Chrome Symphony - Chapter 3

Shell was silent through the conversation with Renk. The realization had hit her early on that the cyborgs they had knocked out weren't actually cyborgs but humans in powered suits. She chose not to tell Jess or anyone else because, being humans, they were more likely to have been killed by the electric shock.

Shell was greatly relieved to learn that the two had survived and were relatively unharmed, even if it was shocking to learn that Renk had been one of them.

The car sped through the sky, making its way to the location of the EMA facility. Shell had access to all of the pass codes for EMA locks since she was one of the most trusted employees in the company. As long as there wasn't a global last-minute change to all of the security codes, Shell could provide easy entry to the facility.

If a combat situation arose, however, she also knew they were horribly under-powered compared to the type of security typically employed at locations such as this.

After a long flight, the sun had set and the car descended in a ravine near the facility. There were large search lights mounted upon tall towers and guards stationed at the gates.

Everyone quietly got out of the car and walked up the road leading out of the ravine and near the EMA facility.

"We just need to get the guards to leave their post for a moment," whispered Shell.

Shell looked at Jess. "Preferably, without harming them," Shell added.

Duncan waited behind a large rock. Jess moved in closer, behind a tree. Shell accessed the gate lock through her cybernetic gear and confirmed the code. The gate unlocked. Shell breathed a sigh of relief as the guards did not seem to notice that the gate had unlocked.

Atlas stood by, hiding near Duncan, with his gun drawn. Shell took out her EMA ID badge and carefully walked up to the gate and addressed the guards.

She showed one of the guards her badge. "I'm with the development team," she said, calmly.

The guard checked her badge and the gate opened. Having tested the lock prior to this, Shell was confident that she could unlock it again once inside. Shell waved at the guard. Both of the guards were eyeing her in a strange way.

At an inner gate, Shell knew she could open it but had a plan. She sent a series of incorrect codes to the inner gate, causing it to temporarily jam. Shell called back to the guards. "Excuse me," she said in a friendly voice, "there appears to be a problem with this gate."

Both of the guards ran to her aid. While they were trying to unlock the inner gate, Shell wirelessly sent the unlock code to the outer gate and Atlas, Jess, and Duncan quickly ran in. Duncan jammed the security camera through a quick hack and everyone got into the facility undetected. Duncan and Jess hid behind some crates and Atlas hid in the guard booth.

The guards fixed the inner gate, smiled at Shell, and she smiled back. When the guards returned to their station, Alas quietly shot them both with tranquilizer darts and dragged them into the booth.

Jamming the next couple of security cameras with her cybernetic gear, Shell motioned the group to follow her inside the inner gate and into one of the research buildings.

"We had a bit of dumb luck there, with my ID still being accepted," Shell remarked as they walked through the hall. "At this point, if I say that you all are here with me, we're likely to avoid too much commotion for the time being."

Renk returned to his post, where Hans was still guarding the door. The emergency power had switched on and Hans was trying to repair his exoskeleton suit with no success.

"Thanks for covering for me," Renk told Hans. He stood at the door next to him. The scene was illuminated only by the emergency power lights. Hans had reconnected the previously cut cables and had some heavy duty electrical tape around where they had been damaged.

Renk's military-issue communicator came on. It was General Mulhauser.

"Lt. Renk, I'm sending you and five other men on a special mission. We have intel that the enemy squad that attacked you may have obtained some top-secret information. It seems they're spies working for EMA corporation, which has been infiltrated by the Herei Mob Army. Since you have experience with EMA corporation's facilities, you'll be tracking down and capturing these spies. I've sent you their coordinates."

Renk checked the display on his communicator. These are the same coordinates Duncan forwarded me from that scientist A.I. we saw in the dive, he thought.

"Yes, sir," Renk replied. Renk headed back inside to gather some equipment and meet the team with which he would perform the mission.

After a quick briefing and becoming acquainted with his new team, Renk and his group entered a helicopter and headed toward the EMA facility.

Atlas looked around cautiously. "Are you sure they're not going to wonder who we are," he asked Shell.

"They might. That's why we have to keep a low profile in this area. The more aggressive security guards are at the perimeter. The security inside the research facilities are notoriously standoffish because a lot of our top scientists throw a hissy fit when they are asked for ID," Shell replied.

Atlas kept his guns concealed. "So, we just play it cool, then," he whispered.

Atlas checked his map. The location of the L1 colony's target was not marked. "How are we going to figure out where our person of interest is being held," he asked Shell. "Is there a detention area near the research buildings?"

Shell nodded. "Just follow me."

The four of them entered what appeared to be a storage area. Duncan once again disabled the security cameras. Shell pointed to a ventilation grate in the wall. "This duct goes right by a service tunnel that runs underneath this building and runs underneath the entire facility, including the detention area," she whispered.

Shell unscrewed the bolts and Atlas lifted the grating. The duct was only five feet wide by three feet tall but it was enough to fit the four of them. It was clear that Renk would not have been able to fit through there.

Atlas went in first, followed by Duncan. Jess followed and Shell closed the grating behind them as well as she could without re-fastening the bolts.

After crawling for some distance, Shell whispered, "Stop here. Cut a hole right in front of you and we can drop down into the service tunnel."

Atlas pulled out a small bolt cutting tool from his backpack. It was hard to reach into his backpack due to the small size of the duct. He carefully (and quietly) gnawed away at the sheet metal until he could bend it open and peel the metal back to avoid having any sharp edges exposed. The hole was small, but passable. Atlas slowly lowered himself down into the dark tunnel and pulled out his flashlight.

As the others climbed down behind him, he examined his surroundings. The concrete tunnel didn't appear to have any security cameras.

"Damn, Shell, you're good at knowing the layout of these places, even for someone who has the maps as an overlay in her eyes," said Atlas.

Duncan was constantly scanning the area for surveillance cameras and other security hardware. It wasn't difficult to jam the cameras; they used strong encryption but had a flaw in their implementation of that encryption that he was able to easily exploit.

He followed Shell along with the others down the maintenance tunnel until Shell suddenly stopped. From the map Duncan had of the facility, there was a large building above them which was likely some kind of storage or detention building.

Shell stood there, examining the ceiling of the tunnel. Duncan tried to figure out what she was trying to find.

"Is there any way in," Duncan asked.

"I thought there was an access door here somewhere," replied Shell.

Atlas shined his flashlight above them, trying to see any trace of a trap door. Jess looked further down the tunnel for a ladder. Suddenly, an EMA guard robot came speeding down the tunnel, heading directly toward Jess.

"Not good," said Duncan, "Were we discovered?"

Shell shook her head. "I don't think so but we'd better take this thing down before it triggers the alarms."

Atlas rushed to put a silencer on his pistol and took aim at its camera. It pushed Atlas into the wall.

Duncan charged up his ether attack, drawing energy from his cybernetic gear's main power source. Shell kicked the guard robot, sending it backward and freeing Atlas. Atlas fired a shot at its camera, disabling its vision. Duncan then released a ball of static electricity into the robot at close range, zapping its electronics and rendering it motionless.

"That should do it," said Duncan, catching his breath. "We'd better find a way into that building quickly, before more robots happen to find us."

Shell found a door a little further down the hall. Inside the door was a ladder, leading up out of the maintenance tunnel.

The four of them climbed the ladder and found themselves in a small mechanical room, which appeared to house some water heaters and fuel tanks. Duncan checked the map again.

"We're in that building but how tight is the security here?" he asked Shell.

"Very. We need to think of a plan for how to find our target without being spotted," Shell replied.

Jess rummaged around in a supply locker.

"Here, put these on," she said. Jess took out four uniforms. They appeared to be generic maintenance worker coveralls.

Atlas examined one of the uniforms. "We're seriously doing this? The old disguise routine? Let me guess, we'll don some matching Groucho Marx glasses, too."

Jess rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yeah..."

Jess rummaged around in a box and pulled out four pairs of Groucho glasses.

Duncan shook his head. "Let's stick with the uniforms."

They put on the maintenance uniforms. "I hadn't figured we'd resort to such a hare-brained scheme," remarked Jess. "We may have to split up to be less conspicuous, not that it's any safer."

Duncan's shoulder armor protruded from the coveralls. Shell pulled her hair back and tucked it into her hat. Jess was hesitant to move her hair away from her left eye.

"You should probably put your hair up, too," Atlas remarked. Jess shook her head. "I... can't do that... unless..."

Jess searched around in the box that contained the Groucho glasses. There were other odd items in there, including some other costume supplies. After some more rummaging, she found what she was looking for - an eye patch.

Jess turned around with her back to the group, put on the eye patch, and tucked her hair into her hat. She made sure to keep her left eye totally covered.

"What's the plan," asked Duncan.

"We need something to malfunction. Something that's gonna require a crew to rush in and fix," Jess said.

"Hmmmm...." Shell hummed, thinking of a plan. "It appears the restrooms' water supplies can be remotely controlled but we'd need two people capable of hacking on location once I disrupt it. If anyone's in there at the moment, they'll likely report it."

"What are you going to do," asked Jess.

"I'm going to cause the sewer to back up," replied Shell.

"Gross... but that will definitely be a reason to send workers in there," Duncan commented.

Atlas nodded. "Sounds like a plan. So, we'll need two deckers in position."

Jess opened the door and peeked out. "Ok, coast is clear. Let's put our apprentice decker in the closest latrine and we'll leave the upper decker in the other toilet."

Duncan chuckled.

"Hey, I'm no apprentice, Miss Price," Shell barked. "Duncan's the upper decker but that's a crappy thing to say."