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| Lpnet3-100 Day of the Mystikon Chapter 1: The Martian Landlords Chapter 2: The Post Neutronic Era Chapter 3: The NYC and the EMDA Chapter 4: Stranded at Toyland Chapter 5: A Gem for a Raygun Chapter 6: An Isotope for an Engine Chapter 7: A Sublime Portent Chapter 8: A Hard Rain Chapter 9: Against the Wind Chapter 10. The Monster Tank Chapter 11: The Secret Agent Chapter 12: The NDX Unit Chapter 13: Fort Granite Chapter 14: Contact with the Natives |
Day
of the Mystikon
11. The Secret Agent Exo and Xik woke me around sunrise and let Lisa sleep. I followed them outside, and saw the transverser sitting about 10 meters away, in the visible mode. “Taking chances, aren’t we?” I said, looking it over with interest. It was a refined thing of wondrous beauty, smooth, curvaceous, and shimmering with the morning dew. “We’re quite alone, I assure you,” Exo said, and took a few breaths of fresh air. “There’s no one about for many kilometers.” “Uh, Exo,” I said, “I could use a cup of coffee.” “Of course,” he said. “Xik, get some coffee for Ren.” Xik went to the tranverser, stepped inside, and returned a minute later. “Thanks Xik,” I said, as he handed it to me, and took a couple of sips. “First,” Exo said, putting his hand on my shoulder and leading us, “I want to go over your moves within the complex. We’ll use the video in the tranverser.” He led me into the transverser while Xik remained outside. We sat at the two right-side seats, turned to the side console, and studied a map of the complex on the video. Exo went over the plan carefully and traced the route in, the location of the skems, and the escape route to the roof. “This isn’t going to be easy,” I admitted. “I’ve never done anything like it before. What if I’m caught in the act?” “I imagine they’ll interrogate you,” he said, “but even if you tell them about us, it will be impossible to prove. They’ll probably label you a communist and lock you away. It’s unlikely we’ll be able to get you out of it.” “Oh, that’s great,” I said with sarcasm, “What about Lisa?” “We’ll return her to her home,” he said honestly, “within a year of the time she was taken from.” We went over the plan again, to test my memory, then left the transverser and met Xik sitting outside by the trunk. He opened it, stood up, and took out the uniform. “Put it on,” Exo said to me, as Xik handed it over. I accepted it, and went inside the blockhouse to put it on. Ten minutes later, I smoothed it out, and adjusted it in front of a dusty old mirror on the wall. As I recalled the fact that I failed to complete basic-training in 1982 due to psychological problems, and wondered how the hell I would perform as an air force colonel for a day, Lisa awoke and looked at me curiously. “Well, how do I look?” I said. She rubbed her eyes shortly and said, “Not bad, but you need a shave and haircut.” While Xik went to get some coffee and food for Lisa, Exo provided me with a few special, secret-agent devices for the job. The colonel’s hat was easily converted into an odd looking but practical gas-mask, just in case I accidentally tripped into a gas-trap, or if I had to use one of the small gas-buttons, which were also included, on the jacket of the suit. These were disguised as ordinary buttons, and appeared to be nothing else. However, each of them could be triggered simply by pulling them away from the jacket. Two of the buttons were toxic gas-bombs, two were simple smoke-bombs, to provide a screen, and two were explosive devices, which could be used to destroy a lock on a door or to kill an assailant. Then there was a watch-piece, the wrist-type, which acted as a communicator, just in case it was impossible to reach the roof and necessary to arrange for another pick-up point. Last but not least, there was a miniature laser, which was functional when two pens were screwed together. As I accepted these devices I really did begin to feel like a secret-agent, which was after all what I was, I couldn’t help but wonder what the ‘skems’ were about, but it was certain that was at the top of Exo’s ‘need to know’ list. Whatever it was about, I didn’t need to know. All I had to do was get into the room where they were located, crack open the safe, and carry them to the roof, to the transverser. “I still don’t know,” I said to Exo, “how I’m going to get away from the others, even once I’ve been admitted in.” “Ah, I was coming to that,” he said, and explained. “At about 15 or 20 minutes after you’ve got in the front door and faked your way through the motions, we have arranged for a diversion. An explosion will put the complex on alert status and at that time, you should be able to slip away. The others should be too busy to keep a constant eye on you. After that, if anyone gets in your way, use a gas or smoke-button and fight your way through.” “What about security cameras?” I said. “They’re bound to spot me, especially around the room with the skems.” “Again, the smoke from the buttons can be used to blind them.” That was true; the smoke-buttons would come in handy. Furthermore, if anyone shot at me, the EMDA I wore for protection was capable of stopping most common, conventional guns of this time-period. It appeared that I had a fairly good chance after all, and my confidence increased. “The strongest thing you have,” Exo assured me, “is a higher technocratic intellect. Your very training for this mission occurred during the ten-odd years of work in AB1 Earth’s future.” I thought about that and realized he could be right. Though I had never acted as a solo secret-agent penetrating a military industrial complex, much of what I did posed similar angles of perspective. True, there had been others on the team, and as the leader, I was pointman in the field during the start of the war. At that time I had learned of the resourcefulness of state-of-the-art technology, with the help of Nzxk, and used it on similar levels. However, military bases or complexes were not objects of infiltration so much as targets for destruction. Penetration as a ‘spy’ had never occurred, at least not for me. Exo and Xik, on the other hand, were obvious experts in the field. |
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