F@nService Diner: Chapter 10 Down To Heist

Chapter 10: Down To Heist

Zhisheng: Am I understanding this correctly? You lost the president’s adviser?

Hill: We didn’t lose him. We knew exactly where he was right up until the moment the target incinerated him.

We told him to take cover.

Zhisheng: How close were you to the target?

Hill: We weren’t.

Captain?

Zhisheng: I’m thinking.

Hill: OK

Zhisheng: Does your team still have the heist kit?

Hill: We do.

Zhisheng: Finally some luck. I’ll see if I can dig up the key code to open it. Maybe Dr. Grau had it written down somewhere.

Hill: It’s already open. The lock was melted while it was in the open position.

Zhisheng: Well that saves us some trouble. Those devices are almost impossible to open without the key code.

Hill: So what’s our next move? The good doctor said something about meeting up with a heist team. I take it you want us to bring them the kit.

Zhisheng: I’m afraid that is not an option. Grau kept the heist team’s identities a secret, even from me. He said something about compartmentalization and protecting his assets.Until he respawns we have no way of contacting them.

Hill: How long do we have to wait for that?

Zhisheng: Unfortunately waiting is also not an option. According to our intelligence, OmniStellar is forging a Skeleton Key tonight. A high-level Thaalarian can take days to respawn from death. We just don’t have the time.

Hill: Skeleton Key, that’s the thing we can’t let the Outer Alliance have, right?

Zhisheng: Correct.

Hill: Well I guess you can’t win them all.

Zhisheng: Yes, we can.

Hill: Huh?

Zhisheng: Congratulations sergeant. Jade October is now the new heist team.

Hill: What?

No.

Zhisheng: Infiltrating highly secure enemy facilities is what your troopers do best, is it not?

Hill: It takes time to plan for something like this.

We’ve never planned for something like this! This isn’t a terrorist training camp on some backwater moon. This is an OmniStellar Megalith. These are guys who won the Crescent War.

THEY KILLED A GOD!!!

Zhisheng: The general consensus is that Hastur was a demon, not a god. And Omni didn’t do it alone. They had help from the Cathurians and Minkans.

Hill: Yeah but still.

Zhisheng: The heist kit should include a heist plan. Thaalarians don’t even get out of bed without first writing a step-by-step checklist for the day’s agenda. There may be a digital copy but ignore that one. The official copy is just a show for their superiors. The real-world version of the plan will be on paper.

Hill: Ok, Shoeman found it.

Zhisheng: Excellent! Well now you know what to do sergeant.

Hill: It really isn’t that simple.

Zhisheng: Don’t worry. I have complete faith in you.

-Love Captain Z ;)

PS: The suicide collars are very old so there is a good chance the battery life may be less than originally estimated. In the interest of your safety and the safety of your team I suggest you complete this mission as quickly as possible so the collars can be removed.

Transcript of text communications between Captain Cong Zhisheng (former Jade Kingdom Navy) and Master Sergeant Kale Hill (former United Solar Federation Space Force).

Communications were decrypted 9 hrs. 35 min. 12 sec. after the Kuiper Gate Incident.

The Galactic Union is denying all involvement.

Investigation is ongoing.

Night fell over the Arcadia skyline. The last traces of orange and pink sunset faded behind the unfinished jigsaw puzzle of a mountain range that marked the western edge of the Arcadia Valley.

A red suv hovered into the F@nService Diner’s gravel parking lot and spit out a 5’3” human brunette and a 6’7” blue minkan.

Tevera was about to head towards the diner’s entrance when Astrid stopped her.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Astrid pointed a finger at the ground by her feet.

“No.” Tevera’s ears and shoulders slumped. “I was just hoping you would forget.”

“What’s the big deal? You’re like seven times stronger than a human dude your own size. I weigh almost nothing to you.” Astrid said.

“I know, it’s just humiliating, that’s all.” Tevera said.

“Humility is a virtue.” Astrid said.

Tevera grumbled.

“I’m only doing this because it’s good for you.” Astrid said, barely able to keep from grinning. “Now get down here so I can climb on your back.”

Tevera took a knee so the petite human could climb onto her shoulders. Tevera rose to her full height and Astrid instantly let the new perspective go to her head.

“Mwahaha! I’m tall bitches! Look upon your new queen and despair!” Astrid proclaimed to no one in particular in a cartoonishly aristocratic Hitraxi accent as she rode Tevera piggy back to the diner entrance.

The Ackaru vahn Suloqa was a stealth bomber shaped delta ship roughly 300 feet across from wingtip to wingtip with a fuselage about 35 feet tall. Like most minkan vessels the majority of its outer skin was made of ferranil, a grainy copper-colored metal with the strength of tempered steel and the ability to bounce back from damage like memory foam. The ship’s wing fairings and other major stress points were reinforced with turquoise gray plates of polarized chryslinn armor plates.

At the central convergence point of the two delta wings was what could be described as the ship’s face. The forward fuselage took the form of a 35 foot tall uppercase T that started wide at the top and sloped inward towards the bottom where it flared out wide again into a swordfish blade that housed the forward landing gear.

The middle of the ship’s face was made up of a large chryslinn viewport. The panels of organic carbon-nanotube glass were secured in place by a beautiful network of of high strength alloy frames that divided the viewport in an almost stained-glass-window fashion.

Mirrored concentric rings of semicircles at the viewport’s far edges resembled eyes or twin rising suns whose diagonal rays converged at the ship’s center.

The transition from alien warship to 1950’s style diner had included some cosmetic additions to the the exterior to make it look friendly and familiar to its Solari patrons. Red, white and blue neon-stripe holograms ringed the top, middle and bottom thirds of the ship’s fuselage.

Nestled above the main viewport, mounted to the central frame was a hologram emitter that projected a flashing neon sign. The layered hologram proudly display the text ‘F@nservice diner’ in red/orange neon over a purple oval-shaped base.

Atop the sign, rendered in more layered holographic neon, reclined the nose art style pinup of a shapely, blue-skinned, minkan waitress. In one of her right hands she balanced a tray of cheeseburgers, fries and a cherry-topped milkshake. The hologram was animated so that her left eye winked at the viewer while her right leg playfully kicked back and forth as her tail swayed.

“Looks like Kat forgot to shut off the sign.” Tevera said.

“ A new sign shall be made in my image!” Astrid proclaimed.

“Are you done? I hate being the responsible one here.”

“Almost, just a little longer. — Whoa, watch my head.” Astrid pointed at the low doorway.

Tevera ducked as her padded feet thudded up the ship’s loading ramp that also served as the diner’s front door.

“Ahaha! Nice try door frame! You will not sully my triumph!” Astrid shouted over her shoulder.

Much like the ship’s exterior, the lower deck had been remodeled in the fashion of a Solari diner from the idealized postwar period, with some subtle elements of minkan flavor sprinkled throughout. The typical retro-Solari diner floor would have been checkered in square, black and white tiles. Tevera’s grandparents had chosen instead to substitute violet and turquoise hexagons. Booths of an alternating deep orange with turquoise and violet with yellow tetrad color scheme lined the walls while rows of matching chrome-trimmed tables filled the open spaces in the middle of the ship.

The L-shaped bar which was made of a slab of what appeared to turquoise and violet marble was surrounded by round, orange, chrome-accented bar stools, all of which were bolted to the floor. Pretty much everything, save for the chairs and tables in the middle of the room were bolted down, a necessary precaution in a diner that was also a starship.

Shiny chrome accented the baseboards, crown molding and counter tops but Tevy’s grandparents had chosen to skip on the stainless steel diner diamond plate and instead let the rough, warm copper of the ships ferranil walls show through. What they did opt to cover they did so with framed posters and other memorabilia dedicated to the myths and art relayed by myth-gates into this universe. Posters commemorating Star Wars, Aliens, Fifth Element, Casablanca, Jaws, Jurassic Park and other films took prominent places among band posters of AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Journey, Boston, and Def Leppard.

At the far left side of the lower deck, just passed the tables, an island of video game arcade cabinets blinked and flashed alluringly as it sang a nostalgic siren-song of chiptune music.

Behind the service counter, at the center of the ship a massive metallic cylinder, wide enough to contain several small rooms extended from the lower deck floor into the upper deck ceiling. The command capsule was accessible through four very sturdy-looking security doors, two on the lower deck and two on the upper. The capsule was flanked on both sides by staggered ramps that led to the upper deck. These ramps were essentially three-quarter turn staircases, minus the stairs. The shock-absorbing heels on female minkan feet had a tendency to catch on human stairs. That, combined with the sticky pads shared by the toes of both sexes, led to minkans favor ramps over stairs whenever practical.

Ramps also made it easier for the ship’s drones to move cargo between the decks. Another bonus to ramps was if Tevy’s mom wasn’t there and you had a couple empty kegs lying around, they were a great place to play live-action Donkey Kong.

Behind the counter a skinny teenager who wore her short blond hair under a red, cat-eared beanie did not look up from her phone.

“Sorry, we’re closed.” She dismissed without making eye contact.

Perched on her shoulder like a bat or tiny dragon was what appeared to be a three inch long manta ray critter. Its slick amphibian skin was teal up top with a sand-colored belly and bright purple stripes branching out from its spine. The creature’s facial appendages, folded wings and splayed, webbed toes that separated the wings from it’s paddle-shaped tail were all tipped in tiny, round sticky pads that glowed like blue-white fireflies.

It’s adorable, smiling face looked like a Thaalarian mad scientist had tried to make a pug using tree frog DNA and been largely successful. The creature, clearly happy to see Astrid and Tevy, stuck out its tongue as it smiled and wagged its platypus tail so enthusiastically that it almost fell off the girl’s shoulder.

“Is that anyway to address your new queen!” Astrid shouted in a faux high Hitraxi accent.

The girl looked up and her already oversized, bright blue eyes grew even larger.

“Ah Astrid! When did you get so tall?” The girl played along, pretending not to see Tevera. Apparently this was not the first time they had played this game.

“Hey Kat do you know the sign is still on?” Tevera asked.

“Oh, well look who isn’t dead. You better be here to help me close.” Kat finally acknowledged Tevera’s existence in a playful, mocking tone.”

“Mraaack!” The manta-creature on Kat’s shoulder barked in agreement.

“I thought we were closed, okay. You know, on account of the bombing and the phone’s being out.” Tevy said.

“Are you kidding? We were swamped it was so busy. Did you know a minkan ship is one of the safest places you can be in an air raid. There’s like five feet of smart-metal and — a honeycomb of weird, alien diamond stuff over our heads?”

“It’s called chrysslin and yes, I may have heard that once or twice.”

“If you’re closing up why are those guys still here?” Astrid pointed to the six men crammed into a corner booth by the central viewport.

“Oh them?” Kat asked. “Tevy’s Mom said they could stay late. I guess her and the guy on the corner know each other or something.”

“Heheh. Yeah they do.” Astrid giggled in her artificially deep bro-voice.

“Don’t you talk about my Momma!” Tevy feigned outrage.

“Seriously.” Kat continued. “She said they could stay here until you came by to say hello. Although I don’t think she was counting on you coming in so late. I thought they would have gotten bored and left by now but they just keep ordering coffee. It’s almost like they’re afraid to leave or something.” Said Kat.

“Well I guess I gotta go talk to them. I hope this isn’t mom’s attempt at setting up a blind date.”

“A blind date? — But there are six of them.” Astrid asked.

“Heheh. Yeah there is.” Kat laughed, imitating Astrid’s bro-voice which sounded like a bad Fat Albert impression.

It took Tevera a second to realize what Kat was implying.

“What? no, it’s nothing like that.” The wheels turning in Tevera’s head were clearly visible. She crinkled her nose in disgust and blinked away the mental image. “Eww — no.”

As Astrid climbed down from her six foot seven friend’s shoulders she thought she saw Tevy blush; a sprinkling of chromatophores warmed her blue cheeks like purple freckles. This only seemed to encourage Kat who, still impersonating Fat Albert, implied that Tevera was too much woman for just one man as she made an obscene gesture.

“Kat!” Astrid scolded. “Does your mom know you talk like that when she’s not around?”

“My mom hasn’t been home in six months, business trip.” The teenager explained.

“Let me rephrase that. Does your nanny know you talk like that?”

“What Ingrid doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” Kat dropped the bro-voice.

Tevy spoke up.

“Mom would never approve anything like that but I do think she wants me to get more experience before I try to snag a husband.”

“Snag a husband?” Kat asked.

“Yeah, minkans marry pretty young — usually after coming home from senkan.”

“Senkan?” Astrid asked.

“Yeah, it’s sort of a coming of age thing.” Tevy said.

“Like those black-tear Alice cooper things you got under your eyes?” Astrid pointed to the claw-mark shaped black tattoos that started at the far side of her lower eyelids and curved in towards the corners of her mouth, stopping halfway down her cheeks.

“Oh that? That was just ceremonial, like a — minkan quinceanera. Senkan is a term of military or security service, far away from home. It’s a hero’s journey thing. When you come back you’re supposed to be an actual adult.” There was an uncomfortable pause. “Yeah, Mom’s been saying I need to get some — eh — practice before I get married. — You know? So I don’t disappoint.” Tevera blushed again.

Astrid crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Tevy, have you seen yourself? You couldn’t disappoint a man in bed if you tried.”

Tevy’s ears flicked back up and a reluctant smile began to form. Astrid continued.

“It wouldn’t matter how bad you were. You probably just give the guy a new fetish.”

“Uh — thanks, I think.” Tevy’s smile started to fade and one ear flopped down.

Astrid went on.

“Besides there’s nothing wrong with being a virgin.”

If Kat had been drinking something when she heard Astrid’s virgin comment she would have spit it out. Instead she blinked as though she were trying to keep her eyes from jumping out of her skull.

“Whoa, keep your voice down.” Tevy whispered, glancing at the men in the booth.

“You don’t need to sleep with randos to get experience. There are these things called books.” Astrid said.

Kat looked the curvaceous blue alien up and down in disbelief before turning to Astrid.

“Virgin — how?” Kat asked.

Astrid held up a hand signaling for her to keep quiet while she lectured.

“I am barely a virgin, okay.” Tevy whispered defensively.

“It is okay and you know what? So is Adam.” Astrid said.

Kat did a second double take.

“Well yeah, he’s a guy.” Tevera said. “That’s totally normal, or at least it would be the norm on Kataqura. Maybe not so much here…” Tevera stroked her chin while she considered this. “You know, maybe Adam doesn’t want you sharing his embarrassing secret. Why is he waiting anyway? Didn’t a bunch of popular girls want him back in high school?”

“One popular, the other two were just hot.” Astrid corrected her. “And aside from being Christian I think he’s just saving himself for the right girl.”

A fresh pot of coffee finished brewing on the machine. Tevy homed in on it like a lizard hunting a worm.

“Wow, picky. I wonder who this lucky, dream-girl will be.” Tevy said before chugging the hot, black coffee directly from the carafe.

Astrid rolled her eyes and added. “He is kind of oblivious. — He really doesn’t seem to notice when someone else wants him.”

Tevera gulped down the last of the coffee and made a refreshed ‘ah’ sound.

“That must suck. Well, now that I’ve had my coffee we should probably go talk to these guys.”

Meanwhile in the corner booth Kilroy, who was best positioned to see the front entrance without looking like he was paying too much attention, sized up the two new girls.

“Dibs.” He declared to the table.

“Which one? The minkan or the brunette?” Martinez asked.

Kilroy considered this.

“Dibs.”

“You only get one dibs! You can’t dibs both girls!”

“That sounds like a challenge.”

“That’s not what I meant and I don’t think you know how dibs work!”

“Hey don’t blame me because you wasted your dibs on the high school girl.” Kilroy laughed.

“How was I supposed to know she was fifteen?”

“Because she looks fifteen.” Sergeant Shoeman muttered under his breath.

“She does not! — At least she didn’t from far away. I had to make a split second decision before Kilroy called it. (sigh) I blame the hormones they put in milk.”

“You know they stopped doing that after that documentary came out. ” Freeman corrected.

Kilroy continued. “Martinez’s inability to accurately guess a woman’s age not withstanding, I stand by my double-dibs. I need to have options in case one of these girls doesn’t pan out. It’s important to maintain an abundance mentality. Women can smell desperation a mile away and they don’t like it. Oh crap! Here they come.”

The minkan and the brunette approached the booth.

“So I guess I’m supposed to say hello to you guys — Kale?” Tevera’s sleepy eyes went wide as she recognized Sergeant Hill.

“No way, Tiny Tevy?” He said.

“Kale?” Astrid was just as surprised as Tevera.

“Astrid too? This is so weird. How have you two been?”

“Drone strikes aside, things are good. I almost have my paramedical certification.” Astrid smiled proudly. “How are you? I thought you were in the space force.”

“Yeah I got out.” He lied. “When I think about how close I came to reenlisting for another two years it gives me the chills.”

“Sounds like you left just in time, you know, before the whole civil war thing. Glad you’re okay. So what are you doing now?”

“I’m a social media consultant.” He lied again.

“What’s that like?” Astrid asked.

He quickly changed the subject causing Astrid to furrow her brow.

“So Tevy, don’t take this the wrong way but you got…” He made a show of looking her up and down. “Well, um — big.”

“Yeah I know right!” Said Tevera, standing up straighter and sticking out her chest, clearly pleased with herself.

“When did all this happen?” He traced the outline of an imaginary hourglass in the air.

“Oh, right after high school.” Tevera answered, still beaming.

“I was gonna say. I’m pretty sure I would’ve remembered a change this drastic.”

“Hey! I don’t look that different.” Tevera objected.

“Do I need to invoke old pictures?” Kale smiled.

“No, no! That won’t be necessary.” Tevera frantically flailed her arms. “Okay, okay, maybe minkan growth spurts are a little — drastic.”

“Well that last one must have been a doozy. I’ll bet that was an interesting year for you.”

“Oh you have no idea. I was not ready for that. Everyone started treating me like a different person.” Tevy said.

“How so?” Kale asked.

“Girls who used to make fun of me stopped laughing and started giving me the stink-eye.”

“What? That’s just the way their faces look.” Kale laughed as he referenced Juno.

Tevera continued.

“But the guys, they really changed. Boys who used to either ignore me or just treat me like one of the guys, started acting all weird around me.” Tevy said.

“Describe weird.” Hill said.

“Nervous — nervous and / or horny.” Tevy explained.

“Nervous or horny? Are you sure?” Kale asked.

“Pretty sure. I mean I have trouble reading human body language what with only two eyes and your ears frozen in place, but they were not making eye-contact, sweating, saying weird things they’d try to walk back. Here I am trying to wait their tables and they treat me like I’m some sort of gender-swap Darth Vader pacing the ship, looking for an incompetent boob to choke.”

“That sounds super-hot.”

“Huh?” Tevera looked in the direction of the comment.

“Hi Tevy, nice to meet you.” Kilroy offered his hand. “The name’s Kilroy and I never get nervous.”

She shook the blond guy’s hand, his grip was surprisingly confident for a human, especially such a short one. He was even shorter than Astrid.

“Wow, never?” She raised an eyebrow.

“It’s a medical condition. It’s actually very sad.” He bantered back.

“It really is.” Grumbled Martinez who started blowing bubbles in his coffee with a straw.

“But you can still get horny right?” Tevera asked, appearing to be genuinely concerned.

“Oh — constantly.” Kilroy said.

Astrid decided that was now her queue to change the subject.

“Well it’s a good thing you guys caught us when you did. We were just about to fly this diner up to the megalith for supplies before jumping to Kataqura.”

“This megalith of which you speak — it wouldn’t happen to be The Initiative would it, the same megalith that annihilated the Union’s entire drone swarm in one terrifyingly effective tactical strike?” Hill asked.

“One ship did that? — That was the Initiative?” Astrid asked back.

Hill nodded cryptically.

“Oh, then yes, we are going to that one.” Astrid said.

“How soon are you leaving?” Hill asked.

“As soon as you guys are done ordering coffee.” Astrid said.

“Check please!” Hill waved for Kat, who was nowhere to be found.

“Well she’s disappeared again. — I’ll get the check.” Astrid sighed in frustration.

“So — since you’re already heading that way, mind if we hitch a ride with you?” Hill asked

“Sure thing Kale, what do you need to do up there?”

“Work. — It’s where I…” Hill corrected himself. “ It’s where we, work.”

“You guys work for OmniStellar, doing social media consulting?” Astrid asked. “Don’t take this the wrong way Kale but, how well do they know you? I mean back in high school you were kind of a...”

“I was problematic, I know.” Hill said.

“You were a…” Astrid said.

“Monster is such an ugly word.” Hill said.

“I didn’t say monster.” Astrid said.

“Oh.” Hill said.

“But I was going to say you’re probably lucky there was no social media back then. You might find it hard to keep a job anywhere if there was a record of the things you said and did back in high school.” Astrid said.

“Yeah, those were the days.” Freeman said fondly while staring into his cup of coffee. Hill broke the awkward silence.

“Fair enough, but that’s all in the past. I’m a changed man now. The space force mellowed me out.”

“So what does your job involve?” Astrid asked.

“Trolling.” Hill said.

“What?” Astrid asked.

“Well counter-trolling mostly.”

“What’s counter-trolling? Like arguing with trolls?”

“Hell no! That’s what they want you to do.”

“What I do is more like — preemptive trolling.”

Astrid blinked but said nothing.

“When a company as controversial as OmniStellar makes a new announcement, it doesn’t matter what it is, there are always people who will try to whip the comments section into a lynch mob. Most of them work for the Galactic Union press. My job is to get there ahead of said instigators, find the low hanging fruit, pluck them and then as soon as I trick enough angry people into agreeing with me I start ranting about how the sun is actually flat, the universe is a lie and we are all just the manifestations of a sexually frustrated Colombian’s imagination.”

“What’s a Colombian?” Asked Tevera.

Astrid face-palmed. “I am ashamed to admit that this makes sense to me. But what about you guys? You’re not all, preemptive trolls too are you?”

Astrid decided it was probably time she introduced herself.

“The name’s Astrid by the way.”

Kilroy reached out to shake her hand.

“Hello there Astrid. Name’s Kilroy.”

“So I’ve heard.”

He had a surprisingly confident grip — and shook her hand for slightly longer than was comfortable while staring intently into her eyes.

“Oh no, they’re part of the R&D division. I’m just coordinating with them on a new press release." Hill explained.

Astrid extricated herself from the extra-long handshake.

“You guys really don’t look like scientists.” She said.

“Astrid! — Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Hill scolded

“I meant it as a compliment.” Astrid said.

“What you think scientists are ugly?” Hill said.

“Dammit Kale! That’s not what I meant! You know that’s not what I meant.” Astrid said.

“Heeheehee.” Hill grinned ear to ear.

“Changed-man my ass.” Astrid grumbled.

Tevera decided to help out her friend by changing the subject. “So you guys are scientists? What is it you all uh — science?”

Jenkins shot Hill a desperate look that said: “Oh dear God! I didn’t come up with a back story. I thought we had more time. I blew the mission, now we’re all going to die in this diner.” Or at least that’s how Hill interpreted it. Fortunately Hill had already made up backstories for everyone on the team.

“Well you’ve already met my good man Dr. Jenkins the astrophysicist.” Hill said.

Jenkins nodded his head, looking somewhat relieved. Strangely enough, now Astrid looked uncomfortable.

“Um sorry, Jenkins?” Astrid asked.

“Oh right, we were going by first names back in the day. This is Loyd, eh, Dr. Loyd?” Hill said.

Astrid instantly perked up. “Oh Loyd, okay now I remember. Sorry, I didn’t recognize you with the American Sniper Beard.”

“It’s cool. You still look the way I remember you though.” Jenkins said.

“Aww thanks.” She blushed.

Hill went on to introduce the rest of the team’s false identities.

“Dr. Martinez’..es specialty is quantum cartography. He makes sense of the data Omni’s probes send back through uncharted myth-gates.” Hill said.

“I’m good at math and stuff.” Martinez added unenthusiastically.

“Dr. Freeman here is — set in his ways.” Hill said.

“What does that mean?” Tevera asked.

Freeman smiled mischievously.

“It means Imma…”

Hill cut him off before he could incriminate himself.

“He oversees OmniStellar’s backwards compatibility department. He makes sure that new versions of software are compatible with older hardware.”

“Oh.” Astrid said.

“And Dr. Kilroy here…” Hill said.

“Professor Kilroy.” Kilroy corrected him and put on a pair of intelligent-looking glasses.

“Oh, Professor Kilroy, sorry — my mistake.” Hill rolled his eyes.

“My field of study is xenobiology with a focus on reproduction and mating habits.” Professor Kilroy said.

“Oh?” Tevy cocked her head to the side.

“Ugh, seriously?” Complained Martinez.

“I have always found the minkan species to be particularly fascinating.”

“Go on.” Tevera blushed pinkish purple.

“I talk about how I like sex I’m a pervert. The guy waves some credentials around and now she’s intrigued.” Martinez grumbled under his breath.

Kilroy carried on like he didn’t hear.

“Nerve linking for example, your people have the ability to plug into the nervous systems of other sentient lifeforms, including humans.” Kilroy said.

“Yes, it’s true.” Tevera said.

“Sadly I have never had the chance to study this phenomenon first hand.” Kilroy said.

“Sheesh, get a room you two.” Chuckled Freeman.

“Hmm, there’s an idea. Does this ship have any vacant rooms?” Professor Kilroy asked.

“Well actually...” Tevera considered, thoughtfully stroking her chin.

“No! no we don’t.” Astrid said. “Uh, how about you big guy?”

“Who me?” Sergeant Shoeman seemed a little taken aback.

“Yeah what do you do?” Astrid asked.

“I uh — I study rocks.” Shoeman said.

“Rocks?” Astrid asked.

“Yep.” The big man took a long sip of coffee from a mug with the words ‘COEXIST’ spelled in conflicting religious symbols.

Hill stepped in to elaborate.

“Dr. Shoeman’s a uh— astro-geologist. He’s helping us develop a new method for extracting stem matter from locally sourced asteroids. It’s going to revolutionize the industry.”

“Yeah probably.” Grunted Shoeman as he set down the now empty coffee mug. He immediately started refilling it with the carafe Kat had left at the table earlier.

“So how did you…” Astrid was interrupted by her OmniPhone which started to play Prodigy’s Firestarter.

“Uh, excuse me. I gotta take this. It’s the fire department.” Astrid left to take the call.

“Maybe they’re calling to let us know we crammed too many people into one booth.” Martinez joked.

Tevera waited until Astrid was around the corner before she whispered to Kilroy.

“So — you wanna see it?”

A few minutes later Astrid returned, and was greeted by Tevera’s cry for help. “Astrid come quick!” Astrid sprinted towards the booth.

“What is it?”

“Oh it’s horrible! There’s something wrong with the professor!” Tevera said.

“What, what’s wrong with him?” Astrid asked.

“He won't stop picking his nose!” Tevera said.

“What?” Astrid stopped mid-stride.

Kilroy turned to face Astrid. Tevera’s tail had snaked it’s way down his shirt collar and appeared to have attached its leaf-shaped tip to his upper arm. From it a spiderweb of pulsating pink veins extended down his sleeve up to his right middle finger which was now jammed up his nose. The booth erupted into laughter.

Without stopping to think Astrid reflexively slapped Tevy’s tail with a laminated menu. Both Tevy and Kilroy cried out in shared pain.

“Gah! Mother of why!” They both said.

“Real mature Tevy.” Astrid said.

“You have no sense of humor.” Tevera said.

“I think we both know that’s a lie.” Astrid smiled.

Tevera detached her tail from Kilroy’s arm. The glowing, pink veins faded out and Kilroy breathed a sigh of relief as he regained control of his right arm. He clenched and unclenched his fist, savoring the freedom he would never take for granted again. Tevera awkwardly slid the spoon-like appendage back into the leaf-shaped denim glove she wore over the tip of her tail.

“How do you think your mother would react if she knew you were hijacking customer’s bodies with your freaky, alien tail-vagina?” Astrid scolded.

“It’s not a vagina, it’s a spade. Call it what it is.” Tevera sulked.

“I’m calling it freaky.” Astrid said.

“Gasp, racist.” Tevera hissed in mock outrage.

“Hey! That’s my job!” Freeman laughed.

“Whatever, something serious just came up.” Astrid ignored him.

“What is it?” Hill asked.

“José just called.” Astrid said.

“Uhhhhhh?” Kale went cross-eyed.

“From the fire department.” Astrid elaborated. “It looks like Adam never made it back to the station.”

“Hey that’s right, how is Adam these days?” Asked Hill.

“He never made it back.” Astrid said.

“Oh. — What happened?” Hill asked.

“It turns out the fire crew met up with one of OmniStellar’s kinetics on the highway and they left Adam behind to help him fight some drones.”

Hill locked eyes with Jenkins who was doing a very poor impression of a man who was not panicking. The rest of the team, who up until a second ago had been intensely debating Freeman’s racism and whether a black man could be racist, became deathly silent, hanging on every word.

“What were they doing fighting drones anyway? They’re firefighters, not military.” Asked Tevy.

“How should I know? Adam’s insane. He loves to fight.” Astrid said.

“He’s so mellow though.” Tevera said.

“Adam avoids conflict. — He hates to argue but he loves to fight. — Does that make sense?” Astrid said.

Tevera smiled.

“That makes a ton of sense.” Tevera said.

“Sounds like your Adam’s an anti-Kilroy.” Freeman said.

“How so?” Tevera asked.

“Kilroy loves to argue but hates to fight.”

“I’m going to let that slide — because I like you.” Kilroy said before he took a long sip of coffee and narrowed his eyes at Freeman. “But just this once.”

Freeman squinted back.

“Uh did José happen to say which highway they left him on?” Jenkins asked.

“I think they said three.” Astrid said.

The team breathed a collective sigh of relief. Shoeman helped himself to another sip of coffee from his totally un-ironic mug.

“No wait, it was highway two.” Astrid corrected.

Shoeman snorted a stream of hot coffee out his nose.

“You alright?” Asked Astrid.

“(Cough) Yeah, — I’m good.”

“Hey Astrid, José said he teamed up with a corporate kinetic. Have they tried calling OmniStellar to see if they know where Adam is?” Tevera suggested.

“That’s the weird thing. They did, and the operator was super friendly — at first.” Astrid said.

“At first?” Tevera asked.

“Yeah. She was going on and on about how much she loves firefighters and how she would find their missing man. Everything was going great until José mentioned the name of the kinetic Adam had teamed up with, Hiro Nishimoto.” Astrid said.

“That’s a badass name.” Tevera said.

“I know. Anyway, as soon as José dropped the name he gets put on hold, with zero warning. José said when the operator came back she sounded really nervous. She wasn’t friendly anymore and was all business. She told him there was no one by that name working there and told him to have an OmniStellar day.”

“What does that even mean?” Tevera asked.

Astrid shrugged.

“Yeah, I’m calling shenanigans.” Tevera said.

“Me too, especially since I found this.”

Astrid pulled up her Omniphone and opened it to the Facespace app. It displayed a picture of Hiro in an OmniStellar hazardsuit blocking a barrage of bullets and rockets.

“Oo, he’s pretty.” Commented Tevera.

“Really, I wouldn’t know.” Said Jenkins.

Freeman chuckled.

“Where did you pull this from?” Tevera asked.

“Adam’s friend list. Apparently they went to Psy school together.”

“So, what you wanna do with this?” Tevera asked.

“Nothing yet. Let’s be smart here.” Astrid took a screenshot of Hiro’s profile, just in case whoever was responsible for this little cover-up decided to delete it too. “Right now they have no reason to cooperate with us. We don’t have anything they want. If they gave the fire department the runaround what makes you think they’re going to help us?”

“Hmm.” Tevera stroked her chin thoughtfully.

Astrid continued.

“But if we made a large purchase, like say a bulk order of diner supplies and stem-fuel, that would move us into a higher priority customer service queue.”

“Oh.” The wheels in Tevera’s head started turning.

“So we fly up to the Initiative, refuel and order our supplies. Then, before we pay, we show them the picture and demand to know what happened to Adam.” Astrid said.

“Gutsy, I like it.” Tevy said. “And if that fails we know a few guys who work there.”

“That’s true.” Astrid said.

The girls turned to the team crammed into the booth.

“Can you guys get us in touch with someone who knows what happened?” Astrid asked.

“I’ll uh — need to confer with my associates.” Hill replied.

“Thanks Kale. — You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“Hey Adam’s my friend, it’s the least I can do.” He turned to his team. “Ladies, restroom?” He pointed with his chin.

They filed out of the booth, in a manner that was just a little too quiet and orderly for civilians. Tevera playfully flicked Kilroy’s ear with the tip of her tail as he passed by. He shuddered at her touch and she giggled as he avoided making eye contact. Once the men were around the corner Tevera whispered to Astrid.

“Now Astrid, I don’t want to alarm you, but I don’t think Kilroy is actually a professor.”

“Ya think?” Astrid replied sarcastically.

“I do.” Tevera was bad at identifying sarcasm. “Do you really think they’ll be able to help us?”

“I don’t know, maybe. But those guys definitely know something they’re not telling us.”

Meanwhile in the men’s room.

“We’re so screwed!”

“Calm down Jenkins.” Hill ordered.

“We’re so screwed.” Jenkins whispered.

“Keep it down. Minkans have really good hearing, like super dog-hearing.” Hill said.

“Well then I don’t think we can whisper quiet enough, can we?” Jenkins hissed back.

Hill’s eyes lit up as he formulated a plan. “Martinez, sing something.”

“Right now? — Alright.

♫John Henry, when he was a baby!♫”

“Really?” Freeman raised an eyebrow.

“What? I heard it on The Simpsons once and it just sort of made itself at home in my head. I run that song through my head so I can piss whenever someone stands in the urinal next to me.” Martinez explained.

“That’s weird.” Freeman said.

“You’re weird, Mr. Set-In-His-Ways. Plus it’s …”

Hill cut him off.

“Don’t listen to him Freeman. You be you. Don’t go changin’ for nobody. — Martinez did I tell you to stop singing?”

“No Sarge. — ♫‘Settin’ on his momma’s knee♫

♫Picked up an hammer in his little right hand♫

♫Said, “Hammer be the death of me, me, me♫

♫Hammer be the death of me”’♫

While Martinez sang Hill positioned himself where he could hit the buttons on both wall-mounted hand dryers.

VIRRRRRRRRRRRR!

“We’re so screwed!” Hill exclaimed.

“Yeah — I just said that.” Jenkins reminded him.

“Alright, what do we know?” Hill asked the team.

“We’re so screwed.” Freeman said.

“We killed Adam!” Jenkins rubbed his forehead.

“Or Hiro. — Either way we killed somebody.” Kilroy said.

“We don’t know that for sure. Before we go any further I want to check something.” Kale pulled the tracking receiver from his EDSC.

Built for durability rather than convenience, the device lacked a touchscreen. Panning the view had to be done through either the arrow keys or via a touchpad that was probably tough enough to withstand a nuclear blast but not quite sensitive enough to respond to human fingers. After giving up on the touchpad Hill was able to use the arrow keys to move the map view back to the section of Highway 02 where they may or may not have killed a guy.

“Hey Jenkins what’s wrong with this picture?” Hill asked.

“Well let’s see. There’s Highway Two. — There’s the power station we sniped from. — Hey what happened to the first tracking beacon, the broken one?”

“Good catch Jenkins.” Hill pressed the TAB key.

The green monochromatic map screen jumped several blocks to settle on a blinking white dot which the receiver had labeled as (01).

“Well this is interesting. There’s the beacon we thought was broken. Can you tell me what building that is?”

“Give me a sec.” Jenkins took the receiver from Hill. In his other hand, he pulled up the OmniMap app on his phone. Besides being rendered in color, the OmniMap had the added benefit of attaching names to the buildings as opposed to the tracking receiver which just displayed a grid of unlabeled, wireframe boxes. He held the two maps side by side to compare. “It’s the…”

Jenkins stopped talking as the electric hand dryers timed out. Martinez compensated for the silence by singing even louder, practically shouting.

“♫John Henry had a little woman.♫

♫Her name was Polly Anne!♫”

Hill hit the dryer buttons again.

VIRRRRRRRRRRRR!

“It’s the Owen Medical Center.” Jenkins continued.

“Haha! We lucked out boys!” Hill shouted.

“It says here they have the number one burn unit on the planet.” Jenkins added.

Hill grimaced.

“Okay, here’s what we know so far. There are two kinetics, Adam and Hiro. We tagged them both, but right now don’t know which one is which.” Hill pointed to the tracker. “One is in the hospital, the other got taken up to the Initiative. So as far as we know we haven’t killed anyone yet. That’s a plus. Now our target is Hiro and this Skeleton Key thing. Going off what we know, OmniStellar can’t make the Skeleton Key without Hiro. So it’s only reasonable to assume Hiro’s the one who got taken up to the Initiative.” Hill theorized.

“We could swing by the hospital to be sure.” Jenkins suggested.

“We could, but we don’t have the time.” Hill said.

“He’s right.” Shoeman said.

“Of course the sergeants agree.” Martinez grumbled.

“They’re supposed to.” Freeman said. “It’s called good parenting.”

“That’s true.” Shoeman said. “But it’s not why I’m agreeing with with him. If Hiro’s conscious and back at the Initiative we may already out of time. If we want to have any chance of pulling off this heist we need to get up there as quickly as possible and the fastest way to do that —” Shoeman fist-bumped the wall. “— is with this ship.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s a good thing I’m friends with its owners.” Hill said, a smug grin on his face.

“Whose brother you sent to the hospital.” Jenkins said.

“We Jenkins, we. And technically it’s Tevy’s parents who own the ship. Astrid just works here.” Hill said.

“Still, what do we tell her?” Jenkins asked.

“I’m — still working on that.”

FLUSH!

“I thought you checked to make sure the stalls were empty.” Hill asked Kilroy.

“I checked for feet.” Kilroy shrugged.

The corner stall opened and the blonde teenager walked out.

“Hi.” Kat said.

“What are you doing in here? This is the men’s restroom!” Hill said.

“I know.” Kat said.

“But you’re a girl.” Hill said.

“Yeah but Mandrake isn’t.” Kat said.

The frog / manta ray creature perched on her shoulder meowed smugly as if it understood everything.

“What was I supposed to do, take him into the women’s restroom?” Kat asked.

“Yes! That’s exactly… How can you even tell that thing’s male?” Hill asked as he tried to lift one of the creature’s flippers to look for indicators.

“Because that’s how he identifies.” Kat said.

“Meow.” The creature agreed as it shook its flipper / wing free.

“And you can understand that thing?” Hill asked.

“Well yeah — you can’t?” Kat said.

“Looks like we got a Han and Chewie situation over here.” Freeman covertly mumbled to Kilroy.

“I don’t even, what the hell is that thing anyway?” Hill asked.

“Mandrake is a meon.” Kat said.

“What’s a meon?” Hill asked. “Is that like a rare Pokemon? Cause he looks kinda like a Pokemon.”

The teenage girl’s blue eyes took on the thousand yard stare of a war weary veteran. The meon barked and Kat translated.

“Meons are aliens to time as you know it. Born in the pools below the tree of worlds, bio-remnants of the first creation, they have proudly served the Omni-Lord’s children since before this universe was spoken into existence.”

“Whoa.” Kilroy said.

“Meons are explorers from the furthest regions of experience, demons to some, angels to others.” Kat translated.

“Wait, that last part sounds familiar.” Hill said.

“Dude, that’s Hellraiser.” Freeman said.

Kat continued to translate, even though Mandrake had stopped barking some time ago. “He’s seen things you people wouldn’t believe, attack ships on fire off the shore of Orion. He watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.”

“Okay, now I know that’s Bladerunner.” Hill said.

“He was there three thousand years ago, when Isildur took the ring. He was there the day the strength of men failed.” Kat said.

“Lord of the Rings.” Shoeman called out.

“Damn. You guys are good.” Kat said.

“Don’t change the subject.” Hill said. “How much of our private conversation did you hear?”

Kat’s oversized anime-eyes lit up. “Are you guys about to pull off a heist?”

“Crap!” Hill said.

“Can I come too? Please, I always wanted to be part of a heist.” She bounced on her tip toes.

“Ugh, I appreciate your enthusiasm.” Hill said.

“I’ll be so much help. I can help you sneak in. I’m a very convincing liar, I promise.” Kat said.

“Sorry kid. You remind me of me when I was your age, but you can’t go with us. If we get discovered things will get very dangerous very fast.” Hill said.

“That’s okay, I’m a minor. If we get arrested I won’t be tried as an adult.” Kat said.

“Oh — Well nobody’s getting arrested.” Hill said.

“Yeah because now you have me.” Kat said.

“What? No, that’s not it. Do you know what a red team operation is?” Hill had figured out what he was going to tell Astrid and Tevy.

“Red team?” Kat asked.

“Yes. It’s when a government, or corporation in this case, hires a team to try to uh, penetrate their security.” Hill explained and Kat started to chuckle.

“Looking for vulnerabilities!” Hill elaborated. “What are you fifteen?”

“Yes.” Kat said between laughter.

“Well regardless, the reason nobody is going to get arrested — even if we get caught — is because what we are doing is not illegal. They want us to pull off the heist. If we can uh — get through — their security then they just a learned a way to make it more secure. Understand?” Hill said.

“Yeah, I just don’t understand why I can’t help.” Kat said.

Hill didn’t have a response to that, not unless he wanted to confess to planning an actual heist — on behalf of a hostile government.

“You know what? Me neither. — You’re in.” Hill said.

“Woo!” Kat jumped for joy and the meon on her shoulder seemed to share in the celebration. The bulb-shaped sticky pads at the ends of its wings, toes, tail and the manta ray-like mandibles that projected from the sides of its mouth all pulsed with a soft green glow.

“But you have to promise you will do exactly as I say.” Hill said.

“Sure thing Mr. Kale! You can count on me.” Kat said and Mandrake barked in agreement.

“Wonderful.” Hill said.

“I’m gonna be so much help. I was born to heist. I have a natural talent for lying. Just ask Big Blue.” Kat said.

“That’s okay. I believe you.” Hill said. “Wait, Big Blue?”

“Yeah, the other waitress, the big blue one.” Kat said.

“You mean Tiny Tevy?” Hill said.

“Yeah Tevy. You want me to bring her in on this?” Kat offered.

“Nah, that’s okay.” Hill said.

“The heist plan did call for a femme fatale.” Kilroy reminded him.

“Dibs.” Freeman reminded him.

“No wait, that doesn’t count. You called dibs on Grau’s FF. I called dibs on this one.” Kilroy said.

“Kilroy has a point.” Hill said.

“Yes!” Kilroy did a fist pump.

“No not that. I have no idea whose dibs that was. You’ll have to sort that out amongst yourselves.” Hill said.

“Crap!” Kilroy said.

“Heheh, still in the game.” Freeman said.

Hill turned to Kat. “Well Tevy 2.0 certainly looks the part of a femme fatale but how is she at human engineering?”

“Huh, human-what-now?” Kat asked.

“How persuasive is she? How is she at manipulating people? What’s her charisma level?” Hill clarified.

“I thought you went to high school with the dame.” Shoeman said.

“I did. Back then Tevy was skilled in the art of anti-persuasion. She would talk you out of doing what she wanted. It was actually very sad…wait…dame?” Hill gave Shoeman a confused look. The marine did not react.

“Well she’s a pretty terrible liar.” Kat admitted. But she tends to get her way — at least with guys.”

“Really?” Hill said.

“Yeah, dudes seem to have a hard time telling her ‘no’.” Kat explained.

“Hmm, I wonder why that could be.” Hill mumbled.

“I can think of a couple reasons. Am I right, eh?” Kilroy held up his hand for Freeman to grudgingly high-five.

“Okay, the Blue Bomber’s in — if she’s interested.” Hill said.

“Don’t you worry about Tevy. She’s totally DTH.” Kat said.

“What’s DT...oh. Down To Heist. Haha. You’re funny kid.” Hill said.

“Wait a minute.” Martinez stopped singing. “She’s not fifteen too is she?”

“No, she’s nineteen.” Kat said.

“Oh thank God!” Martinez resumed singing John Henry.

“Dibs!” Kilroy reminded him.

“You do know you’re going to have to pick one girl right?” Jenkins said.

“What about Astrid? Think she’ll go for it?” Hill asked.

“No! You cannot tell Astrid! She is way too responsible to heist.” Kat said.

“So we need to bring Tevy in on this without tipping off Astrid.” Hill said.

The hand dryers timed out again.

“Have your guy stop singing.” Kat told Hill.

“Martinez! That’s enough.” Hill said. “You can stop now.”

“But I was just hitting my stride.” Martinez said.

Kat started talking to the air like she was trying to communicate with a ghost.

“Hey Big Blue I know you can hear me. Don’t tell Astrid what I’m about to tell you.”

Meanwhile outside the men’s restroom.

A vacant-eyed Tevera recited everything she heard verbatim.

“Hey Big Blue I know you can hear me. Don’t tell Astrid what I’m about to tell you…Guh hur muhah blurgh!” Tevera choked and shook her head out of the eidetic flow.

“What! What doesn’t she want you to tell me?” Astrid demanded.

“She — uhhh — She didn’t want me to tell you, that she carbonated two customer’s sodas with helium!” Tevera lied.

“Helium?” Astrid raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Tevera started to crack herself up. “You should’ve seen it. They started talking like feltlings.” Tevera gasped between chuckles. “And then — and then they started talking like really angry feltlings! Gah! Hahaha! I wish you could have been there. I almost died laughing!” Tevy said.

Team Jade October walked out of the restroom. A few seconds later Kat attempted to sneak out unnoticed.

“Kathryn Eliza Morgan! What do you think you are doing in the men’s bathroom?” Astrid demanded.

“It’s not what it looks like!” Martinez said defensively.

Kat pretended to hold back tears before she spoke up. “You used all three of my names. I think this is what having a concerned mother is supposed to feel like.”

“Oh, awww. I’m sure she cares. She’s just really busy, with her career and stuff.” Astrid tried to reassure her.

“Yeah, she’s super-worried about you! — And stop carbonating the drinks of D-bag customers with helium! — Even if it is super-hilarious.” Tevera started to crack herself up again.

“I will Big Blue. Thank you for being so understanding.” Kat fake sobbed.

“Oh drop it you two.” Astrid said.

Kat maintained her sobbing facade. Tevera was another matter. Her ears lowered into the submissive position before flicking back up through shear force of will.

“Tevy look at me.” Astrid said.

Tevera reluctantly met Astrid’s inquisitor gaze. The minkan’s blue cheeks blushed dark purple and a glistening river of slimy sweat was starting to trickle down her forehead.

“Tevy, what day was it when Kat pulled that prank with the helium?”

Tevera blinked twice before breaking down.

“Wednesday! She doesn’t even work that day! It was me! I heliumed the sodas! And you know what? It was hilarious!” Tevera confessed.

“We’re all gonna die.” Martinez whispered to Jenkins.

“It’s okay Tevy.” Astrid calmingly rubbed the lower portion of Tevera’s upper arm.

“It was hilarious.”

“I know Tevy. I know.” Astrid said

Tevera caught her breath.

“Now what really did Kat not want you to tell me?” Astrid asked.

Kat’s eyes bugged out as she saw the blue-wall about to fall.

They’re planning a heist!” Tevera pointed. “But don’t worry. It’s okay because it’s a good heist — and we’re invited.”

Astrid was silent for the few seconds it took to put her words together.

“Kale — what the …”

“It’s a good heist! You heard the terrible liar.” Hill said.

“I’m sorry.” Tevera sulked.

“What’s a good heist?” Astrid demanded. “Is this like one of those movies where some former military guys get the idea to rob some big bad guy but then it goes horribly wrong and then at the end they learn the real treasure is friendship?”

“Um, no.”

“Good, because I already have friendship.” Astrid said.

“It’s a red team operation.” Hill explained.

“Red team?” Astrid said.

“It’s when a corporation or government hires a team to penetrate —” Kat snickered and Hill rolled his eyes. “— their security, to test it for vulnerabilities.”

“This is because of the drone attack?” Astrid inferred.

“Uh, yes.” Hill said.

“I thought you said you were a social media guru or something.” Astrid said.

“I wear a lot of hats.” Hill said.

“Okay then, why is your red team all scientists?” Astrid asked.

“Because most security breaches are the result of human engineering…”

Tevera’s ears perked up. “Point of privilege. That word’s not inclusive.” She said in a voice that mimicked being out of shape and breath.

“You don’t really care, Tevy.” Astrid informed her.

“Yeah, I know. I just like correcting people.” Tevy said with a smile.

“She can correct me anytime she wants, grarr.” Kilroy said to Freeman.

“FF retroactive dibs.” Freeman reminded him.

“Hey what are you guys talking about?” Tevera asked.

“Nothin’.” Said Freeman.

“Don’t judge me!” Kilroy shouted.

Hill removed his trucker cap and massaged his forehead.

“Point is most security breaches are caused by human error —” Hill narrowed his eyes at Tevera before continuing. “— or they tend to be inside jobs.That’s why our red team is made of science personnel. They routinely work around the good stuff and will know where the vulnerabilities are.”

“Oh. — That makes sense.” Astrid said. “Okay, I’m in.”

“Seriously? You’re in?” Hill said.

“Yeah, it sounds like fun. I want in.” Astrid said.

“What can you do?” Hill asked.

“I’m EMS, the uniform should be able to get me into some places civilians can’t go.”

“That’s true.” Hill said.

“And if our mission is to penetrate their security…” Kat snickered. “then I will have a perfectly good excuse for poking around in their computers. Maybe I can get some answers as to why Adam isn’t answering his phone.”