“Where did you have it last?” The officer asked.
“It was…” Marshall made a show of thinking and looking up. “Next to the body.” He finished and the officer grimaced.
“Are you sure? I just secured that area. It is now an evidence lockup.” He explained.
“That ID has all my case files and passwords in it.” Marshall complained. “We’ve got to go back for it.” He said almost whining.
“Why don’t you use a Pad device?” The officer asked.
“They get hacked too often. The ID is the most secure thing we have on ship.” Marshall replied and his logic was sound. So reluctantly, they both turned back towards the security door they had just left. Marshall made the turn but didn’t move. The officer had turned and taken a few steps before realizing that Marshall wasn’t following. He turned back quickly, gun in hand.
“Sorry man, gotta go.” Marshall said as he fired the Taser. The officer went down and shook violently for a few seconds. When he managed to get up again, Marshall was gone. Worse yet, the storage device was fried by the jolt. The camera data was gone.
“I’ll get you for this.” The officer cursed as he picked himself up. Marshall had just made his number one hit list.
∆ ∆ ∆
The Tall man grimaced. The situation was rapidly getting out of hand. He needed to act and act fast. His monitor on Dominic had flat lined. The fool had probably stumbled and then bitten on the pellet in his teeth or he had almost been captured and had actually done the honorable thing. Either way, the Tall man was short another asset in the field. Worse yet, the camera system had been blocked out in places by some electrical surge that he could not explain. Whole sections were down, and they seemed to be random. He wondered who had wired those cameras in the first place. It looked like a botched job. The network was so fragile, and the surveillance had never been much more than spotty when they all worked. He cursed the incompetence of it all. He would make it a point to update all of those connections when this current crisis was over.
The maintenance man watched closely as his boss fidgeted in anger. He knew that his next orders would be to go out and bring someone back. He knew that his contacts would have found the teenagers by now, but that reporting it before he could confirm could have disastrous side effects. He was itching to go do this thing, but the order hadn’t yet been given. He could suggest it but if it was the wrong move, his boss was already angry. How to survive the next few minutes was a problem he was currently trying to solve. The two had escaped past his outstretched hands. That didn’t look good for his personal resume. He needed to redeem himself. He needed to go out and show the tall man what he could do. He needed, a chance to act. As it was, he was too terrified to move. Even shifting in his seat could bring down the wrath of his boss. All he could hope for now was to be dispatched. It was a feeling of helplessness that he loathed.
“I am surrounded by incompetents.” The tall man said aloud finally breaking the silence of the room. He looked over at the maintenance man and scoffed. “You let them right by you.” He said and it was scolding.
“Yes sir, do you want me to retrieve them?” The maintenance man replied in desperation.
“You could do that?” The tall man asked.
“I believe so sir, I have sensors deployed all over the place. They can’t evade me for long.” He declared.
“Then why are you sitting here?” The tall man asked dangerously.
“To make sure you don’t need anything else.” The Maintenance man replied.
“Go! There is nothing else more important than getting those kids back here.” He said standing up quickly. The maintenance man stood up as well, backing away even as he replied.
“At once sir.” He said and he managed not to stumble in his haste to retreat.
“All speed! They must not be allowed to talk to anybody about us.” He added as his underling escaped him. He stood there for a long moment before sitting back down and grumbling. This day was not going as he would have liked. Someone would pay for that. Oh yes, someone would pay.
∆ ∆ ∆
Tina looked like she was going to pass out. The flight from jail and the idea of being an escaped convict were telling on her mind. The wanted pictures of her were plastered everywhere. Every screen seemed to point at the poor teenager. There was nowhere to run and very few places to hide. Lock’s pace had been blistering. Apparently, he was suffering from an overdose of adrenaline. Tina’s mother finally called them to a halt. The trio slipped into a shadowed closet and stayed there quietly panting.
“I know we are supposed to remain in hiding, but where can we go?” Mrs. Hull asked.
Lock was starting to calm down a bit. His eyes were a little less crazy as he considered the question. “We need a place that is close to food and water so that we do not have to venture out to maintain ourselves. We need a place where our power usage will not be tracked.” He added as he considered his Pad device.
Tina was still winded, but her mind was working on the problem. “I know a couple of places that will work, but it would be dangerous to get there.” She warned.
Mrs. Hull looked even more nervous. “Dangerous? How?” She prompted.
Tina looked into her mother’s eyes. “It is a long way to go and some of it has to be in the general public areas. We would have to be very careful.” She replied. “But, the place I’m thinking of has everything we need to keep us secure and safe once we get there.” She added before the plan could be stopped.
Lock leaned in close. “How far?” He asked.
Tina did some math in her head and then looked up. “About a quarter of the ship.” She replied. Her breathing was finally beginning to settle down now. “And we’d need to pace ourselves. We couldn’t just run there like we have been doing. It would raise way too much attention.” She warned.
Lock shook his head. “I understand. I just… well I’ve never been on the run before.” He admitted.
Tina laughed and then stifled it so nobody outside could hear. “You think I have?” She replied. “How much trouble do you think I really am?” She asked and then gave her mom a glare to keep her witty response from surfacing.
“I figured you were into all of that underground stuff.” Lock replied honestly. “I mean, you seem to be into everything.” He said. It sounded lame to his own ears.
“I do things that are under the radar, that is true, but you were the one who was making missions in the forbidden areas.” Tina pointed out. “You got us involved in this… whatever it is. That man would not have come to my house if I hadn’t been looking up things you were interested in.” Tina pointed out.
Mrs. Hull looked at both kids. “What have you gotten yourselves into?” She asked now.
Tina shrugged. “Honestly, we don’t know. But what we do know is that there are people of power on this ship that want us. The trumped-up murder charge is an example of how badly they want us.” She explained.
Lock shook his head and rubbed his eyes. “I wish I hadn’t dragged you all down into that corridor.” He said. “It was how I was…” he stopped himself in mid-sentence. “I’m not supposed to say.” He finished.
Tina knew though. “I understand.” She replied to him while Mrs. Hull was getting angry at any omission this late in whatever game they were playing.
“Oh no, I need to know what is going on.” She said sternly. She made a point not to raise her voice and it sounded even more menacing like that. “I understand that you have both gotten wrapped up in some kind of intrigue. The fact that a cop wants us to find evidence for him is a definite sign that something is amiss. But you both know more than you are saying.” She pressed.
Lock sat back against the cold wall. “It’s not all that diabolical.” He said. “We were investigating a strange rash of equipment malfunctions and sensor trips in the under corridors. They were all in the public maintenance logs, but the maintenance crew never found anyone when they responded to a sensor breech.” He expla
ined. “Anyway, when we got down to a sensor trip on our own, we found that a system had been sabotaged. It was a small backup system about a door.” Lock said, telling the whole story now. “But as we tried to figure all of that out, a maintenance man came down to find out about us being down there. You saw him on your video, he killed the installer.” Lock pointed out.
Mrs. Hull was starting to put the pieces together. “So, he came to take Tina from me because she was down in the corridors?” She asked.
Lock shook his head more violently. “No, it’s not quite that simple. I was taken by this maintenance man to a trial for trespassing in the lower corridors. There were no ways to get out of it. They had video of me and the others, and they knew that I was guilty. I thought I was going to disappear forever.” He admitted. “But then the Tall man stood up for me. He told the court that I had discovered the sabotage on my own without the resources they had. I might be a valuable asset with that sort of mindset and skills.” Lock recounted. “Then they recruited me into their ring of spies.” He said lowering his eyes.
Mrs. Hull’s eyes went wide. “So, you work for them?” She asked, pushing the important part into the light.
“I’m just the new guy in a group of very experienced operators. I only met a couple of people and they treat me like a new fly in their ointment. I had no idea how important anything was until they grabbed Tina.” He said. There was an apology in between the lines of his confession. Then his eyes perked up. “Once I heard about it, I contacted you to tell you I could find her.” He said. “You know the rest.”
Mrs. Hull sat back now too. The walls apparently needed additional support. “You have kicked a hornets’ nest and the stinging is about to begin.” She said at last.
“If it were just me, I’d take my lashes and move on. But Tina’s life has been changed forever.” Lock admitted. “I never counted on that.”
Tina huffed. “It’s not forever. I’ll be cleared of these charges when the true video comes out. I’ll be famous. Not for the right reasons, but for the poor child falsely accused and had to fend for herself on a hostile ship. It makes for good drama anyway.” She said flipping her hand aside.
“That’s not fair.” Lock protested. “You can’t take all of this in stride when we are running for our lives.” He exclaimed. He had to be reminded to hold his voice down. He backed down quickly to his credit.
“She’s not taking it in stride.” Mrs. Hull replied for her daughter. “Can’t you see how nervous she is? This is a defense mechanism to shield herself from the cruel reality we face.” She added. Tina made another huff sound. Tina’s mom continued. “Anyway, we are all in this together and I will be the first to admit that things don’t look all that good. We are fugitives in our own community. We are running from authorities that seem to be completely corrupted. There is an overlord that seeks us, and he is pulling the strings on everything we hear and see. If you want to know what desperation looks like, just look around. This is it.” She informed them.
Then she shifted gears. “But we have hope still.” She said and the two teenagers gawked at her. “We have a plan and we have someone working towards our goal so long as they align with his.” She told them.
“Do you honestly think that cop is going to help us? He’s on the side of the government. He admitted to us that his whole department serves this tall man.” Lock protested once more.
“He did, and that admission is one that a corrupt cop wouldn’t have made. I feel that things are bad, but that we have at least a fighting chance of survival. We will probably never go back to our old lives, but perhaps a new one is available to us if we succeed.” Mrs. Hull said.
Tina looked exhausted. “So, our choices are fight and win or die.” She had taken all of that talking and boiled it all down to a single inescapable sentence.
“I’m afraid so little one.” Tina’s mom replied softly. “But we can do this. We are strong and determined. Lock is connected and you know the ship better than anyone I know.” She said, listing their assets.
“I just wish someone else was the wanted criminal.” Tina complained but it was more of a sympathy play than a real complaint.
“Oh well, we have to play the cards we are dealt.” Lock replied and Tina glared at him for spoiling her comfort.
“You’re the spy, what do we do next then?” Tina challenged.
“You were leading us to a safe place.” Lock countered. “You know that and have already picked it. I cannot access anything until we can adequately cover our tracks. Otherwise it would lead them straight to us.” He reminded her.
“Hmph, so your connections are just so much fodder?” Tina challenged.
“Not as such, it is just time to be more careful than that.” Lock replied, remaining calm and not taking Tina’s bait. “We need to get settled in and set ourselves up without alerting anyone that we have done it.” He reminded them all.
Tina knew that he was right. She had just been trying to get under his skin a bit. “Well, we can’t sit around here forever either, we need to keep moving.” She offered.
Tina’s mom looked worried. “You sure dear? I mean, you were just complaining about being the one in the public eye. Shouldn’t we consider a disguise or something?” She asked.
Tina’s eyes lit up. “Good thinkin’ mom.” She said. She pulled her jacket up and popped the hood up. She pulled out her bag and grabbed green lipstick. Soon she had green lips and colorful symbols on her cheeks. Her basic face shape had been completely hidden by the gaudy marks. She popped the colors back into her bag and then looked up all business. “Okay, let’s go.” She said.
“That’s my girl.” Mom said and they were off again. The traffic on the promenade was light and they only had to skirt a small amount of it. They ducked the cameras well enough to avoid detection by the electronic surveillance system and then ducked down into a chute that led way farther than they would have dared hope. The chute ran down the Starboard side of the ship and allowed access in low gravity to several redundant systems. This was a maintenance tube. It was not as formal as the corridors they had visited before. One was usually in a vac suit for this chute, but it had air and some pressure. It had reduced gravity, so they had to be careful what they pushed off of. However, they made great time down the side of the ship. They popped out again where Tina indicated, and they emerged behind a large support structure.
“That was fun, but uh, where are we?” Lock asked. They had traveled quite a distance around the ship.
“We’re in the secondary commons area. We are off to the side though and not in view of the main area. The shuttle ports are not far, and the maintenance terminals are one level above us.” Tina explained.
Lock was startled. “You arranged for maintenance terminal access as part of your plan?” He asked.
Tina smiled. “Of course. We need to find the evidence and you cannot use your personal terminal or we can be tracked. We’ll disguise our queries in the maintenance traffic.” She explained.
Mrs. Hull nodded. “That takes care of one need, but where are we staying?” She asked now. “We cannot stay here on the verge of being discovered.” She pointed out.
Tina’s look was grave. “Oh, I know. We’ll be setting up soon in the wake of the heat exchangers. The temperature will fluctuate a bit in there, but nobody goes there. The connections to everything go through there and we’ll find a small place to hide away from all of the electronic systems since they will be blinded by the exchangers themselves.” Tina told them.
“Nice work. Lead the way.” Lock prodded and the group started moving again.
The area Tina had considered was cramped, to say the least. But it did boast a huge electronic blind spot where even Pad device signals did not penetrate. That meant that even a passive scan would not find them. The commons area held food and drink aplenty, especially in the afterhours when only automated machines dispensed the life-sustaining materials. The maintenance terminal had a hard wire here due to the signal
dispersion in the area. Lock was more than satisfied with this result. They moved in right away and began to set up their accommodations.
“I can’t believe how good at this you are.” Mrs. Hull exclaimed.
“I’m a survivor, just like you.” Tina replied. They would go for dinner soon. So long as they stayed off the grid, they would be safe. It would be incredibly difficult to find them now.
∆ ∆ ∆
The tall man shook as he bellowed. “Find them!” He screamed. The crew before him scrambled to get away and follow those orders. It had been a frustrating few days. His people were combing every inch of the ship but finding nothing to report. He was spending vast amounts of credits to keep this watch up, but the teenagers had simply vanished from the ship. What was worse is that everyone seemed to find where the kids had been. The loss of Dominic still rubbed him the wrong way. That cop had somehow gotten the drop on his agent and the fool had killed himself. Of course, that was the expected course of action if you are about to be captured, but the loss was damn inconvenient just now. He had operatives all over the ship and vast amounts of credits so one little idiot should not bother him this much, but it did. He was watching video feeds from various points all over the ship. A vast screen of small squares spread out before him and his eyes watched like that of a bird of prey. He wondered now why he had not simply taken these kids under his wing. They were this good at staying hidden so he would have used them well. But he had spooked them instead. No, this was a loss no matter how he looked at it. What was worse was that they had seen him! He had made a personal appearance. He almost never did that. Now he regretted doing so. If he could be implicated in any of these dealings, he might be exposed. His power would be questioned if it became common knowledge. He worked from the shadows. Nobody knew who pulled the strings. Nobody cared that he existed so long as life continued normally. Poor pathetic sheep to be driven, that’s what they were. The common, ordinary, run-of-the-mill citizens. The tall man had a loathing for the common folk. He wanted them to just drop into the next colony and disappear from his screens. What a solid solution that would be, but the ship had not encountered a habitable world for quite a while now. The tall man was timeless, he could wait. But the humans on board could not. They would continue to live 0ut their lives on this ship and their offspring would wait for a planet to call their own. They might not get the chance either. It made their choice to embark on this journey questionable in the tall man’s eyes. Still, he had the control he wanted and needed. He was secretly in charge of everything and everybody. Nobody would even remember his face if they saw him. The thought made him smile.
Eternals Among Us: Book one Page 11
