Chrome Symphony - Chapter 2

Renk looked at everyone else in the room, now all logged out of the dive, and shrugged.

"I don't know what happened there at the end," he said. "Things got really glitchy and I don't think it's our new friend from space. Something else was amiss there."

Renk stood up and walked toward the door. "I suggest we properly equip ourselves and get into action as soon as possible, given our current schedule," he told the group. "Duncan, I trust that you'll be able to establish continuous contact with that scientist that showed up inside the dive."

"I don't know what caused that glitch at the end," Duncan replied. "It wasn't our new contact. Of that I'm quite sure."

Duncan looked at Elise. "Were you able to capture any data regarding her? I can't seem to trace her activity at all. It might be difficult to re-establish contact in order to get the specifics of our mission."

Duncan rummaged around through one of his storage bins. "I have quite a few unlocked communicator devices that are capable of unrestricted 'net access. Those of us without cybernetic gear can use these as improved data links that are harder to trace," he told the group.

He handed Atlas, Renk, and Jess some handheld communicator devices. "I've already set these up."

[OOC: Welcome back, SirAuron!]

"That glitch messed up my data link," said Shell, trying to figure out what went wrong immediately before they logged out. "That has never happened before!"

Shell met Renk at the door. "We still shouldn't rush into this. Let's make sure we have a plan first, ok?"

Shell's data link came back online. The information coming in had some drop outs but she could make out parts of the message:

BaseL1:  Good, You'Œe st┘ll conne¬╪ed, someon1ε or something is inter☼eriªg◘

ShellShock10101:  Are you the one we spoke to from the L1 colony?

BaseL1:  Ye◙, please head to 37.123456-76.879195 an♥ me┴t there, sorry, I'll try to g⌂t a morP
 stable link∩S

ShellShock10101:  Thank you, I'll remain in contact.  I'll have my partner try to establish a 
better link too.

BaseL1:  ◘◘◘○○•

Shell looked at Duncan. "We need to figure out how to establish a more stable link to the person from the L1 colony," she said. "If we could learn her name, that would help, too."

Shell tried resetting her data link, to no avail.

"Could this be the work of Dark Spider?" she asked.

"Clearly, Dark Spider is not who he claims to be," Jess commented. "Either his 'net identity has been appropriated by someone else, or he has been fooling the Herei Mob Army all of this time."

Jess checked out the communicator that Duncan had handed to her.

"Thanks. This will be very useful. I'll be able to contact him with greater anonymity this way," she told him.

Shell forwarded everyone the message from BaseL1. Jess read the message on her communicator. "Let's hurry up and prepare. Are we all going in as a single team or are we going let Atlas and Rupert be our front lines?"

"That's Renk, Miss Price, for the umpteenth time..." Renk replied, becoming frustrated.

"Oh, yeah, okay," Jess muttered. "Anyway... I want to be part of the team that gets in on the action. Whatever gets things moving along is best."

Atlas looked at his communicator. "I'm familiar with that installation," he said. Atlas immediately walked over to the door and hit the button, causing it to slide open with a "whoosh". "Like Miss Price said, let's not waste time."

He walked out of the door and looked back at the others. "Time to earn those meals..."

The group left Duncan's house. "We should meet at the Velvet Room after we've all had a chance to prepare," said Jess. Atlas waved at her as he left. "Right, I'll meet you at the Velvet Room in an hour."

The group split up and went off to prepare for the dangerous mission ahead.

[END OF CHAPTER 2]