AJ’s legs seemed to make the decision for him, because he felt his body moving while his brain was still engaged in debate. He powered on the LED flashlight and aimed the beam downward toward the stairs. He could not afford an untimely tumble. Besides, all facility employees would be using flashlights — to do otherwise would be conspicuous.
To his dismay, the stairwell fell silent. A deep, angry voice bellowed in Czech above him. He knew the utterance was directed at him, but since he didn’t speak Czech, he was unable to translate.
He kept moving.
The voice called out again.
He did not look up. Only a few meters left to go. As he reached for the door handle to access Level Two, he heard footsteps echoing above. He yanked and the door opened freely. He was in.
C. Remy—RS: Coordinator: “Good job, Bio. Proceed ten meters down the corridor. Turn right at the first intersection.”
This time, the sound of the Coordinator’s voice did not startle him. The opposite was true. Like an invisible wingman, C. Remy was with him. Guiding and emboldening him.
If the men in the stairwell were in chase, then he needed to be clear of their line of sight before they reached Level Two. He needed to make that right turn. He sprinted down the corridor to the first intersection, rounded the bend, and slammed into someone walking the opposite direction. He heard a woman yelp, followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor.
His heart pounded. Like a hyperventilating scuba diver, fighting the fatal urge to tear the regulator from his mouth, AJ resisted addressing the woman in English. He stood over her, legs straddled, looking down in silence.
R. Nicolora—Founder One: “AJ, this is Founder One, listen to my voice and repeat exactly what I say.”
The voice in AJ’s ear was calm and steady, and he recognized it immediately. Nicolora pronounced a short phrase in Czech, carefully enunciating each word. He repeated the phrase in a normal speaking cadence, and then again a third time.
AJ repeated the phrase verbatim, mimicking Nicolora’s intonation as best he could.
The woman collected herself and put on a good face, seemingly satisfied with AJ’s simple apology. She spoke to him in Czech as she extended her hand for him to help her to her feet.
R. Nicolora—Founder One: “She just chastised you for running in the dark. Now repeat exactly what I say and then laugh in a self-deprecating way.”
AJ mimicked Nicolora’s Czech words as he pulled the woman to her feet. She laughed, brushing her clothes with her hands as if to straighten out any wrinkles from the tumble, a pointless exercise in the dark.
AJ smiled and began to walk away. The woman called out after him.
AJ could hear Nicolora laugh on the line. AJ laughed, mimicking Nicolora.
R. Nicolora—Founder One: “Good. Now say goodbye in Czech. Keep moving. Don’t look back at her.”
AJ did exactly as Nicolora instructed and to his relief, the woman did not follow him. With the corridor now empty, he picked up the pace.
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “I’ve got to know. What did I say to her?”
R. Nicolora—Founder One: “You told her you were very sorry, but you are not especially skilled with women in the dark. To which she replied that was too bad and she hoped you fared better with women in the light.”
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “Nice.”
R. Nicolora—Founder One: “Humor is a powerful diffuser of tension. A well-timed joke can save your ass in our line of work.”
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “Yes, Sir. I’ll be sure to remember that.”
C. Remy—RS: Coordinator: “Bio, this is the Coordinator. According to the building plans the server room is the third door on your right.”
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “Third door on my right… got it. I’m there.”
He peered through the small glass window on the door and saw something he did not expect — rows and rows of modular computer towers — a city of blinking LED lights in an otherwise dark room.
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “Uh guys, I’ve never actually seen one in person, but from the hardware they’re packing in here, I’d wager our friends have got themselves a supercomputer.”
E. VanCleave—RS: Technical: “Are you certain? Describe what you see.”
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “Four rows of black cabinets six and a half feet tall, four feet wide. The enclosures look like parallelograms. Everything is humming, so they definitely have UPS. I’m going to try the door… Negative, it’s locked.”
E. VanCleave—RS: Technical: “What you described sounds like IBM Blue Gene Towers. Supercomputers. Coordinator, access the registered and unregistered IBM client list. See if Vyrogen has purchased a Blue Gene supercomputer.”
C. Remy—RS: Coordinator: “Copy. Assigning the task.”
E. VanCleave—RS: Technical: “Bio, check if there’s a gap between the bottom of the door and the floor.”
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “There’s a gap. Approximately one half inch.”
E.VanCleave—RS: Technical: “That will do nicely. Deploy the spiders.”
AJ reached into his pocket and withdrew three ovoids VanCleave had given him earlier.
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “Um, how do I turn them on?”
E. VanCleave—RS: Technical: “Squeeze each one three times between your forefinger and thumb. Then, set it down on the floor, smooth side up.”
AJ did as instructed. After the third squeeze, a blue LED on the belly of the spider turned on, and the tiny object came to life. He took a step backward and shined his light on the trio to watch the transformation. Silently, eight tiny legs unfolded, extended and elevated the body off the floor. The micro-bots shuddered in unison, like ducks shaking water from their feathers after a swim, and then began to rotate in place. One full revolution clockwise, then one counterclockwise.
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “What are they doing?”
E. VanCleave—RS: Technical: “Calibration sequence.”
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “It’s creepy.”
E. VanCleave—RS: Technical: “Any second they should finish calibrating and attempt to log into our network, using your phone as a modem.”
AJ watched the robot spiders complete their calibration sequence, blink twice, and then scurry under the gap of the door. He stepped toward the door and peered in the window, looking down at the floor. He could see three faint blue lights moving across the floor straight toward the server rack.
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “My God, they’re fast little buggers. So that’s it? They’ll do the rest by themselves?”
E. VanCleave—RS: Technical: “Yes.”
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “Good. Then get me out of here.”
C. Remy—RS: Coordinator: “Negative. Founder One has changed your tasking. Standby for routing to the record room.”
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “What? Why?”
C. Remy—RS: Coordinator: “Founder One wants to see Foster’s paper files. Your new tasking is to find his medical charts.”