Evening. Day 2
A sliver of the full moon not blocked by the higher tiers illuminates the metal park bench. Street lamps flickered on and their light chased the backs of children running home to their parents. Kyte sat primly on the bench. She knew her wristband read 18:56. Any moment now. Footfalls sounded from behind her. Nico’s figure casted her into shadow as he bent over the bench.
“Yo, what’s brewing in that head of your’s Kyte.”
“Obviously our current ‘intelligence mission,’ Nico,” Kyte responded with a smile. Her smile dropped and she asked, “no one following you?” Nico barked out a laugh.
“I wouldn’t have made it a day working for my boss if I could get tailed that easily,” he waved his wrist around which the cuffs still sat, “unless you count these things.” The cuffs were at least thin enough to blend in with normal wristbands, not that size impaired its tracing abilities.
“As long as we don’t stay here too long, I doubt Yinzhu or the Chairman’s people will bother listening in.”
“Alrighty then,” Nico walked around to flop on the opposite side of the bench, “let’s hear this terrible plan of yours.”
******
Morning. Day 4
It was easier to convince Yinzhu than Kyte had anticipated. Yinzhu sent Kyte’s budget list through with a wave and a nod, saying that their budget was “whatever within reason.” A ghost of a smile had cracked through her porcelain exterior when listening to Kyte’s deductions, no doubt pleased with the logic and happy for Kyte to be the spokesperson of the duo. Kyte was quite pleased with herself too, with Nico’s occasional dissent aside. Yinzhu then waved in two people dressed in clean-cut uniforms who promptly cuffed on ‘civilian style’ cuffs.
“I’m surprised that the two of you came up with a half-plausible plan for this,” Yinzhu said as the attendants left. “Though, you have yet to prove yourselves capable in actuality,” she said with a scoff.
“You two can start tomorrow. Report to me at 18:00 about your progress. Set the timeline for the final infiltration 25 days from now. That is all.” A foot out the door, she turned and shot back “You can not afford to disappoint me,” and was gone.
“Well,”Nico said after the door clicked shut, “ever the charmer that one.” He looked at Kyte, “you are so gonna be the one doing this ‘reporting’ foolery. Who does she think she is? Sitting back and making us do her dirty work? Ugh, I should have spit on her ‘Grace’ when I had the chance.”
Kyte looked back to say and if you did, you would have had all your nails slowly removed and ears cut off.
“It’s better that she’s keeping out of the details of this,” Kyte said.
“Woah there, be careful of what you say in front of these totally not present cameras and recording devices.”
“Hahah, if she does confront me on this, I’ll just say that I’m sure someone as important as her must have way better things to do than worry about little details, seeing how she didn’t offer to help us at all.” Kyte said. Nico laughed.
“Anyway,” Nico leaned back into the rigid chair, “what now?” The until our meeting time did not need to be added. Kyte shrugged and held up her wrist with the cuff, “I’m going back to class.”
******
Evening. Day 4
One of the benefits of a popular graduate program was that no one notices when you don’t show up for a day, or when you randomly appear again at 5 pm. It was…harder than expected to carry out her end of the plan. Fellow engineering students jumped at the question of how to create cameras and vessels to penetrate and thwart the latest cloaking and tracking technologies, just as Kyte suspected, but the discussion was utterly and pathetically theoretical. Night had fallen and no one in the lab was any closer to an answer that didn’t include bending the rules of physics or needing to acquire the technology first to study.
“Light doesn’t bend that way, everybody knows that!” Shouted one student.
“Ok, but it could if you adjusted the angle here–” Retorted another student.
“If you move that piece, the whole photonic cloak will fall apart!” Said the first student. Fall apart? Kyte lifted her head from her elbows. The student who just spoke was pointing at the band wiring around the photonic cloaking device that held the reflectors.
“What do you mean by that?” Kyte asked.
“Well, this band is humiliatingly fragile for next-gen tech,” the student answered matter-of-factly, “any real force exertion on it would cause the reflectors to misalign and ruin the cloak.”
“Oh?” Kyte pushed down her hope to keep a neutral face, “wouldn’t they just place stabilizers around it?”
The student shook her head, “this thing needs a lot of energy. Even if the highest quality Mercury was used, adding any type of useful stabilizer would cause the entire thing to overheat.”
“So it can’t be encased in anything?” Kyte double-checked. The girl shook her head again. The larger conversations then turned to different stabilizer designs that could fix this issue. Kyte wasn’t listening. This could be the solution, a little precise hit to the band, disable the photonic barrier, and scan to their heart’s content. The people in the lab should be none the wiser.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
****
Morning. Day 7.
The government did indeed have many fun toys. Kyte had been worried by the precision needed in attacking the photonic bands, but Yinzhu just waved a hand and acquired an underwater drone with military-grade aiming technology, and told Kyte and Nico to meet her by the nearest dock. So here the three of them were: Yinzhu staring intensely at the operating menu; Nico splayed out in a starfish position; Kyte keeping an eye on their own photonic cloaking device. Every so often, Nico would say something to get a rise out of Yinzhu, whining usually about how bad the food at the government holding cells are. Such statements could only be ignored for so long before Yinzhu whipped around to kick him in the stomach. Kyte did not bother telling either of them that the cloaking device only worked visually and that no doubt the dock workers knew they were there. With the bickering, the task took double the time Kyte had allotted, a fact that she was shocked by when it was all over. Has time passed so fast?
****
Day 8: Afternoon
The tea’s fragrance left no doubt in Kyte’s mind that a pound of the stuff could cover half a year of her rent. She was kneeling on a cushion in the same spot she was in for her initial interrogation. A power play most likely, Kyte thought, as the headquarters had more than enough rooms. Where the screen was instead was a go table, currently housing tea cups and not game pieces. The remnants of their game lay tucked away in a silk pouch by Yinzhu, who sat on the opposite side quietly sipping her tea. Kyte had lost, so they supposed it was better that the evidence was tucked away. It’s not her fault she wasn’t raised on go. A game was routine now for these meetings. Kyte had been surprised the first time when Yinzhu motioned for her to sit in front of the go board. It all clicked when Yinzhu started asking her questions during Kyte’s turns. Oh, Yinzhu was trying to hide it alright, the convenient timing of her inquiries just when Kyte’s concentration on the game was the highest, but Kyte had pulled this trick on enough people before to recognize it. Even if Kyte did fall for it, there was nothing in her official plan that needed to be hidden. For the more illicit plans, well, no amount of distraction could make Kyte spill her life’s experiment.
“You are improving,” Yinzhu said.
Kyte eyed the groves on the board, “only natural with the number of games we have played your grace.”
Yinzhu raised her perfectly plucked brows and set down her cup.
“No, it is not. Not at the rate that you are improving with only eight games.”
Kyte shrugged, “I did read up a bit on how to play once I realized this was going to be a regular thing. Your grace.”
“You have not used a single standard opening move, nor played in any way recommended to beginners.”
Kyte felt herself going rigid, and the tension immediately ripped apart. Too late, Yinzhu’s narrowed eyes honed in on her and made Kyte go tense all over again. Damn her.
“You clearly possess an acumen for not only strategy and planning but also a natural ability to learn new skills impressively efficiently.”
Where is she going with this? Kyte frantically asked herself.
“So,” Yinzhu pushed back her cascading brocade sleeve to pick up her cup again, “should this operation be successful, I would be willing to have a few conversations with some officials about…adjustments to your records should you keep aiding us.”
Oh, thank heavens. Kyte tried not to let herself visibly relax. She still had the very real problem that Yinzhu was now paying attention to her to deal with. But, positive and professional attention was better than personal scrutiny.
“Your grace, I am honored–” Kyte started, only for Yinzhu to scoff. Ok, too much. “--that you would consider helping me. Though, I would be most happy going back to my studies.”
Yinzhu sighed and waved for Kyte to give the remaining details of the progress report, which Kyte happily did. The rest of the afternoon passed in strenuous peace for Kyte, as now she was all too aware of the tracking gaze of Yinzhu. How long could she avoid suspicion?
Day 18 3:15 pm
“Ok, so here’s my pitch for the infiltration procedure.” Kyte said standing in front of a hologram board displaying a final map created from cross-referencing all their scans and observations, with a laser pointer in hand. Yinzhu stood across from her and a good distance away from a lounging Nico twirling his hair. Kyte brought the laser’s red eye to a small door on the side of the lab complex.
“This is what we believe to be a maintenance hatch,” she moved the pointer to a new point, “and so is this. These are the least guarded and from our cameras, the technicians had just finished a check so we won’t run into anybody.” She turned to face the two.
“I believe Nico and I should enter from the eastern hatch while Yinzhu, your grace,” a correction that Yinzhu gave a hum of approval. “--Should enter from the northern hatch. The reason being proximity to the main lab area that we believe is hosting the asteroid.” Kyte traced a string of hallways from the northern hatch to the center lab, which sits in the middle of the complex like a gaping mouth. “Unfortunately through the front door is the only way into the lab, so potential stragglers will need to be picked off.” Kyte then turned to Nico.
“Nico, from the western hatch, will follow this route until her,” she pointed to a side hallway, “ to trigger the evacuation system.”
Nico sat up and squinted at the map.
“Uh no I won’t. Taking the path by the antechamber would be better,” he said.
“That’s risky,” Kyte retorted.
“Not riskier than taking the long way and bumping into the patrol,” Nico replied.
Yinzhu cleared her throat.
“For once I agree with Nico,” she said while throwing him a withering look, “time is of the essence and his reputation for stealth preceded him in the past before his little…recruitment into our ranks.”
Nico smiled at Yinzhu and gave Kyte a look that reeked of “I told you so.” Kyte groaned, but she re-drew the route. It wasn’t real anyway.
“Anyway,” Kyte said, “I’ll go to disable the internal defense system via this route, and then I’ll meet you two back at the northern hatch after Nico has triggered an evacuation and Yinzhu has acquired the asteroid for our escape.” Kyte turned to address Yinzhu. “Your grace, it is highly likely that you will face resistance on your path to the western hatch despite our precautions, so you will have to rely on your combat skills.”
Yinzhu scoffed, “Thank you for the precaution but I am more than capable of dealing with whoever is ignorant enough to attack me.”
“Awwww the pampered prodigy is willing to get their hands dirty–quick someone give her a medal!.” Nico said with a laugh.
“That’s rich coming from the oh-so-elusive mafia big-shot that got five misdemeanors filed on them in the past week for day drinking and had to get bailed out by a good samaritan.”
“At least the citizens are willing to help me. I bet they would just let you rot.”
“Oh? With the amount of grieving families you’ve left in your wake, I beg to differ.”
Nico fell silent at this and didn't say another word as Yinzhu and Kyte finished ironing out the infiltration details.
Day 24 22:00 pm
Three bottles of wine sat hidden under the park bench, the fourth bottle was held upside down in a loose grip as Nico coaxed the last drops onto his tongue. Satisfied that he had drunk it all, he sloppily wiped his mouth and slumped against the armrest, before waving the bottle at Kyte. She had been sitting at the opposite end of the bench since bottle one.
“You ‘ure ya don’ want a sip?” He slurs. Kyte politely shakes her head and goes back to trying to predict the course of falling leaves from the nearby tree. At least that activity was exciting. Kyte had known exactly what Nico was going to do the day before the 25th day, she just hadn’t anticipated he would want them there for this. Perhaps he gained some sense since his initial arrest that he needs a buddy when getting drunk out of his mind.
“Hey, Kyte.”
“What is it?” she answers without looking at him.
“After tomorrow, if we live,