The rest of the day at school went by without a hitch, well, except for the fact that someone managed to short circuit a Holoscreen at 4th period.

It doesn’t really concern us, so why bother?

Hmm… true enough.

Anyway, right now I’m walking towards Port Keller, the place where the cargo robbery happened.

It was far from the campus but I decided to just walk towards it, riding an auto-car would leave a digital footprint anyways.

I needed to ‘inspect’ the place where it happened and maybe find a clue about who the robber was. Even a piece of clothing can be a vital clue for identifying the culprit.

Now, you might be asking ‘But Alice, why would you go through so much effort just to catch this one guy?’

Well, my dear-whoever-you-are-that-probably-doesn’t-even-exists-and-i’m-just-talking-to-myself-again, a railgun that can send a shockwave so strong it can send a grown man fly is not rare—it’s just simply unheard of. Also, the way the drones were turned off was most likely due to a very strong EMP device.

But I think referring to the mentioned railgun as… a railgun, is a bit wrong. Railguns are characterized by their ability to electrically accelerate their rounds—not by producing shockwaves. The mechanics are still a mystery to me, and that specifically is why I want to get hold of it.

I need to get hold of that piece of tech… for scientific purposes. Definitely not to do something bad and definitely not for blowing stuff up…

----------------------------------------

Looking up, I realized that it was already dark. The sun has already set on the horizon and the first signs of stars finally emerged in the summer night.

I pull my hood over my head and put my hand in my pockets. My hoodie had a dark blue color I think it might help me sneak better.

There’s still a bit of distance until I reach the port. The shadows of the night will only help me sneak in. The lights of cars and cycles washed past me as the rush hour sets in. I better hurry.

A towering metal fence loomed over me as I reached the port. That’s about… I dunno… 4… no, 5 meters high?

Anyways, I snuck around and found a section where the fence is visibly lower than the once beside it. Climbing it would make a noise that can alert people, and cutting through it is going to take a while and it’ll be irreversible. I need to leave as little sign of me being here as possible.

The obvious options are out the window, so I do the next best thing.

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I walked about a dozen meters away from the fence. After reaching my plotted destination, I crouched low on the ground, and then…

The wind brushed my face as I ran. I ran fast and I ran like hell.

Just before hitting the fence with all of my inertia, I jumped—no, ‘leaped’ would be a better term for this one.

I had to order my nanites to enforce my bones and muscles; else I wouldn’t even be able to do that feat.

Reaching over the fence, I rolled for a landing. Just ‘cause I can reinforce my body parts, that doesn’t mean I’ll ignore my general safety.

Key word is ‘general’.

Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I’m inside the premises of the port already. I was about to complain about how lax the security is, until I realized that the top of the fence had electrical traps and infrared sensors. I just barely reached far above it that I was able to avoid getting stupidly electrocuted.

I hid behind some cargo crates to avoid detection from the patrol crew.

As I was doing that, I caught sight of a drone patrolling the place opposite me. Taking them down would be easy but it would most likely alert the others of my presence. I guess I just need to avoid those guys generally.

After sneaking a few more times and after a couple of times that I almost got caught, I arrived to the place where the confrontation happened.

I found a spot where I could hide away from the mechanical eyes of the drones and took some nifty gadgets out of my backpack.

I scanned the surroundings for any signs of anomalies. An EMP as strong as the one used here would have to leave some sort of trace. If I could find that and cross-reference it to other similar occurrences, I might be able to find something, a clue perhaps.

While standing guard as the device continues the scan, I noticed something in the pavement where the culprit presumably stood it.

Faint cracks spidered out from a central point in that place, the fissures were just about a millimeter wide and snaked for about a foot long.

The last thing I noticed at the spot was a key. It looked like the ones used in the 18th century—made of brass and had an ornate bow.

It was close enough for me to discern that it was an ornate key, but it was also far enough that to reach it, I’ll need to leave the relative safety of my hiding spot.

To leave or not to leave, that is the question.

You can just take it before we actually leave this place, instead of the possibility of getting caught now.

Oh yeah. Good point.

After a few more minutes of waiting for the scans to finish, its screen flashed green, signaling that the data collection process had been completed.

I packed up the device and stealthily got out of my hiding spot. I didn’t forget to grab to key and take a picture of the cracks as I pass by them.

If you have a sufficiently crafty mind, you’d be able to know that getting out of this place is easier than getting in.

I climbed up some cargo holds near the fence and jumped over it. Again, I rolled as a landing to avoid any unnecessary broken limbs. Looking around, I see no surveillance devices, patrols or drones.

Good. Having a picture of me taken is a bad thing. A VERY bad thing.

After pulling my hood over my face once again, I walked away from the port as if nothing happened. However, as I got to the sidewalk, I saw a pair of Enforcers.

Those guys were the police of Eaden. Like their title suggests, they enforce the rules set by the Council. They wore a full body exo-suit made up of tough metal alloys; a normal 9mm would even do much to scratch the surface of their suits.

Shit, they’re walking towards me. I pulled my hood down a little bit more. Did the drones take a picture of me? Was I spotted? Shit, this is bad. They have Hover-cycles with them.

“Excuse me miss,” One talked towards me, “May we have a speak with you?”