Chrome Symphony - Chapter 6

"Chester, I agree that you should be our pilot," said Camay. "I'd also like to get someone with military or special ops experience on our team."

"Lieutenant Renk?" asked Shell.

"Perhaps. He's still active duty although I understand he may get an honorable discharge soon," replied Camay. "Atlas is the head of security at the Price Mansion so I'm not sure if he's available, either."

"I thought this mission wouldn't involve combat," said Duncan, still with a skeptical tone in his voice.

"By all of our observations so far, it shouldn't," replied Camay. "It would still be irresponsible to approach this without some defense capacity."

Camay thought for a moment. "Perhaps we should visit the Velvet Room tonight."

"The Velvet Room..." replied Shell.

"Yes," said Camay. "I'd like to call a few people to meet us there."

"I suppose we could ask Elise if this is something she would like to do," said Shell. "She's not military but she has abilities on par with para-military types. Her domain's primarily the underworld but if we're doing this covertly..."

Camay headed toward the door. "19:00 tonight, if you would," she said.

Shell nodded. "It might be a good idea to see if we can get some additional help."

Duncan stood up. "Alright, might as well," he said.

Jess had found some plans that appeared to show the sphere. It was what she was trying to find.

"Atlas, I think I found them," said Jess. "These aren't construction plans, though. They appear to be... reverse engineering...?"

Atlas and Jess studied the plans.

"That's definitely the thing we found on the asteroid," said Atlas. "It looks like Crest didn't build it but a team was trying to build a system to control it."

Jess stared at the blueprints. "Wait... if Crest didn't build it, who did?!" she asked.

"There's a note here saying that it was found in 2189 and brought to NEA726 in 2194, back when Crest still owned the weapons factory there," replied Atlas.

"Wait a minute. Those were the years you and I were born, respectively," said Jess.

"Oh, yeah," replied Atlas, "I guess they are. How's that relevant?"

"The year I was born was the same year a certain kind of medical nano technology was developed," said Jess. "It was actually based off of a modified bio-weapon of sorts, developed on that asteroid."

"WHAT?" yelled Atlas. "That can't be right! How could a modified bio-weapon ever be approved as a medical treatment?!"

"It wasn't," whispered Jess. "During my incubation in the lab, it was illegally and unethically introduced into my body without my parents' knowledge. I thought I told you about this, Atlas!"

"You did," said Atlas, "but I didn't know that your nano-technology was originally a weapon developed in that factory. Do you mean to imply..."

"Yes," said Jess. "Exactly. That nano technology may have originally been part of whatever that sphere is. Furthermore, the artificial blood made from that nano technology was given to many other people that year, possibly being the cause of the adepts phenomenon. That would explain why my powers are so strong since I'm essentially patient zero. It also explains why the disappearance of the asteroid and the appearance of that space ship coincides with the time when we adepts lost and regained our abilities!"

Atlas scratched his head. "This is one hell of a discovery, if true, Jess. We should let Dr. Thameh know," he said.

"Dr. Thameh sent me a message saying that she had called a meeting at the Velvet Room," replied Jess. "Do you feel like sneaking out for a few hours with me tonight?"

Camay called Elise at the Velvet Room to arrange a private meeting room rental for the night.

"Sophia Weiss?" said Camay.

"This is she," replied Elise. "You can call me Elise, Dr. Thameh."

"And you can call me Camay," replied Camay. "I would like to reserve a private meeting room tonight, if possible."

"We have one open. I'll go ahead and set that up for you," replied Elise. "What time will you arrive?"

"7 pm," replied Camay. "There will be at least five of us and we would like to request that you attend, if you have the time, that is."

"I'm working tonight," said Elise, "but if you're arranging another mission, I'd like to sit in and at least hear you out."

"Great," said Camay. "We could use you on our team. Jess Price just sent me a message with some very important information regarding our mission's target. I'll fill you in on everything tonight."

"Okay. See you tonight," concluded Elise.

Camay ended the call and tried to call Renk. There was no answer.

Chester had received a message that Camay had forwarded from Jess earlier that day. It contained the dock number and information regarding the spacecraft that Crest Corporation was providing to the group to make the trip to the unidentified spacecraft.

After Chester arrived at the space dock, he examined the exterior of the craft. A crew from Crest Corporation was already installing a set of robotic arms that Chester could use to open the cargo bay doors and move things around if needed.

Using the entry code, Chester entered the craft, examined the controls, and familiarized himself with the vehicle. He sat in the pilot seat and ran through the procedures in his mind before exiting the spacecraft and heading out to the Velvet Room to meet the others.