by Charlie Wood
“Yeah, sure. Come in, I was just heading out.”
The green-skinned scientist stepped aside and let Orion and Strike walk in.
“See?” Orion said with a smile. “Simple is best.”
Strike shook his head. “Clark, you’re a genius.”
As soon as the green-skinned scientist left them alone in the Space Travel Research Lab, Strike and Orion scanned the room. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be much to see: only several computers, long tables, and various blueprints taped up on the walls of the scientists’ cubicles.
“Okay, this is where I work,” Orion said. “Well, it’s where Clark Peterson works, anyway. There should be plenty of information in here, if we just know where to find it. Start looking around the desks, while I’ll try Clark’s computer with one of Scatterbolt’s hacker cards.”
Orion reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, yellow card with a drawing of Scatterbolt’s face on it. When Orion slid the card into a port on the side of the computer, it only took a few seconds for the computer to bypass the password screen and grant him access.
“With all this network activity,” Orion said, “and everything Scatterbolt is going to be doing in the mainframe, someone is bound to notice sooner or later. We need to keep moving. Find anything?”
“I don’t know.” At the other end of the lab, Strike was standing in front of a large map on the wall. “But I’m pretty sure I did.” The map showed the world of Capricious as seen from outer space, and all around the empty space surrounding the planet there were scrawled math problems and equations. “Look for any kind of large image on that computer. Some kind of large image file with a map. Do you need my help? Can you do that?”
“Of course I can,” Orion replied, studying the screen and typing on the keyboard. “You know, when I was a superhero with your father, I was the computer genius of the group. I know my way around machinery like this.”
“Geez, don’t be insulted. It’s not like I called you old and clueless or anything.”
“You kind of did.”
“Okay, I kind of did.”
As Strike stepped closer to the wall, he inspected the map. It was covered by tiny dots, marking locations all over Capricious.
“What do you think all these markers are? There must be thousands of them.”
“I’m not sure. But look at this.”
Strike walked over and looked at the computer screen.
“This is the same map of Capricious that’s on the wall, right?” Orion asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well, look at this.”
Orion opened another file; it contained a map of Earth from outer space. The map of Earth was also covered in thousands of circular markings.
“That’s Earth,” Strike said.
“Yup. And it has all of the same markings as the map of Capricious. If you lay them on top of each other, the markings are in the exact identical spots.”
“What’s that mean?”
“I don’t know. But it can’t be good.”
***
In the lowest level of the skyscraper, far underneath the party, Keplar watched as Scatterbolt attempted to hack into the building’s computer mainframe.
“Are you making any progress?” the dog asked. “Can’t you just use one of your hacker cards?”
“No, not on a computer like this. Not on one with this much security. My hacker cards are only useful on people’s own personal computers.”
“Oh.” Keplar thought it over. “You never used one of those on my computer, did you?”
“No, of course not.”
“Okay, good.”
“Why, are you afraid of what I’d fine?”
“No, no, of course not.”
Keplar watched as Scatterbolt continued to hack.
“Hey, when we get back,” the dog said, “can you show me how to, like, erase everything on my computer and all the history and everything?”
***
On the tenth floor, the party was still in full swing. Taking a break from his awkward mingling and socializing, Rigel stood at the bar with a glass of seltzer water, watching the celebration from afar.
A green-skinned, thirty-year-old man named Lyle—one of Rigel’s many assistants—approached him.
“Rigel, sir, how is everything going?”
“Fine. Do you have a security update for me? Is everything going smoothly on your end?”
Lyle looked down at his tablet. “Yes, no major incidents to report. The only thing that was flagged was that a waiter saw a woman and her son heading down to the lower levels in the elevator, but I’m sure it was nothing.”
“A woman and her son?”
“I assume it was a woman and her son. It says it was a woman and a small boy. I’m sure they just got lost on their way to the restroom or maybe to the coatroom. Other than that, there haven’t been—”
“They were heading down where?”
Lyle checked his tablet again. “Well, they got into the elevator and went down five floors below the main level, but they weren’t seen again on any cameras, so I’m sure they just—”
Rigel headed toward the exit of the ballroom. “Come with me to the security center.”
“Sir, I’m sure it was nothing. You should enjoy yourself and—”
The red giant turned around, his yellow eyes fixed on Lyle. “Come with me.”
***
Two floors below the ballroom, the young Rytonian men and women working in the Trident security center were startled as Rigel stormed into the room, followed by Lyle.
“Where is the feed for the basement?” Rigel asked, looking up at the wall in front of him. It was made up of dozens of surveillance screens, all of which showed security camera feeds from all over the skyscraper. “Someone show me the feed for the basement.”
Lyle pointed to one of the lower monitors. “Right here, sir.” The monitor showed an empty basement hallway. “See? Everything looks normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. I don’t want you to be worried if—”
“Did you send someone down there?” Rigel asked.
“Yes, on the way up to see you, I had one of our men go down there to check it out. But I don’t think—”
“Call him.”
Lyle grabbed a walkie-talkie from his belt and spoke into it. “Garth? Are you there?”
“Yes, sir,” Garth said through the walkie-talkie. “I just arrived in the basement. Nothing to report, sir. One of the guards is missing from his post, but I’ll find him right away. That’s not unusual for this time of night.”
“But you don’t see anything out of the ordinary?”
“Nope. Not at all.”
Lyle turned to Rigel. “See, sir? Everything is fine. You can leave everything up to us. Our security is as tight as a drum. You can go back to the party and enjoy your—”
“Where is Garth?” Rigel asked, staring at the screen. “The man you sent down there, Garth. Where is he?”
“Right in the main computer center.”
“Give me that.” Rigel took the walkie-talkie from Lyle’s hand. “Garth. This is Rigel. Are you in the main computer center?”
“Yes, sir. Right now.”
“What door are you near?”
“Um...door number 78.”
“Please go stand near door number 71.”
The room waited to hear from Garth.
“Okay,” Garth said after a moment. “I’m there.”
“You’re standing in front of door number 71?” Rigel asked.
“Yes,” Garth replied.
Rigel turned to one of the technicians manning the security screens. “You. Which room is your camera fixed on?”
“Room number 71.”
Everyone looked to the man’s screen. There was nobody on it.
“Oh, no,” Lyle said, with his eyes wide.
“The feeds are on a loop, you morons,” Rigel growled. “We need to immediately shut down everything and—”
A b
uzzing came from Lyle’s phone. He looked at it. His face went white.
“I just got another security alert,” Lyle said. “There’s a family of four trying to get into the party, but the bouncer says he already let them in twenty minutes ago.”
Rigel stared at the screen showing the basement. “Shut it down. Shut everything down. All computers, electronics, everything. And put the entire building on lockdown. I don’t want anybody going in or out until I say so.”
Rigel turned to leave the room.
“Where—where are you going?” Lyle asked.
“I’m going to update Nova on the situation,” Rigel replied, as the door to the security room closed and he disappeared into the hallway.
It was quiet for a moment. One of the security technicians looked up at Lyle.
“We’re in a lot of trouble, aren’t we?”
CHAPTER NINE
In Clark Peterson’s office on the 105th floor, Strike and Orion carefully inspected the two maps of Earth and Capricious on the computer screen in front of them.
“Can you make out anything else?” Strike asked. “What are all those markings?”
“I’m not sure. But I don’t think they actually mark things on the ground. I think they may mark spots where something is in the sky, or maybe even—”
The computer screen turned off.
“What did you do?” Strike asked.
Orion sat back with his hands in the air. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Did you just turn it off? I thought you said you were some kind of computer genius?”
“I didn’t turn it off, I—”
The lights in the room went out, sending Strike and Orion into darkness. A red light near the entrance of the room began flashing, and an announcement was made over the skyscraper intercom system.
“Attention, please. At this time, we are asking everyone to please stay where you are. Due to a power outage, we are asking everyone to stay inside the Trident. For your safety, please do not leave. A security official will be around shortly to lead you outside. In the meantime, please stay exactly where you are. Repeat: at this time, we are asking everyone…”
The announcement repeated from the beginning. Strike looked to Orion.
“Does that mean what I think it means?”
“Krandor,” Orion snapped. “We’ve been caught. We need to get out of here, now.”
“What about Scatterbolt and Keplar?”
“We’ll alert them right away, but I’m sure they’ve heard the announcement. Grab anything you can and let’s get out of here.”
In the darkness, and with only the flashing, red emergency light to guide them, Strike and Orion began grabbing boxes of papers and hard drives from the computers. From outside the room, Strike heard the muffled footsteps and voices of scientists.
“What’s going on?” one of them asked.
“I’m not sure, some kind of power outage,” another answered. “We’re supposed to stay where we are.”
“Dammit,” Orion said. “They’re right outside our door.”
“How do you plan on getting out of here with all this stuff?”
Orion walked toward the exit of the room. “You know what doesn’t mix well with a lockdown?” The old man reached forward and pulled down on a fire alarm. All throughout the hallway, the alarm began to blare loudly, and the red emergency light near the ceiling flashed quicker and brighter. Another announcement came over the skyscraper intercom.
“Please evacuate the building. Repeat: please evacuate the building.”
“Come on,” Orion said over the noise of the wailing alarm, as he grabbed his box full of hard drives and documents. “They’re gonna have a hard time keeping everyone inside with the fire alarm going off. Let’s go.”
Strike grabbed his own box of intel and headed for the door. “I hope ‘Bolt and Keplar got more done than we did.”
***
In the basement, Scatterbolt sat at the screen of the computer mainframe, frantically trying to hack into it as the red lights of the fire alarm flashed in the ceiling and the announcement repeated itself.
“Please evacuate the building. Repeat: please evacuate the building.”
“Come on, kid!” Keplar said, standing near the door with his plasma cannon loaded and ready. “We gotta hurry this up! You know what these flashing lights mean!”
“I’m trying, I’m trying!” Scatterbolt said, typing on the keyboard. “The security on this computer is insane, and now it keeps trying to shut itself down! But I know I’m on the right track, I just need a couple more seconds!”
“Well, those are seconds I don’t think we have!”
Keplar turned to the door. It was still closed, but through the opening at the bottom, he could see the shadows of people’s feet in the hallway.
“Krandor,” the dog said. “Someone’s out there.”
***
In the hallway outside the computer mainframe, Rigel and Nova arrived with over a dozen armed security guards.
“Is everyone leaving the building?” Rigel asked the head security guard. “Why was the fire alarm pulled?”
“We don’t know yet, sir, but people are leaving in droves. They are ignoring the lockdown and beginning to panic. We don’t know who pulled the alarm, we just know it was on the 105th floor. Someone is heading up there now.”
“And what about the computers and electronics in the building? Are they all shut down?”
“Yes, sir. All computers in the building have been remotely shut down. Except one.”
“What do you mean, except one?” Nova asked.
“The mainframe computer is overriding our commands to shut down. Which should be impossible, but it’s as if someone is keeping the computer running, even though we are telling it to turn off.”
“Where is this computer?” Rigel asked.
“Here, sir. Right behind this door.”
“Well, then open the damn door!” Rigel bellowed. “Clearly someone is behind it who shouldn’t be!”
“We can’t, sir. The door has also been compromised. It’s been locked from the inside, and will not listen to our commands to be opened.”
“Then break the damn thing down! Do I have to do everything around here?”
“We—we can’t, sir. Doors like this for the mainframe were made specifically so brute force wouldn’t open them. It was done for our security against superpowers, but now—”
“Now our own security is working against us.” Rigel shook his head. “How do you plan on getting through this damn door?”
The guard held up a silver briefcase. “With these, sir.”
“What is it? What’s inside?”
“A series of cybernetic creatures. We call them ‘The Bugs.’ They will attack and kill any organic beings they sense inside the room.”
Rigel stared at the briefcase. “Send them in.”
***
Behind the locked door, Scatterbolt sat at the screen of the computer mainframe. The monitor was filled with black and green numbers, repeating themselves over and over.
“I’m almost in, I’m almost in!”
“Well, that’s good news,” Keplar said, “because people are out there and I’m starting to think—”
The dog stopped. He saw something crawling underneath the doorway. It was coming into the room from the hallway outside.
“What the hell...?”
The dog shined the light from his plasma cannon toward the door. He immediately saw what had crawled in from outside: it was a mechanical beetle, as tall as a house cat and as wide as a pizza box. It had an armored body, no eyes, thousands of legs, and two protruding, scissor-like teeth. Hissing and ravenous for flesh, it opened its mouth wide and skittered toward Keplar. The dog had to shoot it three times before it finally exploded into yellow goo.
“What the heck was that?” Scatterbolt said, spinning toward the green plasma explosions behind him.
“I don’t know, but I think—”
; Keplar looked toward the door. Another beetle crawled in underneath it. Then another. And another. The bugs all instantly crawled toward Keplar.
The dog jumped up onto a chair and aimed his gun at the blood-sucking pests.
“Yup. There are more of them.”
Keplar fired his gun at the invading bugs, blowing them to pieces. But more kept coming from the hallway outside.
“C’mon, Scatterbolt,” the robot said to himself, staring at the computer screen and studying each line of code. “Figure this out. They need you now more than ever.”
***
In the main lobby on the ground level of the skyscraper, Strike and Orion fought through the crowd of urgently exiting partygoers and made their way outdoors. The street and park around the skyscraper were filled with hundreds of people, all of them murmuring and confused about what was going on inside.
“What do you think it could be?” Strike heard one of them ask.
“I don’t know, I think it was a gas leak or something. That’s what I heard.”
“Why do you think they told us to stay where we were, and then the fire alarm went off?”
“I don’t know, I’m sure it’s nothing. They would tell us if it was something to be concerned about.”
Strike turned to Orion. “You think anyone saw us running out of there with all these boxes full of hard drives and stuff?”
Orion looked around the park. Thanks to their disguises, they were still safe. “No, not with all this commotion going on. Just try and stay inconspicuous. I’m going to go get our getaway car. It’s gonna be hard to get to because of this crowd. While I’m doing that, you go find Keplar and Scatterbolt. See if you can get them on our earpieces yet.”
Strike handed Orion his box of documents. “Okay. I’ll head around the back.”
“Get them, and meet me at the extraction point near Hancock Street as soon as you can.”
“Got it.”
Orion ran off one way toward the getaway car, while Strike ran off in the opposite direction. Hundreds of partygoers were still leaving the skyscraper and dispersing into the Boston Public Garden, but Strike was the only one running back toward the building.