My body tensed as I stepped into the security scanner, planting my boots on the indicated spaces. There was a faint whine as an encompassing red light washed over me, starting with my head and moving downward, then back up again.
I was carrying two pieces of contraband.
[EQUIPMENT
* ACCESSORIES
* * >THERMAL GOGGLES
INVENTORY
* CONSUMABLES
* * >Ghost stick]
Antisoc said they were shielded, like my Subroutines menu and presumably every interaction I had with the shadowy group. How good was this shielding? And how sophisticated was this scanner? I was about to find out. If this scanner was capable of detecting my storage discrepancy, I was in trouble.
“Finished. Step forward.”
Phew.
The Repository teller / woman / bot beckoned me onward as the whine of the machine shut down and the next barred door trundled open. Her face retained the same plastic smile while her body language betrayed boredom at the chore of giving a low-roller like me a tour.
I followed her down a long tiled hall. She made chit chat as we walked deeper in, possibly a rehearsed spiel about the design of the building, the security features, and so forth. I heard little of it. The sound of my thudding heart reverberated in my ears. My eyes darted all around, trying not to let my nervousness show.
We turned a corner and I saw another Volunteer walking past. Then another. Good. The more the better. If I was the only one in the building when this went down that could be a problem.
“And up ahead is our data vault, where all Commons customers can access their safe deposit data storage boxes. Right this way.”
For some reason the concept of an old post office came to mind. Everywhere were gilded bars - different offices and alcoves appearing like royal cages. Yet the relatively dim light cast a dingy pall over the place. This particular vault was a large rectangular room with walls filled floor to ceiling with copper or brass plated boxes and horizontal openings. An analog skin for a digital service.
If this Repository really did provide financial and data storage services across The Collective, I imagined the other branches must be a lot sleeker and modern. I couldn’t imagine the likes of Monique Rossignol or her shareholder husband frequenting a place like this.
“Depending on the size of your–”
At once, all lights went out, plunging the building into total darkness. There was also a moment of complete silence so profound that for a split second I thought the world had ended. Then - pop, pop, pop. A thousand metallic doors sprung open. I heard murmurs of confusion and alarm in the distance. The other Volunteers? No sounds from my erstwhile tour guide.
The clock was ticking. Now what?
I remembered the thermal goggles and hurried to open my menu. The light of the menu shone bright in my eyes and for a moment I panicked. I was not supposed to create any lightsource. But, of course, I remembered the menu was visible only to me.
I scrolled down to my Equipment submenu, found the goggles, and selected them.
[Equip >Thermal Goggles?]
Yes.
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I couldn’t see it, but I felt the swirl of pixels coalescing around my face, becoming solid. The Thermal Goggles were on. A bit heavier than expected. Everything was still dark. I heard heavy footsteps somewhere, echoing off the walls and high ceilings.
How do I turn these on?
My hands fumbled over the head strap. Over the sides of the binocular-like goggles. Frag. I should have practiced this. There were multiple knobs, buttons, and dials. Ah, a switch. I flicked it and suddenly the interior of the Repository was bathed in dark purple light. There were traces of orange and red, pops of ambient temperature. But everything was blurry. Trying to walk induced a nauseating sensation.
Frag! I have to focus these to the correct range. Tick tock. Tick tock.
I twisted a couple dials in the center of the binoculars until clarity emerged for this short distance viewpoint. Operating these were more complicated than I expected. I did a quick 360 to reorient myself. My tour guide was nowhere. Vanished without a trace. I wondered what the result of the DDoS attack was on bots.
What next? I needed to find a data port and insert the ghost stick. I materialized the ghost stick into my hand and hurried deeper into the vault room. As suspected, all the little metal doors had swung open, revealing sem-circular data ports that glowed with faint residual warmth. I twisted the ghost stick until it was lined up correctly and carefully inserted it into a random port.
Nothing happened. Antisoc had said it would kick into action once the power was restored. And now what? Using the thermal goggles and stepping carefully, I started to retrace my steps back toward the front of the building. Through the thermal goggles I saw another Volunteer, apparently without the benefit of night vision, feeling his way blindly along a wall.
A loud noise shook the building. Like someone trying to restart a generator. Was the power trying to come back on? That was a lot shorter than six minutes. I couldn’t be caught wearing these goggles!
I quickly unequipped the goggles just as the lights flickered back on and the hum of background activity filled the space. For the first time I noticed bland electronic muzak playing overhead. The other Volunteer and I turned toward each other, and I feigned surprise at seeing him. He had half of his head shaved, a thick mustache, and several prominent facial piercings.
What’s going on? What happened?
He shook his head wearily in response to my bluff.
“Some chepooka, no doubt. Making me razdraz. Can't a veck get his missile launcher out of storage?”
I thought to ask what sort of bounty he was hunting that required a missile launcher, but I held my tongue.
I could see the wall of bars and the security station ahead with the lobby beyond. It seemed that the double security doors were open, the scanner offline. With the power coming back on I assumed the ghost stick was doing, or would do, whatever it was designed to do. No way of confirming.
Just then blinding white lights flashed on one by one from somewhere outside the building. Through any and every skylight or window, bright white light flooded in. A monotone voice boomed unnaturally loud, amplified by some source.
“This is Collective Security. There has been an unexpected service failure. All Volunteers proceed immediately to the nearest exit. We repeat, this is Collective Security. There has been an unexpected service failure. All Volunteers proceed immediately to the nearest exit. For your safety, evacuate the Repository in an orderly fashion with your hands in the air. We repeat-”
Shiva. Shiva. Shiva. The other Volunteer hastened ahead, passing through the double security doors. I followed. My weapons were still locked away in the storage cube beyond the bars. There was no one to assist and no way I could reach them. Dram.
“-proceed immediately to the nearest exit-”
A half dozen or so Volunteers were milling about in the lobby, making their way to the three large doors at the entrance, squinting and shielding their eyes from the blinding lights. I also saw the woman from before, returned to her former service spot behind the counter, as well as other presumed Repository workers standing around awkwardly. I guess the bots got rebooted.
I had to think quickly. I still had the thermal goggles in my possession. Despite the shielding, my storage discrepancy was a real risk if I was about to have an up close and personal run-in with ColSec. Didn’t want to risk that. I hurried ahead to join the small crowd of Volunteers making for the exit. Hoping to be blocked from view by the shuffle of bodies and blinding lights, I subtly materialized the thermal goggles in one hand hanging at my side.
“-evacuate the Repository in an orderly fashion with your hands in the air-”
To one side of the large doors was a data-recycling memory hole. But I knew I would need to scan my identifier to use it - and who knows how it would react to a shielded item? Could I somehow reverse pickpocket another Volunteer, surreptitiously dragging and dropping the item into their inventory? That would potentially implicate an innocent stranger in a crime they didn’t commit. Or would I just have to drop the item on the ground and hope for the best?