12 Days of Fiction 2017: Day 10.

Intruders In The Night

“I hate this,” I said.

A previous conversation between Maren and I, right before leaving home, had been more or less along the lines of “Call up a map, let’s find a way in.” “Here you are.” “Thanks. So, where’s our friendly ventilation shaft…?” “Afraid not.”

And thus we were here, attacking the enemy from the sewers. It was funny that, how many times people forgot how to properly seal their warehouses from an attack from below. But hey, I wasn’t going to complain. Much.

“Shit!”

“Ahem, exactly?”

“Really funny, Maren. Really, really funny,” I whispered, as I waded through murky waters. Maren had given me low-viz vision, but even so, I didn’t feel like looking down into the waters. Thankfully, my assault suit came complete with a breathing mask, so the stench was filtered out.

“Well, look at it this way: you don’t have to worry about heights.”

I didn’t dignify that with an answer. Also, I knew when I was beaten. But I wasn’t going to say so.

“Are you sure Neodyne doesn’t know we’re coming?” I said.

“The ones watching our flat still believe we’re inside,” Maren said. That was enough for me.

“Complete silence and camo on from the next corner,” Maren said.

“Acknowledged.”

“Incoming message from Mignon!”

Damn.

“Would it be safe to read it inside?”

“Better assume not,” Maren said.

“Can you download it now?”

“Yes, give me a minute. Coverage isn’t the best down here, I’m using some tricks to improve it.”

I waited in silence.

“Done.”

“Good. We cannot wait: can you check it out as we go in?”

“No problem, Becca.”

“Good, you do that. Camo on.”

The world shifted around me. Thanks for the little things in life: technology here was enough to help me, saving me from exerting myself through an obfuscation spell. With full camo and a sound dampening field on, popularly known as a Cone of Silence, I could approach our target undetected. The price was that everything went foggy, but I had Maren to guide me.

Of course, I didn’t need to speak physically in order to talk to Maren.

“Turn right,” she was saying. And then: “See the hatch on the roof?”

“Not really… wait, yes.”

“Through there.”

“Is it locked?”

“I cannot detect any electronic system. If it’s locked, it’s mechanically.”

I stared up at it.

“Is that a handle?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I leaped up and grabbed the handle, then lifted myself up until I was close enough that I saw the latch, and unlocked it. The hatch opened upwards, and I grabbed its lip and pulled myself up.

“Shit,” I panted. “I don’t really see an advantage to not using magic. This is exhausting.”

But I closed the hatch, leaving it unlocked just in case, and stayed crouched in the dark. Rather than guiding me, Maren superposed a 3D plan of the building right in front of me. I had memorized the plans, but this was really useful.

I had to get up one floor. The industrial-style stairs were at the end of the room I was in, ending at a door. The door, unsurprisingly, was locked. But this time, the lock was a brand-new Neodyne model.

“Allow me,” Maren said.

In seconds, the lock went green and the door opened. I was so close it made no sound. There had to be a corridor next, if they hadn’t changed anything from the plans.

They hadn’t. Doors opened to both sides. I really wanted to see what was behind them, but we had deduced these must have been some kind of lockers formerly and it was unlikely they were using them now. But who really knew.

Still, the largest space in the warehouse, a three-storey high area in the center of the building, should be at the end of the corridor, and it certainly looked more promising a place to have a clandestine lab in. In fact, a faint light came from the distance.

“What does Mignon have for us, Maren?”

“She’s coded the message. I’m decoding it. I’ll watch it when I’m done and I’ll give you a summary.”

“Good.”

I reached the end of the corridor, and peeked over.

Bingo.

The lab was here. Were I a scientist, I think I would have loved it, so packed of equipment it was. I could have Maren analyze everything we were seeing later, since I wasn’t really sure what all of it was about.

Until I saw the body, that is.

I actually gasped and then uselessly covered my mouth with my hand. In front of me there was a large pod connected to several machines via a series of tubes and cables. The pod had a human-sized window, and inside a body floated in some kind of viscous liquid. I thought I saw more cables slithering from the body to the walls of the pod.

“I need to see this with my own eyes,” I said. “Is it safe if I camo off?”

“Yes. I’ve tampered with the surveillance cameras. They’re on loop recording.”

I switched the camo off and got closer to the window. There was a fine layer of mist on top of it, so it wasn’t only the camo that hadn’t let me see the body before.

Everything happened so fast then, and almost at the same time.

“Becca! Mignon has discovered something! Guess who works for Neody…” And Maren was gone. Completely gone.

“Maren?”

“We’ve been expecting you, Ms September,” said a voice that chilled me. “But you’re finally here!”

And then everything went black.

The last image I saw was that of the face within the pod.

It was Elianora Kellerhouse.