Mercury - Part 15

Part 15 – Break Out

SECURITY CAMERA 22, BIO-TECH, 01/02/2025, 4:33 PM

(A six-year-old ocelot recom and a six-year-old mouse recom, both wearing blue Bio-Tech pyjamas, walk through the camera's field. The mouse recom wears a headset.)
NEPTUNE: "What's Five saying?"
JUPITER: "Nothing important or relevant at the moment. Five left the microphone on while discussing dinner with Six. Stage 2 is proceeding normally, from what I understand. We should be seeing Three and Seven soon."
N: (nods) "Good."
(The sound of two sets of footsteps running can be heard approaching. Both look off-camera until a snow leopard recom and an arctic fox recom run into the camera field, slow down and stop before Neptune and Jupiter)
MERCURY: "Is everyone fine?"
VENUS: "I'm okay!"
N: (expression softens) "Mercury, you're bleeding." (Approaches Mercury)
J: (into the headset) "Five, we're all in hall twenty two. Things are going well."
(Pause, the sounds of clanking overhead. Mercury and Jupiter look up. Venus stares forward. Neptune is looking at Mercury's injuries)
MER: "Oh... oh no." (turns around and runs out of the camera's field of vision)
J: (takes a couple steps back)
N: (looks up)
(A six-year old wolf recom falls from the upper part of the camera's field of vision, and falls directly on Neptune)
V: "One, Three, Four and Seven run into Two."
MARS: (fiercely) "Idiots! We have protection here!"
J: "Five, directions!"
(Both Jupiter and Venus listen to their headsets. Their eyes widen.)
J:  (shouts, in surprise) "What?"


SECURITY CAMERA 1, BIO-TECH, 01/02/2025, 4:35 PM

(A six-year old cheetah recom sits in front of the camera, staring off of the screen. It wears a bio-tech jumpsuit and a headset. In the background, there are a couple of motionless slumped over bodies and a six-year old rabbit recom in blue Bio-Tech pyjamas stands by the exit door)
SATURN: "Stage two proceeding. I'm starting to feel sick. I think I'm hungry."
URANUS: "We'll be collecting food and supplies in stage four, and we'll have something to eat after you win the game."
S: "Oh yeah! Guess what I'm going to have?"
U: "Hm?"
(Saturn fixates on one of the displays, watching it carefully for a couple of moments.)
S: "Bacon! Oh, shush, someone's talking."
(Pause)
S: "Okay, One! Thank you for the update! Stage three should-"
(Uranus starts looking at the same display as Saturn)
S: "Oh shoot, oh shoot..."
U: "What is it? Is that... how did he do that?"
S: "It was in the blueprints. I didn't think he knew... The probability was low..."
(Pause, Saturn listens to the headset.)
S: "Orders: Destroy marker two."
U: (shouts) "What? Mars is still one of us! You can't, Saturn! You can't!" (runs out the door and closes it behind)
(Silence)
S: (watches the screen, looking troubled) "Start modified stage four. Orders coming." (gets up and opens the door) "Uranus, wait!"

***

I woke up to the feint odour of lemon, an odour which must have found itself in Samara's hair. My hands were resting on the soft silk from her pyjamas, my arms wrapped around her from behind. I could hear her breath, still steady. She was still sleeping. I gently pulled myself away to let her sleep for the time being.
As I looked down at her there, sleeping, I couldn't help but feel some mixed emotion. On the one hand I felt... well, I'm not really sure. Affection? Fondness? No, neither of these things really described what I was experiencing. She had gone from being a co-worker who I had no attachment to, like Rusty was, into a person I felt like I needed to protect.

On the other hand, I also felt a little bit of dread. I rubbed my forehead lightly, reached over the side of the bed and picked up my laptop, getting ready to alter my original plan based on the blueprints provided. We would both be risking our lives and safety on this, and that was scary to me. Not because my life was on the line. That was something I was always used to. Eventually, I knew someone would kill me for doing my job. It was just a matter of time. But unlike me, Samara still had potential. She still had another life that she could lead, and I knew that this single job could ruin her future happiness.

Which just meant that neither of us could make any slips. I started typing, focusing on my screen, trying to imagine all the possibilities that could arise. The plan was relatively straightforward: We would both wear the outfits provided to us (we would put them on in Nova's establishment, since there wouldn't be any witnesses there) and use the provided keycards to get into the building. Once inside, one of us, the Watcher, as I affectionately called the role in similar situations, would tap into security feeds and direct the other's actions while making sure that everything was clear. The other, the Walker, would first access the main computer directory and send the info back to the Watcher. From there, the Watcher would proceed to offer the best routes based on security feed and the memorized blueprints.

In general, I took the Watcher role. It required someone who was able to think quickly and keep track of a lot of things at once, both abilities that I possessed. I glanced over at Samara, who was still sleeping peacefully. The Watcher role also involved a lot less personal risk. I shook my head and continued typing. I was letting emotion cloud my judgement. I finished typing my notes and left the roles of Walker and Watcher blank for now, tilting my screen down and prodding Sam's shoulder to wake her up. "Hey, get up. We've got to start mission briefing."

***

We arrived in front of the Designer Genes complex at the beginning of our assumed identities' workday. The security in the front of the building didn't look at us twice as we swiped our keycards and continued on our way, and even if they had, the number of employees that came through made it nearly impossible for the security officers to associate faces to names. I scratched the base of my ear lightly, and Samara picked up on the signal to part ways and turn on our communicators. Because it would have been awfully conspicuous to be talking into headsets, Samara and I had both developed communication methods in previous missions. Fortunately, they were compatible.

Samara was wearing specialized gloves that recorded subtle finger twitches that corresponded to letters, and would transmit to an earpiece that I was wearing. I, in turn, was carrying a device in my jaw that would pick up on subvocalizations and send it to Samara's earpiece.

I heard the mechanized voice in my earpiece, after a few minutes of walking, "Test."

I moved my jaw slightly and moved my tongue in the same way that I would to say, "Test response."

"Test response," I heard back. I glanced around and tried to bring up the layout of the building up in my memory to try and consider what the most likely area the main computer would be in.

"Change of plans," said Samara, to which I could not help but to furrow my eyebrows. Plans should not change this early into an operation.

"Why?"

"Saw two security personnel. Red Triangle. Did not recognize me, but risk for you. I've tapped into security. I can link you up." I wasn't a fan of listening to mechanical voices, since they failed completely to carry any kind of tone, but my transmissions were likely no better.

This development was annoying, though, so that the messages didn't carry my tone was a boon in this case. "Fine," I transmitted, "transmit the connection to me and I will find a hiding spot. How did you know about the Red Triangle?"

The mechanized voice said, "Please. You are not the only one who does background checks on potential partners."

I couldn't help but smile slightly at that, though it was a grim look. It didn't seem too farfetched that a Martian industry would use thugs like the Triangle to do their security. After all, they've already been demonstrated to be easily controlled and they work well in a group. Most of all, they're disposed of easily. The Red Triangle's leader could vaguely call into question the loyalty of one of the gang members, and that person would never be heard from again.

I matched my pace to one of the nearby moving cameras, trying to time it so that I would be free from surveillance just long enough to find a hiding spot. Samara, who must have still been tapping into the security feeds, transmitted, "Nobody watching security feeds now. Obscure and disappear."

I didn't want to make any sudden movements or changes in my motion, so I continued with my pace to make it out of the camera's view, making certain to casually obscure my face from the camera. As soon as the camera's view was off of me, I ran and ducked into a closet. I opened my lightweight laptop, which I had strapped to my body and subvocalized, "Link me up."

It didn't take long for the bug that Sam set up to transmit a secure transmission to my laptop, giving me a view of each of the security cameras in the building. I slid a finger on my screen and started tiling them on my viewer so that they would all be arranged according to the blueprints of the building. I was using one of Rusty's old surveillance programs that gave alerts based on proximity to the agent being watched, in this case Samara. Rusty was always a skilled programmer, and given that he was usually the Walker in these kinds of things, he wanted me to have access to the best tech to keep him from getting caught.

I located Samara in my viewer, only identifiable because of her build and the subtle differences her gloves had with the Designer Genes gloves, just because of how she stood in relation to the camera. She was near the security room, apparently having a confrontation with a vending machine. I highly doubted that she got a hankering for a snack, so I figured it was just her excuse to stand around so close to the security area. I placed the blueprints of the building onto the background of my viewer. "Direction," I heard in my ear.

I adjusted my earpiece and made sure to include separate alerts for my own position. Although Samara was in more danger, it would have been bad for both of us if I was intercepted. "Pace: Point seven. Path: Left turn, right turn, forward to wall. Pace: One point one. Turn right, forward until second left, turn left. Forward. Enter door. Start... now. Keep alert for changing orders."

As soon as I gave my cue, Sam started moving. Given the paths that the Designer Genes employees were taking, that would have been the safest route. What was always difficult was that the safest route was usually the route that I could not track. I watched the blueprints in my background to track where Sam would be once she disappeared from in front of the vending machine while at the same time I started working on looping the feeds for the room that the main computer seemed to be in, so that I could see the contents but so the security could not.

I leaned back as I finished my task and waited for Sam to arrived at the destined spot. "I'm starving. I can't wait to be done with this. We should go to a soup and sandwich place when we get back to Luna," I sent.

"Ha. Are you bored all cooped up in your closet?"

I shook my head. Which was kind of stupid, but nobody was watching me at the moment, so when I realized what I had done, I just shrugged it off.

"Haha. Did you just shake your head? Noise in my earpiece," said the mechanical voice.

"No. I yawned."

"You are lying to me I know what yawns sound like on those things."
I watched the screen, and nothing unusual was happening. I continued to trace Samara's path on the screen. Perhaps the biggest drawback to being the Watcher is that it is relatively unexciting. I subvocalized, "Fine. I shook my head. Are you happy?"

"Haha I was lying I don't know what yawns sound like. Very happy."

I watched as Samara appeared in the looped screen. "I see you there. Hide under a desk. The room is empty but security will be walking by the door, and might look through the window. Thirty eight seconds before they arrive at your location at current pace."

While I spoke, I attended to the other cameras, setting up looping conditions for them should I need to black them out for our later escape or for Samara to pass invisibly through their fields.

"Problem." I glanced up to Samara's camera when I heard the mechanized voice, and she turned the audio capture on.

An older looking human male had seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the camera feed and was looking directly under the desk that Samara was hiding under, a wide grin on his face. "Is that really you? It has been a very long time."

My eyes widened and I silently cursed myself. Samara had been spotted, and our mission was compromised unless we acted quickly, but more importantly, she was compromised. I transferred my screen onto a PDA and shut it off, only the dark reflection of a cheetah recom staring back at me. I reminded myself of one thing as I stared at my image and let my mind race.

"Begin modified recognition procedures."

I'm Darryl Racer. And I cannot lose.