place away from any prying ears for that. Have the gang meet me after school and we’ll go over what I found.” Lock said, putting on his all-business face.

  “Yeah, okay, sure.” Jamie replied deflated.

  Lock breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t wanted to blow his cover and if he did, it wouldn’t be in the first few minutes of his day. But the crew would want to know what he had found. They would be interested; he had seen to that personally before knowing that he was supposed to be secret about everything. He had been running on instinct alone, there were no rules for that. Now he had rules. They weren’t all that restrictive, but there were lines that were most likely fatal to cross. The worst part of it was those lines were kind of blurry. What could he reveal without giving away something essential? What could he tell his friends that would be enough to placate them without crossing any of the unseen trap lines that weaved together his new life? That maintenance man would be a good resource, but they were running from him the last his crew knew. How could he tell them about him? Well, he simply couldn’t. His normal self would never have met the man. His normal, or pre-secret, self would never have the fancy pad device. His normal self would not have many of the resources that he had available to him right now. Of course, he had no idea just how far those resources reached, but in time he would find out.

  “Look, I’m sorry man. I didn’t sleep well last night, and I need to focus, or I’ll fail the quiz.” Lock said. It sounded lame, even to his own ears, but it also sounded like his normal self was speaking. That had to be a good sign for keeping his cover. He suddenly realized that he could do this. He could be his normal self and not be a spy, or investigator, or whatever it was they had made him now. It was actually a relief to know that he could just be himself with his friends. He would need to somehow make them disinterested in the intrigue that he had introduced them to. Once he managed to separate the two worlds that encompassed his life, things would get a lot simpler and much less stressful. At least that was the hope. The real question he had for himself now was “What am I going to tell them to make them bored with this?” He would need to make whatever he told them sound so boring that none of them would ever think about it again. For a teenager that didn’t sound so hard. But he also didn’t want to lie. He wanted to remain truthful, but also secretive about his true motivations. This was probably the hardest part of his new job. Until he figured this out, it would bother him greatly.

  The teacher scolded the students to remain silent even as she handed out the quizzes. Both boys rolled their eyes at the paper being handed them. For now, the hydraulic system that would not work was forgotten. They had engineering problems to solve. Figures to be run and formulae to be followed. This was no time for adventure. The rest of the class hour went without a word.

  At the end of the school day, Lock found himself accosted by his friends. Word had spread that he knew something. How that happened from what little he had said was beyond his reckoning. Still, there would be no holding them off when they ganged up on him like this. He looked around to see if anyone else was in earshot and the coast was clear.

  “Look, we need to talk about this, but this is sensitive information, okay? This goes no farther than the group of us.” He said quietly.

  The looks on his friends’ faces were a mixture of intrigue and excitement. It was time for him to let them down.

  “The system is a backup to a hydraulic door.” He said. In fact, he had said it in a manner that suggested it was important, but he knew that the others would take it the opposite way. The looks suddenly turned to disappointment.

  “Really, just a door?” It was Jamie who had complained this time. “To what a janitor’s closet or something?” He added, equally unimpressed and annoyed.

  “Well, it is bigger than that, but you are not far off.” Lock admitted. That killed the adventure for all of them. They suddenly found other things that they could be doing.

  “I gotta’ go.” Jamie said as he backed away from the group. Emelia was soon to follow and then Kian. When it was all said and done, only Tina remained with him.

  Lock looked at her as if to ask why she hadn’t left too.

  Tina put her hands on her hips. “There’s something you’re not saying.” She announced. “You can fool the others, but not me.” She said. Lock began to sweat.

  “I don’t know what you mean.” He said, but his body language gave him away.

  Tina’s look went from interested to angry. “Why are you hiding something from us?” She asked. Lock noted that she didn’t ask what he was hiding. The distinction was small, but powerful.

  “I… I have to.” He blurted out. Lock lowered his eyes so he couldn’t see Tina judge him.

  “Hmmm, so the door is more important than you want us to believe.” Tina summarized. Lock suddenly doubted that he could even be an agent. How had she read him so easily? Then she surprised him. “Whatever it is, if you need to talk, I’ll be around. Any secret I hear stays with me.” She said and she walked away, asking no more questions, and completely letting Lock off the hook. He couldn’t believe his eyes and ears.

  He called after her. “You mean just like that?” He asked.

  Tina looked back. Her steps slowed but she did not stop.

  “You’re going to let me off the hook just like that?” He said louder.

  Tina stopped this time. She was getting angry again. She stormed back. Her face was only a few millimeters from his.

  “Of course, I’m gonna let you off the hook. You have secrets and it is obvious that you want them kept. We’re your best friends, so if it is something you are hiding from us, it is probably to protect us, or it is something that you do not understand enough to talk about. Jeez, how are you gonna make it being a sneaky person if you have to question everything directly?” She asked in a torrent of venting. When she finished, she backed away again.

  “Look, I know that things are not going as you planned lately. You disappeared for several hours. Something happened. When you are ready, you’ll tell me.” She said to show him that she had put the pieces together. She may not be sure of the picture this puzzle makes, but she was fairly certain that she had most of the facts. To Lock’s credit his mouth didn’t fall open in surprise.

  “I’m sorry. I truly am. But I’m not ready yet.” He told her and she smiled warmly. His admission had just verified all of her guesses in a single blast. So, Lock was up to something. It was something that he wasn’t ready to talk about either.

  “Just remember I’m here. A burden shared is a burden lessened.” She said.

  He smiled back. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m not even sure we should be talking this long. Who knows if we’re being watched?” He said, it only sounded partially joking.

  Tina made a grunt. “It’s not like we’re going t
o prom. Don’t worry so much.” She told him and this time she walked away with authority. She wasn’t going to be called back this time.

  Lock watched her go. He was still in shock at how perceptive she was and just how accurate her guesses had been. He was upset with himself for verifying stuff to her, but he was helpless against her intellect. He would contact the other agent about bringing her and her special mind in on the mission. Then they could talk freely and this pit in his stomach would not have to form knots so readily when she approached.

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  The Tall man looked at his screen with intense interest. This girl, Tina, had a very sharp mind and had almost broken his new recruit. All he had really wanted to know was just how much Lachlan’s friends knew. The kid’s avoidance measures were thwarting him somewhat even though it was exactly the sort of thing he expected. He had ordered the kid not to reveal anything. He had threatened him to ensure his compliance. The kid was doing okay under pressure. Although the pressure showed on him, he was doing his best to keep it all inside. Eventually, that would come to be a problem. No one kept this kind of life inside for long without breaking under the continuously building pressure. But this Tina, she knew something. She was slick and smart and even a bit manipulative. She was the perfect recruit. If only she knew about that. But she was also a troublemaker. She had more than one problem with authority. She was not the type to follow orders. It was now clear where Lachlan had gotten his influences from.

  The two parted and the Tall man leaned back from the screen. “Very good young lady.” He said aloud. She had not only told him what she guessed and gotten him to verify those guesses, she had also backed off to let him think on it. The entire exchange had been brilliant. It was as if Tina was a fully trained spy already. He wondered where she had learned her skills. He made a note to follow up on her records more thoroughly. She may just be a diamond in the sea of coal he was sifting through, but there may be more there. He had to find out. He had people to answer to as well and finding a top operative would help his career immensely. That is, if she worked out. Finding a disaster for the group would have and equal and opposite effect on his career. He needed to tread lightly here. His excitement was pushed down by reason and years of learned caution. He had not gotten as high as he was now by taking unnecessary risks. He would just have to wait and see.

  He took a sip of coffee and smiled at the screen. “Go ahead and be yourselves, I’ll be watching.” He said to the kids even though he knew that they could not hear him. Then he laughed. The spy game acted on everybody’s mind differently. For the Tall man, it had brought out a dark sense of humor. He would watch closely, oh yes he would.

  Then he turned away from his console. The man he was relying on was watching him expectantly like a dog waiting for the next command in which to earn a treat. The Tall man looked at him with a measure of disgust. Yes, he needed him, but that didn’t mean he had to like him. “Are all the preparations in order?” He asked just to make the man perk up.

  “Yes sir, everything is ready, we only await your word.” He replied.

  This gutter trash was actually a high-ranking commoner. His ambitions had brought him to the tall man. Dominic Simpson was only marginally better than the most common man aboard. He had learned to play the game the way a pawn learned to play chess. He followed orders, blindly and obediently. It was his greatest feature to those that needed his services. Dominic was so regular that he could blend into any crowd. His facial features were unremarkable. His build was average, and his eyes did not catch your attention. For all intents and purposes, he was invisible in his mediocrity. That was his greatest asset. He had disabled the door’s backup system. He didn’t even know what he had done. He had complete deniability if caught. The Tall man smiled thinly at the idea of anyone even bothering to capture this one.

  “Good, then go await that word somewhere else.” The Tall man ordered.

  Obediently as ever, Dominic retreated from the office. His work was done, and his master had not yelled at him. It was a good day.

  The Tall man moved across to the study and set down the coffee that was getting too cold to bother with. He picked up his news pad and scanned for anything that would perk his interest. The filters he had applied had pretty much cut most of the chaff from the broadcast. All that was left were strewn about bits of information that so far had gained him nothing. He was satisfied that nothing was going on and he set the pad back down. He reflected upon that servant of his and his smile faded. “I’m going to have to get rid of that man sooner or later.” He mused to himself. Then he grabbed the book that was on the shelf beside him. The actual printed book was older than everyone else on the ship. This was officially an artifact now, many generations old. He opened the cover carefully, making sure not to tear any pages or smudge the print. The yellowed paper looked dry and brittle. He flipped through a few pages looking for the passage he wanted. Ah yes. He moved his finger over the words.

  “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.”

  They were the words he ruled his life by. It was in the ancient book and had served him well. This was his favorite passage. There were many others he had marked over the years, but this one he held dear. He closed the book once more and put it away with the care and respect it deserved. Then he settled back down to look at his itinerary. He was a busy man, despite looking like he was doing nothing at all. The passage ran through his mind once more and his smile returned. He hoped that his new recruit could learn the lesson he had gained from this good book.

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  Tina had followed a hunch of her own. She was not concerned over a back-up hydraulic system, no, she was more interested in who had access to ship’s systems that would even consider disabling part of it. To her, that was way more important than finding out what system was affected. She knew not to use her personal terminal at home to search for such answers. After all, anyone that could disable a ship system would be able to trace anyone looking for them. That was just common sense. She was at a café. The terminal in front of her was as generic as they came. It had at least forty different users a day and only the basics as far as memory and speed. But it did access the network. That was enough. So, her search began…

  The first thing she wanted to know was who had access to the forbidden tunnels. She didn’t want to have a list a kilometer long to sift through, so she filtered the results to eliminate the maintenance crews. There had been no janitorial service down there, so she eliminated the cleaning crews as well. The list that came up still had over two hundred names on it. She found that worrisome that two hundred people could access tunnels that most people didn’t even know existed. Of course, out of the entire population of this ship, it was a rather small number. But she was not ready to commit to canvasing two hundred people for this investigation. It was doable, but not very practical. Besides, whoever it was would hear about it and disappear before they could be found. No, she needed to filter this new list down.

  She had a list of who had access, but just because you have access to a thing doesn’t mean you actually accessed it. She filtered her new list by people that had actually been logged down in the tunnels. The two hundred dropped to forty-seven people. This list was improving. She decided to risk narrowing it down by location. The tunnel they had been in had three junctions within a reasonable distance. She filtered the forty-seven people by access to those three junctions. The result made her heart jump. Only two names fit all of her criteria. She looked around to see if either of those faces were in this café. She downloaded the result to her personal pad and locked it off for now. Then she cleared the search results and history on the generic terminal at the café. Anything more would have to be more private than this place. She had just narrowed the perpetrators down to only two possible people. One of which was a major person in the maintenance of the ship. The other seemed to be a nobody. She had viewed the images of their faces. The leader one had been almost striking.
His tall and thin look coupled with his powerful jaw line made him stand out as a leader. The other man looked like a plain everyday Joe. Of course, Joe was not his name, it was only a figure of speech. His name was Dominic. This Dominic had accessed not one, but two of the three junctions she was interested in. It was like he had come down one and left by another. Perhaps he had. The video records would have something on him coming and going if they hadn’t been tampered with. It was a risk when working with people that had this much access. In fact, they had more access than she did. Of course, that hadn’t stopped her before. Lock wasn’t the only one who could get to unexpected places.

  Tina didn’t go home. She moved to another café. This one was in a higher-class area of the ship. She almost looked out of place here. But she had her pad out, pretending to be studying her classwork. A student would be seen here without a second glance. She ordered a highly caffeinated beverage as other students would do and sipped it slowly as she began to search for video logs. She definitely didn’t want to jump straight there to the nodes she really wanted. Instead, she started watching video from the mall and from some random places. This way if she “stumbled across” something incriminating, she wasn’t actually trying to find it. At least she hoped that it would appear that way. She even pulled up the cameras here in the café to be sure she wasn’t being watched. Everything checked out so she popped one of the junctions and looked at it now. The lights were very dim and there was no activity. This was exactly what she had expected to see. Nobody should be there now. She rolled the timeline back and her breath caught when she saw herself and her friends being recorded dropping into the hatch. She rolled it back even more so that those images wouldn’t be caught by passersby. Then she found what she was looking for. It was nearly a week before, but one of her two suspects, the regular looking one, was heading into the area. He had a couple of tools on his belt and he whistled as he went about his business as if nothing were out of the ordinary at all. Maybe for him they weren’t. He moved with almost robotic precision to the panel in question and began his work. He was the one who had performed the sabotage! It was straight forward. She had caught him red-handed on the video. The man put the panel back without even worrying about what he had done. He didn’t glance around nervously or looked unsure of himself. He was most likely bored by all appearances. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There didn’t appear to be anything diabolical about his movement either. He was just doing a job. How could he be so care-free? She pulled the relevant piece of video to her pad and encrypted it. She logged off quickly and then switched to her schoolwork again. She took another sip of her beverage. It had gone cold while she was distracted. It was much too strong anyway. She threw it into the recycler and exited the café.