The Mission

Part 6

I repeated the plan to myself several times. Didn't make it feel any less risky. But I didn't have time to come up with anything else. I had to move. Get into the important areas and get as much as I could.

I slipped out and hugged the wall. No shivers. No trembling. Just move. I swayed my hips and kept my footsteps soft like before. I kept my device cloaked in my palm and consulted it. Right, left, left, right and I would be in the blue section with only slight backtracking.

Right. To where I started. Still no one in that area. I double-checked that my illusion was on. Move move…

Left at the corridor with blue on the ceiling. Someone exited a room further down and walked away from me. My skin felt prickly. I was surely too far away for them to notice me. They did turn slightly but made a left and went down a different corridor.

More doorways on this path. Not all of them were marked and those that were had codes on them like 'K164M'. I was sure there was some means of reading them, but I let that be a matter for later. I aimed the video capture with a glance of my head.

Some doors looked half-opened or like they might have been recently opened and not completely locked. They were painted blue, but I assumed that was just to code them to the corridor color. The corridor itself was blank, off-white. Then the junction to concern myself with, crossing the paths of cameras. I moved through it without even checking the line of sight. The sooner I got to the control room the sooner I could just edit myself out. Two paces through the junction.

Left and a sudden crowd. I tried not to panic. They were far down the corridor. A glance to my device. I could route around. But don't panic. Certainly don't act frightened. I folded my hands and made my way down the opposite corridor. I refused looking back despite how clearly I could hear the crowd of sisters talking. I didn't notice a Durga or a Valkyrie among them. I hoped they didn't notice me.

The corridor felt so long with every sweep of my leg. I thought I heard a "hey" said, but I ignored it. If they'd spotted me then my only answer was to keep moving. I was so happy when I was out of that corridor that, at first, I didn't notice there were two sisters walking towards me.

I kept my eyes off them but noticed that one was blond with a pair of glasses on and the other had red hair and a book open in her hands. The one with glasses seemed to have her eyes down. I wasn't sure what she was looking at. Some paperwork? A folder? I didn't want to look at them directly and invite their attention to the flaws in my disguise.

As we passed, I nearly held my breath. One step past. Two. Then…

"Oh, Valkyrie Sister?"

I had to stop. I turned swiftly and focused on my lips matching as I replied, "Yes, dear sister?"

The redhead had spoken. She flexed her feet a bit and withheld a yawn before asking, "Pardon me please, Honorable Sister, but…do you know where the nearest break room is?" The blond didn't look up from her paperwork except to give a quick glance to the redhead, who punctuated her question with a faint smile.

Not what I expected from this area. They seemed more like regular girls. So oddly normal. So relaxed. I reflected her smile and offered carefully, "No need to apologize, Sister. I believe there is one at the second door after the second right and a left…."

The redhead gave a look of bewilderment and repeated my directions back to me. I nodded and added, "Not counting the storage areas, if I'm correct. But one can get turned around…"

The blond gave a groan of exasperation as the redhead traced the air. She seized her companion by the shoulder and stated, "We'll find it. Come along…"

I kept up the charade till they had made their first right down the other corridor.

Despite the circuitous route, I eventually made it to the correct section without running into any more sisters. I fretted over the problem of finding the right door till I came to one marked with the words "DATA SYSTEMS" instead of a code.

It had a keypad and seemed to require an electronic card to unlock. Fortunately, I had a fix for both. A hacking card which would reset that part of the lock, so I could just run a random card through, and a UV flashlight. I reset the lock but waited because I knew the number and the card would have to come close together.

I checked the corridor and used the flashlight with as much darkness as I could provide with my other hand. The fingerprints were barely there but I could tell it was a four-digit combination of seven, two, four, and eight. The order was the challenge. And there were sure to be a limited number of wrong choices before it alerted someone. I checked the fingerprints again for more clues.

I pondered. It was laid out as a normal one to nine keypad. I doubted the code was in sequence. I double checked again to make sure I was alone and kept checking every few seconds as I worked the problem. I noticed the two seemed to have extra rubbing and the tip of the two was flaked off, suggesting that perhaps it was pressed more often or harder. I hoped that didn't mean it was a five digit sequence with the two repeated (or a longer one with twos throughout).

If I wanted to hack into the pad itself, I could use my device but it would take several minutes to get connected, and I did not want to be standing around with leads connected to a door and try to explain myself to sisters who passed by.

I made the assumption two had to come first or last. First made the most sense. First press and then you figure out you don't need to press as hard after that. That left me with, hoping my math was right, six potential combinations. Still a lot. I analyzed the other three buttons while making sure again that I was alone. I put my face right to the pad and tried to tease out anything else which might take the possibilities down even further. Then I saw it…trails.

Someone who had touched the keypad had dragged their finger over the sides of the buttons from the four to the eight (or vice versa). If only that helped more… Wait…from the four to the seven as well. So, seven-four-eight or eight-four-seven. If the evidence was right then that left me with two combinations.

A flip of the coin. Hopefully the machine would allow at least one wrong answer. I slid the card. Yellow light. I tried the first number set I thought of. Two. Seven. Four. Eight.

Red light and a buzz from the door. I clenched up and was about to try again when the door knob turned and the door popped out slightly.

A slight, soft voice on the other side of the door said, "Please, come in", before receding away. I clung to the knob and made sure it didn't close. I lingered a moment before cautiously slipping through.

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Many rows of servers with loud air conditioning units against the walls. A flash of purple cloth around a corner. Shit!

I hugged the nearest server and felt like burying myself as deep as possible. At least the ACs drowned out my heartbeat. If I wasn't just seeing things then I was in the same room as a Durga. That shade of purple was worn only by them. And it made sense that the center of all key information would be monitored by the highest-level guard. The kind of guard which most considered all-seeing. Surely, if she was watching the video feeds then she already knew who I was and this could be a trap. I pulled out my optic but was too afraid to use it to peer around the corner.

I let myself be scared for several long moments before I took a quiet breath and tried to think through what I needed to do if I wanted to survive. First, central video server. Of course, I quickly figured out it was on the end of the room where the Durga had gone.

Weighing my options, I wondered if I could just continue evading cameras. But with the eyes of a Durga on me, I doubted that would work. I considered using servers on this end of the room to patch into the servers I needed to get to. I suspected they would be independent from one another. The servers on this side likely only controlled the lighting and local computer networks. Which I could use…perhaps.

Maybe turn the lights off and use the darkness to make my way over to the servers I needed. No. Too many variables. The Durga could have an easy way around whatever I did and then would be actively trying to find me as well. Somehow using the computers was a possibility. I could drop all the hostile programs I had into the servers but that felt like a long-shot.

I listened for bootsteps, but I couldn't hear much beyond the roar of the ACs. No one had ever seen the face of a Durga or gotten a good look at anything but a bit of their clothes or a glance from far away. All others fell prey to them on sight. All who survived their encounters could offer was an overwhelming fear of purple.

Thermal tracking would be terrible with how much heat the server banks were putting out. I wished I could merge the optics and the thermal to peer around the blind corners. While the loud air units drowned out the sounds of the Durga, hopefully they might keep my movements cloaked as well.

The rows were not even. Some were broken up and staggered. That left a few places to hide. No visible cameras yet. I expected panoramic ones towards the center of the room and at the end with the most critical servers. Strange that the door would be a blind spot but then many things about the base were out of character with glaring holes in security. Not complaining. Just wary.

I took a breath and focused with the AC sounds diminishing to white noise in my head. I looked around the first corner with a tightly-bent optic. Fortunately, both were obsidian-black. A bit of open space and the nearby coolers. A longer row of servers blocked the rest of the view. I gave the optic a slight twist to pan left and right. Nothing but servers. The thermal was a wash.

Gingerly, even under the cover of the noise, I made my way to the next row of servers and hugged the nearest one. I assessed this row, checked for any banks which looked critical, and checked everywhere for movement and the slightest trace of purple. For the nth time, I made sure the illusion was working properly. Not that it would matter with a Durga, but I had the frail hope that it might at least buy me a moment.

After again checking everywhere I could, I made my way over to the far side, the blind edge of the bank, and aimed my optic again. The screen was filled with purple. A sitting form, I believe turned away. That's all I caught before I drew back the optic. Okay. At least I knew where she was, unless there was more than one.

I avoided that thought and considered using my video device to capture the first good image of a Durga. I could bend it around like the optic and it was the same, dark color. Every instinct told me not to bother. I had a bigger mission objective, but I knew that an image of a Durga would be huge. So long as I could get the recording out of the base.

Despite my feelings, I had to try. She was turned away so I could aim the video, take a quick few seconds, and let the tech people clean it up later.

I motioned just like I had with the optic and glanced down at the video display. It wasn't as long or as covert but the image was a little sharper. I watched as the video jiggled in place with my trembling fingers before it finally settled on the mass of purple. The video focused.

A wide, blue eye peered right at me.

All other thoughts left except for "RUN" but my body refused to move. Couldn't look. Didn't want to look. Didn't want to see what happened next. No one escapes a Durga. Couldn't breathe. I had to RUN.

No sounds but the whir of the servers running and overwhelming roar of the cooling units. No voices. No other sounds. No Durga yelling.

I didn't make any swift movements. I just glanced down at the video feed on my device. An empty chair. I stuffed the video recorder away somewhere deep and clutched my gun.

I could taste the mind-killing saturation point of fear. For some guys, they can't process anymore. They make mistakes, lose it. Others, they say it's like their senses sharpen and all the terror falls away as instinct takes over. I envied both reactions. Turning badass or mad would be a relief. I just held onto the precipice.

Okay, plan. My gun would be little more than my personal placebo. Returning to the door I came in was a bad choice. Diving into the dangerous part of the room wouldn't be much better. Running or waiting for what would come…

Carefully, I stood up from where I was crouching. I scanned all the nearest corners. AC and more servers. And the empty chair.

I would've preferred to do anything but approach the chair. But I did exactly that. I slipped my gun in a pocket and approached under the cover of the roaring cooling units.

Taking a moment for actual thought, I wondered if what I'd seen in the video had been an eye looking at me or a Durga just glancing out at random. Maybe not an eye at all. The fact I was still me had to mean something. At least that I had some luck.

No more recordings. I scanned each row before I moved and made sure the Durga wasn't trying to come around at me from behind. Step by careful step, I was at the chair. Before I could check the area, I glanced right.

The Durga…napping on a plush cushion.