Nano Contestant - Episode 3: Combat Obstacles: The Technothriller Futuristic Science Fiction Adventure of a Cyberpunk Marine (Nano Contestant Series)

by Leif Sterling

  The secretary rolled her eyes. “Simmer down, Tom. He’s from maintenance. He’s not a terrorist.”

  Tom was unrelenting. “Why do you need this to work on the AC unit?”

  Roland took a step back. “Hey, I just came from a plumbing job. I used the ammonia as a cleaner and disinfectant. You don’t want me spreading disease, do you?” Roland took the ammonia bottle back. “I was in the area and thought that I could get you guys in early.” He put the ammonia back on the cart and began turning the cart around. “But I can always get back to you guys in two days when we officially get you on the schedule.”

  The secretary popped her gum. “Two days? That guy on the third floor will be whining the whole time. Tom. C’mon, let the man do his job.”

  Tom glowered at Roland. “Fine. You are clear.”

  Roland began pushing his cart past the desk. “Thanks.”

  Tom reached down and snatched the bottle of ammonia. “But this stays with me. Pick it up on your way out.”

  Roland maneuvered the cart onto the elevator. “No problem.”

  Skylar shook her head. “Nice bluff. How’d you know they go for it?”

  Roland gave half of a smile. “I didn’t, but I hoped they would.” Roland got off the elevator and went over to the maintenance closet. He set his cart next to the door and went in. He found a couple of “Wet Floor” signs and set them up outside the door. Then he filled up the mop bucket part way and dumped the water near the door. Then he leaned the mop against the hallway wall.

  Skylar watched the water spill towards the signs. “What did you do that for?”

  Roland went back into the maintenance closet and began looking around to see what else there was. “If you look busy, no one will bother you. Especially if they don’t want to help. It also gives good cover, in case I need it.”

  CHAPTER NINE:

  DATACENTER

  ROLAND WRUNG OUT the mop and began mopping the hallway again, keeping his head down the whole time. He had been mopping for the last fifteen minutes to observe the guards. He watched as a pair of brawny guards in black fatigues made their rounds. They held their rail guns at the ready and walked with purpose rarely seen in the civilian world.

  Skylar leaned back in her chair as she watched Roland’s video stream. “They are traveling in pairs. That makes things much more difficult.”

  Roland rang his mop out in the bucket. “Yep. I need a guard all alone.”

  Skylar played back Roland’s video stream a few minutes. “Hey. I just reviewed your footage since you’ve been up on the third floor. Before those two guards came by, there was one that went into a room by himself. He had a lunchbox or something.”

  Roland leaned the mop back against the wall and picked up his tool bag and clipboard. “Break room, I bet. Which way?”

  Skylar adjusted her glasses. “The second hallway.”

  Roland kept his head down and retraced his steps. He entered the break room, keeping his clipboard up and his head down. A quick scan revealed that the guard was alone, eating his lunch and watching the news on a small holographic terminal.

  The guard looked up briefly when Roland came in but continued eating.

  Roland held up his tool bag. “Sorry, gotta work on the AC.”

  The guard waved him on. “No worries.”

  Roland went to the opposite side of the room where the AC intake vent was and began slowly unscrewing the screws on the vent, all the while watching the guard in his peripheral vision. Roland sized him up. The guard was a big man by any standards but probably a bit smaller than the other guards. Muscly sinews flexed and rippled just while he ate his sandwich. Roland watched the man as his jaw muscles contracted tightly as he took a forceful bite out of his sandwich. The sandwich had no chance. The man’s Army Ranger tattoo on his neck flexed in time with his chewing.

  Skylar scanned the room for signals. “I’m not seeing any cameras, other transmissions or anything in here. You’re clear.”

  Roland gave a slight nod. He pulled out his cloth and poured some chloroform on it. He looked over at the guard and decided that more would be better. He doused the cloth again. He gave the thought command for the Grip plugin. He walked quietly up behind the guard. In a single motion with one hand, Roland covered the guard’s mouth and nose with the chloroform rag. With his other hand, he pushed the guard’s head forward from the rear. Grip made certain that the guard could not break from the hold.

  The guard looked surprised for a second and then passed out.

  Roland turned off the Grip plugin and enabled the Hand Scan and Retina Scan plugins.

  He reached for the guard’s hand.

  Skylar sat on the edge of her seat as she watched Roland’s feed. “No. Do the retina first. It lasts longer.”

  Roland nodded and opened the guard’s left eye instead. He stared into it intently as he gave the thought command to Scan. His eye felt itchy after a few seconds and watered briefly. He rubbed it. “Feels like bad allergies or something.” Roland shook his head to clear it. Holding the guard’s hand up to his own, he gave the command to Scan. His hand heated up briefly. Roland crossed the guard’s arms on the table and laid the guard’s head on them, like he was napping. The countdown timer was nerve wracking. It felt like he was just waiting to get caught. It read 4:45. He gave the thought command for eStealth. “Am I good?”

  Skylar checked over his signal read outs. “Yep. Go.”

  Roland walked out of the break room. The hallway was empty. He wanted to sprint to the datacenter door, but instead he walked casually across the hallway and down fifty feet to the door. The countdown timer read 3:59. One more quick glance up and down the hallway showed it to be empty still. He touched the hologram on the door to begin the entry sequence. A green box appeared on the terminal. Roland put his hand on it. He exhaled slowly as the scanner’s horizontal line moved from his fingertips to his wrist. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple.

  “Handprint accepted,” affirmed the hologram. “Please lean forward for retinal scan.”

  Skylar smiled. “So far, so good.”

  Roland leaned forward, right next to the holographic scanner. The horizontal line scanned downwards over his eye. His face was washed with green light. The scan stopped.

  “Retina accepted.” The lock on the datacenter door clicked open.

  Roland pulled on a pair of thin gloves as he let out a breath and then pushed the door open. The temperature of the datacenter was so cold that he could see his breath. The noise of the computers and cooling hardware was nearly deafening.

  He walked halfway down the first bank of computers and then turned to face them. He leaned his head right. His countdown timer read 2:23.

  Skylar zoomed in on the feed to look at the model. It was a TeraCore. She knew that meant that it had 1,024 CPU cores. High end equipment like this cost around a million dollars per server. The section Roland was standing in front of had a dozen servers stacked on top of each other. If the circumstances were less stressful, Skylar would have been giddy just to look at such powerful computers. “Perfect. Plug it in.”

  Roland plugged the flash drive in and watched it flash green. Five seconds later the flashing stopped. He leaned his head right again.

  Skylar had an app watching for her worm to go live. Her terminal flashed as it began receiving data. “We’re in. Pull the drive and get out of there.”

  Roland grabbed it and began walking back the way he had come, resisting the urge to engage Leapfrog and set a new land speed record. The countdown timer read 1:19.

  He got back to the datacenter door where the security hologram promptly flashed up again. He put his hand back on the handprint scanner and watched the horizontal line move down his hand.

  “Handprint error.” Stated the security hologram flatly. “Please scan again.”

  Roland’s mouth went dry. He was sweating profusely now. If he got caught, he would be killed right along with his dad. He was certain of that. He held his hand still on the s
ecurity hologram. The scan began again. The countdown timer on his HUD read 0:17.

  Skylar watched Roland’s feed both breathlessly and helplessly.

  “Handprint accepted,” affirmed the hologram. “Please lean forward for retinal scan.”

  The countdown timer on Roland’s HUD flashed 0:00. Roland leaned forward for the retina scan. The blinding green light washed over his eye again.

  “Retina accepted.” The lock on the datacenter door clicked open - again.

  Roland walked out. The hallway was still empty. His heart pounded all the way back to the break room. Roland’s voice was a whisper. “I did it!”

  Skylar was beaming. “Great job! I was so scared when that hand scanner gave an error. I thought we were done for sure.”

  In the break room, the guard was still passed out on the table. Roland snatched his tool bag, disabled eStealth and left. He put the mop and maintenance signs away and then pushed his maintenance cart into the elevator.

  Frizzy hair at the security desk popped her gum twice. “Fixed already?”

  Roland smiled. “Yep. Just a vent that was loose. All set now.”

  She bent down behind her desk and then stood up holding out the big bottle of ammonia. “Here’s your jug back.”

  Roland put it under his cart. “Thanks.” He headed back to the building where the maintenance worker was still passed out. Roland put the man’s coveralls back on him and returned the cart to the hallway where he had found it.

  Roland returned to their overnight room.

  Skylar immediately motioned him over to her terminal. “Come over here. You’ve got to see what I’ve found!” As she put her hand over her mouth, she caught her breath.

  CHAPTER TEN:

  VIDEO

  ROLAND SAT DOWN next to Skylar. “What did you find?”

  Skylar, speechless, just hit the play button on her terminal.

  Roland watched the video clip. The timestamp in the lower left corner showed it to be only a couple of hours old. The room was dark. Then an overhead spotlight went on in the center of the room.

  There was no audio with the feed. The silence added to the ominous feel.

  A dozen security guards wrestled a man into a chair under the spot light and tied him to the chair.

  Then all of the security guards except one, their leader, stepped back. He held a metal baseball bat in his hand. He asked the man in the chair some questions.

  The man in the chair was yelling and struggling against his ropes.

  Unfazed, the lead guard reared back with the bat and blasted the man in the left kneecap.

  Skylar looked away from the video.

  Roland winced, visibly.

  Though there was no sound, the man tied to the chair was clearly screaming in pain.

  The lead guard asked his question again.

  The captive man gained control of himself and then calmly uttered an insult of some kind.

  The lead guard’s eyes widened briefly, and then he let loose a blow that would have knocked the ball out of the park to the man’s right kneecap.

  After recovering from the horrific pain, the man looked up at the guard and spat blood at him.

  The bat dropped to the floor and was replaced with a wicked looking serrated knife. The lead guard gripped the man’s hair and pulled his head back while he waved the knife in front of the man’s throat. He asked his question again.

  The captive man remained defiant.

  In one fluid motion, the guard slit the man’s throat. The man’s head slumped down onto his chest. His shirt was stained as his lifeblood left him.

  Roland rewound the video a little and paused it where the man was looking defiantly up at the guard. “Hey! I know him!”

  Skylar stared back at the holographic terminal. “You do? Who is it?”

  Roland’s face blanched. “Mark. He was the number two racer.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN:

  MORNING

  THE TECH GAMES contestant conference room was a hubbub of activity. There was a lot of movement and talking going on despite the fact that it was five thirty in the morning. Every contestant and their full support team was there strategizing, while they eagerly awaited the arrival of the Tech Games announcer. This meeting was the first opportunity the racers or anyone else had had to hear about the next Tech Games event - Game One, and it too would be broadcasted live.

  The announcer finally walked up on stage. He was a middle aged man with an android arm and perfectly combed hair. Hover cams floated around him, recording his every movement. “Welcome to Game One of the Tech Games! All of you are here, because you were the top finishers of the qualifying race. In this next game, our contestants will face an obstacle course unlike any other.” He held his hands up as a three dimensional hologram of the course came alive around him. “This course is making history as the longest obstacle course ever created. It is a full half marathon.”

  The announcer snapped his fingers, and the map of the obstacle course disappeared. It was replaced by a video of someone running through the course while they wore a helmet cam. The first person viewpoint only showed the man’s arms and legs as he leapt onto a rope and began climbing upwards.

  “Only the top forty-two out of the forty-eight competitors will be allowed to continue on in the Tech Games. The course will tax every muscle in your body.” He snapped his fingers again, and the screen behind him changed to a listing of the obstacles.

  “There are six obstacles in Game One, one obstacle every two miles. Contestants will be awarded points based on completing the obstacles. Each obstacle is worth up to one hundred points, if you don’t fail it.” His perfect teeth shone brightly as he grinned.

  Then the announcer clapped his hands for effect. “In addition to being in position 42 or above, you must also have at least six hundred points when you complete Game One in order to qualify for Game Two.”

  He touched his ear, receiving new instructions. “Oh. I stand corrected. There are only forty-seven competitors left in the Tech Games. Mark, in position number two, had to leave on a family emergency. Now, as I was saying…”

  Roland stiffened at the news.

  Skylar leaned back in her chair. Her thoughts screamed so loudly that she was afraid for a moment that Coach might have actually heard her. He’s lying! Right into the camera, and smiling about it. They killed Mark!

  Coach sipped his morning coffee.

  The announcer swept his right arm out across the crowd of contestants. As his arm gestured towards them, the locator lights in their arms turned red. “When you have reached a new obstacle, your locator will flash red one time.” He swept his other arm across the crowd. This time the contestants’ lights changed to green. The video behind him showed the runner, who had been climbing up the rope, reach the top of the rope and ring a bell. The light in his arm turned green. “Your locators will turn green after you have successfully completed an obstacle.”

  “If you make a mistake on an obstacle, your locator will turn red. You get up to two retries, but you will have fifty points deducted for the first retry and another twenty-five for the second retry. If you fail the obstacle three times, you will not receive any points for it, and you will be docked an additional twenty-five points as a penalty.”

  The announcer clenched his metallic fist and shot it into the air. Six foot flames erupted from the stage on either side of him for effect. “Now let’s talk about bonuses! There are two chances for you to earn extra points. One obstacle will have a competitive time component that will award bonus points to the top three finishers of that obstacle. At the end of the course, there is an extra obstacle for those that are bold enough to attempt it. It offers a chance to earn an additional one hundred points!”

  The announcer steepled his fingers together and got a mean-looking grin. Behind him, the video changed to show the runner walking a tight rope that was precariously stretched across murky waters. In front of him, piranha jumped over the rope. “These obstacles, ladies and
gentlemen, are not for the faint of heart and will place your life in grave danger.” The camera zoomed in on the announcer’s mouth as he said the word, “danger.”

  The announcer pulled out a holographic pocket watch on a chain from his coat pocket. He swung it by its chain. “Of course, like all Tech Games events, Game One will be timed. The time you achieve today will affect your overall standing in the Tech Games and will determine what kind of bonuses you could receive in the next round.” He put his holographic pocket watch back into his pocket. “Provided that you actually survive and finish.”

  Then the announcer took a strange pose that looked like an ancient samurai warrior about to draw his sword. “Weapons…” He drew a holographic sword from his belt and performed a few cuts and parries with it before sheathing it again. “…Are only allowed to be unsheathed and used when your locator light turns blue. He waved his hand over the crowd as their locator lights turned blue. “Those who do not obey the rules, however…” He gestured with his hand towards a hologram of a runner holding a knife. The light on his arm was blue. “Will be punished until they comply.” The blue light on the hologram’s arm flashed three times and went out. He was still holding the knife. Blue, electric energy burst forth from the locator, shocking the holographic runner until he fell to his knees and dropped the knife.

  The announcer raised his arms with dramatic flair. “Contestants, get ready! Game One starts in one hour!”

  CHAPTER TWELVE:

  CRAWL

  ROLAND LINED UP side-by-side with the forty-six other Tech Games contestants at their starting places. He looked up and down each side. The sun gleamed brightly from robotic hardware and glistened lightly from perspiring muscles. The starting line is the great equalizer, the only point during the race where no one is ahead. Roland looked down the road in front of him.