by Andy Briggs
Except there was a woman holding them – or was she stealing from him? To add insult to injury she had an umbrella up to protect her from the internal rain storm.
“Hello, Aaron.”
Aaron froze to the spot. How did she know who he was?
“The worst thing you could do right now is run…” The words were barely spoken before Aaron spun on his heels and fled.
The woman sighed and pulled a small device from her pocket. Aaron didn’t manage to run very much further…
The narrow streets of Rio’s sprawling favela slums were the kind of places where it was best to keep your wallet hidden and valuables concealed, yet Riya had her eyes glued on her phone and didn’t care who saw her.
She was sixteen and her appearance, a striking combination of her parents’ combined Latino and Indian ancestry, drew attention wherever she was – so it was no surprise a group of three young men, who wouldn’t think twice of robbing a pensioner, were trailing her with the sole intention of snatching her phone and any other valuables she had hidden away.
Riya was oblivious to the peril behind. The new app she had downloaded was sucking up all her concentration. It displayed a variety of logic puzzles in the form of a platform game. All she had to do was guide her character around an onscreen maze that defied gravity as it constantly shifted position. It was exactly the kind of challenge she enjoyed. She’d been playing the final level of the game solidly for the last thirty minutes and, just as she was close to guiding her avatar out of the maze, she bumped into what felt like a solid wall.
Or at least a solid wall of humanity. The largest of the three men blocked her path.
“Sorry,” Riya said with only the briefest glance up as she sidestepped around him – only to find he had shuffled sideways to block her.
“Your cell phone, give it to me,” the man growled menacingly.
Riya didn’t look up, but instead held up her index finger, indicating the man should just give her a moment to finish the level. The simple gesture confused the thug who was used to his victims crumbling in front of him.
The thief snatched for the phone – the exact moment Riya completed the level and lowered it just out of his reach.
“Do we have a problem here?” she asked, flashing a half-smile.
Exasperated, the thug looked at his two companions who had quietly closed in behind Riya. Riya quickly followed his gaze and noted the men behind her.
The man in front of her spat close to Riya’s foot. “Yeah, a real big problem. You’re being mugged.”
Riya looked genuinely surprised. “Oh, well … that sucks. Here.” She put her phone into the thug’s hand. He was so surprised that Riya had time to snatch it back before he closed his grip. “On second thoughts, I think I’ll keep it.”
The lead thug lunged for her. With almost unearthly grace, Riya jumped backwards and launched herself off the thigh of the guy behind her. She landed on the shoulders of the third thug, wrapped her legs around his bull-like neck and choked him.
He dropped to his knees, allowing Riya to gracefully slide off and, like a dancer, she spun around and kicked the lead thug in the chest so hard that he reeled backwards into the stream of foul-smelling gunk that flowed down the open sewer.
Without pause, Riya shook the hand of the remaining thug who stood without resisting.
“Nice doing business with ya,” said Riya before she skipped down a narrow side alley. It was only moments later that the thug had noticed his watch was missing. As the other two thieves stood up they gradually became aware of their watches, phones and wallets were also all missing.
Riya was still giggling to herself when she finally stopped running after zigzagging her way through the narrow streets. The watches she had slipped from the men’s wrists were genuine and valuable, their wallets collectively had a few hundred reais in them and she knew a shop that would take the phones without asking any questions.
“Teach ya to try and mug me,” she muttered under her breath. That was when she noticed a woman leaning against a wall, looking at her. She wore a blue military-like uniform and appeared to be appraising her.
“Very good.”
Riya’s eyes darted around, seeking the quickest escape route. The last thing she wanted to do was become embroiled with the police.
The woman nodded to the stolen loot. “I’ve never seen such slick moves. I bet they didn’t feel a thing. And the fighting style, capoeira?” Riya nodded. “I could put those skills to a real use. How about it, Riya?”
“How do you know my name?”
“We’ve been tracking you for weeks. You have been scoring consistently well on our game, so I traced you down here to see what you were really made of. How would you like an opportunity to turn your life around?”
Riya had met all kinds of weirdos on the streets of Rio, but there was something about this woman’s calm, measured manner that made her curious.
“Who are you?”
The woman smiled and extended her hand. “Call me Sergeant Wade.”
“Anybody else think this is a bad idea?” muttered Lot as she, Dev and Mason stared at the three new recruits sitting across from them in the Inventory canteen.
Dev knew exactly what she meant, although he was surprised to hear her say it aloud.
“Maybe not,” said Mason. Ever since the girl from Brazil had entered, Mason hadn’t taken his eyes off her and a slightly dopey expression had attached itself to his face.
The newcomers had absorbed their surroundings. Wan-Soo quietly took it all in, Aaron couldn’t resist poking and touching everything, and Riya animatedly talked about everybody and everything she saw. They looked like ordinary kids, not particularly sporty or intelligent; in fact Dev struggled to find anything unique about them at all, as he told the others.
“People might say that about you too, Dev,” said Sergeant Wade as she entered and overheard the comment. Dev blushed and looked away, annoyed that he had been caught by Wade of all people. She had always been kind towards the trio, usually siding with Dev when arguments broke out between him and his uncle. “These three have all displayed … useful skills. And they performed spectacularly on a game the World Consortium published.”
“A game?” parroted Mason incredulously.
Wade gave him a sidelong look. “Well, it was a carefully crafted sequence of logical, intellectual and reaction-based challenges, to test IQ and problem-solving abilities in a three-dimensional environment, and to monitor reaction time – but to you it would be a game, specifically designed to eliminate the ninety-nine point nine per cent of candidates who are not worthy of being here.”
Mason grinned and nodded cockily as he nudged Lot. “Hear that? I’m a one percenter. How cool is that?”
“Nought-point-one,” Lot muttered back. “Which is a surprise, given how bad your maths is.”
“More like the right place at the right time,” Dev said with a chuckle.
“Enough of that,” Wade said in a tone that indicated any further bickering wouldn’t be tolerated. “You’re here to show them the ropes, and that starts with a guided tour.”
Dev sighed. “Oh, great. We risk our lives keeping people out of here and now you open the place up like it’s a theme park.”
Considering most of the Inventory shelves were still empty, it would have been a pretty pathetic park, but from the frown Sergeant Wade gave him, Dev felt his point had been made.
The tour around the Inventory took place on the back of an electric four-by-four with Wade doing all the talking while the three newcomers looked around with open mouths. Although the shelves were mostly empty, it was still an impressive set of spaces that stretched into the distance.
Eema caused a flurry of excitement when she rolled alongside the vehicle, her floating holographic head beaming a friendly smile. The artificial-intelligence guardian of the vaults had no doubt been instructed to be on her best, chirpiest behaviour rather than the general sourpuss that Dev knew her to be. To the ne
w recruits, she was a marvel of cutting-edge technology.
Dev felt sleepy and let Wade’s commentary wash over him. As they passed into the Blue Zone, Dev felt a wave of dizziness, and if Wade hadn’t stopped the vehicle to point out one of the few remaining battleships that hadn’t been stolen, he would have tumbled out.
The lecture was almost drowned out as a vivid memory filled his consciousness. Another of Liu’s recollections. Dev felt it was as if he wasn’t allowed to have his own thoughts as this new memory rose like in volume to drown out his own inner voice.
He “remembered” walking through the aisle before him. Even without thinking his legs obeyed, reliving the footsteps of a ghost of time. He climbed from the vehicle and disappeared between two massive shelving units that had once housed mini-submersibles. The memory was perfect, even reminding him to step over a sunken drainage grid in the floor like some interactive déjà-vu.
He approached a wall. The blue paintwork had peeled slightly over the years, yet Dev found it disconcerting that he could remember, not only the fresh coat of paint which had “recently” been applied, but also the fact there used to be a door. The wall looked quite solid, but his memory was quite adamant that there used to be a door, covered in signs warning not the enter without authorization. Try as he might, he couldn’t quite remember what lay beyond. His memory hinted at something important, but the moment Dev tried to focus on what that was, the image became fluffy and insubstantial, as if projected on to fog.
Charles walked up to him and indicated to the wall. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Do what?” said Dev with a frown that gave way to incredulity when he saw that his uncle had at least thirty years shaved off his face. His hair was jet black, not the grey Dev was accustomed to, and the lines around his eyes were from laughter, not the ominous scowl he usually wore.
It was shocking just how much Dev could see of himself in his uncle. Logically, he knew it shouldn’t be a surprise – after all, Dev was cloned from his uncle’s DNA – but seeing it was another matter.
“Have you found a youth ray?” said Dev, certain his uncle must have stumbled on a device in the Inventory that had de-aged him. “There was a door here,” he continued, gesturing towards the wall.
When he looked back, Charles had been replaced with a concerned-looking Wade.
“Are you OK?” she asked in a low voice, her eyes darting to the new recruits to ensure they hadn’t overheard.
“Where’s my uncle?” Dev asked, looking around.
“Charles isn’t here.” She studied the wall. “What makes you think there was ever a door here?”
Dev felt a sudden bout of nausea sweep over him. He glanced back at Lot and Mason who were watching him with concern. “A door?”
“Yes. You just strolled over here like you were sleepwalking and began muttering something about a door.”
Dev shook his head and smiled. “I think I may actually have nodded off there. I feel so tired.” He flashed her a smile. “Don’t worry about me. A little sleep and I’ll be fine.”
He headed back to the four-by-four, unsettled by Wade’s unblinking eyes studying him. Living in the Inventory had made him question everything about the world around him and forced him to be deeply suspicious about the most innocent of things.
Then he caught Wade looking askance at the wall with a different, more serious expression. Was he just being paranoid, or did the sergeant know more than she was letting on?
The luxury Bombardier Global 8000 business jet cruised through the deep blue skies at an altitude of 51,000 feet.
Lee glanced at the tablet on the table in front of him. The holographic screen floated images above the surface; the neat trick was they even reacted as though solid if Lee reached out to examine them. Currently rotating on his screen was something that resembled a cross between a bird’s beak and a chunk of scrap metal.
Lee glanced at the Teslator lying in its box on the table and marvelled how the two pieces of technology were connected.
His musings were interrupted by the soft chimes of an incoming call on his tablet. He accepted it and listened to a voice while the Shadow Helix logo – a pair of interwoven DNA strands – revolved in three dimensions, rather than the more typical holo-image of the caller.
“We received your report from the storage depot. An unfortunate accident?”
“I was lucky to have walked out when I did. The way they treated things in there was shocking. I suspect the oafs mishandled a device while trying to figure out what it did. Shame.”
“Our forensic team scoured the site. Nothing survived. We have no idea of what treasures we lost.”
Lee toyed with the Teslator. “Let’s hope there was nothing important.”
“What is of more concern is who was behind it. Are you certain you know nothing?”
Lee frowned as he detected a note of suspicion in the voice. Then again, he thought, they were bad guys, they were always suspicious. “I wish I knew.”
“The World Consortium would have fought to save every last artefact. These culprits, however, are playing a different game.” There was a long pause, then the voice dipped with worry. “I fear an old enemy has surfaced.”
“The Company? You have proof?”
“Not yet, but the timing…” The voice trailed off, only to come back moments later with its usual authoritarian tone. “The World Consortium is retrieving objects with greater frequency. We need to step up our operations to beat them to it – especially if it turns out that we are fighting on two fronts. That’s your responsibility, Lee. We feel that you are slipping in your duties and Shadow Helix does not tolerate failure.”
“No problem. I’ll go get it.”
He quickly hung up before they could reply and went back to studying the piece of metal junk on his holo-pad, turning it one way then another to catch a better angle of it. His thoughts were interrupted when the pilot’s voice chimed through the cabin.
“Sir, Shadow Helix had sent new coordinates. Shall I reroute?”
Lee took a deep breath before answering. “No. I’ll send a unit to retrieve it. I need you to stay on course.”
He dialled a voice-only number from memory on the holo-pad. After several moments it was answered.
“Yes?” Even digitally altered so as to be unrecognizable, the apprehension in the voice was obvious.
“This is Lee. We have access to it.”
“Black Knight?”
Lee spun the holographic object in a circle and nodded, before remembering this wasn’t a video call. “Yes. Communication has been established. This is a big moment for CMA.”
“CMA?” snapped the voice. “What is it with people abbreviating everything these days? The Company of Merchant Adventurers, if you please. The Company, at least.”
“The Company of Merchant blah blah,” sighed Lee. “It’s too much of a mouthful.”
“It bears the weight of history.”
“We’re writing new history now. CMA’s short and snappy. Anyway, I think it is time for you to step out of the shadows.” The nervous pause on the line made Lee frown. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“So we have communication, but not access?”
Lee pulled a face and looked out of the jet’s window, his gaze drifting upwards to the cobalt skies above. It was up there, somewhere.
“Correct,” he conceded. “But we have a lead. Somebody thinks they’re close to answering that riddle. I have a team watching him, but to be honest I’m kinda hoping we don’t need him.”
“Good. Once we gain control, well, it would be time for the Company to reveal itself once again.”
Lee nodded, before realizing again this wasn’t a video link. “Yes. It’s a big moment. You can finally step from the shadows.”
“Only when the right time comes. There can be no mistakes. I have been undercover for many years so have learnt to be cautious. We need to orchestrate the operation as planned.”
“That�
��s the very nature of sleeper agents. It’s time for you to fly the nest. I just hope you haven’t become too comfortable.”
The fact there was no answer made Lee all the more nervous. Like all grand plans, this one had been long in the making. He himself was just a cog in the machine, and he hoped that this sleeper agent hadn’t forgotten the end goal: this was all for the betterment of humanity. The Inventory had been just the first step in a much bigger project.
The voice spoke again. “Time is of the essence. Remember, there is no going back. For any of us. This moment will mark a new epoch in history. Good luck.”
For the next hour, Lee flew without any further interruptions before the pilot made an announcement for landing. He barely felt the wheels touch down.
The sharp scent of sea air struck him as the airsteps unfolded and Lee stepped out on to the deck of an enormous aircraft carrier. He couldn’t help but notice the aircraft had stopped just a few metres from the end of the deck. Maybe the pilot deserved a pay rise for not plunging them into the ocean?
Lee hurried across the deck. His journey was far from over, and his thoughts were firmly on Black Knight.
In the canteen, there was an obvious “them” and “us” vibe as Lot, Mason and Dev sat across from Riya, Aaron and Wan-Soo. Over the last few days the new recruits had been shown a variety of amazing technology and had reacted predictably. Dev couldn’t help but wonder how they would react when they saw the even cooler stuff they had yet to retrieve.
Riya had proved to be fun, and Dev couldn’t help but smile at the goofy look that spread across Mason’s face every time he spoke to her, or the way Mason’s cheeks burned crimson when he tripped over his words.
The Korean kid, Wan-Soo, continued to be polite to the core, and everybody was surprised when Mason discovered YouTube videos of the young Korean playing computer games to a massive crowd of adoring fans in an eSports championship.