Chrome Symphony - Chapter 4

Chrome Symphony: Episode II

(Chapter Four)

The transport shuttle quietly surfed across space, en route to the space colony.

Duncan had woken from his nap but still pretended to be asleep as he entered a 'net dive to do some more research. The others sat around, some sleeping due to the fact that no one had much sleep since the night before the last.

Jess was staring out the window, obviously becoming less patient as time progressed.

Atlas was out like a light, having had very little sleep in the past 48 hours.

Shell was reviewing data as she sat quietly. Dr. Heimborem sat next to her, reading an old book and sipping tea.

Renk had gotten out of his seat and was trying to open the hatch to the cargo hold, which was in the floor in the back of the shuttle. He had grumbled something about hearing a noise below them and he had gone to investigate it.

The colony finally came into view as the shuttle started fine-tuning its course to align with it. The colony was enormous; it had three large rotating rings with blue, glowing discs stretching from the rings to the center shaft of the mega-structure. The discs contained clouds and served as the artificial "sky" for each of the rings.

Duncan, inside the dive, had initiated another conversation with Dr. Camay Thameh, who was waiting for them at the colony as they approached.

Camay sat across the table from Duncan in the virtual space.

"I had not figured that the 'net would work very well in space," said Duncan.

"There is a vast array of satellites along the routes from Earth to the colonies," replied Camay.

"Did you find out the original source of information regarding the false report of Lt. Renk's detention," asked Duncan.

"No," replied Camay. "It's likely due to error rather than intentional disinformation."

"We're still trying to figure out the identities of Dark Spider, Hombre Raymie, and whether or not General Benton Mulhauser has anything to do with these two prominent hackers' identities," Duncan mentioned.

"Hombre Raymie? That was the identity that Dr. Heimborem used when he infiltrated the Herei Mob Army years ago. He was entrapped in a scheme and EMA corporation, having quasi-governmental powers, thought him to be a terrorist and had been keeping him prisoner," Camay replied.

Duncan's avatar adjusted its glasses. "Interesting."

"I'm sorry we didn't inform you of this sooner," said Camay. "You're about to come in for docking so let's leave it at that until you arrive and then I'll speak to you in person."

Duncan exited the dive and looked out the shuttle window as they entered a docking area at the end of the colony's central shaft.

Jess was reading some information on her communicator. She was trying to smooth out a scuff mark on the corner of the screen. It had been knocked around quite a bit during the violence at the EMA facility.

"It looks like we're going to have about 24 hours before Near Earth Asteroid 726 comes within close range of the colony," she said.

Renk had disappeared into the cargo hold in the lower level of the shuttle. Shell was also reviewing the orbital data for the asteroid.

"Right, we'll have to wait until then," Shell responded.

Jess looked out the window. She knew their timing had been good but it was going to be difficult to wait around for another day until they could approach the asteroid.

Their shuttle pulled into the dock. Large, robotic arms secured the shuttle and pulled it up to the airlock, where a large double door closed and sealed behind it once the shuttle was inside the area. A moveable boarding tunnel moved up to the shuttle's door as the room pressurized.

As soon as the light above the shuttle's exit door turned green, Jess stood up and walked over to it.

"Let's go meet Camay," said Jess.

Renk didn't get to explore very far in the cargo compartment before he was accosted by a familiar voice. "Stop right there and get your hands where I can see them. Passengers aren't allowed down here. Turn around. Slowly."

He didn't need to play along, but did long enough to confirm that it was, indeed, Elise who had a taser pointed right at him. "You know, lady, you don't look like one of them Space Marshals."

Elise lowered the gun and holstered it. "Yeah, but sometimes it's fun to play around. If you were someone I didn't already know, I think there'd be a problem."

"Same to you. I was already thinking of how to take you down," Renk shot back, a grin on his face. "I thought you were staying back on Earth."

"I just had a few things to take care of, between the bar and some last-minute preparations." She answered, casually holstering the weapon back in a quick-draw holster under her finely-tailored jacket. "That run on the EMA compound reminded me that most of you guys might not have the sort of equipment we'd be needing. So, while you guys were sleeping in the Doc's waiting room, I went and did a little judicious packing for this trip. ...Not to mention a few other preparations. It's better if you don't ask why I decided to fly the real economy class down here." She sighed. "Thank god they keep these bays pressurized."

A sharp shake accompanied by a loud, sonorous clunk signaled the engagement of the docking clamps. "Sounds like we're there," Renk said. "I hope you're planning on sharing whatever your brought up here."

"I am, but it wasn't cheap." It was Elise's turn to grin. "And I do have a run to finish, until we hand over our own good doctor."

The group followed Jess out of the shuttle and through the docking tunnel.

The door opened to an elevator that took everyone through the long central shaft of the colony and through a transport tube that brought them to "ground" level of the main ring.

They entered a transportation terminal area.

Duncan turned around. "Where's Renk?" he asked. Everyone looked around, noticing that he hadn't left the shuttle with them.

"I hope he didn't fall asleep back there," said Duncan.

"So, we finally meet," said a familiar voice. Duncan looked back around. It was a rather life-like appearing android.

Duncan reached out to shake her hand. "Dr. Thameh, I presume?"

"Welcome to the colony," said Camay. "By the way, please call me Camay."

Camay greeted the others. "So I take it that Lt. Renk and Miss Lorentz chose not to accompany you?"

Shell shook her head. "Renk came with us. He might still be back on the shuttle. Elise had to take care of something urgent last night and we haven't seen her since."

Camay guided the group down a long hallway, which led into another building. Above them, an artificial blue sky with wispy clouds illuminated the entire city scape with daylight as it reflected the light from the sun through the colony's enormous windows.

The entered a large meeting room with a fantastic view of the city inside the colony. Beyond the buildings there were forests, lakes, and even artificial beaches - complete biomes. Birds flew across the artificial sky. The bustle of the colony's occupants at the street level made the environment seem quite lively. Tube transports similar to those on Earth created a grid throughout the ground level.

Dr. Heimborem spoke up as everyone sat down around the meeting table. "I just want to thank everyone again for getting me out of that EMA facility," he said. "I actually worked for EMA before they decided I was a liability. I was one of their top researchers in relation to the phenomenon of adepts."

Camay nodded and looked around the room at everyone. "Dr. Heimborem had infiltrated the Herei Mob Army years ago under the hacker name of Hombre Raymie, with which you are familiar by now," she said. "EMA had him performing some... questionable... research and he discovered that some of the higher management of EMA corporation was strongly tied to the Herei Mob Army's ambitions."

Dr. Heimborem stood up. "Thanks again. I now have to get back to my superiors and give them a detailed report of what's being going on in the mean time," he said. Dr. Heimborem exited the room, escorted by a couple of security personnel.

"Now, then," Camay continued, "I should tell you a little about who we are. We're an organization known as Firewall and we are involved in several important lines of research, including the adepts phenomenon, although our approach is radically different from EMA corporation."

Shell stood up. "I had no idea that EMA was involved with adepts research! How could I have never heard of this before?!" she replied.

"EMA's publicly-known businesses, regarding information technology and communications systems, are little more than a front compared to their dark research," Camay told her. "That EMA was so quick to kill all of those operations once their headquarters were destroyed was no surprise to us."

"I'm originally from a science colony near Titan," said Camay. "You would be surprised at the sheer number of A.I., as you might call us, that reside beyond Earth."

Jess raised her hand. "Doctor," asked Jess, "I hate to change the subject like this but will have have transport arranged to reach NEA726 once it comes within close proximity?"

Camay nodded. "Yes. You will have a chartered shuttle that will take you to NEA726. Obviously we cannot risk being attacked by the Herei Mob Army, so this will be a very covert trip and the shuttle will not remain once you are dropped off."

Atlas scratched his head. "How will we get transportation once we've extracted Mr. Price?"

Camay shook her head. "We won't abandon you. As long as there's no state of alert, our shuttle will come back to the asteroid once you are ready to leave."

Atlas breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks for that..."

Camay interrupted him, "That is, however, on the condition that you don't raise any alarms. If the Herei are on high alert due to any ruckus you might cause, we cannot put our colony in danger by making it a target. If we cannot extract you without being detected, I'm afraid, under those circumstances, you would have to find another way off the rock."

"So, this mission is even riskier than we thought," said Duncan.

"It will be very dangerous, yes," replied Camay. "Until the asteroid comes within range, I want to invite you all to explore the colony. We have a lot to offer here. Perhaps sample some of the cuisine and spend some time at the beach?"

With that, the group was excused. They took an elevator down to street level and headed toward an area that had hotels and an artificial beach.