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“Negative Mr. Hsiang. The transport is still cloaked; they must still be inside the compound.”

“I want to know the instant they are airborne. Remind Colonel Kinyashi to track them the instant they leave DH airspace. Remind him to attend the rendezvous and confirm delivery.” Avery Hsiang paused, his eyes tightened. “He is to settle accounts with the sprawlers as well. Understand?”

Yes. Absolutely, Mr Hsiang.”

Avery cut the secure channel off without a word, settled back in the deep leather seat and watched the buildings slide by in the early morning dark, savoring the moment.
----------------------

The four of us passed through the door into an observation room. Four large glass viewing panels angled out and away from bank of equipment panels. On the right, a steel staircase disappeared down into the semi- dark. I hung back, still stuck holding the guard, so Tam & Poet9 moved forward and peered out the panels down into what appeared to be nothing more than a room.

“I saw you.” a voice suddenly said. It came from speakers on the instrument panel. We all froze and it was quiet for a moment. “You tried to be sneaky, but I saw you,” it suddenly said again. Poet9 jerked his pistol up, and Tam tensed.

“I saw one of you in the computer too. You’re pretty fast, faster than the others around here. I told them their walls weren’t strong, but they didn’t listen.” the voice continued.

Poet9 leaned forward and peered down thru the glass. “Jesus! There’s someone down there.”


“I’ll turn on the lights if you want. Here” And the room below us suddenly flickered to life. Poet9 brought up his magnum, but Tam put a hand on his shoulder. He looked down into the observation area and saw the room. A plain room like a barracks; off -white, a bed, drawers in one wall, and several items scattered on a rug. In the corner was a large u-shaped consol with several workstations and panels under oversize monitors. And someone was sitting at one of the stations.

“A kid,” I heard Tam’s whisper in my helmet. “There’s a kid down there.” I kept a lock on the guard, but Poet9 leaned to look into the room while Tam made his way down the stairs.

It was a boy. Dark skinned, close cut hair, with a round face and bright, green eyes that jumped out at you. No more than 10 or 12 years old, he dressed in a tan coveralls sitting at one of the computers. He paused as Tam came out onto the floor.

“Are you the only one here?” Tam was asking as he slowly walked toward the boy.

“Right now I am. In the daytime Dr. Evans and Dr. Henrich are here with their staff. Sometimes they stay late and have me do things with the computers. But that’s been less and less lately. They keep telling me I have to get my rest. I couldn‘t sleep tonight though. That’s how come I saw you.”

“What’s your name?” Tam was halfway to the consol.

“Gibson. What’s yours?”

“That’s not important right now. Gibson, what do you mean ‘you saw us’ ? When?” Tam was nearly at the desk now.

“On the security grid. I couldn’t sleep and got bored, so I watched you through the cameras. Well, I mean I could tell where you were. The air sort of shimmered so I just followed the shimmers and watched you come here.” He paused and looked at one of the screens, then back at Tam. “Why did you hurt those two men?”

Poet9 broke in over the radio link. “Hate to interrupt, but. We’ve got a job to do. And … only 8 minutes to do it in. Does he know where they keep it or not?”

Tam was at the computers now, hand on the edge of one of the desks, looking down at the boy, who just sat and looked back up into the stealth suit matt black faceplate. “Look at him.” I heard Tam say.
“Look at him Poet.”

“What? I see a kid. I want hardware. Just put him to sleep and let’s move.”

“No. Look at his head.” I stepped forward gripping the guard tighter and cranked up the amplification on my visor. Sure enough, a single, thin, black cybernetic jack ran up from the panel to disappear behind the boy’s left ear.

“Could you turn off the lights for me Gibson?” Tam asked.

“Sure” and the lights went out.


..... END OF PART ONE .....