Enforcer Wade frowned as he entered the main security center for the Ark Tunnel Reactor. The room was dark except for the computer screens which cast strange shadows all around the room. The room shouldn’t have been empty. Even if the guard was stronger elsewhere there should still be people in this room. It was where all the security camera footage was and it contained the entire alarm system. If there was a security breach in the reactor then this room would be the first place that would know about it.
However nobody would know about it if there was nobody here. Wade lit several floating fires before continuing into the room. It was a large room, big enough for plenty of people but that meant even with his light the room was still covered with shadows. He tried flicking on the lights but there was no result. He could feel crunching under his feet and he understood the reason.
Shards of glass covered the floor. Looking up Enforcer Wade saw that the lights had all been broken out. Was this caused by Phantom Thief Rose, or maybe Lynn and that other girl, or was in something else. He moved over to one of the computer terminals and checked the monitor. Everything seemed to be working correctly. Why would somebody break the lights and make all the officers that were supposed to be here disappear but leave the computers functioning.
“This is quite a conundrum isn’t it?” Said a silky voice from behind him. He spun around to see Phantom Thief Rose standing in the doorway. She was wearing a Security Officer’s uniform, although how she had managed to get one which seemed tailored for her she didn’t know. She seemed preoccupied with looking around the room.
“Is this your doing? What happened to all the guards that were supposed to be stationed here?” Asked Wade. The balls of flame hanging around the room pulsed and grew bigger. Wade would be capible of cutting of Rose’s escape path instantly but he wanted her to feel that he was dangerous.
“No idea. I just got here myself. Maybe the found out something they shouldn’t have and then Professor Gray’s crony had to deal with them before they told you about it.” Rose messed with one of the computers and one the first try got the name and password of a security officer who had been too loose with his money in a bar several weeks ago.
“What are you doing?” Asked Enforcer Wade menacingly. The balls of fire grew hotter momentarily, changing color several times before settling down to red again. Suddenly all of the screens in the room were displaying the same same video. It was off the primary room of the Reactor. The reactor’s power gauge was already well into the red section which signified a dangerous level of power. Nearby the reactor was Professor Gray. He was connecting the Euclidian Key to the reaction using lots of cables and strange devices.
“I see. Professor Gray is just preparing the Euclidian Key to use against Lynn. The power overload must just be a coincidence. I’m so glad that you were right. I will cease by thief attempt immediately and turn myself in.” The sarcasm in Rose’s voice was very difficult to miss.
Enforcer Wade glared daggers at Rose and then back at the security camera feed. Those power levels were incredibly dangerous. Wade didn’t know much about how the Ark Tunnel Reactor worked but even he knew that what Gray was doing was foolish. Nobody would go through that much effort to stop an Esper, there were ways of dealing with even a level 8 Esper that didn’t require that much power. If there was the slightest mistake then the entire power plant would be destroyed, no even if there wasn’t a mistake it was likely that there would be nothing more then a crater in the ground when the Key activated.
Wade looked back toward Rose but she was gone. She had slipped away while Wade was looking at the screens and now that she was out of sight Wade wasn’t able to do anything to her short of melting the entire building. Leaving the security room, Wade began heading toward the Reactor Room. He had a few choice words to trade with Professor Gray. The first would probably involved a punch to the nose but he wasn’t sure how he wanted to follow that.
Once Enforced Wade had left the room, Phantom Thief Rose stepped out off her hiding spot. That trick worked so many times it was silly. Step into a hiding place while somebodies back is turned and they automatically assume that you managed to leave. Inspector Grim was getting better about checking places before he expanded the search but other people continued to make the same mistake. Well, you only learn from mistakes if you know you made one.
Rose stepped back toward the computer and flipped through several different security camera feeds. Eventually she found one that she was looking for. It showed two Student Council members walking though the hallways. Good, it looked like they were on schedule. Things were probably going to start going bad very quickly but they should have some time to spare.
She flipped through a few more of the video feeds before spotting the other person wearing a school uniform walking through the halls. It was the mysterious Esper Svenn. That person was turning out to be more of an issue then she had though. She had only barely managed to avoid running into him three times. There was something different about that youth. If Svenn and Wade were the only Espers here that were sent to deal with Lynn then one or both must be extremely powerful. From Rose’s experience, Wade was powerful and while he might be able to meet blows in a fight with Lynn, he would never be able to stop her from stealing something.
Therefore it must by Svenn which Professor Gray was banking on being able to stop Lynn. For that to be true he either needed to have a power which would neutralize a teleport or be of approximately equal strength with her to neutralize her long enough for the Euclidian Key to activate. Rose didn’t know how to effectively neutralize a Teleport so that must mean that he was a high level Esper. That made things difficult. She needed to avoid powerful Espers for her plan to have a chance at success.
However that was still step two. The first step was about to happen. Enforcer Wade would distract the unknown Esper Svenn so that Rose would be able to put the first plan into motion. She searched the controls for a minute before she found it. Then she pressed the fire alarm. There was an ear shreeking sound throughout the entire facility as the alarm went off and then the spinklers began to spray water everywhere.
Rose lifted up the umbrella which she had found in the locker room with the uniform she was currently wearing. It was there conveniently, many things were convenient for Rose because she planned for them. In this case she had bribed a security officer yesterday to convince them to bring the uniform and umbrella to work.
The computer were all beginning to shut down now. They were set up to shut down and preserve data in case they got wet. There had probably never been a real fire here otherwise those in charge off the building would probably have removed the sprinklers from the computer room. Rose sat down on one of the chairs which was still mostly dry and waited.
It didn’t take very long. Soon Inspector Grim and a half a dozen Security Officers burst into the room. “Hello Grimmy. I’m taking a back role in this theft so I thought we should have some fun together before everything exciting starts happening. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Rose.” Shouted Inspector Grim, forgetting to even add her title of Phantom Thief to her name, “I have no idea what you are planning, but attempting a Theft in the University District is against everything that you have previously stood for. I may have occasionally been lax on you in the Entertainment District but that isn’t going to happen here. This time you will really be arrested and the University justice is less forgiving then the Entertainment justice.”
“Arrest me? There are lots of things you should be more concerned about then arresting me. Things like, I don’t know, maybe the demolition charges that I have set all around the building.” Rose looked at her watch casually. There there was a loud, far off explosion. The building slightly shook like it was during an earthquake. “There goes the first one. It is only a matter of time before the others ones start to go off. You should probably get out of here now.”
“That’s it.” Said Inspector Grim. He was literally quivering with rage. He stepped forward and with one quick movement slapped a handcuff around Rose’s hand. The other end was connected to Grim’s hand. “I don’t know what changed but you are no longer Phantom Thief Rose, you are just a criminal. And since you are a criminal it is my duty to arrest you.”
Rose slowly stood up and straightened. At her full height she was just a hair taller then Grim when she stood like that, something Grim always resented. “Your right, I’m not a Phantom Thief now. I’m just a person, doing what needs to be done. What are you Grim? Are you an Inspector, arresting a criminal or are you a person who is doing what needs to be done.” She looked over his shoulder at the Security Officers behind him.
“Grim, get those people out of here. Once you have done that you can come back for me if you want. I won’t stop you then. However right now there are things that I need to do. I’m not playing by the rules right now, neither are you. So decide. Either continue to chase me or make sure this building is empty. If you don’t then a lot of people are going to die here.”
Rose lifted her handcuffed hand and held it so that Grim could see, “Sorry Grim but today I’m cheating.” Then slowly the handcuff passed though her hand and then dropped, swinging back and forth with the other side still connected to Grim. During that one moment Grim was dumbfounded. Then he realized that Rose looked shorted, no, she was shorter. He looked down and then watched stunned as Rose slipped through the floor and was gone.
There was a long moment while Grim considered what happened and what Rose had told him. The reason she had called him out here, the reason she wasn’t acting like a proper Phantom Theft, the reason why was acting with assistants, the reason she had started the fire alarm, the reason she had set the explosives, and the reason she had spoke to him. Then everything clicked into place like the gears in a large machine finally in the correct position.
“This building is rigged to explode.” Yelled Inspector Grim at the security officers. “Make sure to get everybody out of here. You have ten minutes. Find anyone you can and make sure all off them leave. After the ten minutes are up I expect all of your to leave the building yourself.” Some of the officers looked at him in surprise, “Come on, do it. Lives come first man! Go! Go! Go! I’ll deal with the Phantom Thief. You work on making sure that everybody survives.”
Finally the security officers began to obey his orders. They are began running in different directions. Inspector Grim ran with them for a couple of minutes giving new orders to security officers which they came across. Soon most off the officers in the building had gotten the message.
Apophenia Evolved
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Wednesday, August 10, 2011
NaNoWriMo 2010, Part Nineteen
“Is this really going to work?” Asked Emiray. She felt that she was looking kind of silly in the black and blue uniform that the student council wore. The entire uniform made her uncomfortable, plus the silly armband which showed her supposed low rank in the student council made it all worse. What if somebody realized that she wasn’t an Esper, that could ruin everything.
“How should I know, it was Rose’s plan and she is the one who should be certain that it will work.” Lynn wore a disgusted look of her face. She was wearing the same style of uniform that Emiray was and she liked it even less then Emiray did. “I’ve spent more then a year trying to avoid wearing one of these and now here I am wearing one. Do you realize how hard it is for a level 8 Esper to avoid joining the Student council? They practically break down my door trying to get me to join and once they actually did break it down.
Lynn adjusted her hat, making sure that all of her hair was correctly underneath it. Nobody should be able to recognize Emiray but it was a different matter for Lynn, all the members of the Student council would certainly know her on sight and so would a great many of the guards. So she wore a hat to hide her hair and the makeup that Rose had provided in the bad had done wonders to make her look like a completely different person.
Sure the hat was against Student council regulations but the dress code was very laxly enforced when most of the members were high level Espers who generally liked to show their own unique style. The only part of the uniform which was always required was the armband that signified she was a member of the student council. The really ironic part was the if she had really been a member of the Student Council she would have a higher rank then her current armband indicated. An Esper’s strength meant a lot in the Student Council and Lynn would have had an easy track to becoming a Vice President if she had join. She might even have been able to become President if she had any talent at manipulation and politics.
Still even the lowly generally affairs officer armband irked her. She had always felt that the Student Council was too manipulative and secretive. They might have had too be with the highly political atmosphere that hung around importance in the University District. It was the sort of atmosphere that only really appeared when even the lowest ranking officials could wield enormous power. There was certainly more intrigue inside the Student Council then there was outside of it.
Lynn looked like a different person with the makeup and uniform but Emiray wasn’t even recognizable. The radically different clothes and the haircut seemed to change her into someone completely different. Without the work torn clothes and grease smears she seemed even younger. That wasn’t an issue, age didn’t matter to the Student Council only Esper power did. Emiray’s rank was only lower then Lynn’s rank, it was the rank that really amounted to no more then a servant.
The only thing that made them looked like their normal selves was that there were two of them. That might be an issue if they dealt with a real member of the Student Council, especially if there was one from General Affairs here. Two lowly members of the Council wouldn’t attract very much attention and they should be able to sneak in without arousing suspicion. Then the objective was to get as close to the Euclidian Key as they would get without alerting anyone. If they got discovered then the difficult part began. They would need to get close enough to the Euclidean Key for Lynn to touch to before they could make their escape.
Unlike most things Lynn knew it would be more difficult to teleport the Key, it’s construction had to make it especially spatially stable to that it could handle the teleportation powers. That had the side effect of making it difficult to teleport while it had any sort of charge.
R08 however wouldn’t be able to enter the reactor with them. It would be too difficult to explain the presence of a robot and why a couple of lowly members of the Student Council would need to bring one around with them. Instead R08 had been set up in a hidden location with all of the maps and plan information. Through the small transponders that they had they could keep in touch with R08 and each other if things when bad. They would need to remain silent on the channel until it was important though. There was no knowing if somebody would be listening and discover them.
“Is there anything else that still needs to be done before we are ready for the plan to begin?” Asked Lynn.
Emiray looked over the plans on the computer one more time. “No, we have anything we need. There is still three more hours until the estimated theft time. Rose’s plans say that the Euclidian Key should be ready to activate for until at least an hour before the announced time. Still I think we should hurry, they might have found a way to speed up the process.
Lynn nodded, “I agree. I guess it is time to go then.”
The two of them left R08 in the hiding spot and began walking toward the entrance to the Ark Tunnel Reactor. They were stopped by the guard who glanced at their arm bands and asked, “More Student Council huh? What is it that you need?”
The rehearsed lines stumbled for a second in Lynn’s mind before she finally managed to pull them out, “We are members of General Affairs sections three. We have been sent to make sure that the full report of today’s activities gets filed correctly.” One of the main duties of General Affairs was to take care of mundane affairs like reports.
The guard nodded, “Alright then.” The officer opened the gate for them and let them in. “You should go see Enforcer Wade. He should be near the security room. I’ll call you in so that he will be expecting you.”
Lynn tried her best to smile thankfully. Inside she was cursing. Informing the other members of the Student Council was the last thing that she wanted to happen. The longer it took for them to find out Lynn and Emiray were here the better. When two Student Council members failed to show up for a meeting it would sound alarm bell, probably literally in this case. “Thank you. We will make sure to go see him immediately.”
The officer nodded and the two of them walked through the gates and toward the reactor building. Once they had left the guard’s earshot Lynn said, “Already something is weird. I know of Enforcer Wade, he is a fire type Esper. His firepower is impressive but basically useless against me. Somebody higher up in the Council must be interfering if Wade in the one in charge. A rogue level 8 Esper like me should be dealt with by somebody more powerful then Wade. Also there is at least one other strong Esper here. Somebody is keeping a very complex spacial disturbance web across the entire place.”
“Is that a type of teleportation? I thought teleportation should only move things.” Asked Emiray.
“Only a little bit. It is like teleporting your senses elsewhere with the sole intention of detecting teleportation. It is a rather complex and tiring activity. Most teleports wouldn’t be able to accomplish it, especially one this wide. The weird thing is that is doesn’t feel like a teleporter is doing it. The web is unstable and rough, normally someone good enough to make one this large would have the skill refined. It is more like several Espers are maintaining it together, though that is no small feat by itself.”
“Are you sure teleportation is all you are capable? This spacial sensing thing doesn’t sound like teleportation at all.” Said Emiray.
Lynn was about to answer that it was just a differently applied method of teleportation when she actually stopped to think about it. She remembered that Rose had said that to get better she would need to cease being just a teleport and become an impossible multitalent. Sure, forming the web was a form of teleportation, the ability to detect other teleports was something all teleporters learned and the web was just expanding the range using spacial tunnels. However was her refined ability to detect the web really teleportation. It had been one of the tricks she had been unable to teach people. What if those tricks she that she had been unable to teach weren’t teleportation but were a separate talent entirely. Grudgingly Lynn said, “Who knows. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell what is one talent and what is another, especially for high level Espers.”
Then Lynn though of something. If other teleporters were unable to detect a web then she could set up her own without being detected. If she traced the spacial tunnels of the current web she would be able to locate the Esper or espers that were forming it, all without being detected herself. The question was how to trace the origin of a spacial tunnel. That was when Lynn really smiled, she had found her chink in her mental block, something a more powerful Esper could accomplish. “Come on Emiray, we had a little bit of extra time. I have something interesting that needs to be done.”
“That sounds dangerous.” Commented Emiray.
Lynn ignored that comment. There was no sensible path that a spacial tunnel followed so she would need to invade the returning tunnel which brought the information back to the teleporter. She connected her own razor thin spacial tunnels, connecting and leeching off the small tunnels all around. Suddenly her she could feel the tunnels through the air connection her location to other places.
Emiray walked silently beside Lynn watching the blank face young woman. Eventually Lynn furrowed her brow and commented, “There are three minor teleporters keeping this web up, however they are in completely different places. Somehow they are connected so that they can synchronize the web. I’m trying to feel out how but there seems to be no spacial connection between them like they are all individually doing it but somehow managing to avoid missing areas or overlap.”
“On another important note,” continued Lynn, “It seems this method is capable of location the Euclidian Key. The Key has a very strong resonance and I am able to detect it. If the maps are correct then it is where we expect it to be, in the main reactor room.”
“Good, that is one thing we don’t have to worry about. But how do you think the minor teleporters are communicating? Cell phones?”
Lynn shook her head at Emiray’s question. “No, to be able to accurately maintain a web like this with three people you would need to be able to sense the tunnels that the other Espers are generating. These sorts of spacial tunnels are not detectable except at their origin, myself excluding, so they should be unable to do this from different locations.”
“What if there is a fourth Esper helping them? One capable of coordinating the efforts at a long distance.”
“Possible, given the situation. Although advanced planning and exact partitioning of where each Esper is in charge of could manage this. That would require practice though. Another possibility, although just as unlikely as the first. Either way we need to be careful.” Lynn paused and considered an idea, “I could cut off the warp tunnels by creating reverse flows at the same location. Although that would show that we are here.” And possible injure the people creating the web, reverse tunnels placed over current tunnels caused things to explode. She had learned that when first trying to figure out ways to get distance teleportation to work.
“How should I know, it was Rose’s plan and she is the one who should be certain that it will work.” Lynn wore a disgusted look of her face. She was wearing the same style of uniform that Emiray was and she liked it even less then Emiray did. “I’ve spent more then a year trying to avoid wearing one of these and now here I am wearing one. Do you realize how hard it is for a level 8 Esper to avoid joining the Student council? They practically break down my door trying to get me to join and once they actually did break it down.
Lynn adjusted her hat, making sure that all of her hair was correctly underneath it. Nobody should be able to recognize Emiray but it was a different matter for Lynn, all the members of the Student council would certainly know her on sight and so would a great many of the guards. So she wore a hat to hide her hair and the makeup that Rose had provided in the bad had done wonders to make her look like a completely different person.
Sure the hat was against Student council regulations but the dress code was very laxly enforced when most of the members were high level Espers who generally liked to show their own unique style. The only part of the uniform which was always required was the armband that signified she was a member of the student council. The really ironic part was the if she had really been a member of the Student Council she would have a higher rank then her current armband indicated. An Esper’s strength meant a lot in the Student Council and Lynn would have had an easy track to becoming a Vice President if she had join. She might even have been able to become President if she had any talent at manipulation and politics.
Still even the lowly generally affairs officer armband irked her. She had always felt that the Student Council was too manipulative and secretive. They might have had too be with the highly political atmosphere that hung around importance in the University District. It was the sort of atmosphere that only really appeared when even the lowest ranking officials could wield enormous power. There was certainly more intrigue inside the Student Council then there was outside of it.
Lynn looked like a different person with the makeup and uniform but Emiray wasn’t even recognizable. The radically different clothes and the haircut seemed to change her into someone completely different. Without the work torn clothes and grease smears she seemed even younger. That wasn’t an issue, age didn’t matter to the Student Council only Esper power did. Emiray’s rank was only lower then Lynn’s rank, it was the rank that really amounted to no more then a servant.
The only thing that made them looked like their normal selves was that there were two of them. That might be an issue if they dealt with a real member of the Student Council, especially if there was one from General Affairs here. Two lowly members of the Council wouldn’t attract very much attention and they should be able to sneak in without arousing suspicion. Then the objective was to get as close to the Euclidian Key as they would get without alerting anyone. If they got discovered then the difficult part began. They would need to get close enough to the Euclidean Key for Lynn to touch to before they could make their escape.
Unlike most things Lynn knew it would be more difficult to teleport the Key, it’s construction had to make it especially spatially stable to that it could handle the teleportation powers. That had the side effect of making it difficult to teleport while it had any sort of charge.
R08 however wouldn’t be able to enter the reactor with them. It would be too difficult to explain the presence of a robot and why a couple of lowly members of the Student Council would need to bring one around with them. Instead R08 had been set up in a hidden location with all of the maps and plan information. Through the small transponders that they had they could keep in touch with R08 and each other if things when bad. They would need to remain silent on the channel until it was important though. There was no knowing if somebody would be listening and discover them.
“Is there anything else that still needs to be done before we are ready for the plan to begin?” Asked Lynn.
Emiray looked over the plans on the computer one more time. “No, we have anything we need. There is still three more hours until the estimated theft time. Rose’s plans say that the Euclidian Key should be ready to activate for until at least an hour before the announced time. Still I think we should hurry, they might have found a way to speed up the process.
Lynn nodded, “I agree. I guess it is time to go then.”
The two of them left R08 in the hiding spot and began walking toward the entrance to the Ark Tunnel Reactor. They were stopped by the guard who glanced at their arm bands and asked, “More Student Council huh? What is it that you need?”
The rehearsed lines stumbled for a second in Lynn’s mind before she finally managed to pull them out, “We are members of General Affairs sections three. We have been sent to make sure that the full report of today’s activities gets filed correctly.” One of the main duties of General Affairs was to take care of mundane affairs like reports.
The guard nodded, “Alright then.” The officer opened the gate for them and let them in. “You should go see Enforcer Wade. He should be near the security room. I’ll call you in so that he will be expecting you.”
Lynn tried her best to smile thankfully. Inside she was cursing. Informing the other members of the Student Council was the last thing that she wanted to happen. The longer it took for them to find out Lynn and Emiray were here the better. When two Student Council members failed to show up for a meeting it would sound alarm bell, probably literally in this case. “Thank you. We will make sure to go see him immediately.”
The officer nodded and the two of them walked through the gates and toward the reactor building. Once they had left the guard’s earshot Lynn said, “Already something is weird. I know of Enforcer Wade, he is a fire type Esper. His firepower is impressive but basically useless against me. Somebody higher up in the Council must be interfering if Wade in the one in charge. A rogue level 8 Esper like me should be dealt with by somebody more powerful then Wade. Also there is at least one other strong Esper here. Somebody is keeping a very complex spacial disturbance web across the entire place.”
“Is that a type of teleportation? I thought teleportation should only move things.” Asked Emiray.
“Only a little bit. It is like teleporting your senses elsewhere with the sole intention of detecting teleportation. It is a rather complex and tiring activity. Most teleports wouldn’t be able to accomplish it, especially one this wide. The weird thing is that is doesn’t feel like a teleporter is doing it. The web is unstable and rough, normally someone good enough to make one this large would have the skill refined. It is more like several Espers are maintaining it together, though that is no small feat by itself.”
“Are you sure teleportation is all you are capable? This spacial sensing thing doesn’t sound like teleportation at all.” Said Emiray.
Lynn was about to answer that it was just a differently applied method of teleportation when she actually stopped to think about it. She remembered that Rose had said that to get better she would need to cease being just a teleport and become an impossible multitalent. Sure, forming the web was a form of teleportation, the ability to detect other teleports was something all teleporters learned and the web was just expanding the range using spacial tunnels. However was her refined ability to detect the web really teleportation. It had been one of the tricks she had been unable to teach people. What if those tricks she that she had been unable to teach weren’t teleportation but were a separate talent entirely. Grudgingly Lynn said, “Who knows. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell what is one talent and what is another, especially for high level Espers.”
Then Lynn though of something. If other teleporters were unable to detect a web then she could set up her own without being detected. If she traced the spacial tunnels of the current web she would be able to locate the Esper or espers that were forming it, all without being detected herself. The question was how to trace the origin of a spacial tunnel. That was when Lynn really smiled, she had found her chink in her mental block, something a more powerful Esper could accomplish. “Come on Emiray, we had a little bit of extra time. I have something interesting that needs to be done.”
“That sounds dangerous.” Commented Emiray.
Lynn ignored that comment. There was no sensible path that a spacial tunnel followed so she would need to invade the returning tunnel which brought the information back to the teleporter. She connected her own razor thin spacial tunnels, connecting and leeching off the small tunnels all around. Suddenly her she could feel the tunnels through the air connection her location to other places.
Emiray walked silently beside Lynn watching the blank face young woman. Eventually Lynn furrowed her brow and commented, “There are three minor teleporters keeping this web up, however they are in completely different places. Somehow they are connected so that they can synchronize the web. I’m trying to feel out how but there seems to be no spacial connection between them like they are all individually doing it but somehow managing to avoid missing areas or overlap.”
“On another important note,” continued Lynn, “It seems this method is capable of location the Euclidian Key. The Key has a very strong resonance and I am able to detect it. If the maps are correct then it is where we expect it to be, in the main reactor room.”
“Good, that is one thing we don’t have to worry about. But how do you think the minor teleporters are communicating? Cell phones?”
Lynn shook her head at Emiray’s question. “No, to be able to accurately maintain a web like this with three people you would need to be able to sense the tunnels that the other Espers are generating. These sorts of spacial tunnels are not detectable except at their origin, myself excluding, so they should be unable to do this from different locations.”
“What if there is a fourth Esper helping them? One capable of coordinating the efforts at a long distance.”
“Possible, given the situation. Although advanced planning and exact partitioning of where each Esper is in charge of could manage this. That would require practice though. Another possibility, although just as unlikely as the first. Either way we need to be careful.” Lynn paused and considered an idea, “I could cut off the warp tunnels by creating reverse flows at the same location. Although that would show that we are here.” And possible injure the people creating the web, reverse tunnels placed over current tunnels caused things to explode. She had learned that when first trying to figure out ways to get distance teleportation to work.
Monday, August 8, 2011
NaNoWriMo 2010, Part Eighteen
Inspector Grim had just been informed about the capture of Phantom Thief Rose. Now he was being escorted through the complex to see the prisoner. He found it hard to believe that they had captured Phantom Thief Rose with only a handful of men and a boy but it seemed to have happened. Still, if the boy had been an Esper on the Student Council like the officer had said then it might have been possible.
“Here it is.” Said the security officer who was leading him. Inspector Grim had been irritated when he had arrived here and been ordered around by mere security officers. Since those and the Student Counsel was the closest the University District had to a police force there was no helping it, but what sort of place didn’t have a respectable police force.
Grim opened the door and stepped inside the room. There was a moment of silence before he said, “And how is this anything like capturing the Phantom Thief Rose?” The security officer looked at him in confusion before looking into the room himself. The room was empty except for the hand cuffs which were dangling on the pipe that they had been attached to. Phantom Thief Rose was missing.
“I can’t believe you left a Phantom Thief alone in a room.” Grim began shouting at the security officer, “What do you think a Phantom Thief does for a living? Wash windows? She could probably pick the lock with a toothpick. And how the hell did you let her escape this room? Were you sleeping or something.” Grim know that the officer could plainly see what he was talking about. Other then the door he had come in through there were no other exits to the room. No windows, no other doors, no ventilation ducts, nothing.
“Quickly, search the room. Just to be safe we need to make sure she isn’t hiding in the room and waiting to make her escape while we are distracted.” The officers who had been so reluctant to follow his orders before were now nodding and beginning to search the room. Once it was clear that Rose wasn’t hiding anywhere in the room Grim sent some of them off to go alert the Student Counsel about the escape.
The only thing that had been found in the room that was unusual was a single piece of paper with Rose’s scrawling hand writing on it. “Sorry Grimmy, but today is important so I am going to cheat. Try not to be angry with me.” Inspector Grim just balled it up and shoved it in his pocket when he had read it. He hated it when she called him Grimmy. It sounded silly.
Searching for Phantom Thief Rose was probably pointless but he send several more of the security officers off anyway. There was no reason to left Rose with a reason to relaxed. Grim had managed to gather quiet a crowd of security officers at this point. Without leadership from the student counsel he had managed to gain control of them rather easily. He knew what he was doing and people like this know to follow orders from people like him. Maybe these security officers weren’t so bad after all.
Professor Gray held the Euclidian Key gingerly. It was quite literally the key that would answer many questions. All of the data recording information had be correctly set up. It was a pity that it would need to be activated in the University District but the Ark Tunnel Reactor was the only source of power large enough to produce the necessary amount of power. When if activated it would provide new information. The research that had been done on Lynn was useful but without the scale and power of this experiment there was a limit to how much could be learned.
If the calculations he had received from Prometheus were complete then the Euclidian Key would temporarily unravel local space. Watching that would reveal who knew how much. Things like warp travel would no longer be impossible after observing such and occurrence. Such a colossal discovery would dwarf even the loss of life that was necessary for this experiment. Everybody in the reactor would die and probably a large section of the University District too, but it was all for the greater good. Professor Gray hesitated, he had always thought the greater good was what mattered, if he was willing to give his own life for that then why not other people’s lives.
Svenn was there next to him, “Best not to dwell on what is right and what is wrong. It is too late to now, you have already done too much. All of those feeling are temporal, they will leave eventually. Once records, knowledge left will last. Those are the things we must strive the discover and protect. People die, placed decay, only knowledge has the ability to last forever.”
Gray slipped the Key into his coat pocket, “Yes, of course Svenn. You are right. I can’t let my emotions trick me into letting go of the greater good.” Gray then looked up at the young man. “How is everything going. I recently complete all of my preparations. If everything is going well then I am going to begin bringing the reactor up to the correct power level. That might take a few hours but it will be done at least an hour before the announced theft time.”
“All the preparations are ready but I do have something to report. Apparently the Student Counsel member that was sent to capture Lynn and Emiray came back with a captured Phantom Thief. You were busy with preparations so I was going to inform you later. However the Phantom Thief managed to escape our custody and is now hiding somewhere in the building.” Said Svenn.
“What? How did she escape? Shouldn’t she have been guarded, she is a Phantom Thief after all.”
“It should have been sufficient. There room was guarded from the outside and there were no other exits from the room. None of the guards outside of the room noticed her escape but somehow she managed it.”
“You should be able to track her down, correct?” Asked Professor Gray.
“Yes, but that would require diverting my attention from the teleportation detection field that I am helping form. If I did that then Lynn would be able to sneak in without our knowledge. Since I can only assume she is able to sense the field because of the letter that was delivered I must also assume that she will notice if the field fails and will take advantage of that. Without me coordinating the efforts of our three teleporters they would be unable to maintain the field.”
Gray nodded, “I suppose that even if she is a Phantom Thief that there is only so much that she is able to accomplish. Increase the guard in the reactor room just to make certain that she doesn’t get inside. I’ll head over there with you to make sure she doesn’t make an early attempt at on the Euclidian Key.”
“Also,” said Svenn, “That Inspector, Grim I think he name was, used the escape to take command of many of our security officers. It may become an issue. Should I make sure he is sent away?”
Gray shook his head, “No, let him do what he can with them. He is experienced with dealing with Phantom Thief Rose and should make sure she doesn’t bother us anymore. Give him a squad to control and make sure that the others are placed either under your control or the Student Counsel.”
“What is Enforcer Wade decided to break the commands of the student counsel and oppose us. He has an independent streak in him and had a chance to speak with Rose during the helicopter flight here. He may begin to look into what we are doing and then try to stop us.”
“If he does then I will expect you to deal with him. Your level is higher then him so that shouldn’t be an issue.”
“Yes, he is only a level 6. I should be able to handle him as long as he doesn’t join forces with Lynn. My current network had enough Espers in it that he should be quickly dealt with if necessary. Although again I wouldn’t be able to keep up the teleportation detection field if that happened.”
“I understand, don’t oppose him unless absolutely necessary.” Gray stood up and began moving toward the door, making sure to shut his computer behind him “Come on then. We should get to the reactor room and begin the increase in power. If you see Wade then tell him it is in preparation if Lynn decides to attack early.
Enforcer Wade looked at the phone he was holding in his hand. He had just gotten off the phone with the Student Counsel 2nd Vice President. The things he had been told by the Phantom Thief Rose during the helicopter flight had been bothering him. He knew he couldn’t trust the words of a Thief but he had decided to give a call to the Vice President just to check things out. The call however had made him even more worried.
He had been told directly by the Vice President that there was no point in asking questions like that and that he should just follow the orders that he had been given. Wade didn’t like following orders just because he had been ordered to do so. It really cut at his nerves when that happened.
He didn’t yet know what is was but something was definitely fishy about this entire situation. A level 8 Esper had gone rouge and only he had been sent to deal with the problem. With a level 8 Esper only another equally powerful Esper should be able to handle it. Normally one of the Vice Presidents or the President himself would make a person appearance to deal with it, possible even multiple of them.
Instead it was just him, no not just him. He knew there were other Espers here as well, although he didn’t know how many or how powerful they were. That man, Svenn, was almost certainly an Esper and probably quite strong. A level 5 maybe. Nothing that Wade wasn’t capable of handling, although now knowing what Svenn’s power was could mean trouble if Wade was surprised.
A security guard was approaching him. “Enforcer Wade, I have bad news. The Phantom Thief Rose managed to escape from under tight guard and we have yet to recapture her.”
Wade ground his teeth. Things were going from bad to worse. Lynn could start making a move at any moment and now the Phantom Thief had escaped. “Tell me everything that happened?” Said Wade in impatience.
The security guard explained the situation, both Rose’s escape and how Inspector Grim was beginning to take charge of the search for Rose. Wade nodded as he listened. The looked up at the officer, if he remembered right this officer should be trustworthy. “I need you to do something for me. I want you to go report directly to Svenn and help him however you can. However I want you to keep an eye on him. If he does anything strange come and report directly to me about it.”
The guard nodded but asked, “Do you not trust Svenn, do you think he is in league with the Phantom Thief?”
“Not exactly but something is wrong about this entire operation. Something strange is happening and I don’t like the smell of it. The way things are currently looking the University Security force and the Student Counsel is going to take the brunt of whatever is going to happen. I want to make sure that doesn’t happen. Now remember, take care and report anything strange to me.”
The officer nodded and began heading off. Wade didn’t waste any time and began heading toward the security station for the Reactor. If there was a place where they could be caused the most damage it would be there.
“Here it is.” Said the security officer who was leading him. Inspector Grim had been irritated when he had arrived here and been ordered around by mere security officers. Since those and the Student Counsel was the closest the University District had to a police force there was no helping it, but what sort of place didn’t have a respectable police force.
Grim opened the door and stepped inside the room. There was a moment of silence before he said, “And how is this anything like capturing the Phantom Thief Rose?” The security officer looked at him in confusion before looking into the room himself. The room was empty except for the hand cuffs which were dangling on the pipe that they had been attached to. Phantom Thief Rose was missing.
“I can’t believe you left a Phantom Thief alone in a room.” Grim began shouting at the security officer, “What do you think a Phantom Thief does for a living? Wash windows? She could probably pick the lock with a toothpick. And how the hell did you let her escape this room? Were you sleeping or something.” Grim know that the officer could plainly see what he was talking about. Other then the door he had come in through there were no other exits to the room. No windows, no other doors, no ventilation ducts, nothing.
“Quickly, search the room. Just to be safe we need to make sure she isn’t hiding in the room and waiting to make her escape while we are distracted.” The officers who had been so reluctant to follow his orders before were now nodding and beginning to search the room. Once it was clear that Rose wasn’t hiding anywhere in the room Grim sent some of them off to go alert the Student Counsel about the escape.
The only thing that had been found in the room that was unusual was a single piece of paper with Rose’s scrawling hand writing on it. “Sorry Grimmy, but today is important so I am going to cheat. Try not to be angry with me.” Inspector Grim just balled it up and shoved it in his pocket when he had read it. He hated it when she called him Grimmy. It sounded silly.
Searching for Phantom Thief Rose was probably pointless but he send several more of the security officers off anyway. There was no reason to left Rose with a reason to relaxed. Grim had managed to gather quiet a crowd of security officers at this point. Without leadership from the student counsel he had managed to gain control of them rather easily. He knew what he was doing and people like this know to follow orders from people like him. Maybe these security officers weren’t so bad after all.
Professor Gray held the Euclidian Key gingerly. It was quite literally the key that would answer many questions. All of the data recording information had be correctly set up. It was a pity that it would need to be activated in the University District but the Ark Tunnel Reactor was the only source of power large enough to produce the necessary amount of power. When if activated it would provide new information. The research that had been done on Lynn was useful but without the scale and power of this experiment there was a limit to how much could be learned.
If the calculations he had received from Prometheus were complete then the Euclidian Key would temporarily unravel local space. Watching that would reveal who knew how much. Things like warp travel would no longer be impossible after observing such and occurrence. Such a colossal discovery would dwarf even the loss of life that was necessary for this experiment. Everybody in the reactor would die and probably a large section of the University District too, but it was all for the greater good. Professor Gray hesitated, he had always thought the greater good was what mattered, if he was willing to give his own life for that then why not other people’s lives.
Svenn was there next to him, “Best not to dwell on what is right and what is wrong. It is too late to now, you have already done too much. All of those feeling are temporal, they will leave eventually. Once records, knowledge left will last. Those are the things we must strive the discover and protect. People die, placed decay, only knowledge has the ability to last forever.”
Gray slipped the Key into his coat pocket, “Yes, of course Svenn. You are right. I can’t let my emotions trick me into letting go of the greater good.” Gray then looked up at the young man. “How is everything going. I recently complete all of my preparations. If everything is going well then I am going to begin bringing the reactor up to the correct power level. That might take a few hours but it will be done at least an hour before the announced theft time.”
“All the preparations are ready but I do have something to report. Apparently the Student Counsel member that was sent to capture Lynn and Emiray came back with a captured Phantom Thief. You were busy with preparations so I was going to inform you later. However the Phantom Thief managed to escape our custody and is now hiding somewhere in the building.” Said Svenn.
“What? How did she escape? Shouldn’t she have been guarded, she is a Phantom Thief after all.”
“It should have been sufficient. There room was guarded from the outside and there were no other exits from the room. None of the guards outside of the room noticed her escape but somehow she managed it.”
“You should be able to track her down, correct?” Asked Professor Gray.
“Yes, but that would require diverting my attention from the teleportation detection field that I am helping form. If I did that then Lynn would be able to sneak in without our knowledge. Since I can only assume she is able to sense the field because of the letter that was delivered I must also assume that she will notice if the field fails and will take advantage of that. Without me coordinating the efforts of our three teleporters they would be unable to maintain the field.”
Gray nodded, “I suppose that even if she is a Phantom Thief that there is only so much that she is able to accomplish. Increase the guard in the reactor room just to make certain that she doesn’t get inside. I’ll head over there with you to make sure she doesn’t make an early attempt at on the Euclidian Key.”
“Also,” said Svenn, “That Inspector, Grim I think he name was, used the escape to take command of many of our security officers. It may become an issue. Should I make sure he is sent away?”
Gray shook his head, “No, let him do what he can with them. He is experienced with dealing with Phantom Thief Rose and should make sure she doesn’t bother us anymore. Give him a squad to control and make sure that the others are placed either under your control or the Student Counsel.”
“What is Enforcer Wade decided to break the commands of the student counsel and oppose us. He has an independent streak in him and had a chance to speak with Rose during the helicopter flight here. He may begin to look into what we are doing and then try to stop us.”
“If he does then I will expect you to deal with him. Your level is higher then him so that shouldn’t be an issue.”
“Yes, he is only a level 6. I should be able to handle him as long as he doesn’t join forces with Lynn. My current network had enough Espers in it that he should be quickly dealt with if necessary. Although again I wouldn’t be able to keep up the teleportation detection field if that happened.”
“I understand, don’t oppose him unless absolutely necessary.” Gray stood up and began moving toward the door, making sure to shut his computer behind him “Come on then. We should get to the reactor room and begin the increase in power. If you see Wade then tell him it is in preparation if Lynn decides to attack early.
Enforcer Wade looked at the phone he was holding in his hand. He had just gotten off the phone with the Student Counsel 2nd Vice President. The things he had been told by the Phantom Thief Rose during the helicopter flight had been bothering him. He knew he couldn’t trust the words of a Thief but he had decided to give a call to the Vice President just to check things out. The call however had made him even more worried.
He had been told directly by the Vice President that there was no point in asking questions like that and that he should just follow the orders that he had been given. Wade didn’t like following orders just because he had been ordered to do so. It really cut at his nerves when that happened.
He didn’t yet know what is was but something was definitely fishy about this entire situation. A level 8 Esper had gone rouge and only he had been sent to deal with the problem. With a level 8 Esper only another equally powerful Esper should be able to handle it. Normally one of the Vice Presidents or the President himself would make a person appearance to deal with it, possible even multiple of them.
Instead it was just him, no not just him. He knew there were other Espers here as well, although he didn’t know how many or how powerful they were. That man, Svenn, was almost certainly an Esper and probably quite strong. A level 5 maybe. Nothing that Wade wasn’t capable of handling, although now knowing what Svenn’s power was could mean trouble if Wade was surprised.
A security guard was approaching him. “Enforcer Wade, I have bad news. The Phantom Thief Rose managed to escape from under tight guard and we have yet to recapture her.”
Wade ground his teeth. Things were going from bad to worse. Lynn could start making a move at any moment and now the Phantom Thief had escaped. “Tell me everything that happened?” Said Wade in impatience.
The security guard explained the situation, both Rose’s escape and how Inspector Grim was beginning to take charge of the search for Rose. Wade nodded as he listened. The looked up at the officer, if he remembered right this officer should be trustworthy. “I need you to do something for me. I want you to go report directly to Svenn and help him however you can. However I want you to keep an eye on him. If he does anything strange come and report directly to me about it.”
The guard nodded but asked, “Do you not trust Svenn, do you think he is in league with the Phantom Thief?”
“Not exactly but something is wrong about this entire operation. Something strange is happening and I don’t like the smell of it. The way things are currently looking the University Security force and the Student Counsel is going to take the brunt of whatever is going to happen. I want to make sure that doesn’t happen. Now remember, take care and report anything strange to me.”
The officer nodded and began heading off. Wade didn’t waste any time and began heading toward the security station for the Reactor. If there was a place where they could be caused the most damage it would be there.
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