Death's Twilight

by A. J. Leavens

CHAPTER NINE

  Hotel Agora, Ukraine, December 4, 2308 18:41:12 (T-Minus 00:17:22:00)

  Slade and Kozel headed back to The Agora. It was as good a lodging as any, and the Innkeeper seemed more than happy to have an Emissary under his roof. Slade had stopped on the way and purchased some food packages for the children, and gave them each one Steel Royal. He knew in the grand scheme of things, it was the equivalent of a drop of rain in the ocean, but he wanted to help.

  Over dinner, they discussed strategy. There was little they could do while Herman was with McDonald. They had to get him out of that office – out of Crimea, actually.

  "Any idea what he's actually doing there? He's not eating tea and crumpets, that's for damn sure." Kozel stated flatly.

  "I'd agree. Hey. I just thought of something." Slade tapped his head. "I've had my memory implant cataloguing everything since we arrived – streets, hovers, people – everything. I just realized that there are no young people in Crimea. Like none. Remember the guards? They were old and out of shape."

  "I had noticed that. I wonder where the young ones are. You would think that they'd have the younger, stronger ones keeping guys like us at bay, instead of the old out of shape ones."

  "Exactly. So where are all the young people?"

  "There are young people. Remember those kids in the street today? They're young. But there's no one from like ten to thirty-five years old. I've got a terminal. I'll start digging. You said you were scanning newspaper articles? Do you store them?"

  "Yeah, I do. In five year increments. I'll get on it."

  For the next two and a half hours, they scanned the net, papers, news and holo signals to find any information on the apparent lack of youth in Crimea. They found missing persons reports and lots of obituaries, but nothing substantial – at least not on the surface.

  Slade was just about ready to pack it in, having scanned all the files in his drive when Kozel popped in from the next room.

  "Emissary! I think I might have something!"

  "Really? What is it, Kozel?" Slade stood, and walked into the adjacent room.

  "Look here," Kozel said, pointing to his terminal screen. "There used to be a mine in Crimea forty years ago."

  "Used to be? Did it run out of resources?"

  "Quite the opposite – there were enough resources for at least fifty more years of mining."

  "So..."

  "The youth and young adults did all the mining. Kids as young as six were working shifts in the mine, procuring silver and ore for use in the Territory. When you turned fifty, you retired."

  "Where did they go?"

  "They didn't.  They're still in the mine. It collapsed twenty years ago, killing everyone inside. There were over ten thousand deaths."

  "I've never heard of that. You'd think that would make the news."

  "You would think. How long has McDonald been Principal?"

  "This is her third ten year term. Apparently she has the popular vote."

  "Or the public is terrified of her. Do you think she had anything to do with the collapse?"

  "I'll look into it. But if all the able-bodied people were in the mine when it collapsed, where did the kids come from?

  "That is a very good question.  They sure didn't walk here on their own. And, if they were born in the Territory, who are their parents? The guards and other people we've seen are way too old to be having children."

  "iCorps would have a fit if they knew sixty-somethings were having kids. They've outlawed kids after forty for over four decades."

  "It sounds like we need to visit the Principal's Office again. This is going to be an interesting meeting."

  "And we need to do it quick. Herman can't catch wind of this, or he's gonna steer her in the direction he wants, I know it. Not to mention the fact that I only have thirty-four hours left to deliver the Letter."

  "What's the plan, Emissary?"

  "Right now, we need to rest. It's going to be an early morning, and I don't think Herman and McDonald are going to be too pleased to see us before breakfast."

  "Anything I can do before I sleep?"

  "Yeah. Get me the blueprints to McDonald's Office."

  "I thought you were going to ask for something difficult, Emissary." Kozel said with a wide grin. "You'll have them shortly."

  Slade saved the blueprints to his drive and began to plan. The front entry was easy enough to get by. If the two that escorted them today were the best McDonald had, Slade wouldn't even need his Boom Stick. Stealth may gain some additional information that blunt force may not, especially if Herman was in the room, so he poured over the prints.

  There was a skylight directly over McDonald's office. That would be the easiest entry point, but the challenge became getting to the roof.  Slade accessed his drive, scanning for pictures of the office.  When he found some, he smiled to himself: there were fully grown oak trees beside the building. Roof access solved. Slade sent copies of the pictures to the viewing screen in the main living area for tomorrow's briefing.

  When he consulted the blueprints again, Slade discovered something that gave him pause: there were cameras on the roof as well as pressure sensors next to the skylight. As he puzzled through bypassing the sensors, Slade began to hum to himself. After a few minutes of humming and thinking, the answer was no closer to him. They might have to take the front door approach after all.

  "Hey Jude, don't make it bad," Slade sang softly to myself. "Take a sad song and make it better..."

  Wait a minute. Was the answer really that easy? Slade quickly accessed his drive again, searching for schematics for the pressure sensors. He didn't know who manufactured them, but the principle was sound across all manufacturers – they would be set for a certain pressure on the glass or surrounding area. Slade just needed to be lighter than the setting.

  The cameras were no problem. He would use his tattoo to mimic the scene behind him. His drive could feed images to the tattoo processing unit and his skin would adapt. It would be a slow, painful trek across the roof, but it would work. The last thing he needed to do before sleep was learn a new skill: Acrobatics. The ability to jump, tumble and roll was going to come in handy.

  Slade accessed the viewing terminal and navigated to the SKATE program.

  When he got his skills from iCorps, they were transferred to his drive by Control and given the appropriate expiration date. They handled all the financial worries. But sometimes the skills ran out too soon, and Slade was stuck. He wanted no chance of any malfunctions.

  SKATE loaded, and Slade proceeded to select Acrobatics, Aerial Acrobatics, and Gymnastics. He'd always been a big proponent of over-achieving. He set them to download while he slept.  After providing his payment information, Slade double-checked his order.

  Requested: Acrobatics, Aerial Acrobatics and Gymnastics Requested Skill Time frame: 24 Hours.

  Cost: 1K SR

  Download Time: 7 hours, 34 Minutes

  Accept? Y/N

  It looked good on his end, and the thousand Steel Royals would be worth it if he got Herman. Slade accepted the transaction, exited SKATE, put the viewing screen to sleep, and then headed to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.