You’ll see them too.
Vincent focused, and the brick shattered in the grasp of the green spectral hand. He didn’t collapse from the effort this time, so he was making progress. He looked around the East Training Yard, checking for the hundredth time to make sure he was truly alone. Thankfully this was not only the least utilized training area, but nearly all the other students were at evening meal.
Vincent was panting a little. He’d learned that using his Phantasm skill was like tensing an entirely new muscle. Not only was it hard to make the muscle respond, but it tired remarkably easily–and seemed to drain his entire body at the same time. Still, he’d come a long way in the scant few days since he’d Manifested as a Specter.
At first he’d practiced in his room, and eventually he’d gotten used to activating the skill intentionally. His body was still adjusting to the Manifestation, so the power only seemed to respond two out of three times, but it was starting to feel almost natural. After the second day, he’d needed to find someplace to test the limits of the ability, and East Training yard–where he’d spent an uncomfortable rainy night so recently–was perfect.
Only part of the yard had camera coverage, and it was so underused that the maintenance teams had begun using it as a dumping ground for discarded building materials. Vincent had a massive collection of bricks, concrete, and metal bars to test himself with, and he’d been making excellent use of them. Taking a deep breath, he reached out beyond himself once more, and picked up a piece of rebar.
He’d been trying numerous different applications of Phantasm, and with varying degrees of success. The easiest method was simply to extend the transparent hand like a projectile, effectively firing out from his body and into a target. It couldn’t extend more than a foot or two–for now at least–but Vincent discovered that it could connect with incredible force.
He could also use it as he did now, grasping the metal bar, and slowly moving it around with concentration. It was a valuable application of the ability, as the Phantasmal hand was vastly stronger than its physical counterpart, and even when he lifted something truly massive, his body didn’t share the strain. He’d lifted a concrete block earlier without leverage of any kind.
With considerable effort, Vincent managed to extend a second ghostly hand to match the one on his right, and carefully graped the other end of the rod. At first it passed right through, which had turned out to be the real challenge of his skill. It could be solid, or intangible, or a combination of the two, but for now it took remarkable effort to control.
Vincent focused until it felt like something in his mind was threatening to rupture, and at last he managed to grip the bar in both spectral hands, bending it with some satisfaction. The moment he finished, he let the Phantasms fade, and this time he did collapse. He even let himself lay back entirely on the sandy ground, and stared up at the sky as the sun set.
He sensed that he was training harder than he should be. Education on how to develop newly Manifested powers was severely lacking on the Farm. As students were meant to report themselves–or be reported–the moment they Manifested, it was left to wherever they ended up after that to teach them. This meant Vincent was on his own, and unfortunately he was in too much of a hurry to take his time.
He knew exactly how he needed to apply his new powers, and every day he waited not only meant less time to plan, but possibly missing a window that could close at any time. He needed to get inside the high-security building he’d scouted, and his new powers were the key.
Vincent checked his KD, and saw that he had still had some time. He’d managed to stake out the building for the past several nights since he’d Manifested, and was relieved to find that the same guard always smoked at nearly the same time, just before nine o’clock.
As intelligence went it wasn’t much to go on, but the man clearly thought he had privacy, which meant the hallway should at least be empty other than the smoker himself. If Vincent could get in through that door, it would at least reduce his chances of interacting with anyone while he searched for the information they needed.
Vincent had over an hour to kill, though, so quickly hid any evidence of his training, then made his way over to the girl’s dorm. Lucia would be there by now, and she had hopefully discovered something he could utilize tonight. He was about to take one of the blindest risks the plan required, and he’d use any advantage he could get.
These last few days hadn’t been spent idly, not by any member of the crew. Danny was being pulled onto harvester duty without any breaks. This confirmed that the increased Radstorms in New Technopolis were far from just a rumor, and also that the faculty wouldn’t maintain any pretense of valuing the so-called students’ education when there was Gamma to collect.
Lucia was still expressing a lack of confidence that she could catch the thief, but she’d nonetheless made good use of the time so far. Vincent knew that she’d inspected the break-in site, collected every rumor she could, and had managed to develop a suspect list. It was large at this point, being nearly thirty names, but she’d managed to eliminate almost nine tenths of the students, and she apparently had made further progress today.
Emi was still the wildcard. Vincent had been sure to project confidence and poise when she’d barged into his room that first night, but the truth was that she hadn’t yet earned their trust. He knew Lucia was watching the Tech, and he was as well, in his own way, though he genuinely believed Emi was too smart to ruin all their lives.
Still, scared people made bad decisions.
Vincent followed a couple of girls into the dorm, and thankfully it was a common enough occurrence not to draw attention. The faculty had long since given up on trying to stop two hundred teenagers from pairing off, and contraceptive injections were trusted to do the heavy lifting at this point. Vincent was walking by Emi’s door as he had this thought, and he hastily convinced himself the two things were unrelated.
The Tech had assured them she was preparing for her part in dealing with the harnesses, and she had even showed them some special tools she’d developed for that purpose. During the last two night’s synch-ups, Danny had even allowed her to examine his own harness, as she had limited access to her own.
Vincent arrived at his sister’s dorm, and made a show of knocking–something she often didn’t bother with. She called him in after a brief pause, and he stepped inside the room that was a mirror of his own–save that she’d actually used the wall to decorate. His sister was a gifted artist, though he hadn’t yet found a practical use for that skill.
He let his eyes brush over the flowers, animals, and more impressionistic images, finally landing on Lucia. She was sitting at her desk, taking notes on her KD. “You said you made some discoveries?” Vincent asked, and she looked at him with some annoyance.
“I’m fine thanks, glad you are too. No it hasn’t been an easy day, kind of you to ask. The endless headaches? Worse if you can believe it,” Vincent patiently waited, and finally she grew tired of amusing herself. “I was looking into the guards.”
Vincent nodded, “It would make things very difficult if it was one of them. We’re in no position to try to track their movements, and the barracks is a lost cause.”
“Exactly my thinking,” she said, leaning back in her chair. “Thankfully it shouldn’t be necessary. I managed to find a few private moments with Jimmy,” she noticed his confused expression. “He’s the youngest guard, just started, and still sees himself as closer to us than his new coworkers. He was a student in the California farm until a couple of months ago.”
Vincent mentally added Jimmy to the list of possible assets to be considered later on. “Go on,” he said.
“Everyone’s talking about the Gamma theft so it wasn’t hard to turn the conversation to the topic, and I asked him whether he was worried he might be blamed, given he was the new guy. He told me…probably more than he should have.” Vincent raised an eyebrow, and Lucia blushed.
“It’s not like that…I think. Whatever. Shut up. He told me what I needed, and that’s what matters,” she continued. “Apparently guards have their own Gamma intake monitored through a sensor on their harnesses–a surplus would be nearly useless to them. Beyond that, their locations are tracked at all times,” she looked proud of herself, and she was right to, Vincent considered.
“That effectively eliminates them as suspects. Excellent work,” he said, and his sister beamed. He glanced down at his KD, checking the time. “I don’t mean to rush you, but I have to break into the Western Security Station in less than an hour, and I need some details.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Lucia’s face rapidly went from pride, to what Vincent thought might be a combination of confusion and fear. “What the hell are you talking about? You never mentioned this!”
“I told you I was handling the distraction, but we don’t keep close tabs on every little thing everyone does,” Lucia’s jaw dropped.
“‘Little thing’! You’re going to get yourself killed!”
“The odds of that happening increases the more you waste time,” he said dismissively. “Be angry later, brief me now. I am going tonight, so arguing is just putting me in more danger.”
Lucia sputtered for a moment, but thankfully she knew when his mind was made up, and what that meant. “What could I possibly tell you that would help? I don’t know anything about the security stations–no students are allowed in there.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to. However, you do have information on the Gamma break-in, and if I can’t do this without leaving a trace, I’d prefer to make it look like the thief did it.” Lucia was taken aback for a moment, but then looked away, considering.
“I guess that makes sense…I’m not sure how much will be relevant, but I suppose I’ll leave that to you,” she shrugged. “Okay, here’s what I know: there were two guards, and they were taken out when they separated so one could patrol. They were both hit on the back of the head. Jimmy says they think it was done with an object, not fists,” Vincent cocked his head at that.
“How did they figure that out?” he asked.
“A few things were consistent. The guard’s injuries were the first clue, and although their own credentials and hands were used to open the main security door, the actual Gamma was inside crates. They were clearly pried open by something metal.”
“So likely not someone with a hidden strength Manifestation,” Vincent said, wondering how many more students were out there hiding, like himself, and Gary.
“Can’t eliminate the possibility, but if so, they probably weren’t strong enough to trust their bare hands,” she replied, and he conceded the point. Good to see she wasn’t making assumptions.
“Anything else I could use?” she paused, thinking again, then her face brightened. She quickly turned and rummaged through the drawer under her bed, turning back and tossing him a dark red sweater.
“The winter uniform?” he asked.
“Just the sweater,” Lucia answered with a small smile. “You can’t avoid the cameras to get to Gamma storage, and there’s more inside. The thief had one of those wrapped around their face.”
“More proof it was a student,” Vincent said absently as he tried to find a clever way to wrap the sweater around his own head while still being able to see.
“Eye holes,” Lucia said with a chuckle, and Vincent started ripping. “And the guards actually have the same sweaters, I remember them from an assembly last winter, but thankfully–”
“Your boyfriend cleared that up,” Vincent said, testing his new mask.
“That was almost a joke,” Lucia said while rolling her eyes.
“What?” Vincent responded, and she rolled her eyes again. “Sure, fine. Anything else I can use?”
“That’s all I have,” she answered, a look of concern returning to her face. “Please be careful, this is a bigger risk than anything we’ve taken so far.”
“I will be, but I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think I had a reasonable chance of succeeding. Thank you, Lucia,” he said, then turned, very conscious of the time, and tucked his new mask away before leaving.
***
Twenty minutes later, Vincent was crouched behind the Western Security Building. Thankfully his plan didn’t involve hiding next to the stairs again, as there was no rain for cover tonight. Instead, he peeked out from around the corner he’d escaped around previously, waiting.
He’d arrived early, not willing to risk missing the guard’s break. The man was fairly punctual, but this wasn’t the night to rely on that. Vincent had avoided as many cameras as possible on the way over, and only now put on the red sweater-mask to disguise himself. Even in the cooling air of the early fall, the mask was hot, and he hoped the man would appear soon.
It was only a few minutes later when the smoker finally emerged, this time exiting completely as the weather was cooperating. He didn’t say anything tonight, though Vincent had heard several more short rants about Guard Captain Malary on previous nights; either the captain wasn’t well-loved, or this particular guard had a serious grudge.
After a few minutes, the guard stamped out his cigarette, then turned and began unlocking the door. Vincent braced himself, hating that the timing of this would be such a gamble. The electronic locks made a quiet beep as the man’s hand was scanned, and he was through a moment later. The second Vincent saw the door close, he raced toward it, counting.
He’d had plenty of time to do some simple experiments, pacing the length of the building and timing himself. He figured that even if the guard practically strolled back to his station inside, the longest it could take was less than a minute. Vincent had inferred from the man’s secrecy that this particular break wasn’t meant to be noticed, so his hope was that the hallway inside would be clear for that minute.
Vincent was uncomfortably aware, however, that there were numerous problems. There were no guarantees to any of his estimates, and he honestly wasn’t even certain the doorway opened onto a hallway, as he hadn’t been to get a look inside from any safe vantage point.
There was even a chance the guard sat in a desk immediately inside the door, and Vincent clutched the piece of metal rebar he’d hastily grabbed from the training site, considering he might need to use it soon. Still, he didn’t have the luxury of time to figure a better way to do this, and he begrudgingly accepted that some parts of escaping an inescapable prison might require luck.
When he reached the door, he quickly glanced around before placing his right palm against it, and concentrated. This was what he’d been training for the past few days, and he wished he felt more confidence. It was the worst combination of challenges for his new power, as he needed to summon a Phantasmal hand that could pass through the door, then grip the interior handle, while staying partly intangible.
He’d been trying to recreate this exact setup in his training area, and had only today managed to reach through a piece of plywood to grasp a brick on the other side. The brick had shattered. Hopefully the door handle was made of more resilient material.
Vincent had considered that he might be able to destabilize enough of the door to somehow break through it, but such a blatant display of his powers was dangerous, would set him apart from the Gamma thief, and could even set off alarms he wasn’t aware of. Instead, this entire break-in, and maybe even their lives, depended on reaching through this door and grabbing a handle.
His face was sweating from more than just the hot mask.
Vincent was still counting in his head, and nearly reached the minute mark when he summoned his power. Nothing happened. He barely stopped himself from swearing aloud, and tried again. Still nothing.
Okay, so maybe my success rate isn’t quite two out of three yet, he considered. Vincent took a slow, deep breath, willing his anxiety away, and trying to banish the adrenaline in his veins, then reached inward. Blessedly, the power answered his call.
Swallowing his excitement and relief, he focused on what he needed his power to do. Carefully, the softly glowing spectral hand began to shift through the door, its green light thankfully not too bright for his body to hide. There shouldn’t be any patrols around at this time, but the last thing Vincent wanted was for his display of power to draw any curious eyes.
He closed his own, as he strained his consciousness to focus entirely on the hand as it emerged on the other side of the door. He had found that he could feel with the odd limb–as if it were his real hand–and he gently felt around the other side, not completely sure how high up the handle was.
Part of him couldn’t help but listen for screams of alarm from inside. If a guard was there, they’d be witnessing a remarkably suspicious sight. He heard nothing, however, and Vincent gritted his teeth as he pushed his mind back onto the task at hand.
At last he felt it, and was momentarily surprised when the metal handle felt cool to the touch. Vincent pushed away any joy at the small victory, as he was already juggling too many goals at once. He not only had to keep the ‘wrist’ of the spectral limb intangible, while the hand needed to be able to grip, but he also had to prevent the Phantasm from damaging the door itself.
Slowly, and ever so carefully, he pulled down on the handle, feeling the resistance as it unlatched the heavy locks. A new challenge came as Vincent needed to apply more force, but had to stop himself from crushing the cold steel as he did so. At last, several soft clicks sounded his success, and he pulled the door open without a second thought.
The spectral hand harmlessly dissipated as he did so, and Vincent spent a moment perfectly still. The door was only open an inch–hopefully not enough to be too obvious–and he strained his ears for any indication that he’d been seen. Still, he was aware that he was on an unknown timeline, and he only waited a moment before opening the door a little farther, and looking inside.
It was a hallway, and thankfully an unoccupied one. Vincent released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and opened the door a little more to get a better look. The interior was dark, which didn’t surprise him as very little light had escaped when the smoker took his breaks.
The hallway seemed to span the entire length of the building, and it was only lit by small red lights lining the hallway at intervals. There were numerous doors on each side, and brightness spilled out from a few, but there were no signs of any guards in the immediate vicinity.
There were also very few hiding places, and Vincent shook his head, gathering his resolve. It was time to take the next risk. As quietly as he could, he opened the door the rest of the way and slipped through, closing it behind him.
He was inside.