Ntshona (20 page)

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I find it difficult to trust those guys completely. Even last time they seemed a bit careless with the details”.

“I can see why you think that, but they’re just doing the best they can with the tools they have,” said Cat.

“Either way,” said Eve, “I’m not convinced we’ll be alive by tomorrow evening”.

“You sound like Lon now,” said Cat.

“We’re simply being realistic,” said Lon.

“Come now, think positively, hey! Once you get this info, we can help change the whole country for the better!” she said.

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” he replied

Eve let out a huge sigh and stood. “I’m going to that look out point over there, I need to think” and she walked away alone.

Lon continued to eat his pie. “On a different note,” he tried to change the subject, “this apple pie is really good. Why does it seem like we’re all addicted to it?”

“I feel for you,” said Lin, “you’re forced to do something that nobody else will even dare, and afterwards you might never again be able to taste apple pie”.

“That makes me feel really confident, you know?”

“Good, I’m glad,” she said.

Was sarcasm some kind of coping mechanism for these people?

He shoved the last morsel into his mouth and got to his feet. “I’m just gonna go and talk to Eve”.

“Go ahead,” said Cat, “we’ve got plenty of time to do nothing. Might as well talk everything through with each other”.

Eve was leaning against the glass boundary overlooking the waters of the Atlantic, gazing wistfully at the horizon. “You know,” she said as she heard Lon’s footsteps softly compressing the sand behind her, “for as long as I can remember, every time I’ve seen the ocean I’ve wanted to be there… on it, in it, over it, beyond it… but I never have been. I’ve never even been to a real beach in my life. I don’t know if my parents have either; they were born in this city like me. I don’t have any memories of being outside this city. But the older I got, the less I thought about it. After all, this is supposed to be the best city in the country, and one of the best places to live in the world,” she took a long, drawn-out breath. “But now… now we’re being forced to believe things that we didn’t believe just two days ago, and things we’d never even heard of. On top of that we’re now wanted criminals, and are part of something so much bigger than us it’s ridiculous,” she wiped a tear from her eye, “and now, much more than at any point in my life, I want the ocean… to be beyond it… I want the ocean to save me,” she began to weep.

This was too tender a moment for Lon to know what to do. Being unaware of what to say was as painful for him as seeing Eve cry. He knew exactly how she felt; he was feeling exactly the same, but up until that point he had wanted to maintain a strong appearance, a facade in which he had so severely wanted Eve to believe and depend on. At this moment actions were the only words he could speak; he turned her by her shoulder and pulled her in towards himself. He squeezed tightly, and in a moment she reciprocated. This was as reassuring for him as it was for her. He
managed to whisper a few words in between efforts to hold back his own fear, “You’re… not alone”.

Chapter 10

“I haven’t actually worked on many projects, and some of them were so long ago I can’t remember most of the details,” said Eve. Soon after returning to Cat’s apartment, Cat had relayed a request to her from the ‘bosses’ to detail all the projects she had worked on during her time at the Science Centre.

“Seeing that you’re never likely to work there again, you might as well tell us about all the projects you were working on. It might help us in some way”. Certainly a well-worded request.

“Just write what you can remember,” advised Cat, “I doubt they’re looking for precision, they just want an idea of what’s been going on in there”.

“Well, I’ll give it a go, but I have to ask to borrow a computer, unless you want me to type up all the data on my palm screen; that may take awhile”.

“Just use the coffee table”.

“Oh, it’s a computer? Sorry, I can’t tell these days, they all look like normal tables”.

“No worries. You can use the TV as a monitor if you want, I don’t plan on watching it for a while, I’ve got stuff to work on of my own,” she powered on the computer table for Eve to use, connected the display to the television, and left for her bedroom.

“Okay, let’s think,” said Eve as she began to write.

“How many projects have you worked on there?” asked Lon, who was sitting on the opposite end of the couch to her.

“Actually, only a few. Most of the projects were long-term,” she began to type out the plan for the report, starting with the title or working name of each project as subheadings.

“Transparency Inducers?” Lon read the first subtitle.

“Yeah, the name’s a bit vague. At one point they were called ‘opacity regulators’. They were fluids developed to make other fluids transparent and invisible to many forms of detection”.

“What applications did they have?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing too spectacular. That was my first real project there, so it wasn’t exactly high-level stuff. They were originally intended to be cleaning agents”.

“So, basically used by mothers and domestic servants?”

Eve laughed, “If you want to be so cynical, then yeah”.

“What about ‘Power Glove’? That sounds cool and dumb at the same time”.

“Yeah, I don’t know where they got the name for that, but it was the last project I worked on before the current one. In fact, I worked on that probably for the longest time out of any project”.

“What was it?”

“Basically there are two types; a limb attachment, and a limb replacement. The replacement is a step up from standard robotic prosthesis; it’s more or less the same as a normal robotic limb, but with advanced mobility and durability. It’s also coupled with a brain implant to help the user control the limb more intricately, but don’t ask me about that part, I don’t know much about it. The other type is just an attachment for your arm; like a glove with a sleeve, and is designed to strengthen the user while being barely noticeable”.

“To what extent will it strengthen the user?”

“Well, at the time I finished working on it we’d got it to operate at about eighteen times normal human strength without collision damage to the wearer, but our target was much higher”.

“What exactly was that project developed for?”

“Both versions were designed for military use”.

Lon wore a look of indifference. “That’s profound”.

“I know how you feel,” she said, “I also don’t want to develop anything for warfare, but the applications of these limbs go far beyond the military”.

“But whether they’ll be used for anything else is the question”.

She sighed. “Well, that’s one of the joys of being a state scientist”.

“And what about the most recent project, the one you just got upgraded to?”

“Ah, this one is completely different; it’s very biology based, directed more towards my expertise. We’re using lab-grown organs to run various experiments on, including finding cures for common diseases”.

“That’s good to know; at least this project should eventually help the common people,” said Lon.

“Yep, that’s the dream”.

“But why is it so classified? It seems like typical scientist work”.

“Actually, I’m not sure myself. I don’t know about all of my colleagues, but until now I’ve just been working on developing cures for common diseases. The details are vague, I don’t even know in which part of the building the organs are grown”.

“I suppose it’s to be expected,” said Lon, “after all, medicine is money, and even Cat didn’t deny that the medical technology
in this country is cutting-edge”.

“Yeah, good point,” Eve said, and began to expand on the details in her report.

Meanwhile, Lon was still stressed about the lack of preparation offered for their suicide mission the following day. They did not yet have all the equipment they were told they needed, nor did they know how to use it. They did have the holdall full of guns in their possession; why the weapons were not all taken to some sort of storage facility was a mystery to him, but at least the opportunity was there for him to play around with them. He lifted the bag onto the breakfast bar, unzipped it and began to unpack the guns and ammunition. This was the first opportunity he had had to actually examine in detail how they felt. They were cold and heavy, as was their intended use. He was certainly not a fan of real-life firearms, however, the fact was they had aided him and his friends to escape probable death three times so far.

He lifted one of the briefcase guns from the bag and placed it gently on the counter, trying not to upset any of its contents. Truthfully, he had no idea how to actually use the thing, nor was he clued up on how safe or volatile it was in its briefcase form. He looked at it from every angle, trying to make sense of how to transform it from a harmless box into a deadly weapon. Was he seriously going to need to know how? Either way, he slowly lifted it up and began to trace his fingers across the barely visible gaps and hinges, thinking which to try to move first.

“How do you think that works?” asked Eve, who had been watching him for the previous few moments.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I haven’t even seen one of these in VR”.

“Me neither, so you’ll have to work it out and show me later”.

“Okay, I’ll try,” and with that he pulled the bottom section of the briefcase, which slid away from the centre. “So, that’s step one”.

Roughly quarter of an hour had passed before he fully figured out the steps to form the gun, although he forgot most of them, so undid his hard work in order to try again. Eventually he managed to repeat the process enough to memorise each step, yet continued to disassemble and reassemble it in order to develop it into a skill, a skill which could potentially help save his life. “Right, I’ve got it”.

“Can you remember each step?”

“For now. I just need to teach you how to do it”.

“I’ll be finished with this report soon; I can’t remember many minor details, so it’s not a very comprehensive guide to each project”.

“Just do what you can,” said Lon.

By evening they had managed to successfully assemble both briefcase guns numerous times, slightly boosting their confidence about the following day’s events.

“Good to see you’ve figured that out,” said Cat, who had returned from her room.

“It’s not that easy,” said Eve.

“Yeah, it’s like a puzzle, but more deadly,” Lon said.

Cat softly laughed. “Have you finished that write-up Eve?”

“Yeah, it’s done, but like I said earlier, I couldn’t remember all the details of each project”.

“No worries, I don’t think they expect it to be an intricate report”.

“Cat,” interrupted Lon, “when are we gonna get all this other stuff that we’re gonna need for tomorrow?” he inquired.

“I’ll pick it all up tomorrow morning”.

“Aren’t you at all worried that we have no idea what we have to do in that building?”

She appeared pensive for a moment. “Nope”.

“No?” Somehow that answer was expected. “Not at all?”

Cat shrugged. “Not really, I know you’re a bit of an idiot, but you’re not totally inept”.

“Oh, thanks,” he said, “that makes me feel confident”.

“Don’t worry about it, everything will go as planned,” she said calmly.

“I’m holding thumbs that we won’t die”.

“Me too,” said Eve.

“Anyway,” said Cat changing the subject, “I’ll get that report sent, then I’ll make supper”.

Lon decided to check for updates on the news, however was surprised to find nothing related to the events in which they had been involved. It really did seem as though information and news items were being repressed, but why? Should news of terrorists not have been spanning the airwaves twenty-four hours a day? Matters were much more complex than he dared to comprehend.

Chapter 11

“Rise and shine sweetheart”.

Lon slowly pried his eyelids apart while shielding them from the sunlight with his hand. Did Cat always wake up guests with terms of endearment? It was a little bit strange. “What time is it?”

“Something past ten,” she said as she was doing things in the kitchen area.

“Something past ten? You actually let me sleep in?”

“Yup, I thought you’d need the extra rest”.

“Aren’t we supposed to go and kill ourselves today?”

She laughed, “We didn’t tell you when you’ll be doing it. We’ve decided on the afternoon”.

“Any specific reason?”

“Nope, we all thought it would be too much effort for a Monday morning”.

“Who exactly is making these decisions?”

“They’re usually group decisions, why?”

“Argh, nothing. Is Eve up yet?”

“Dunno, go and see”.

Lon stood from the couch where he had slept and went to check on Eve in the spare room. He lightly knocked twice.

“Yeah?” came Eve’s voice from beyond the door.

He sighed. Thankfully she was awake this time, he had felt awkward the last time he woke her. “Are you awake?”

“No, I’m still sleeping”.

“Oh… do you want me to come back later?”

“No, you idiot, of course I’m awake. You can come in”.

He opened the door and gently stepped inside.

Eve was still lying in bed staring at the ceiling. She propped herself up and half-smiled at him. “Do you think we’re gonna die today?”

“Yes, definitely,” he said without a thought.

Eve collapsed back into a flat position. “I could barely sleep thinking about it. What about you? How well did you sleep?”

“I could barely think about it sleeping”.

“You weren’t worried?”

“Yeah, of course I was worried, up until I fell asleep”.

She said in a sigh “Lucky you”.

“I’m not sure if that’s lucky; I need more time to mentally prepare myself”.

“Dammit!” she struck the duvet with a tight fist. “It’s at times like this I wish I was religious. At least then I could pray or something”.

“Yeah, well, you aren’t, so…”

“Argh!” she interjected. “I need to have faith in something to help me through this ordeal!”

“Have faith in yourself, you’re the only one who can change anything”.

She propped herself up again. “That’s deep”.

“Really?”

“No, it’s typical”.

“Well, it might be typical, but it’s true. If you don’t put faith in yourself, you’ll never get anywhere in life. Think about it…” he decided this would be the perfect moment to be profound and mysterious, and turned to leave the room, however his forehead made contact with the doorframe, forming a loud thud, “Ouch!”

Eve laughed with great volume, “Lon, you’re a fucking idiot sometimes!”

He rubbed the smarting area above his left eye, “Yeah, glad you liked it,” and left the room.

“She’s awake,” said Lon once he sat down at the breakfast bar.

“Yeah, I heard, you fucking idiot,” she said while sneering at him.

“It’s not funny; it hurts”.

“Be more careful then, you can’t be so careless when you’re in the Science Centre”.

“I don’t plan on being careless, you know, it just happens sometimes; I’m a bit clumsy”.

Cat raised an eyebrow, “You’re a highly skilled fighter and marksman, yet you claim to be clumsy?”

“I’m not highly skilled; I’m just clumsy enough to be lucky sometimes”.

“Okay… I’ll have to think about that one. Anyway, toast for breakfast?”

“I’ll just have cereal, if that’s okay”.

“Go ahead, help yourself”.

As Lon poured himself a bowl of cereal, Eve came forth from the spare room and was relieved to find Cat properly clothed. She too sat beside the breakfast counter.

“Toast?” Cat asked her.

“I’ll have anything that you’re willing to make, thank you”.

“Good, cos that’s all I’m willing to make,” she laughed.

“Have some cereal too,” added Lon, “I’ve got a feeling we’ll need all the sugar we can get”.

She did as he advised.

While they ate breakfast, Cat presented Lon and Eve with the contents of a bag which she had gone out to collect while they slept. “First, we managed to get hold of some Science Centre lab uniforms,” she held up a white, knee-length overcoat to demonstrate, “you’ll put them on in the car before we get to the NGT station where I’ll drop you off. Next we have a clear earpiece for each of you to connect to your new palm screens, which I also have here. They both have the EMP chip installed, which you both should use as soon as you’re away from the NGT platform at the Science Centre. At that point, you have to be very observant of what goes on around you; although the surveillance system in the Science Centre is likely automated like most systems, there’s still a chance that someone will be monitoring it for problems, e.g. if a camera goes offline”.

“Ah,” Lon cut in, “that’s the bit I’m the most worried about. How are we supposed to know if they’ve noticed us or not?”

“You don’t,” she replied, “that’s why I told you to be very observant”.

Lon put his head in his hands, “We’re gonna die”.

“Moving on,” Cat said, ignoring his plight, “the most important piece of hardware,” she removed a watch from the bag.

“A watch?” said Eve.

“A watch?” echoed Lon.

“Ah, it’s not actually a watch, it’s the mass storage device,” explained Cat.

“A mass storage device in a watch?” he said, hardly believing what he was seeing and hearing.

“Ja, problem?” said Cat.

“Who the hell wears watches these days?! That’s instantly gonna be suspicious!”

“Don’t be daft,” said Cat, “lots of people still wear watches, especially antique ones. They are jewellery after all”.

“Fine, I’ll blame you if I get caught”.

“The only way you’ll get caught is if you keep up that hopeless attitude,” she said.

Eve agreed with her, “Yeah, you did say that you should believe in yourself cos no one else will”.

Lon frowned. “Whatever,” he returned his attention to Cat. “How does the watch work then?”

“Well, because it’s designed like an antique, not much information can fit onto its small screen, so a palm screen is needed as an intermediary device, the software for which is installed on both your new palm screens”.

“So, plan one: we find the specific server room housing the server suite that has the information we need, connect to a computer in the suite using the palm screen, which in turn will be connected to the watch, and download the info. Plan two: we go to the server room’s master computer, because the actual suite we want will probably be guarded and so we won’t be able to get in, hack in, connect to the SARP’s servers and send the information wirelessly directly to Strys because it’s not so likely I’ll be able to download a server-full of information onto a watch. I like the second one best; it seems a little easier”.

“But the second plan is the more dangerous one, you’re more likely to get caught because of the length of the procedure”.

“Yeah, but it’s a hell of a lot less invasive”.

“Just stick to the main plan Lon”.

“Fine, we’ll die either way”.

“Stop whinging and try this stuff on,” Cat instructed.

They did as she asked, each starting with the palm screens.

“This feels just the same as my other one,” said Eve.

“Good, that’s how it should be,” said Cat, “and yours Lon?”

“Yeah, it’s okay
… a little tight around the finger tips… maybe I should clip my nails”.

Cat handed him a pair of nail clippers she had retrieved from a drawer, “Do it quickly”.

While he did so, Eve tried on her new lab coat, which hugged her body closely as far as her lower thighs. “Wow, it’s a lot more feminine than the ones I usually wear. I really like it… shame I can’t wear it after today though”.

“You never know, hey, after all this is over, you might get your lives back,” said Cat.

“Yeah, I’m holding thumbs,” Eve said.

Lon soon completed the task of trimming his nails, refitted his new palm screen and tried on his designated lab coat. “Okay, it seems fine,” he practised punching an invisible enemy, “a little tight under the arms though”.

“As long as you can move in it, it’s fine,” stated Cat.

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me; I don’t have any choice about anything, do I?”

“You’ve got that right”.

“Anyway, I want to see what the whole getup looks like,” he removed one of the briefcase guns from its containing bag.

Cat darkened one of the windows for it to be used as a mirror.

Lon checked himself out. “I see what you mean about this being feminine,” he gestured to his coat.

Eve copied Lon and examined herself.

“You look a lot more professional than I do,” he said.

“That’s because I am more professional than you”.

“Hey, you cheeky sod!”

“Right,” said Cat, “if you’re comfortable, let’s go”.

“Now?” asked Lon.

“Yes, now,” she stiffly replied.

“I was under the impression we weren’t in a hurry”.

“I’ve just decided we are, so put everything in that bag,” she pointed to the holdall from which she had taken the new equipment, “and let’s go”.

Lon and Eve hurriedly removed the lab coats and put them in the bag along with the briefcase guns. Cat did the same with the remaining equipment she had removed.

Rather than driving them directly to the most local NGT station, Cat took them to a relatively peaceful one in a nearby district. Before leaving the car, Lon an Eve kitted themselves up.

“Lon, your earpiece should be named ‘1’, Eve, yours is ‘2’”.

Lon configured the wireless connection between his earpiece and palm screen. “Done”.

“Now go to the app called ‘Close Friends’,” Cat directed.

Lon did so, and a short list of “
Available Connections
” appeared.

“Now, for safety reasons the way it’s configured is so that everyone on our private network is initially linked to ‘
Mammy
’, who has control over anyone on the network and the ability to make new connections within it”.

“Okay, so I’ll connect to ‘
Mammy
’,” said Lon, which he selected from the list.

“
Connecting to Mammy
,” appeared on the screen.

A few seconds passed before he heard a voice. “Hello, this is Mammy speaking, how are you my darling?” the voice was of a heavily-accented man impersonating a woman.

“Uh… Hello?”

“Howzit Lon my bru! I’ve been waiting for ages for your call man!”

Lon quickly realised it was Strys on the other end. “Oh, hi… how are you?”

Strys chuckled. “I’m fine man, I’m just worried about you!”

“Yeah… me too,” said Lon.

“Now, is Eve connecting to me yet?”

“Uh… Eve, are you…” said Lon.

She nodded at him.

“Yeah, she’s connecting now”.

“Oh, here comes the call!” he excitedly exclaimed. “We have a caller on the line, her name is Eve. Eve, please tell us what you think about the running order of the day”.

“Um,” she had no idea how to respond to his jest.

“Man, I’m only joking! No need to be so worried!”

“Ha… okay,” she said hesitantly.

“Right, so I have you two connected to me now,” explained Strys, “Once you leave the car I’ll connect to Cat and keep her updated on what’s happening. From here I can connect you to anybody else on our network, but it makes it a little more
risky to have more unauthorised connections going in and out of the Science Centre, so you’ll just be connected to me for now. Is that clear?”

Both Lon and Eve affirmed.

“Great,” said Strys, “so have you got everything with you that you need?”

“I think so,” said Lon.

“Okay, let’s be a little more certain. Obviously you each need a lab coat as a disguise, you both have your palm screens and earpieces activated, and is one of you wearing the watch I made?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Lon, “I’m putting it on now”.

“Okay, but don’t connect it to your palm screen until you’re in the server room, otherwise it might be detected easier”.

“Okay, got it,” replied Lon.

“You’ve got the briefcases?”

“Yep, got those, one each”.

“Okay then!” said Strys, “Let’s- oh! Are you wearing the contact lenses I sent for you?”

“Ah,” Lon leant forwards to say to Cat, sitting in front of him, “contact lenses”.