Axis crossing, p.8
Axis Crossing, page 8
The woman joined the small group to peruse Escher’s short list.
“I know three on your list, Escher ... two men and a woman,” Ceda said. “They’re young like Racer and Paula, and they’ve reputations among the house clones.”
“What kind of reputations?” Red asked. Quickly, he clarified that he was interested in determining who might invite them or where they might go next.
“Is that all you have, Escher?” Bibi asked.
“That’s all the data I’ve collected,” Escher replied, with a slight smile, and Red grinned in anticipation.
Turning to Ceda, Escher said, “You know the types of parties these two like to attend. I thought we’d send them an invite to one of our own.”
Escher and Ceda crafted an invitation that none of the crew comprehended.
“What don’t we get?” Bibi asked.
“Company families are extremely circumspect in their social communications,” Allie explained. “Overtness is frowned on. They know the corporation is always listening. So, they take care to couch an invitation or an overture in language that only an interested party will recognize.”
“What if we’re too subtle?” Red inquired.
“Then Racer and Paula will respond with a hint that they might not be available at the requested time,” Allie replied. “To which, we’ll reply with an equally obtuse remark about their preferences. Occasionally, invitees wave off the requests. However, in this case, we know that Racer and Paula are interested parties.”
“How long might this take?” Jasper asked. He was counting down the days until the couple was due to sail for Transit One.
“Hard to say,” Escher replied. “I would think between three to five days to reach an agreement. Then the party would be scheduled another three to four days out.”
“That’s cutting it close,” Jasper pointed out.
“Agreed,” Escher said. “But I don’t see any other way to get to them.”
“Neither do I,” Jasper admitted.
Escher and Ceda’s ploy did work. Unfortunately, Racer and Paula cited previous engagements, which necessitated their acceptance of an invitation three days prior to their sailing date.
“We get one shot at this,” Jasper said to his assembled crew and the surface trio. “Is anybody unclear about their duties?” When no one raised a question, he said, “Then let’s do this.”
When the crew exited the storeroom, three people were left behind — Escher, Allie, and Bot-boy. Everyone else had a part to play in the abduction.
Most of the gang, including Ceda, assembled at the residence where Racer and Paula were headed.
Three others — Lita, Tammy, and Gat’r — took up stations at the opposite end of the dome. They would constitute the diversion for security’s late evening shift.
At the residential building, the crew hid, leaving Ceda between the door and the pathway. She wore an evening suit that had been liberated from a clone she knew. Ceda felt guilty about taking the clothing, and she was upset she couldn’t transfer some credits to pay for it. As recompense, Ceda stuffed the woman’s cold unit with fresh food and left packaged meals on the tiny counter. In the tunnels, these were as good as credits.
Racer and Paula arrived fashionably late.
“May I help you?” Ceda asked the couple, with a smile.
“We’ve come at an invitation,” Racer replied imperiously.
“Would that be for the Lita party?” Ceda inquired.
“It would be,” Paula replied. She was as haughty as her partner.
“Then welcome,” Ceda acknowledged, tipping her head to the couple.
When Ceda turned to precede the couple to the residence and access the doors, Jasper and Ditz sprang from their hiding places. Each clamped a hand over a mouth and quickly applied Doc’s patch to the side of a neck.
Racer and Paula briefly struggled. Then they went limp.
Red and Scrounger grabbed legs, and the couple was hauled out of sight. Then Racer and Paula were slipped into dark bags and laid on a cart.
Scrounger had purloined a motorized cart used to load supplies for a store. It had been left at the rear of a building, and he found it easy to circumvent the security lock.
As the crew made their way to the rooftop exit that they used, Red, who was the fastest of the gang, ran to join Lita, Tammy, and Gat’r.
When Lita saw Red round a corner, she said urgently, “Now, Gat’r!”
A water line fed misters used to keep a wide swath of greenery irrigated. The plants, which were genetically modified, greatly added to the production of oxygen and the scrubbing of carbon dioxide from the air. As well, the colorful blooms were appreciated by the surface residents.
Gat’r swung an augmented arm at the pipe, which made a small dent. He glanced at Lita in surprise. “I hit it hard,” he said.
“Try again,” Tammy urged.
“Wait,” Red said, having arrived to hear the exchange. He examined the pipe and pointed at a joint. “Hit it here, Gat’r. Right on the seam,” he directed.
Gat’r bent his knees and smacked the joint as hard as he could. His reward was a strong shot of water in the face. In fact, the foursome was quickly soaked by the water spraying heavily from the cracked pipe.
“That should do it,” Tammy said. “Let’s go!”
The foursome ran along the evening’s quiet pathways to reach the same rooftop the others were targeting.
The pipe’s pressure drop registered in two places — dome engineering and security. Each department sent a team to investigate.
An engineering supervisor pointed at the dented pipe and the cracked seam and said to the investigating agent, “Vandalism.”
The agent commed his supervisor, who sent a second team to investigate the surrounding area. The suspicion was that the vandalism might just be beginning.
“What’s the problem, Scrounger?” Jasper whispered anxiously.
Scrounger regarded the cart’s readout panel, which was still dark. He’d been working on the cart for five minutes, and everyone was getting nervous.
Jasper had set outliers to warn of agents.
“Sorry, Jasper, I didn’t realize the reason they parked the cart outside was that maintenance was supposed to collect it,” Scrounger replied. “There’s an intermittent power supply problem.”
“Any chance of repairing it soon?” Jasper asked.
“Not quickly,” Scrounger said, standing and spreading his hands in apology.
Jasper whistled a short, sharp burst, and his outliers came running.
“We carry them,” Jasper said to the group of four males and three females. He divided the crew as equitably as possible to manage Racer’s heavier body and Paula’s lighter mass.
The crew struggled with the bodies to reach the safety of their rooftop. Frequently, they detoured to evade the sounds of agents searching the area.
Lita and Tammy arrived to help the crew.
“Where’s Gat’r?” Jasper asked.
“We sent him ahead to the rooftop,” Lita replied. “Security knows we have these two. We heard them talking.”
“Someone must have reported the abduction,” Tammy offered.
“Thought we heard way too many voices for some random vandalism response,” Jasper said, with disgust.
“What do we do?” Bibi asked.
“Best thing to do is to leave them here,” Red offered.
“We’ve been fortunate to have this set of circumstances fall into our hands,” Jasper said. “I’m not willing to give up so easily. Anybody who wants to make for the rooftop, go now!” When no one moved, he added, “Okay, pick them up, and let’s run!”
Just at that moment, the crew heard voices coming from behind them and in front of them.
“Trapped,” Red whispered harshly.
Ceda saw a dark space between two buildings. “In there,” she ordered, pointing.
With no other option, the crew quickly obeyed.
As dark closed around the gang, several noticed that Ceda wasn’t with them. Suddenly, they heard her yelling for help.
“We’ve been betrayed,” Ditz said angrily.
“Idiot,” Tammy whispered harshly.
“Everyone, shut up,” Jasper ordered quietly. He hoped Tammy was right, but he tended to believe Ditz.
“Over here,” Ceda called to the agents, who came running from both ends of the pathway. “I saw them. I saw them,” she said anxiously to the eight agents.
“You saw what?” a supervisor demanded.
“A group of youths carried two black bags among them,” Ceda said breathlessly. “I think there were bodies in those bags.”
“Which way did they go?” the supervisor asked urgently.
“I can show you,” Ceda volunteered.
“Too dangerous,” the supervisor replied. “Point the way.”
Ceda ran down a path. Then she stopped at a corner and indicated a new direction with her arm. “They ran this way when they heard your voices, and then they turned here.”
The supervisor called to alert the teams to the new search area, adding that the abductors might be youths carrying body bags. Then the supervisor and his team took off at a run.
Ceda raced back to the crew’s hiding place, but they were already gone. She ran in the direction Jasper had been leading the gang before they hid, and she hoped she remembered how to find the right building.
As it was, Ceda caught up with the struggling crew and snatched a handle on one of the body bags. She was elated with her performance, but several members ducked their heads and wouldn’t meet her eyes. However, Lita and Tammy were chuckling.
“Oh,” Ceda uttered in surprise. “You thought I was turning you in to the agents.” She laughed. It was low and dark. “Be smart,” she said. “You say nothing about your nasty suspicions to Escher and Allie. Otherwise, you’ll lose their cooperation.”
The gang and Ceda silently and successfully carried their burdens to the rooftop building. The males swiftly climbed the line, and then the bodies were hauled up by tying the line through the carry handles. Afterward, the females were aided to help them gain the roof quickly.
The gang’s motorized cart was waiting for them outside the bottom of the shaft. The bodies were loaded onto the cart, and the crew members separated, taking different routes to the hiding place.
“Success?” Escher asked, as the gang drifted two by two into the lair. He was given tired nods, and the individuals sank gladly onto their sleeping pallets.
Eventually, Scrounger, Jasper, and Ceda walked the cart through the doors, and Red closed them and dropped a heavy metal bar into welded arms.
Immediately, the body bags were opened, and Doc checked the couple’s vitals. “They’re fine,” she pronounced.
“You were gone a long time,” Bot-boy said.
“Security knows about the abduction and knows a gang of youths took these two,” Lita explained to Escher and Allie.
“Kind of moves up the timeline,” Jasper said, eyeing Escher. “On another note, we’d have been in the clutches of security, if it wasn’t for Ceda. Quick thinking on her part saved us.”
Jasper walked to Ceda and offered his hand. “Sorry,” he said.
Ceda shook Jasper’s hand and replied, “When lives have been difficult, trust comes slowly.”
“If security knows a gang of youths abducted these two, we’ve lost a day or more,” Bibi reasoned. “Agents will be swarming the tunnels tomorrow. How do we get Racer and Paula back to the surface under those circumstances?”
The crew started talking all at once, which quickly escalated into arguments.
Allie caught Jasper’s attention and nodded toward Escher, who had a faraway look.
“Everyone, be quiet,” Jasper shouted over the noise. When the gang quieted, he pointed at Escher and said, “Let the man think.”
The room’s sudden quiet broke into Escher’s thinking, and he regarded the expectant faces. “It dawns on me that any forthcoming adversarial events are predicated on abduction,” he said. “All we have to do is eliminate that supposition.”
“What does that mean?” Ditz asked.
“Racer and Paula have to return to their apartment,” Escher said, with a smile.
“Security will see their cids open the apartment’s door, and they’ll come running,” Allie exclaimed, catching onto Escher’s plan.
“Your visit will have to be short, and then you’ll need to board a shuttle before security catches onto the ruse,” Jasper reasoned.
“Timing will be tight,” Escher agreed, while he researched flights. “There’s an advantage to this particular ruse, Jasper. You and your crew will have an opportunity to get Racer and Paula to the surface, while agents swarm the residential building looking for us.”
7: Escape
Bot-boy raised a timid hand. When Jasper pointed at him, he said, “I was wondering. How does security know that it’s Racer and Paula who’ve been taken?”
Escher chuckled and appreciatively tapped Bot-boy on the knee, which made the youth beam.
Jasper regarded Lita, who said, “I never heard the agents speak any names.”
Ceda added, “I didn’t say anything about the couple, and the supervisor didn’t name them either.”
“What about a vid cam mounted in front of building?” Allie inquired.
“This residence was set back from the main path,” Jasper mused, “and Ceda was halfway between the building and the pathway. I don’t think a vid cam would have a visual of them.”
“Let’s test that assumption,” Escher said, turning to his computer.
With a few keystrokes, the group heard the agent, whose computer Escher rode, speaking to someone not present.
“The agent’s been called in for a double shift,” Escher remarked.
The group had to wait for what they wanted while the conversation went back and forth.
Finally, the agent replied, “Negative. Identification hasn’t been made yet.”
More time passed, during which the group considered the agent was listening to the caller.
“That’s correct,” the agent continued. “A man and a woman, who appear to be in their late twenties. We don’t know if they were returning to their residence or visiting someone in that building.”
A few more seconds passed. Then the agent said, “Negative. Clothing descriptions aren’t of value. The man and the woman were seen being placed in body bags.”
“That’s correct,” the agent said, after another pause. “A total of three witnesses have said that the perpetrators were a group of youths.”
A long pause ensued, and then the agent laughed harshly. “Couldn’t have said it better. If they were mickies, you couldn’t have told one from the other. Nothing but dirty faces and stinky, threadbare overalls.”
The anger in the gang’s lair was palpable. Members shared their hostility toward the agent through their expressions.
Escher cut the audio feed, and he turned toward the gang. “Just remember,” he said. “The last laugh will be on security.” His comment dispelled most of the ire, as the crew laughed at the thought of getting the best of the arrogant agents.
“Are we ready to do this?” Doc asked. She displayed a medical kit that she’d used only occasionally. It had been her mother’s.
Escher glanced at the results of his search, checked the timing, and replied, “We’re good to go for a shuttle launch schedule. I need Racer’s chip to order seats and Axis-ship passage.”
“We could just drag him over and use his hand,” Red suggested.
“Negative,” Doc said. “We need to test the cid transfer.”
“Why wouldn’t it work?” Bibi asked.
“When was the last time you did one, Bibi?” Doc retorted. “Right,” she stated definitively, when no one answered, “because none of us have seen this done, much less done it ourselves. We need to be sure.”
“I like her thoroughness!” Allie exclaimed. “We do it her way.”
Doc felt for the subtle outline of Racer’s cid. Then she wiped the area with antiseptic and used a fine marker to trace the tiny cid. A quick incision with a laser knife, and the chip was delicately extracted. She laid the cid in a small dish of antiseptic.
Carrying the dish and her supplies to the computer table, Doc said to Escher, “Place your hand flat on the table. Do you need someone to hold it steady?”
“Good to go, Doc,” Escher replied, smiling gently at her, which gave the teenager a much-needed boost of confidence.
Quickly and with minimum fuss, Doc extracted Escher’s cid, dropped it in the dish, picked up Racer’s chip, flicked the antiseptic off, and inserted it under Escher’s skin.
Then Doc sealed the skin. “I’ll finish after you test it, Escher,” she said.
Escher used Racer’s cid to charge two shuttle seats and a cabin aboard the Axis-ship headed for Naiad. “Worked like a charm,” he pronounced. “Nice job, Doc,” he added.
“You’re my first,” Doc replied, winking, which made Escher laugh.
“My turn,” Ceda announced, and Doc repeated the process on Paula and Ceda.
“Hands together over here,” Doc said to Escher and Ceda.
When the couple laid their hands side by side, Doc used sealant on the tiny incisions. When the sealant dried, she covered the slightly reddish skin with a tint. Examining her work, she said, “Unless someone has their nose at your hands, the work shouldn’t show.”
Escher held up the dish of antiseptic with his and Ceda’s cids. Then he regarded Jasper and gestured with his free hand at the dish.
“You’re right,” Jasper admitted. “They’re yours, and you’ll probably need them later.”
“Thank you,” Escher replied. “Well, if we’re going to catch the shuttle launch window, there’s no time to waste.”
Escher waited while Allie and Ceda exchanged a long tearful hug.
“You know we’ll be back,” Ceda whispered.
“Don’t let Escher come back unprepared,” Allie replied. “No use two of us being under arrest.”
When Escher hugged Allie, no words were exchanged. The siblings needed none.
“The computer is yours, Bot-boy,” Escher announced. “Take good care of it.”
“I know three on your list, Escher ... two men and a woman,” Ceda said. “They’re young like Racer and Paula, and they’ve reputations among the house clones.”
“What kind of reputations?” Red asked. Quickly, he clarified that he was interested in determining who might invite them or where they might go next.
“Is that all you have, Escher?” Bibi asked.
“That’s all the data I’ve collected,” Escher replied, with a slight smile, and Red grinned in anticipation.
Turning to Ceda, Escher said, “You know the types of parties these two like to attend. I thought we’d send them an invite to one of our own.”
Escher and Ceda crafted an invitation that none of the crew comprehended.
“What don’t we get?” Bibi asked.
“Company families are extremely circumspect in their social communications,” Allie explained. “Overtness is frowned on. They know the corporation is always listening. So, they take care to couch an invitation or an overture in language that only an interested party will recognize.”
“What if we’re too subtle?” Red inquired.
“Then Racer and Paula will respond with a hint that they might not be available at the requested time,” Allie replied. “To which, we’ll reply with an equally obtuse remark about their preferences. Occasionally, invitees wave off the requests. However, in this case, we know that Racer and Paula are interested parties.”
“How long might this take?” Jasper asked. He was counting down the days until the couple was due to sail for Transit One.
“Hard to say,” Escher replied. “I would think between three to five days to reach an agreement. Then the party would be scheduled another three to four days out.”
“That’s cutting it close,” Jasper pointed out.
“Agreed,” Escher said. “But I don’t see any other way to get to them.”
“Neither do I,” Jasper admitted.
Escher and Ceda’s ploy did work. Unfortunately, Racer and Paula cited previous engagements, which necessitated their acceptance of an invitation three days prior to their sailing date.
“We get one shot at this,” Jasper said to his assembled crew and the surface trio. “Is anybody unclear about their duties?” When no one raised a question, he said, “Then let’s do this.”
When the crew exited the storeroom, three people were left behind — Escher, Allie, and Bot-boy. Everyone else had a part to play in the abduction.
Most of the gang, including Ceda, assembled at the residence where Racer and Paula were headed.
Three others — Lita, Tammy, and Gat’r — took up stations at the opposite end of the dome. They would constitute the diversion for security’s late evening shift.
At the residential building, the crew hid, leaving Ceda between the door and the pathway. She wore an evening suit that had been liberated from a clone she knew. Ceda felt guilty about taking the clothing, and she was upset she couldn’t transfer some credits to pay for it. As recompense, Ceda stuffed the woman’s cold unit with fresh food and left packaged meals on the tiny counter. In the tunnels, these were as good as credits.
Racer and Paula arrived fashionably late.
“May I help you?” Ceda asked the couple, with a smile.
“We’ve come at an invitation,” Racer replied imperiously.
“Would that be for the Lita party?” Ceda inquired.
“It would be,” Paula replied. She was as haughty as her partner.
“Then welcome,” Ceda acknowledged, tipping her head to the couple.
When Ceda turned to precede the couple to the residence and access the doors, Jasper and Ditz sprang from their hiding places. Each clamped a hand over a mouth and quickly applied Doc’s patch to the side of a neck.
Racer and Paula briefly struggled. Then they went limp.
Red and Scrounger grabbed legs, and the couple was hauled out of sight. Then Racer and Paula were slipped into dark bags and laid on a cart.
Scrounger had purloined a motorized cart used to load supplies for a store. It had been left at the rear of a building, and he found it easy to circumvent the security lock.
As the crew made their way to the rooftop exit that they used, Red, who was the fastest of the gang, ran to join Lita, Tammy, and Gat’r.
When Lita saw Red round a corner, she said urgently, “Now, Gat’r!”
A water line fed misters used to keep a wide swath of greenery irrigated. The plants, which were genetically modified, greatly added to the production of oxygen and the scrubbing of carbon dioxide from the air. As well, the colorful blooms were appreciated by the surface residents.
Gat’r swung an augmented arm at the pipe, which made a small dent. He glanced at Lita in surprise. “I hit it hard,” he said.
“Try again,” Tammy urged.
“Wait,” Red said, having arrived to hear the exchange. He examined the pipe and pointed at a joint. “Hit it here, Gat’r. Right on the seam,” he directed.
Gat’r bent his knees and smacked the joint as hard as he could. His reward was a strong shot of water in the face. In fact, the foursome was quickly soaked by the water spraying heavily from the cracked pipe.
“That should do it,” Tammy said. “Let’s go!”
The foursome ran along the evening’s quiet pathways to reach the same rooftop the others were targeting.
The pipe’s pressure drop registered in two places — dome engineering and security. Each department sent a team to investigate.
An engineering supervisor pointed at the dented pipe and the cracked seam and said to the investigating agent, “Vandalism.”
The agent commed his supervisor, who sent a second team to investigate the surrounding area. The suspicion was that the vandalism might just be beginning.
“What’s the problem, Scrounger?” Jasper whispered anxiously.
Scrounger regarded the cart’s readout panel, which was still dark. He’d been working on the cart for five minutes, and everyone was getting nervous.
Jasper had set outliers to warn of agents.
“Sorry, Jasper, I didn’t realize the reason they parked the cart outside was that maintenance was supposed to collect it,” Scrounger replied. “There’s an intermittent power supply problem.”
“Any chance of repairing it soon?” Jasper asked.
“Not quickly,” Scrounger said, standing and spreading his hands in apology.
Jasper whistled a short, sharp burst, and his outliers came running.
“We carry them,” Jasper said to the group of four males and three females. He divided the crew as equitably as possible to manage Racer’s heavier body and Paula’s lighter mass.
The crew struggled with the bodies to reach the safety of their rooftop. Frequently, they detoured to evade the sounds of agents searching the area.
Lita and Tammy arrived to help the crew.
“Where’s Gat’r?” Jasper asked.
“We sent him ahead to the rooftop,” Lita replied. “Security knows we have these two. We heard them talking.”
“Someone must have reported the abduction,” Tammy offered.
“Thought we heard way too many voices for some random vandalism response,” Jasper said, with disgust.
“What do we do?” Bibi asked.
“Best thing to do is to leave them here,” Red offered.
“We’ve been fortunate to have this set of circumstances fall into our hands,” Jasper said. “I’m not willing to give up so easily. Anybody who wants to make for the rooftop, go now!” When no one moved, he added, “Okay, pick them up, and let’s run!”
Just at that moment, the crew heard voices coming from behind them and in front of them.
“Trapped,” Red whispered harshly.
Ceda saw a dark space between two buildings. “In there,” she ordered, pointing.
With no other option, the crew quickly obeyed.
As dark closed around the gang, several noticed that Ceda wasn’t with them. Suddenly, they heard her yelling for help.
“We’ve been betrayed,” Ditz said angrily.
“Idiot,” Tammy whispered harshly.
“Everyone, shut up,” Jasper ordered quietly. He hoped Tammy was right, but he tended to believe Ditz.
“Over here,” Ceda called to the agents, who came running from both ends of the pathway. “I saw them. I saw them,” she said anxiously to the eight agents.
“You saw what?” a supervisor demanded.
“A group of youths carried two black bags among them,” Ceda said breathlessly. “I think there were bodies in those bags.”
“Which way did they go?” the supervisor asked urgently.
“I can show you,” Ceda volunteered.
“Too dangerous,” the supervisor replied. “Point the way.”
Ceda ran down a path. Then she stopped at a corner and indicated a new direction with her arm. “They ran this way when they heard your voices, and then they turned here.”
The supervisor called to alert the teams to the new search area, adding that the abductors might be youths carrying body bags. Then the supervisor and his team took off at a run.
Ceda raced back to the crew’s hiding place, but they were already gone. She ran in the direction Jasper had been leading the gang before they hid, and she hoped she remembered how to find the right building.
As it was, Ceda caught up with the struggling crew and snatched a handle on one of the body bags. She was elated with her performance, but several members ducked their heads and wouldn’t meet her eyes. However, Lita and Tammy were chuckling.
“Oh,” Ceda uttered in surprise. “You thought I was turning you in to the agents.” She laughed. It was low and dark. “Be smart,” she said. “You say nothing about your nasty suspicions to Escher and Allie. Otherwise, you’ll lose their cooperation.”
The gang and Ceda silently and successfully carried their burdens to the rooftop building. The males swiftly climbed the line, and then the bodies were hauled up by tying the line through the carry handles. Afterward, the females were aided to help them gain the roof quickly.
The gang’s motorized cart was waiting for them outside the bottom of the shaft. The bodies were loaded onto the cart, and the crew members separated, taking different routes to the hiding place.
“Success?” Escher asked, as the gang drifted two by two into the lair. He was given tired nods, and the individuals sank gladly onto their sleeping pallets.
Eventually, Scrounger, Jasper, and Ceda walked the cart through the doors, and Red closed them and dropped a heavy metal bar into welded arms.
Immediately, the body bags were opened, and Doc checked the couple’s vitals. “They’re fine,” she pronounced.
“You were gone a long time,” Bot-boy said.
“Security knows about the abduction and knows a gang of youths took these two,” Lita explained to Escher and Allie.
“Kind of moves up the timeline,” Jasper said, eyeing Escher. “On another note, we’d have been in the clutches of security, if it wasn’t for Ceda. Quick thinking on her part saved us.”
Jasper walked to Ceda and offered his hand. “Sorry,” he said.
Ceda shook Jasper’s hand and replied, “When lives have been difficult, trust comes slowly.”
“If security knows a gang of youths abducted these two, we’ve lost a day or more,” Bibi reasoned. “Agents will be swarming the tunnels tomorrow. How do we get Racer and Paula back to the surface under those circumstances?”
The crew started talking all at once, which quickly escalated into arguments.
Allie caught Jasper’s attention and nodded toward Escher, who had a faraway look.
“Everyone, be quiet,” Jasper shouted over the noise. When the gang quieted, he pointed at Escher and said, “Let the man think.”
The room’s sudden quiet broke into Escher’s thinking, and he regarded the expectant faces. “It dawns on me that any forthcoming adversarial events are predicated on abduction,” he said. “All we have to do is eliminate that supposition.”
“What does that mean?” Ditz asked.
“Racer and Paula have to return to their apartment,” Escher said, with a smile.
“Security will see their cids open the apartment’s door, and they’ll come running,” Allie exclaimed, catching onto Escher’s plan.
“Your visit will have to be short, and then you’ll need to board a shuttle before security catches onto the ruse,” Jasper reasoned.
“Timing will be tight,” Escher agreed, while he researched flights. “There’s an advantage to this particular ruse, Jasper. You and your crew will have an opportunity to get Racer and Paula to the surface, while agents swarm the residential building looking for us.”
7: Escape
Bot-boy raised a timid hand. When Jasper pointed at him, he said, “I was wondering. How does security know that it’s Racer and Paula who’ve been taken?”
Escher chuckled and appreciatively tapped Bot-boy on the knee, which made the youth beam.
Jasper regarded Lita, who said, “I never heard the agents speak any names.”
Ceda added, “I didn’t say anything about the couple, and the supervisor didn’t name them either.”
“What about a vid cam mounted in front of building?” Allie inquired.
“This residence was set back from the main path,” Jasper mused, “and Ceda was halfway between the building and the pathway. I don’t think a vid cam would have a visual of them.”
“Let’s test that assumption,” Escher said, turning to his computer.
With a few keystrokes, the group heard the agent, whose computer Escher rode, speaking to someone not present.
“The agent’s been called in for a double shift,” Escher remarked.
The group had to wait for what they wanted while the conversation went back and forth.
Finally, the agent replied, “Negative. Identification hasn’t been made yet.”
More time passed, during which the group considered the agent was listening to the caller.
“That’s correct,” the agent continued. “A man and a woman, who appear to be in their late twenties. We don’t know if they were returning to their residence or visiting someone in that building.”
A few more seconds passed. Then the agent said, “Negative. Clothing descriptions aren’t of value. The man and the woman were seen being placed in body bags.”
“That’s correct,” the agent said, after another pause. “A total of three witnesses have said that the perpetrators were a group of youths.”
A long pause ensued, and then the agent laughed harshly. “Couldn’t have said it better. If they were mickies, you couldn’t have told one from the other. Nothing but dirty faces and stinky, threadbare overalls.”
The anger in the gang’s lair was palpable. Members shared their hostility toward the agent through their expressions.
Escher cut the audio feed, and he turned toward the gang. “Just remember,” he said. “The last laugh will be on security.” His comment dispelled most of the ire, as the crew laughed at the thought of getting the best of the arrogant agents.
“Are we ready to do this?” Doc asked. She displayed a medical kit that she’d used only occasionally. It had been her mother’s.
Escher glanced at the results of his search, checked the timing, and replied, “We’re good to go for a shuttle launch schedule. I need Racer’s chip to order seats and Axis-ship passage.”
“We could just drag him over and use his hand,” Red suggested.
“Negative,” Doc said. “We need to test the cid transfer.”
“Why wouldn’t it work?” Bibi asked.
“When was the last time you did one, Bibi?” Doc retorted. “Right,” she stated definitively, when no one answered, “because none of us have seen this done, much less done it ourselves. We need to be sure.”
“I like her thoroughness!” Allie exclaimed. “We do it her way.”
Doc felt for the subtle outline of Racer’s cid. Then she wiped the area with antiseptic and used a fine marker to trace the tiny cid. A quick incision with a laser knife, and the chip was delicately extracted. She laid the cid in a small dish of antiseptic.
Carrying the dish and her supplies to the computer table, Doc said to Escher, “Place your hand flat on the table. Do you need someone to hold it steady?”
“Good to go, Doc,” Escher replied, smiling gently at her, which gave the teenager a much-needed boost of confidence.
Quickly and with minimum fuss, Doc extracted Escher’s cid, dropped it in the dish, picked up Racer’s chip, flicked the antiseptic off, and inserted it under Escher’s skin.
Then Doc sealed the skin. “I’ll finish after you test it, Escher,” she said.
Escher used Racer’s cid to charge two shuttle seats and a cabin aboard the Axis-ship headed for Naiad. “Worked like a charm,” he pronounced. “Nice job, Doc,” he added.
“You’re my first,” Doc replied, winking, which made Escher laugh.
“My turn,” Ceda announced, and Doc repeated the process on Paula and Ceda.
“Hands together over here,” Doc said to Escher and Ceda.
When the couple laid their hands side by side, Doc used sealant on the tiny incisions. When the sealant dried, she covered the slightly reddish skin with a tint. Examining her work, she said, “Unless someone has their nose at your hands, the work shouldn’t show.”
Escher held up the dish of antiseptic with his and Ceda’s cids. Then he regarded Jasper and gestured with his free hand at the dish.
“You’re right,” Jasper admitted. “They’re yours, and you’ll probably need them later.”
“Thank you,” Escher replied. “Well, if we’re going to catch the shuttle launch window, there’s no time to waste.”
Escher waited while Allie and Ceda exchanged a long tearful hug.
“You know we’ll be back,” Ceda whispered.
“Don’t let Escher come back unprepared,” Allie replied. “No use two of us being under arrest.”
When Escher hugged Allie, no words were exchanged. The siblings needed none.
“The computer is yours, Bot-boy,” Escher announced. “Take good care of it.”
