Technically Unsound - Ch. 5

Chapter 5: The Incomplete Investigation

-A-

"Neither do I-- but there's not really much we can do about it."

Meanwhile...

Nicholas left his room, panting slightly (he'd ran most of the way there).  The door locked itself electronically behind him.

How did the Core even GET there?  I must have gotten careless and dropped it during my last exploration of the reefs.

-S-

It had gained a little scratch, but fixable.  He sighed in relief turning to see-

"Nicholas?"

He froze; it was Hannah, and she smiled calmingly.

"What was all that about?"

-A-

Nicholas grew visibly nervous at the sight of Dr. Pandion.

"Oh uh... hi Hannah.  What brings you here to wing Alpha?"

-S-

"General Androctonus sent me to ask about that object, Nicholas."

She approached.

"What is it?"

-A-

Nicholas took a step back.

"Wh-What object are you t-talking ab-b-bout?"

-S-

"The octahedron you took from the Queen and ran off with," Dr. Pandion said slowly, surely.

-A-

"Oh, th-that?  It's n-nothing s-special.  Wh-What's it to you or to G-General A?"

-S-

"You're a bad liar, Nicholas," she smiled warmly.

"The General is in charge, he asked what it was."

-A-

"I'm t-telling you, it's nothing special!"

Very anxious to get out of this conversation, Nicholas bolted down the hallway, muttering a quick "excuse me" as he passed Dr. Pandion.

-S-

She watched him go, before rolling her eyes, and approaching his room.

It had a thumbprint scanner to get in and a special code, but she had a photographic memory, and had seen him enter it before.

The trick was how to get past the thumbprint.

She pulled out a little pouch from her pocket, and took out a very light, slightly sticky powder, glanced around, and peppered a little across the scanner with a brush, before pressing a clear strip against it; it bleeped before whirring in agreement, the last good thumbprint still faintly there.

The door slid open.

-A-

Nicholas's room was an interesting sight.  The floor was coated in neatly tessellated tiles shaped like equilateral triangles.  Across the room, his bed was neatly made and fitted with covers with a triangle design.  For whatever reason, Nicholas seemed to like triangles.

Of course, the room had all the regulation furniture (dresser, table and chairs, and so forth).  On top of the dresser was a collection of samples from the reefs outside, all neatly preserved in containers.  A poster mounted on the wall with tape advertised some mainland pop star.

Most interesting was the storage closet off to one side.  The door to the storage closet was tightly shut, and an odd flickering light emanated from the other side.  Also, a few cables led from Nicholas's computer under the door.

The octahedron was nowhere in plain sight.

-S-

Dr. Pandion approached the storage closet, and tested the doors; unlocked, Nicholas clearly presumed the thumbprint scanner was sufficient.

-A-

She shoved the doors open, and a very interesting sight greeted her.

First of all, she now knew where the octahedron had gone.  There it was, clutched in some sort of spider-claw that pressed a triangular plate against each of its eight faces.  The claw sat on an upper shelf, and was hooked to a thick cable that ran out of the closet and connected to Nicholas's computer.

A large device that looked like a router of some kind also sat on the floor of the storage closet.  It, too, was connected to the computer, and a large flickering LED on it signaled that it was doing... something.

The final attraction was a circular pad of some sort, about a yard in diameter with a large depressable area in the center that acted as a push button.  It was propped up against the back wall, but only because there wasn't enough room in the closet to lay it flat; it looked like it had been pulled out and laid flat many times.  It was also connected to the router-device.

What in the world had Nicholas been working on?

-S-

Dr. Pandion blew out a breath, and then narrowed her eyes.

She hated invading his privacy like this, but orders were orders, and she knew better than to anger Androctonus.  No one had seen the scars under her feathers, the glint in his eye when he looked at her.  

He knew the power he held over her, and had no intention of stopping.  When she disobeyed, a strike, or even a light sting.  She was periodically ill a lot, but it wasn't genetic as she told everyone.  

She switched Nicholas' computer on, and pulled the pad out and laid it down.

-A-

The computer booted up just fine.  Nicholas's desktop wallpaper was a picture of the same pop star that the poster advertised.  He was definitely a fan.

Several icons dotted the desktop, but one in particular caught Dr. Pandion's attention.  It looked like an octahedron, and was titled "BOOT PROGRAM".

-S-

Sighing deeply, she right clicked, and found a command; INITIATE.

She clicked.

-A-

Immediately, a window came up.

ENTER PASSCODE TO INITIATE.

Darn!  So close and yet so far away.

-S-

She tried the name of the base, his surname in number for the alphabet, N as a 14 then I as a 9, and so on, but that didn't work.

Musing, she eventually typed in lowercase 'hannahpandion'.

-A-

It worked.

CONNECTING...
CONNECTING...
CONNECTING...

The pad began to hum.  The flashing LED on the router-device was now steady.

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.  PAD READY.

This notification was accompanied by an image of a stick-figure standing in the center of a circle on the ground.

-S-

Dr. Pandion glanced at the pad uncertainly, before glancing at the door.

Nicholas didn't deserve to be betrayed like this.

She sighed deeply, clicking 'ABORT', and packing the pad away, clearing the computer's history for her stint and switching it all off, leaving quickly.

-A-

Meanwhile...

"Your team took all these pictures, General A?  Impressive."

Alt and Sherbie were looking at a series of images of the reefs and the wildlife around them.  They were quite breathtaking.

-S-

Sherbie zoomed in, and frowned a tiny little bit, but said nothing.

Androctonus nodded proudly.

"Spectacular, aren't they?  So vivid."

-A-

Alt nodded.

"Yes, very much so."

She noticed Sherbie's frown, but didn't say anything.

-S-

"We've discovered twelve new species of fish and three new corals in this region," he continued, "It's very exciting.  Now, would you like to see our mini-subs?"

-A-

Alt nodded.

"Absolutely."

It was around that time that Nicholas returned.

"Sorry for taking so long, General A.  What did I miss?"

-S-

"Some very ph- pretty pictures of the reef, the living quarters, the decks," interrupted Sherbie, grinning, "This place is incredible."

-A-

Alt nodded, but something caught her attention.

Sherbie, what seems to be the issue?

-S-

That picture's a fake, that's what's wrong.  Very well done, but around the edges...it's very good CGI.  And look at the bottom left corner; a very small smudge.  Here-

Sherbie sent her a zoomed-in image, of seemingly a sea cucumber; and there it was, almost imperceptible, but definitely there.

-A-

Hmm...

Alt inspected the image Sherbie had sent her, then stepped closer to its counterpart and examined it closer.  She could definitely see it now that she knew about it.

"Like that one?"

That was Nicholas's voice.

"I took that one, actually.  In fact, I took a lot of those."

Nicholas stepped up and singled out a few other pictures he'd also taken.

-S-

Sherbie allowed Alt to take the reins of faking obliviousness, and instead started inspecting his surroundings.

Dr. Pandion appeared suddenly, and shook her head minutely at Androctonus as he glanced pointedly at her, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

A new scar would appear tonight, she knew, and inhaled deeply to steel herself before inspecting the pictures, and smiled.

"Nicholas loves diving out in the reef."