RP 2010 Chapter 1

Dr. Maelstrom grumbled and rolled his eyes.

Aircraft, spacecraft. What's the difference in this era? All flying transports are space-faring these days. Talk about picking straws...

The doctor addressed Alice. "Okay, sorry about being late, Miss. Like I said, I had to take some special precautions first."

"Like what?" asked Alice, impertinently.

"You know there was an explosion in the far Western wing of this space port, right? They're saying it was the work of terrorists. The terrorist group is known to oppose the weapons I helped develop and there's chatter underground that I was their target. Well, since they likely knew my schedule, I had to throw in a few last-minute unexpected changes to that schedule."

"Oh?" asked Alice.

"My being late today was one of them. I was also supposed to be here yesterday to meet with some Exodus executives. The terrorists were somehow aware that I was going to meet the execs here... in the far Western wing. Hence why I didn't make that rendezvous."

"So you were somehow privy to what was leaked and when," asked Alice.

"Yes, luckily," replied Dr. Maelstrom. "I have some good connections."

Dr. Maelstrom looked across the concourse, in the direction of the tunnels leading to the far Western wing of the space port.

"Now, I have a request before we depart," said the doctor. "I want to have a quick look at the area the terrorists hit. Can you get us through security there?"

Alice shook her head. I can't believe he wants to play detective.

"I can't promise anything," said Alice, "but if you want to snoop around that badly, I can at least see if we can work something out with the security staff here. But I should warn you it's not likely."

"I have a feeling they'll understand," said the doctor.

Alice and Dr. Maelstrom walked down the long corridor into the far western wing of the lunar space port.

An emergency airlock had been engaged at the end of the hallway, with a temorary structure surrounding the destroyed outside wall, making it air tight and allowing investigators to work inside.

Much to the doctor's surprise, there weren't any security staff or investigators at the scene upon their arrival.

"If you could just explain to the security staff, wherever they are, " said the doctor, "All I want to do is collect a sample of the explosive residue."

Before Alice could respond, Dr. Maelstrom walked over to the keypad, entered a code, and the airlock door opened. He noticed Alice brace herself for a rush of air to be sucked out of the corridor but he was confident that the temporary structure outside had already made the area airtight.

He quickly walked over to the broken glass, his cybernetic legs making a loud noise. He didn't feel too worried about security, given that he had a military escort. He also realized that he was trying her patience by taking such liberties, so he pulled an analyzer out of his coat pocket and scanned the broken glass.

Dr. Maelstrom quickly trotted back over to Alice, who looked irate at this point.

"It's as I thought," said the doctor. "Traces of Thermite on the glass! These aren't ordinary terrorists."

"Thermite?" snarled Alice. "You do realize that this was an explosion, doctor. Thermite is used as a cutting charge. It's not explosive."

Alice was not amused by Dr. Maelstrom's antics. "You can't just run off like that in a secured area. It's called a military escort for a reason, doctor."

She stood in front of the airlock door. "Now, if you'll come with me, we're going to board the shuttle now."

As they were walking back toward the center of the space port, Alice looked back at the doctor. "And I want to know how you got the code to that airlock door."