by Jason Keizer
James gets up from his chair and says, “Sounds good. I would say we should rest up before the morning, but after that forced nap, I won't be sleeping for a while.”
Oliver nods his head and says, “I’m gonna try and get this thing working for a little bit. If I can’t, I’m gonna head up to the conference room and link the security feeds into it. That way we don’t have to sit in that small room near the waste equipment to check things out.”
James walks over to the door, turns around, and says, “I'm gonna grab some stuff from my bags. We can meet up in the conference room in 30 or so. Can eat some dinner and shoot the shit for a bit. Also, I want to see what this ADS system is. That way we know what we are working with. Sound good?” Everyone nods their heads as James walks out of the room.
He quickly pokes his head back in and asks, “Conference room is on B2 right?”
Jessica smiles and says, “Yup. Right across from where the room you woke up in.”
As James pulls his head back, he says, “Thanks Jess.”
NINETEEN
A fingerless, gloved hand hits Mercy in the face, knocking her off of her feet and sending her to a padded floor. As her back hits the floor, she swings her right leg and hits her attacker in the back of the left knee. With the attacker falling to the floor, Mercy turns to her right side and pulls herself up to her knees. She swings her left leg over and slides onto the body of her opponent. She quickly shimmies her knees up into her opponent's armpits.
Her hands come down fast, but not very hard, trying to punch the other in the face. She swings with her left, right, and left again. After a few more punches, she stops. The woman on the ground under her slowly opens the arms above her face, protecting it. As the arms spread, exposing the face of Inara, she looks up at Mercy and says, “Good job.”
Mercy leans back, putting her weight on Inara's hips. “Thank you, I am learning from the best,” Mercy replies in between her short, fast breaths of air. She hops up onto her heels and slowly stands up. She extends her hand down towards Inara and helps her to her feet.
Inara says, “I'm not the best. I just make sure I can handle myself. We all should be able to do that these days.”
Mercy raises her right, gloved hand to Inara's face, lightly touching it. “Crap. You’re bleeding. Not sure if the people can have their leader walking around like this.”
Inara pushes Mercy's hand to the side and with full sincerity, says, “How would you know?”
Her voice lightens up as she smiles. “Wait, we haven’t synced up, have we?”
Mercy tilts her head to the left, purses her lips a little, then widens them into a smile. “Really Inara? I mean your face. Geez. Looks like James’ sense of humor is rubbing off on you.” Mercy and Inara start to laugh a little.
Inara puts her hand up to her cheek and feels the scratch. She removes her hand and sees a small smudge of blood on her middle and index fingers. She shrugs her shoulders and says, “I’m fine. A little scratch never hurt anyone. Besides, I’m not the leader. That is the whole purpose of our counsel. We all have the same power, but it seems the public follows the one they like the most.
“Also, I think it would be good for them to see that I am not just a leader, but also a fighter. The people need to see strength, not just from a political standpoint, but also from a physical one. The world has gone to shit. People need to see we are willing to actually fight for it, not just send people to fight for us.”
Mercy turns around and walks over towards a bench. Besides a bench on two sides of the room, there is nothing but pads along the floor and up to about halfway up the walls. A door sits flat against the wall with no knob since it pushes out. When she gets to the bench, she grabs two water bottles and tosses one to Inara.
She says, “Yeah, but the people look to the military for that, not from the science division. They don’t really expect us to go out and fight. They think we would just stay in our labs or whatever and do some sciencey shit or work on things in the government.”
Inara swallows the water, nods her head, and replies, “Yeah, that is what they expect from us. Even though we help run this country, some people will just think of us as just scientists, or women, who need men to fight their battles for them. But no long ago, it didn’t matter what job you had, or who you were, you had to fight.
“Plus, being in a leadership position, I should know more than just my job. I should be aware of many different things because someday I might have to fill in somewhere or know something that isn’t my usual job. It is our job to show them that we are stronger than them, that we can handle ourselves in any situation. That is how you get people to join your cause, to work together, with strength and hope, not fear like so many others have done.”
Mercy takes a small sip of her water and lightly tightens the cap on the bottle. “Yeah, but then why do we work out like this in secret? Wouldn’t it be better for the people to see what you can do then?”
Inara smiles and wipes the blood on her hand on her shorts. “Maybe, but then how would our enemies take that as well? I think it is better for them to underestimate us than to know our full potential. That way when shit hits the fan, they will always be caught off guard. Plus, if people find you to be the strongest, instead of fighting with you, they end up hiding behind you. The people need to be able to fight for themselves but have someone, something, to rely on when things get tough. That is just one of the many purposes we serve in our positions.”
Mercy sits down and takes a deep breath. “That’s kind of like something my father used to tell me back before the virus. He used to say, never show your hand until all the chips are on the table. I always just brushed it away since he was a bit of a gambler back then.”
She looks up at a clock and adds, “Well, we should probably clean up and get ready for work. Do you by any chance know when the rest of the council wants to meet up about yesterday? I haven’t been told anything yet.”
Inara starts to walk over to her. “I think they want to meet up a little bit after lunch, but not sure what time yet. Most likely they don’t even know. With everything going on, we all might need a day or two to figure all of this out. I know this morning we have to go up and see if there is any new info on the satellites.
“There is also a meeting this morning at the energy center. They are gonna be pitching their new energy ideas and plans for the future. With fuel running low, we need to make sure we push for nothing but renewable resources.”
She takes a deep breath and continues, “I really wish Oliver could be here to check it out since I’m not fully adept to understand everything they are talking about. It wasn’t one of the sciences I learned, and he would be able to help me understand it and teach me a good bit.”
She takes a deep breath and then shows a smile. “Also, isn’t it your job to tell me what we have planned for the day?”
Mercy laughs a little. “Well, I never asked about what we were doing for the day. I just wanted to make sure I can have a few extra minutes for an early lunch. My father is coming in to drop off some food from the farms. He wants to have a small lunch with me before he heads back out.”
Inara takes a seat and says, “That’s good. It has been a while since you saw him. One of the disadvantages of being on the road getting supplies for us, I guess. Tell him I said hi.”
“Will do. It’s been a couple weeks. His not being around all the time does help with no one else knowing about him. Plus, he finds things like that computer system for Sam.” Mercy stands up and turns to Inara, and continues, “Guess we should get ready for work then, huh? You wanna get some breakfast together?”
Inara looks up at her and shakes her head. “I’m good on the breakfast. It feels like I have energy for days, so I’m going to try and burn some of it off. I’ll see you at work.”
Mercy grabs her bottle of water from the bench and says, “Ok then. How about you head to the energy center and I’ll check out things with communications. I’ll meet you there wh
en I am done.”
Inara stands up and puts her hands up as to fight the air. She replies, “That sounds good to me. I will see you there.” As Mercy walks to the door, she looks back and sees Inara shadow boxing.
An hour later, the doors to the elevator open. Mercy steps onto the communications floor. As she walks forward a little bit, she can see a couple of screens that are filled with static. In front of them sit men and women typing on their keyboards and running various programs to attempt and fix the feeds.
Mercy walks up to Bob and gives him a small pat on the shoulder. He looks up at her and says, “Oh, hello there Mercy. Is there anything I can help you with?”
Mercy shakes her head and replies, “I am just going to give a small update to a few of the servers, a couple of them didn’t take the last one. So, please make sure no one bothers me while I am in there.” She gives him a quick wink of an eye, and he nods his head.
“Oh, that is no problem. I’ll make sure no one bothers you.”
Mercy gives him a couple of small pats on his shoulder as she walks behind him and towards the servers. “Thank you,” she says as she gets past his desk.
She makes her way over to the servers and takes a minute to stare at them. A wall of cords and flashing lights on various servers, routers, and switches stands before her. She pulls out the flash drive from her pocket and removes its cover. She takes a small step forward and inserts the thumbs drive into a server in the center of the wall. The flash drive flashes a red light four times, then a green one.
Mercy gives a sly smile as she pulls out the flash drive and whispers to herself, “Prom date, huh?” She puts it into her pocket and turns around to head back over to Bob.
“Hey, Bob, any sort of update on the situation? We have a council meeting today and would like to be able to present something besides questions.”
Bob shakes his head. “Not yet, but hopefully soon. We still have people working on it. As soon as someone up here figures something out, I will send them down to you.”
Mercy pats him on the back and walks to the front of the room. “Thank you again, Bob.”
She raises her voice for everyone on the floor to hear her. “First person to find something, come see Dr. Stone or myself. And thank all of you for working so hard on this. Your work is greatly needed and appreciated.”
A few people in the room say thank you, but most stay silent as they keep working. Mercy gives a small nod as she looks over the room and then walks back to the elevator.
After she gets in the elevator, she pulls out her phone and scrolls through her contacts. She stops at Sam and presses a small envelope to send a message. “Prom Date. I think that lasted longer than 5 seconds,” she writes with a half-smile and presses send.
Across the city, Inara is sitting in a large room in the first of six rows of chairs. In front of her are two women and a man standing on top of a small stage. To Inara’s left is a gap and more rows of chairs. People are scattered throughout the room, quietly listening to the group on the stage. The shorter of the two women, with short blonde hair framed around her glasses, is talking.
“Our energy resources are running closer to depletion every day. Fuel is already in very short supply, and it will possibly go bad before we can even use all of it. Power plants have been a luxury so far, but soon, without the right types of fuel, will fail. We have done our best to use solar, water, and wind energies, but have come to a capacity issue in the cities. Right now, solar panels are being put on top of and even bolted to the sides of buildings. The problem is, for larger buildings, this is not enough power to supply them.
“For example, Serra Tower. Right now, we can only provide around a quarter of its energy needs from the solar panels built into it.” The other two people on the stage step off into a back area.
The lady talking continues, “The rest of the energy is pulled from the water wheels we have in the Mississippi River. In fact, three of those mills are dedicated just for Serra Tower. What if we didn’t have to use those water mills? What if we could turn Serra tower or any building with so much glass into a building that is completely made of solar panels?”
The other two return to the stage, carrying a large rectangular item in a cloth. They set the thing on a small pedestal and remove the cloth, revealing a large pane of glass.
The woman continues, “This is not just your average pane of glass. This is a new solar panel we have created. As you can see, it is completely transparent like any other glass.” She digs into her pocket and pulls out a small remote and presses a button. The glass turns from clear to white.
“Or if you want your privacy or to reduce the glare from the sun, you can have it in shade mode. The glass will turn opaque, which allows for the use of natural light to keep spaces lit without using bulbs, and gives a bit of privacy. It does provide adequate privacy, such as that from a thin curtain or similar item. Blinds or curtains can still be used with no hindrance to functionality.”
A screen behind her turns on with a graph. Three lines curve up slightly from left to right. Each line is a different color and is lined up above each other. “The red line up at the top is the solar panels we use right now. As you can see, they have the best absorption rate and allows for the more power per panel. One panel creates roughly 200 watts per hour. That is enough for a few lights but you need two or three panels to power a single computer, and that doesn’t include the monitor. Below it, the blue line. This is the solar glass in its transparent stage. On average, it collects around eighty percent of what our normal solar panels can take in.”
Mercy taps Inara on the shoulder and quickly walks around her to sit on her right. She leans over and whispers to Inara, “We are all good with the upload. Sam should be in soon.”
Inara just nods her head as her attention stays fixed on the stage. The woman on stage continues, “-absorbs about two-thirds of our regular solar panels. If Serra Tower has these installed on just the south side of the building, it would be able to provide enough power for itself without the aid of outside sources. With this, we could easily sustain most of our energy needs. Thank you.”
The people in the room stand and erupt in applause. Inara and Mercy join them. The three people on the stage take a bow. After a few seconds, the applause quiets down.
The man standing on the stage steps forward and starts to talk. “Now, we need resources to create these panels and install them.
Inara’s phone vibrates. She grabs it from her pocket and looks at it. On the screen, it says, “Kane”. As she answers it, she quickly gets up from her chair and walks to the back of the room.
“Mr. Kane. To what do I owe this pleasure?” she asks.
“Well Dr., I am just calling to say that we are going to postpone the council meeting for today. Not everyone can make it, and from what I can tell, we are still getting information about this hack. I think it would be best to wait a couple days for when our field agents get back and can hopefully tell us more about… Well, about anything.”
“You are right. Many other things need to be done besides us sitting in a room speculating. Might as well wait until we have more information. Thank you for the call.”
“No problem. I’ll let the other members of the Council and the sector heads know. I know you are at the energy conference and I am sorry to bother you. I am not able to be there since I am outside the walls for the day checking in on some of the other towns and farms.”
“Sounds good Mr. Kane. We all have our jobs to do. We can talk later and let each other know how things are going on each end. I will give you a call just after the end of the day. Is that ok with you?”
“Of course it is. Well, I will let you go. Give me a call after your day is done and let me know how things are going. You have a good one Doctor.”
“You too.” She takes the phone from her ear and hangs up the call.
As she walks back to her seat, the audience starts to clap again. The man and two women walk off of the stage. Inara ta
ps Mercy on the shoulder and says, “Hey, I think it is time for your lunch. Gotta make sure you aren’t late. I’ll be here for a little bit, and we will meet up when you get back to Serra Tower. Don’t worry about time. No meeting with the council. Sound good?”
Mercy looks at her watch. “Yeah. Sounds great to me Doctor. I’ll try not to be too late. See you after lunch.” As Mercy starts to walk away, Inara sees one of the presenters and heads over to her.
TWENTY
Mercy sits down at a small booth next to a window. Al walks up to the table and says, “Hello Mercy. Are you by yourself today or is the Doctor going to be joining you?”
She looks up at him with a smile. “No, I have someone else I am having lunch with. I will wait until he gets here to order. Thank you though.”
Al puts his pen and paper in his back pocket. “No problem. If you need anything, just let me know.” Mercy nods her head, and Al turns around and walks to the counter.
While she waits, Mercy stares out of the window. Construction workers are busy tearing up the concrete from the street. A little further down the block, another crew is installing solar panels on the side of a building. After a couple minutes, her attention gets broken by the bell of an opening door.
Mercy leans to the right a little and looks at the door. Walking in is her father. He has on a thin blue jacket with a hood covering his head. His blue jeans are old, just to the point where they look like they could tear from wear at any moment. He walks with a slight hunch in his back but is a little taller than her when he stands up straight. He sees Mercy and sits down across from her. He takes off his hood to expose his long black and slightly graying hair, which he brushes back to free the view of his startlingly blue eyes. Thin wrinkles shoot across his forehead as his eyebrows raise and a smile widens his face.
“Hey there sweet pea,” he says as he places his hand on top of hers. “I have missed you. How have you been?”