Chrome Symphony - Chapter 3

Jess, Atlas, Shell, and Duncan left the Velvet Room and returned to Duncan's rental car back at the parking lot.

"With our pursuers," Shell said, taking a good long look around before climbing back into the car, "We can't be too careful. We should assume they are tracking our every move."

Duncan laughed. "They can't right now. I've set things up to prevent tracking beacons from functioning in any of our equipment."

The car took off into the sky and flew in the direction of the now defunct hydroelectric plant. Advanced solar cells and other forms of power generation had made the abandoned dam useless for anything other than holding back water.

Duncan landed the car in a thick forest area near the dam. Atlas pulled a camouflage net out of his backpack and covered the car, making it harder to see among the underbrush. They left the small clearing and headed toward the dam.

Shell reviewed the facility's map in her field of vision. "Okay, they've got a temporary camp set up just south of here. There are some mechanical rooms inside the dam that they're using as well," she said to Duncan.

Duncan accessed what he could of the security system. "They've fortified this place a little more than I expected," he said back to her.

Atlas took out a pair of binoculars as they reached the edge of a cliff, overlooking the dam. He looked through them and examined the scene.

Shell scanned the map and found the beacon for the communicator that Duncan had given Renk. Duncan had sent Shell the data to do so earlier, back at the Velvet Room.

"Renk's probably inside the dam right now. They're either interrogating him or he's locked in one of the rooms," she said. "We just have to find a way in."

Jess started off down a path leading around the side of the hill, toward the side of the dam facility. "Let's check the perimeter," she said.

Jess led the team down the side of the hill and emerged from the woods. One of the entrances to the hydroelectric facility was in view.

Some storm clouds had been coming in that afternoon and it started to rain. The sprinkling had increased to a heavy rainfall.

Two heavily augmented cyborg guards were standing next to the large metal door. Jess held out her hand to Atlas, gesturing that he led her the binoculars. He hesitantly handed them over and she looked through them at the door, keeping low behind the bushes to avoid being seen.

"A couple of tall drinks of water there," she whispered. "I don't think we'd stand a chance fighting them head on."

Atlas s*****ed his binoculars back and looked. "They're armed to the teeth. We'd be dead before we were even identified," he replied.

"Can you hack that lock from here," Jess asked Duncan.

Duncan examined the wireless signals emanating from the lock. "Maybe," Duncan replied.

Jess looked next to the door. There were a couple of large power cables running up the wall behind the guards. The cables appeared to go across the ground and further down the hill to some military vehicles from the encampment. Next to the cables by the door, there was a ladder built into the wall.

Jess had an idea.

"Duncan," Jess asked, "Instead of hacking the lock, could you trigger something to shut off the power on my cue?"

Duncan nodded. "The backup generators are likely to start if I do that... but I could make that happen for about 20 seconds by causing a brief overload."

"Good," replied Jess. "I have an idea for how we can disable the guards and the lock at the same time."

Jess sneaked around to the side of the hill, where there was a steep slope. The thick power cables ran down the hill and she stepped over them as she quietly maneuvered around the side, staying very low to remain out of the guards' sight. When she was close to the dam, she yelled, "NOW!"

Atlas shot at the guards, quickly gaining their attention. Jess leaped up from behind the steep slope and ran up behind the guards while they were distracted. She jumped up on the ladder, swung her sword at the thick power cables, and sliced them. The cables arced wildly as they dropped to the ground. The cables hit a shallow water puddle where the guards were standing and thousands of volts coursed through the guards' cybernetic bodies, instantly disabling their cybernetic gear and putting their bodies into cardiac arrest.

"Okay, Duncan, kill the power," yelled Jess. Duncan accessed the emergency power system and caused an overload. The display on the door lock's key pad went dark. Shell, Atlas, and Duncan ran over to the door to meet Jess.

"Okay, now we have to open this lock mechanically before the power comes back on. Stay the hell away from that puddle when it does," she told them.

Shell took a look at the lock's keypad.

"This is no problem," said Shell. Shell took a power cord out and plugged it into a port on her belt, which was attached to her cybernetic gear. Using a screwdriver, she opened the inoperable keypad and connected the cord's wires to a couple of small connectors on the circuit board. The display flickered on the keypad for a moment.

Shell closed her eyes for a moment. Suddenly, a loud "kerchunk" was heard inside the door's mechanism and the door swung open.

"We only have a few minutes before the power comes on," she said.

Everyone quickly ran inside and looked around. With the electricity temporarily out and the backup systems offline due to the surge Duncan had made, their presence was, ostensibly, undetected for the moment.

Shell ran down the hallway and stopped at a door. "According to what we saw earlier with the maps and the communicator tracking beacon, Renk should be in this room," she whispered to everyone. Shell opened the keypad and performed the same operation that she had just done on the outside door. In a few seconds, the door swung open and Jess ran into the room, followed by Duncan and Atlas. Shell stood just outside the door in order to keep watch.

No one else was in the room. On a table, Renk's communicator, gun, and wallet lay, undisturbed. Atlas checked the gun. It was still loaded. Duncan examined the communicator, which was still in working order and not tampered.

"Well, his stuff's here," Atlas said, "but he's not."

Jess shook her head. "We need to get out of here before anyone finds us," she said, nervously.

Atlas grabbed the stuff on the table and the four of them ran to the exit and back into the woods. The rain was now coming down in sheets and they stumbled through the mud as they tried to make their way back to the car.

"This is not good," said Atlas, as he tried to rinse the mud off his boots and climb back into the car. "We found his stuff but Renk's nowhere to be found."

Duncan quickly turned the car on and piloted the car into the storm clouds above. The visibility was poor, which made it hard to fly the car but also made it easier to leave the area without being seen.

Shell wrung the water out of her hair as she looked out the rear window back at the dam. "We managed to avoid any trouble back there but we failed to find Renk."

Jess sighed. "Well, now what?!" she said, annoyed with the failed mission.

Atlas was quiet as the car continued to fly through the storm.

"Listen... Jess..." Atlas finally spoke up. "Those two guards you took out. You might have electrocuted them to death."

Jess looked out the window. "I don't want to think about it. I only wanted to disable them."

Atlas looked over at Jess. "Are you okay with having something like that on your conscience?"

Jess continued to stare out the window at the storm clouds beneath them. "I said I don't want to think about it."

"Look," said Atlas. "I know you want to save your father, but to take such a Machiavellian approach will..."

"I SAID I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" screamed Jess, piercing the eardrums of everyone in the car.

For the next ten minutes, the inside of the vehicle remained silent.

Duncan brought the car in for a landing out in a remote area near an old farm house. The rain storm began to clear up and the sun broke through the remaining clouds. The tall grass was wet and the smell of ozone was in the air.

Duncan climbed out of the car and walked up to the farm house. Atlas and Shell followed. Jess remained in the vehicle.

Duncan unlocked the front door to the old farmhouse and walked inside. "I should really get around to cleaning this place more often," he muttered to himself.

Shell and Atlas walked in behind him. "Hey, wipe your feet," Duncan told them. "Put your shoes over there, actually."

Duncan sat down at the kitchen table. He turned on the power, using his built-in wireless controls. "Welcome to my home away from home," he told Atlas and Shell. "This was my parents' house and the place where I grew up when I was a kid. Please pardon the dust."

Atlas and Shell looked around and then sat down at the table with Duncan.

Duncan shook his head. "Let's give Miss Price some space. Apparently she's going through a lot right now," he said to Atlas.

Atlas wiped his brow. "I know. I just don't want her living with so much weight on her shoulders," he said. "Having blood on your hands...." Atlas stopped himself, struggling to speak.

Shell patted him on the back. "It's okay. For now, we should try to figure out what to do."

"Could you go talk to Miss Price," asked Duncan. "She might be upset right now but we need to discuss our next move."

Jess got up from her seat and walked over to the front door, looking out at the car.

"Mr Sorenson," said Shell. "We might have a problem."

"What is it," asked Atlas.

"Jess isn't out there," replied Shell.

"Oh, dear," said Duncan.

Atlas quickly got up and searched around the outside of the house. Jess was nowhere to be found.