Prodigy

by Edward Mullen

  Aris was still stationed high atop the ridge that overlooked the entire compound. He peered through his vision-enhancer glasses, which reminded him of being in a video game, and focused on the compound below. As he settled into position, he kept a keen eye on everything. He was looking for any flaws in the security detail that he could exploit.

  After a thorough surveillance, Aris became hungry. He reached into his bag, pulled out an energy bar, and began eating it. As he chewed, he resumed his reconnaissance. As Aris peered through his lenses, something odd struck him – there did not appear to be a single person in the compound. He decided to make his way closer to the house to further his investigation.

  He scaled down the embankment and inched his way toward the house. With each movement, something new came into his field of vision. His lenses automatically focused on the new objects and displayed a tiny message on the screen. It identified the species of plant, analyzed the moisture in the soil, and determined the distance between him and other objects. It also displayed wind, temperature, and GPS coordinates. He quickly disabled those features because they were becoming more of a distraction than anything else.

  He continued to inch forward.

  Once he reached the perimeter of the property, he was close enough to hack into the security system and disable it. Within minutes, Aris bypassed the firewall, disabled the energy grid alarm, and rendered the cameras inoperable. He had one last defensive barrier to worry about – the fence – which definitely could not be hacked. In front of him was a twelve-foot high steel-barred fence.

  There appeared to be a simple choice regarding the matter: go over, under, or through, but he had already planned it out. Going over seemed to be the most sensible and discreet option of the three. He took a couple looks around before reaching into his bag and pulling out several powerful magnets. He placed each magnet perpendicularly between the bars to create a makeshift ladder. Once in place, he simply climbed over the fence with ease. The razor-sharp barbed wire at the top posed another problem. To deal with that, he pulled out a pair of wire cutters and snipped the barbed wire off.

  Aris climbed down the other side of the fence and remained in a crouched position. Although he could not see much, he listened intently. He thought he heard something coming from the Northeast side of the building so he quickly responded. He darted into a shadowed area and disappeared from sight. A moment passed and nothing happened. I must be hearing things, he thought while remaining quiet. After a while, he stood up, wiped his dirty hands on his pant legs, and walked cautiously toward the house.

  He was astonished at the weak security. If someone was so inclined, they could sneak into the home of the world’s most powerful man, and assassinate him. Of course, that was provided circumstances remained the same and there were no security personnel around, which was unlikely.

  Aris approached the house and positioned himself next to one of the windows. With his back pressed up against the wall, he swivelled his torso around and peered into the house. He took a brief look around, then returned to his original position. His heart rate elevated and his palms became sweaty. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. So far everything was going smoothly and according to plan. Something about that didn’t sit right with him. It was almost too easy.

  He reached into his bag and took out a container. He wiped the sweat from his hands and opened it up. Inside the container was a transparent mud-like substance that he smeared across the window. It was one of the many things he had obtained from Mara and her camp. A few moments later he took out another device, pressed it firmly against the glass, and activated a switch. A high-pitched frequency, inaudible to humans, rippled through the glass, leaving a large spider-web fracture. The glass was held together by the clear viscous goo that he had been applied earlier. Aris gave a light tap with the meaty part of his fist and the glass fell out of place. He slowly lowered the portion of glass down to the ground.

  Just as he was about to climb in the window, a pack of aggressively barking dogs came charging from out of nowhere. They had heard the high-pitched sound and were now looking to sink their teeth into the would-be intruder. With no time to spare, Aris quickly jumped into the window opening and wiggled through just in time to avoid the dogs nipping at his feet.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  The overall outlook was grim. Those who were fortunate enough to survive the Doomsday illness were either sick or mourning the loss of loved ones. Either way, the general attitude of hopelessness was predominant. Many people had stopped going to work to remain indoors with their family and friends, counting down the finals days until the world ended. This was a fortunate set of circumstances for Alex and Milo since many of the security guards had stopped showing up as well.

  Milo and Alex were still hanging on, but their health was declining rapidly. Between the nose bleeds, lightheadedness, and coughing fits, they carried out their important mission.

  Being a resident and alumni, they both had access to the Facility. However, they did not have access to Level III. They entered through a back entrance and made their way through the labyrinth of seemingly endless hallways. If anyone was watching the security feed, they would have been spotted instantly. Fortunately, no one was.

  They came across an equipment room and decided to help themselves to some items. Milo placed his thumb on the scanner box and the door slid open. Alex quickly ran in and knew exactly what she wanted. She grabbed a precision laser scanner and a portable nano-constructor.

  With the devices in tow, they proceeded down a long hallway until they reached a staircase, which lead to the secure Level III.

  Alex aimed the precision laser device at the scanner box and activated it. The laser scanned the oils left behind on the pad and created a digital read of the fingerprint. She then uploaded that data into the portable nano-constructor. Kneeling on the ground, Alex paired the two devices. Milo felt faint and began to wobble. He crouched down and braced himself against the wall. Soon after, his nose started to bleed. Alex handed him a cloth and asked him if he was okay. It was one more reminder that time was not a luxury they could afford.

  “Hang in there, Milo. We’re almost done.”

  When the nano-constructor was ready, it processed the information from the laser device to produce a thin, transparent strip. Within seconds, the small object ejected from the printing dock, allowing Alex to place it over her finger. She was sure the technique would work since she and Milo had done it before.

  With the artificial nanobot fingerprint fastened over her thumb, Alex pressed it against the scanner box. A green light scanned her thumb then said, ‘Access Denied.’

  “What?” Alex said in frustration. “This should have worked. Did they change the system?”

  “I don’t know, try it again.”

  Alex scanned her thumb one more time. Again, the same message appeared. She ripped the fake thumbprint off her thumb and tossed it on the ground.

  “Now what do we do?” Milo asked.

  Alex took a deep breath, looked at all her gadgets, and tried to think of something else.

  “There might be another way,” she said.

  Alex took her multi-use tool and pried the fingerprint scanner off its mounting bracket. Once it was loose, she gave one final tug and yanked it off the wall.

  “Here,” she said as she handed it to Milo.

  “What do you want me to do with this?”

  “I don’t care, keep it as a souvenir.”

  In the place where the fingerprint scan pad used to be was an assortment of exposed wires. Alex rearranged the configuration of wires. She cut a red wire and a green wire and merged them together. As soon as the wires made contact with each other, the door split open, with both sides retracting into the wall.

  “That was easy,” Milo said. “Why didn’t we just think of that in the first place?”

  It was one of the byproducts of growing up in the high-tech world – people had a tendency to think of overly technical sol
utions to problems that came up.

  They entered the cement stairwell to the forbidden Level III. The cold air conditioning chilled the cement, making it feel like they had stepped into a large refrigerator.

  “Wow, it’s actually kind of nice in here,” Milo said.

  “Don’t get too comfortable, we won’t be staying long.”

  They descended one level to the Level III subfloor and had yet to see a single person. Nevertheless, they still exercised caution. Alex poked her head out of the stairwell and into the hallway.

  “All clear,” she informed. “Let’s move.”

  They ran down the hall and located the room that contained what they were looking for. Again, they were presented with another scanner box, but Alex made quick work of it and within seconds, the doors split open.

  As soon as they entered, they triggered the motion lights. The room was larger than Milo had expected. As for Alex, she had downloaded the floor plan so she knew what to expect.

  Inside the room were many shelves, displaying highly-complex and expensive machines, but they only came for one.

  “Here it is,” Alex said as she walked up to the device.

  “Are you sure this is it?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Cause it says right here on the side of it.”

  “Oh.”

  “You know, when these first came out, they were the size of a small city. Now I can hold it in my hands,” she said, admiring the beauty of the device.

  “Stop right there!” a stern voice commanded from the doorway.

  Alex was so startled that she nearly dropped the device. Had she done that, it would have been a terrible misfortune for the human race.

  Both Alex and Milo slowly turned around and saw a uniformed security guard standing at the entrance. He was not the law-enforcing variety; he was a part of the Facility’s in-house security and was not nearly as intimidating.

  “Finally!” Milo emphasized, “I paged you ten minutes ago. Someone broke into this room, we didn’t see who did it, but we reported it right away.”

  The guard looked confused, but wasn’t convinced just yet.

  “Luckily we came along or else someone could have stolen this valuable equipment.”

  “Do you two have clearance to be down here?” the security guard asked.

  “Of course, do you not know who we are?” Milo said as he approached closer.

  “Hold it right there. Don’t move.”

  “I was just coming over so you could scan my identification chip.”

  “Very well then, but move slowly,” the guard instructed nervously.

  “Certainly,” Milo obliged. He walked closer and spun around to allow the guard to scan the chip implanted in the back of his neck. When the guard held up his scanner, Milo completed the revolution and clocked the guard in the mouth. The unexpected punch caught the security guard by surprise and knocked him unconscious.

  “Milo, what did you do?” Alex said in shock.

  “Oh sure, you break into a government Facility – twice – steal a priceless device and I’m the bad guy?”

  “You didn’t have to hit him,” Alex protested.

  “What would you have preferred I do?”

  “How about trying to reason with him? Explain who we are and why we’re here. Come on, there’s a reason why we don’t use violence to solve our problems anymore, it’s barbaric.”

  “Barbaric or not, it solved our problem.”

  “It’s a temporary solution, which may end up causing greater harm in the long run.”

  “Says the woman who gets into prison fights.”

  “Well, that was different. I was acting in self-defense.”

  “Are you going to lecture me, or are you going to help me stash this body?”

  “You know, I never imagined you would ever ask me that.”

  “Come on, grab his legs.”

  “Never mind that, just leave him. We have what we came for, now let’s get out of here.”

  They ran back to where they had come from. They entered the cold stairwell, ascended the cement steps, and ran toward the exit.

  “Milo, I’m not going to lie, that was actually kind of impressive what you did back there. Where’d you learn that?”

  “I downloaded the Kung Fu app last week, just in case Aris gave me any more trouble.”

  Alex and Milo continued to run. They figured once they made it outside the Facility, they would be home free. As the last set of doors slid open, they discovered they were sadly mistaken.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Aris passed through one of the living rooms and walked slowly into the adjoining room. All the lights in the house were off, but there was a glow from the digital paintings on the walls, which continuously cycled through a slideshow of classic art.

  He proceeded into a grand ballroom that had large decorative rugs stretched out across polished white marble tiles. The ceiling extended high and had exposed wooden beams. A fancy crystal chandelier hung in the centre. It was the epitome of modern-day opulence and was truly spectacular. If Aris was not on an important mission, he would have liked to take his time looking through each room. He kept moving.

  As he made his way through the house, it became quite clear that no one was at the compound – not a guardian, chef, groundskeeper, or maid was there. The place looked like it had been abandoned. After a brief investigation of the compound, Aris dictated the following message:

  ‘I’m at the house and there doesn’t appear to be anyone here. I have a strange feeling about this.’

  On the top floor, overlooking an exquisite garden was the Leader’s office. Aris entered the room, walked over to the desk, and sat in the plush leather chair. I can’t believe I’m sitting in the Leader’s office, Aris thought. It was a surreal experience for him.

  A large picture hung on the wall behind the Leader’s desk. It was a portrait of a man who bore a striking resemblance to the Leader. The dapper man wore a suit and had the bone structure of a god. Below the handsome man was a placard affixed to the frame. Trevor Morrison, Aris read. Hmm, never heard of him.

  Aris cracked his knuckles then proceeded to get to work. Although he hardly considered himself to be an expert hacker, he knew enough to enable him to bypass most password encryption protocols. He first paired his access pod with the computer and then using a simple hack was able to determine the most frequently used alphanumeric combination at the start of each session. The computer produced a jumble of letters and numbers, which appeared on Aris’ access pod: UY0P9LSO2M9. Aris stared at the scrambled mess and shook his head. He separated the numbers and instructed his access pod to rearrange the remaining letters into words. Seconds later, the results were displayed.

  SLUMPY – SYLPUM – PULSMY – MYSLUP

  The words that came back were gibberish. Aris abandoned that approach and reevaluated the configuration on his own.

  “What am I missing?” he pondered.

  He took another looked at the entire alphanumeric combination: UY0P9LSO2M9. After studying it carefully, he realized where he had gone wrong. He had accidentally omitted the letter ‘O’ as he had mistakenly identified it as a zero. He re-inputted the new data into his access pod and was relieved when the results populated. The first word on the list was OLYMPUS. Now all he needed to do was affix the numbers to the word in a logical order. Since there were only four numbers, the most logical arrangement was a date of some sort. Aris wasn’t sure, but his best guess given the numbers was 2099.

  Satisfied that he had the correct passkey, he proudly said, “OLYMPUS2099.”

  The computer analyzed the voice command then said “Voice recognition not found.”

  Aris leaned back in the chair and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. Then an idea came to him.

  “Where have I heard that name before?” he pondered as the creaky wheels in his brain began to turn. “Find Maxim Morrison Olympus,” he
commanded into his access pod.

  “Searching global database for Maxim Morrison Olympus,” the soft voice spoke back. “Data found.”

  Aris scanned the list of search results and discovered very quickly that Olympus was the name of the space program that the Leader spoke about at the Megalopolis pyramid.

  “That’s right,” Aris exclaimed. “Now I remember.”

  “Pull up the audio from the 2117 State of the Union speech where Maxim Morrison mentions Olympus.”

  Instantly, the part of the speech began to play.

  ‘In the year 2099, I had a vision to create a space exploration program that would seek out new planets, new resources, and possibly new life forms. Today, I am proud to announce the Olympus project, which will be the largest space station in the history of humankind. Space… is the final frontier!’

  “Ha, what an idiot! This is too easy. Isolate ‘Olympus’ and ‘2099’ in that order and play it back,” he said.

  “Olympus2099”

  Instantly the computer came to life. “Prepare for retina scan,” a monotonous voice said.

  “Dammit!” Aris shouted. Just when he thought he had outsmarted the security system, there was another obstacle in his path.

  Just then, a portion of the desk rose up and a mini-scanner emerged. “Well, it worked last time,” Aris said as he came up with another workaround.

  “Find Maxim Morrison’s eye in the highest resolution,” he instructed.

  Within seconds a picture of the Leader’s eye came up on his access pod.

  “Holo-enhance image,” he said.

  The two-dimensional image on the access pod’s screen transformed to a full-scale, holographic three-dimensional image. It was in perfect resolution as if the eye was floating in the room.

  Aris steadied his arm and brought the eye closer to the scanner. Just before the scanner could obtain a proper reading, the hologram disappeared and his access pod burped up the message, “Battery low, powering down” right before it shut off.

  “No!” he screamed in frustration.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  As Alex and Milo raced out of the Facility’s emergency exit, they stopped dead in their tracks. A swarm of guardians and security personnel was waiting for them. The guardians inched forward like a person trying to feed a squirrel. They knew any sudden movements would spook the marauders.