by Nathan Pedde
However, he struggled to climb any higher. He knew there was no way he could get any higher. The blast doors were half closed, he knew at that moment that this would be it.
“Hold on,” a Voice said from down the hall, “I’m coming.”
Des looked up to see a smaller figure slide down the floor of the hallway. Tied around the figure's waist was a rope.
After a moment, as the figure drew near, Des recognized her. It was Elsie.
“Des?” Elsie yelled over the noise of the wind, “Hold on.
Elsie flew through the blast doors, using her arms and feet to guide her along the floor. She grabbed hold of Des’s arm and the pipe. The rope went slack for a moment.
“Grab hold of the rope,” Elsie said.
Des didn’t ask any questions. He grabbed hold of the rope and slammed against Elsie as his weight stretched out the line. Elsie let go of the rope as he was pulled upwards toward the closing doors.
As he neared the doors and Des grabbed hold of one of the doors. Elsie grabbed hold of the other blast door, and they pulled themselves through as they sealed shut.
Des fell onto the floor of the Undercroft corridor. Elsie collapsed next to him. Des let Elsie lay with her head on his shoulder. He panted and sucked air in an attempt to calm his breathing down. He didn’t realize his hands shook and he felt like he was going to lose his lunch.
“It’s okay,” Elsie said as she held onto him, “I got you.”
Des was silent for a moment as thoughts ran through his head in a jumble. The loudest of which was the disbelief that he had almost died. He had given up and was ready to be taken.
Footsteps echoed down the hallway, and Des turned to look at who came near.
Des recognized the newcomer as Robert, the construction worker. He came running towards him and Elsie.
“That’s not the kid I saw in the hall before,” Robert said, “We left the worker behind.”
Robert pulled out a radio off of his belt pocket.
“Belay that,” Des said, “I’m an intelligence officer. You’ll say nothing to anyone, but report to Captain Kushneeo and talk to him. Do you understand?”
“What…”
“There was no one else in this area, but me,” Des said, “Your quick actions saved my life, and I thank you.”
The construction worker gave him a weird, questioning look and was silent for a moment.
“Okay,” Robert said, “I’ll report to the Captain and say nothing. I hope you were right.”
Chapter 15
Des sat on the dirty floor of the Undercroft corridor. His back leaned against a steel bulkhead door. Elsie sat next to him on the floor. Sirens and alarms rang out in the distance.
“Level four alert,” the Emergency Voice said, “All civilians please evacuate to the nearest shelter. All Emergency Personnel, please report to your duty stations.”
The worker's footsteps faded into the distance of the station Undercroft.
“Intelligence officer?” Elsie said to Des.
Des blushed.
“Yeh,” Des said, “Station intelligence.”
“Captain Kusheeno?” She asked.
“Yeh.”
“He’s good at recruiting exceptional officers,” Elsie said.
“Why are you down here?” Des asked, “And who were you talking to in the school bathroom after school yesterday? Something about a friend and protocol?”
“About that,” Elsie said, “I’m a junior officer in the Jovian National Intelligence Service. My bosses have had me watching you for a while. They thought you were the one responsible for the attacks.”
“And do you?” Des asked.
“I don’t. Never have,” Elsie said, “But that doesn’t mean my Bosses will believe me. We’ll have to convince them.”
“I’ll let the Captain handle that,” Des said.
“Does your brother and Susan know about your new job?” Elsie asked.
“I hope not… Well… Susan might suspect something,” Des said, “I told her to drive me to a random location and that she wasn’t to ask me any questions.”
“And your brother?” Elsie asked.
“I used a voice and appearance disguise,” Des said.
“Nice,” Elsie said, “Your captain doesn’t hold back on the fancy tech.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“How long have you been a spy?”
“Two years. My parents don’t even know,” Elsie said.
Des thought about Cryslis, “You there? Hello…”
“Non-appearing Communication Apparatus? I don’t see anything in your ear.”
“Yeh,” Des said, “I think it may be broken. I heard a loud pop earlier when I touched the device.”
“Speaking of the device, where’s it?”
“I hope it didn’t fly out of the tunnel and through the breach,” Des said.
“It probably did,” Elsie said, “This entire corridor has been blown clear of debris.”
Des looked down and around the hallway. The walls had been opened from the construction workers and wires and pipes hanging from their hangers. A few pieces of debris had been caught in a few critical places as they flew by. Des searched the areas with his eyes. He knew he should get up and dig through the piles, but his arms and legs didn’t want to move for him. Jammed in a small opening to a far was the round cylinder device. It was dented from its tumble down the corridor.
“It’s over there,” Des said as he pointed at the device.
“Oh good,” Elsie said.
The alarms stopped ringing.
“Level one alert,” the Emergency Voice said, “Danger has passed. All civilians, please report to the nearest supervisor for debriefing.”
Des felt a sigh of relief.
“Can you call your supervisor to let them know what happened?”
“No,” Elsie said, “I work alone and isolated. I don’t have much contact with my supervisor as you apparently do.”
“How do you know that?”
“Earpiece,” Elsie said, “Disguise.”
“Right,” Des said.
Boot steps echoed down the hallway in the distance.
“Someone is coming,” Des said.
“How do we explain why we’re here and not in a shelter?” Elsie asked, “If it weren’t for your quick thinking the first time, my cover with the Captain would have been blown.”
“I’ve no idea,” Des said, “I have no reason to explain why you are here. My supervisor thinks you’re the saboteur and wanted to arrest you.”
Des’s phone rang. The ringtone echoed off of the walls.
“Hello,” Des answered his phone, “Hi Alix… Yes, I’m fine. Why are you asking… That’s funny. No, I didn’t go creeping in the Undercroft today… What? Where am I? Sorry, someone else is calling my phone. I’ll call you later.”
Des hung up. There was no one on his phone, he needed a reason to hang up. His thought was, he had just almost died, and was now lying in the dark with a girl. He wasn’t going to spend that time talking on the phone, friend or not. He didn’t want to listen to a cryptic message from Alix, especially one where he would have to lie.”
“That was weird,” Elsie said.
“Yes, it was.”
Two figures ran around the corner and into view. They ran at full speed with little regard to any of the debris the breach had pulled with them.
After a few moments, Des recognized Cooley and Cryslis.
“There you’re Des,” Cryslis said she looked at Elsie sitting next to him, “What’s going on?”
***
Des sat in a chair in Captain Kusheeno’s office, a borrowed set of shoes on his feet. The room was packed as Elsie, Cryslis, and Cooley sat in other chairs.
“Okay,” Captain Kusheeno said, “This is getting confusing. You stopped the attack and got the device.”
“Yes,” Des said, “They use hidden signals to arrange when a missile attack happens. When the attack happens, they send
a signal from the device to the missiles to get them to hit that area. The device weakens the stations shielding allowing for the weight of numbers to get a direct hit on the hull. Three or four hits and the station pops like an overfilled can.”
“Why have all of the other attacks failed?” the Captain asked.
“Not sure,” Des said.
“My belief is training,” Elsie said, “Learning where our defenses are. Where the weaknesses are. Where we are weak. Where to put the device. That type of thing.”
“So what do we do now?” the Captain said.
Cryslis cleared her throat.
“I want to head the investigation and keep hunting for the person who’s responsible for this,” Cryslis said.
“Okay,” Captain Kusheeno said, “First. Des. Congratulations on saving the station. The last attack would have worked if you hadn’t turned off the shield disrupter when you did. I would put you in for a medal, but we can’t have the media attention.”
Des nodded, he was having a hard time focusing his mind on the debriefing. He had almost got himself killed as he attempted to do the right thing, and now he had to sit through this.
“Second,” the Captain said, “Elsie. I talked to the bosses over at the Jovian National Intelligence Service. They confirmed you’re an agent, we’re glad your quick actions helped stop the attack. They did express their disappointment that you revealed yourself to us.”
“They fired me? Didn’t they?” Elsie said.
“Probably,” Captain Kusheeno said, “They told me that if I could use you, to say so and your contract would be transferred without cost to me.”
“So I work for you now?” Elsie asked.
“You’ve been assigned to Team Cryslis.”
Des cleared his throat. He had enough of this. He didn’t want to go through this again.
“I want out,” Des said.
“What?”
“In the last week,” Des said, “I’ve been drugged, beat up and almost spaced. My grades are down, and I have to lie to my friends and family. I didn’t sign up for this, and I don’t want this life anymore.”
“I understand, but I can’t let you go,” Captain Kusheeno said, “You’re too valuable to the security of this station.”
“That fucking sucks,” Des said, “But that doesn’t change a thing in my opinion.”
“Here is the deal. Work for me, and you’ll get to pick your cover job. You’ll also be paid for your time spent as an agent. Upon graduation, most students are joining the military or being hired by a military support company. This war isn’t going well. If you give me the service, I can guarantee that you’ll be able to pick what branch of the military you join. Keep you out of something like a death sentence like the marines.”
“So that means not only will I not have to work for Courier One, I’ll be able to pick where I go to work afterward,” Des said.
“Yes,” Captain Kusheeno said, “Other high school students don’t have a choice. Even your brother, top of his class in a military academy has no choice. The branches will fight for him, but he still has no choice.”
Des thought for a couple seconds.
“What happens if I don’t want to cooperate?” Des asked.
“Then under Jovian law, I have to arrest you because you know too many classified details.”
“So I have little choice,” Des said.
“Well…”
“Fine,” Des said, “Double my pay and the pay for anyone on Cryslis’s team.”
“I do have an intelligence budget,” the captain said.
“And-”
“Fine, but anyone who takes the higher pay doesn’t get a choice of what job they have to take. That’s the deal.”
“So higher pay,” Cryslis said, “but little choice on the cover job, or smaller pay and a choice? Can we think about it?”
Captain Kusheeno raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, we’re all going to be spies for you, but whether or not we take the higher pay or more job choice.”
“Fine. You’re all dismissed. Call me tomorrow morning with your decision.”
***
Des, Elsie, Cryslis, and Cooley sat around the safehouse. Des and Elsie sat on the couch, while Cooley sat at the kitchen table fiddling with a computer. Cryslis was in the kitchen making a pot of tea.
To Des, everything felt different somehow. Like things had changed, and he wasn’t sure if it was for the better. He had thwarted the attack, but his life still hadn’t gone back to normal. In his mind, he had dug himself deeper into the web of being a spy than he wanted. He had almost died, and he no longer wanted to be involved.
An hour before, they had loaded into Cooley’s white hover-van and drove to the safehouse. They had performed the necessary checks on being followed as Cryslis had insisted.
Despite the events of the day, Des had a change of clothes in the safehouse for him. He had lost his shoes and had discovered his clothes had ripped. A moment later and they would have ripped off of his body.
Cryslis entered the living room with a tray loaded with a teapot and four cups.
“I think we all need a cup of tea,” Cryslis said.
“Tea?” Elsie said.
“Yes,” Cryslis said, “Tea.”
Cryslis poured the cups and Des took a cup. He didn’t put any sugar into it and took a sip. It was slightly bitter but refreshing. Des watched Elsie load four cubes of sugar into her cup.
“What happened with that worker?” Des asked Cryslis.
“Don’t know,” Cryslis said, “I checked on him, but there is no record of him.”
“What do you mean no record?” Des replied.
“No record of anyone going to the Captain,” Cryslis said, “and there is nothing with the company he said he was employed with. I’m disappointed that both of you two didn’t get a real name.”
“I’ll buzz the net for him. I’m sure I can find him,” Cooley said.
“What happened to your brother?” Elsie asked Des.
“I’m not sure,” Des said.
“He received thanks for all of his help,” Cryslis said, “His research was confiscated as well as his research notes. It’s now ours. A copy of it is being made to be installed in the safehouse for our investigation.”
“Oh?” Des asked, “I thought we were just a small team. Just doing the single small mission.”
“Oh no,” Cryslis said, “It’ll still be the four of us, but we now have a much bigger mission.”
“Oh great,” Des said, “What’s that?”
“We’re to monitor the signals of the station,” Cryslis said, “and to make sure any unauthorized communications are identified, and the evidence is turned over to the Captain so the person can be arrested.”
Des took a sip of his tea.
“Sounds like a lot of work for Cooley,” Des said.
“I plan on training you and Elsie up to use it too. Spread the load,” Cooley said.
“Are we investigating the missiles still?” Elsie asked.
“Yes,” Cryslis said, “That’s priority one.”
“I do have some thoughts on it,” Cooley said.
“Is there anything we need to move on today?” Cryslis aked.
“Not particularly,” Cooley said, “Mainly computer stuff at the moment. I’ll have some ideas later.”
“Then,” Cryslis said as she turned to Elsie and Des, “I want you two to go and rest?”
“Rest?” Des said, “But we have a saboteur to…”
“Rest is more important,” Cryslis said, “And you need to salvage your cover with your sitter and your brother.”
“About that…” Des said.
“The Captain has inserted your name in a shelter half the station away,” Cryslis said, “You’re going to use Elsie as a reason that you had to run if anyone asks.”
“Elsie?” Des said.
“Yes,” Cryslis said, “Des, you’ll tell Susan that Elsie got trapped in an elevator and you had to
get her.”
“And me?” Elsie said.
“The shelter you had been placed at was by your work,” Cryslis said, “The captain has you in a station camera leaving the work when you called Des. It’ll match up.”
“Great,” Des said, “More lies.”
“Yes,” Cryslis said, “You shouldn’t have blown your cover like that.”
Des took a long drink of his tea. He didn’t trust himself to say anything at the moment.
“Anyway,” Cryslis said, “You two need to get going. I’m sure you both have homework to work on.”
Chapter 16
Des had made his way home from the safehouse. Even though Elsie and himself lived close to each other, they took separate routes. He knew it was safer that way, however, part of him thought that he was paranoid.
The missile attacks had a calming effect for the station. Whenever one would hit, and the all clear would pass, it would calm down the city for the rest of the day. People would be subdued, most would make reason’s to stay home and not go out. The station had never been this calm before.
Des looked down at his watch and checked the time. It was two in the afternoon. Typically, the station would be packed with people enjoying their Saturday. However, today it was different. The streets were eerie calm, like the day after a big game where the home team lost.
As he walked down the street, he looked at peoples faces as he passed. Most of the people looked scared and shied away from others. Des knew the feeling, he had felt it as well before he had gotten involved in this mess. There were a few things which scared him. Bugs, spiders, heights, confined spaces, they all held no sway with him. Even the thought of dying didn’t scare him. He was afraid to die, however, he didn’t want to die.
Now, conflicting emotions were running through his head. He didn’t feel scared by the situation, he knew he could and would do what needed to be done when the time came to do it. But this silence afterward, this was different. He struggle to form the words in his head, and to put the thoughts together.
If I can’t describe this to myself, Des thought, how am I to express this to anyone else?
