by J. A. James
Griesen stood as far out on the extended branch as he could, wobbling slightly as he aimed his left hand once again at the first tree positioned higher and farther along his calculated path. Again, the rope shot out and silently he allowed it to carry him swiftly across as he quickly aimed his right arm at the next target farther along. He continued, feeling the exhilaration through the movement as he heard only the sound of his breath.
Like a modern-day Tarzan, he thought. He remembered the cultural studies unit and how many of his classmates had looked down on Earth culture. The humans were thought to be simple with their made up movie fantasies. Humans imagined being able to fly and do the stunts their bodies were not physically built to handle. But they had the imagination, he thought. They were so close to so many more technological breakthroughs. All of it was predicated first on imagination. It was the seed that started everything. But they had to save themselves first from their most destructive tendencies…this was why they were there. The Acruvae. To help them.
The air surrounding them was completely silent; it was as if the birds and the tree animals around them were also aware of their presence and had made way for them. If someone had told him back at the Institute before graduating that he would be in this predicament, he would have called them properly insane. But now - here he was. Even with his human senses, he could feel the thin sound of the wind whistling amongst the branches as it began to meld with his old senses, which seemed to prickle under a days’ long dormancy. His hyper-awareness was coming back as he swooped through the branches.
Once this mission was successful, if Matthias kept his word, he would be able to bridge Halva. Griesen knew he would keep his end of the promise. His thoughts drifted back to the weapon Mattie had handed him. If Matthias didn’t keep his end of the bargain, he knew he wouldn’t hesitate to use it against him. Them. Loyalty wasn’t something that he was prepared to give out so easily - to anyone - now.
He remembered Mathilda's words. Please don't hurt them. Please don't betray them.
His helmet clocked the distance they were closing in on. Four hundred metres. One hundred metres.
Now. Griesen braced his arms in front of him as the metal hooks released their last branches, propelling him forward onto the observatory rooftop. He landed, rolling the last few feet before stopping.
The suits had rematerialized. He could see Tripe on deck and the others a few feet away from each other. And then - Griesen heard them, noticed them first. He pointed upwards, and Tripe quickly took notice. “Drones,” Griesen hissed. They were small specks in the sky, but they were passing by.
The rooftop was covered mercifully in rows of open-ended domes. It made this entry point ideal, with cover if they’d needed it. Griesen dashed immediately behind a large black metal one while the other men did the same as they waited for the drones to pass. The entryway was a few hundred yards in front of them.
"Ready for the air chute." Tripe's voice filtered through his headset again. Tripe indicated towards the wind that suddenly picked up, gusting up the noise that seemed to go missing during their time spent getting here. "We'll be less noticeable now with the noise. Let’s go now."
The team operated quickly and silently. Two of the men unscrewed the air duct in a matter of moments, placing the vent down quietly.
Matthias gestured towards him. They were ready. "We will go in. You, me, Tripe. The other men will take watch on the perimeter. Give us fair warning, hear?" he addressed the others. They responded with silent nods.
Tripe went first, and Griesen followed, climbing into the air vent.
The vent was dark and now; it barely gave him but a few inches on either side of him. Griesen grimaced as he crawled forward on his elbows and knees for what seemed like eternity. He kept pushing onwards with focused determination.
His helmet switched on; it showed him how close he was to the containment room, where the package was being held. He finally saw Tripe pause and then stand. Mercifully, they had reached the trap door; where the narrow tunnel suddenly opened up to a platform big enough for the three of them to stand. They silently turned towards each other, careful to not make a sound.
Griesen glanced down through the grate. They were quite high above the floor - about 200 feet between them and the ground.
"You're up." Tripe's whispered words to him as Griesen felt both pairs of eyes look at him. His turn.
Tripe unscrewed the grate from all four corners, placing it down gingerly.
Griesen looked through the grate, as it revealed a cavernous room with a central cylindrical chamber. A steady hum filled the room, filling his ears with a steady wash of noise.
“Where is the package?” Griesen whispered at them.
Matthias gestured towards the central chamber unit. It was located towards the north third of the room. “In there. You’ll have to get there.”
Griesen zoomed in with the telescopic vision to look closer at the unit, which had a keypad stationed in front of the chamber. He knew immediately an Acruvae handprint could unlock it, with likely a code to follow.
Okay. One thing at a time. He glanced above him. Griesen crouched towards the opening, aiming his right arm to the large metal ceiling beam directly above. It silently shot upwards and caught it. Griesen gripped the edges of the vent as he slowly lowered himself down. The room below him was silent; it was past midnight and thankfully, only a few of the large illuminating lights were on.
He only lowered a few feet with the retractable cable before he hit the halt button on his forearm. Instantly, the wire stopped its slow unravelling. Griesen's eyes spotted the security array before it was triggered through the pinholes he had seen inset into the walls.
He drew out a small plastic container from a zippered pocket, unscrewing it. Placing a bit of the white powder on his fingertip, he blew on it; illuminating a red cross-cross intersection of beams that laced haphazardly from where he was suspended to the ground floor.
Lasers? He guessed that they were more lethal than that. He was only a few inches above them.
Mentally, he began configuring a route through the beams. Some of the intersecting beams gave him a berth of more than four feet apart; most of them did not. Mercifully, they were stationary.
“Hurry up,” Tripe hissed at him. Griesen willfully ignored him as he concentrated on the beams, memorizing the sequence he needed to get through.
He had to work his way through the maze of beams without detection and to get to the keypad where he would dismantle the security that held the package.
He readied his left arm to extend to the next rooftop beam.
But wait. He suddenly froze, unmoving. Something was wrong -
And indeed, he saw the red lasers as they suddenly shifted. No, they were far from stationary. They were moving.
"Shit." He heard Matthias through his helmet.
Griesen continued to glance down at various points of the lasers. Just focus…
I can get through, he telepathed to Matthias.
Good, Matthias responded.
His latent Acruvae powers were indeed coming back. Soon, he would be unable to avoid detection if they came back any faster. He was sure Matthias was thinking the same thing. He focused again on the lasers, which suddenly shifted into another patterned array. He lay there, suspended in his movement. He made a few mental calculations before predicting its next shift. And, indeed, the lasers shifted, as he had predicted, and he dived for his next position. One foot down. Two across.
The laser patterns were coded. To a human eye, it was nearly indecipherable but he was able to predict its next movements after a minute of observation. It was a relatively simple pattern. He imagined that break-ins were few and far in between, if ever. The difficulty would be to get through the patterned network of rays, which ran at least ten levels deep until he reached the floor.
The epicenter of the rays provided him the greatest berth for movement; the rays were banded tightly together from the corners of the room where
they were emanating from.
Griesen glanced towards a steel metal rung towards the front of the room. It would require a different grip. Tripe handed him a claw the size of his hand, which Griesen attached to another cable. He deftly swung it around a few times for momentum before it sling-shotted towards his goal, wrapping itself around the beam effortlessly.
He looked down at the beams again, pushing a button. The wire began pulling him towards the front of the room.
The beams below him were ready to shift. He had to count, and remember to keep counting. The beams were shifting position every twelve seconds. It would mean life or death.
Now.
He lowered himself into the maze of red, stopping exactly a foot in. As he halted, something fizzled above his head. He saw a piece of his helmet fall to the ground below him.
His eyes widened, but no alarms had been set off.
The next draw was his, as he spotted his opening through the rays. He continued to count silently.
They shifted, predictably; he pulled himself forward into the next open pocket, retracting the wire he had slung up above. He stopped precisely, a centimeter in front of a long strand of red heat which furled its fiery fingers to him.
He counted silently in his head.
He went down another foot. He counted to himself as he readied for the next pull. He was now six feet away from the ground.
As he pulled himself a foot forward, he heard Tripe’s voice, slightly staticky, in his ear. "Some movement coming towards you. They are heading your way now."
"How much time do I have?" Griesen hissed.
"Two minutes."
He cursed as he mentally counted down again, heat beginning to build under his suit. He pushed the cable release.
Now, he was four feet away from the ground. He saw the wide column in front of him which would provide him the cover he needed - if only he could get to it fast enough.
He pulled forward as fast as he could at the next array as it switched over. He heard the doors unlock, and Tripe talking loudly in his ear, telling him to hurry.
The suit. He pressed a button, praying it would activate the switch to blend into its surroundings. It was a suit designed for blending in with the outdoor environment - not indoors.
The doors slid open, and for a moment, he hung there, paralyzed. But the cloaking had worked. The two soldiers who came in did not notice him; one of them pressed their fingerprint into the doorpad and suddenly, the array of beams disappeared.
He took the opportunity and plunged to the ground, retracting the clawed wires to him instantaneously, rolling forward once before diving towards the column.
The men passed him and the column that moment, as they walked towards the energy source.
What could they be doing at this hour? Griesen thought, fighting to keep his breath.
One of the men spoke. "The antimatter is stable. Ithes’ paranoia is getting to him. He thought it would destabilize already."
The other man nodded. "I agree. But as the man said - we're only here to do our jobs. Just check it."
Sighing, the man on the right stood in front of a keypad, placing his right hand on the blank sensor array.
"Authorized," an automated voice said as the rounded steel vessel unlocked and a white smoky haze emanated from the opening. The man reached inside with one hand, pulling out a small, glowing blue vial.
It was a blindingly blue light, and Griesen squinted as he looked on. Was that what he thought it was?
The man then raised his other hand outwards. "Gauge, please."
The other man reached into a cylinder beside the thinkpad, coming out with a long, fissured tube. He handed it over, and the man on the right gingerly held it closely to the vial.
A moment later: "The readings are good. It’s contain--”
He was interrupted, suddenly choking and dropping the gauge. His partner yelled, hitting the intercom on his sleeve "Emergen --" before he was also silenced.
Two shadows dropped silently to the ground. Tripe and Matthias. Matthias' weapon was still pulled out, aimed at the two dead men.
Griesen rose to his feet, stumbling towards them. "You killed them!"
Their eyes were glassy and still open; the gun had not been set to stun.
The intercom responded. "Serenos - we have received your call. Everything ok?"
Griesen froze. Matthias looked at him, waving at him with his weapon. Answer, he mouthed.
He knew the implications. Or they would all be dead within a matter of minutes.
"Yes - no, everything is fine," Griesen replied, imitating the dead officer's tone. He could barely do it properly, given he had barely heard him say more than a few syllables. “False alarm.”
He held his breath. "Okay. I thought I heard something," the voice said in return. "Ithes will be expecting a report from you as soon as you finish with the testing."
Ithes. He was here. The thought filled him with a sudden vengeance. Could he kill Ithes, if he had the chance? No, he decided. First he would shake all the answers he wanted from that man. Then he would kill him.
Griesen looked at the other two men, who stood looking back at him silently.
"Understood," Griesen said, before switching the intercom off.
"What the hell?" he hissed to them.
“Remain focused on your duty,” Matthias said. “These men made it that much easier for you to finish your part of the job.” He gestured again with the gun in his hand. “I'd suggest you pack it up and we be on our way."
He tossed Griesen a bag, which he unpacked wordlessly, withdrawing a metal canister. Pressing a button, the cylinder opened vertically. He gingerly reached over, taking the blue vial from the dead man's hand. He placed it carefully in the chamber before fusing it shut again.
"We don’t have much time - let's move!" Matthias barked as Griesen furtively began packing the bag
Suddenly, an alarm went off, and a red light began flashing in the room.
"What the hell," Matthias hissed.
Tripe was already shooting his clawed shoulder wires into the ceiling beams.
Griesen looked at the antichamber. "It was open for too long," he said, his throat dry. "I can only surmise it was that. He saw the keypad glowing red. Indeed, it had been the chamber door.
Tripe looked at him. "Too late. Let's go! Let’s go!” he shouted, gesturing upwards rapidly.
Griesen quickly followed suit. Strapping the bag on his back, he threw his helmet back on as he shot his wires upwards.
He heard the airlock doors open.Guards began running in and shouting as they shot up into the air. Griesen felt a bullet whiz by his foot.
Griesen felt a hard shove as he scraped himself into the tunnel, with Tripe right behind him crawling as fast on his hands and feet as he could.
"Go, go, go!" he heard Tripe scream behind him as he felt the ping of bullets pelting the ceiling.
Griesen burst out of the air duct. Tripe wasn't far behind him; as they scrambled to the rooftop's edge.
"Where's Matthias?" he asked Tripe, gasping for air as they began running with the team towards the treeline. Towards safety.
"Not a matter," he said curtly. "You have the package. We have to get back to the ship - Matthias can handle a few militia. Come on!" he shouted as a blue strobe light came into a blinding haze above them.