"Encrypted audio, dot, MP3," Jessica mumbled under the background noise. Indelible concentration sated her restlessness. Therapeutic problem-solving always barred everything else from her stream of thought, and she didn't have to remember the present in order to function as normal—her level of normal. Such deep concentration drew her friends' attention.
Valerie had seen Jessica like this before, executing code, scribbling alphanumerics, or breathing life into hardware. But that excited look on her face, like a witch over a cauldron, meant she was on the path to answers. Shannon noticed it, too, the intense focus and control, a level of focus she wasn't sure she could match despite countless hours meditating. Jessica's friends keenly observed and waited for the end result, clueless as to the meaning of the onscreen characters, numb to their own excitement.
"Unlocked!" the nerd nearly screamed. "I like to break without breaking. As the boobed droid with brain matter, this was manageable."
Valerie leaned closer. "So, what's inside?"
"I have to admit, I'm curious as hell," added Shannon.
Energy, sobriety, somberness; Jessica's expression fell three levels. "Could this really be related to Pine Rim and Beth?" She mulled over the screen, specifically on a bare audio file ready to commence playback.
"You'll finally get to know," egged Valerie. "We'll know."
The sound of ringing broke the moment, anticipation interrupted by a call and the hologram of a woman's profile.
"That's Eva," said Jessica. "My boss. It has to be because I've missed work."
"Can't you take it later?" said Valerie.
"She doesn't call this late..."
"Pick it up or don't, Jess," said Shannon.
Hesitantly, Jessica accepted the call.
"Buonasera!" Eva yelled. "Sto cercando il dolce Jes!"
"Hey, Eva..."
"Ehi, I have not seen chetah and wondered if she was okay!'
"Yea, I should have called in my sick days. My coughing and blueberry paleness wouldn't have worked for the customers, but I should've told you."
"You're always pale!"
Silent as could be, Valerie and Shannon listened and shot awkward stares, fretting. Somehow, the call transformed into a frivolous conversation having nothing to do with work, before Eva suddenly questioned, "Are you home right now?"
Jessica scowled at her two friends, who shrugged, then coolly answered, "Yea, Eva, I'm home."
"Bene! Because you should be resting if you are sick. See you tomorrow night!"
"Okay, Eva. Have a good night."
"Byeee!"
Back against the mesh, she caressed her chin meditatively. "That was weird."
"What?" Valerie shrugged. "What's weird about it?"
"I always start work in the morning, and she's never there at night."
"That is weird," said Shannon, tilting her head. "But where were we?"
Jessica's watch vibrated, further pricking Valerie's patience. Nonetheless, Jessica checked the message, noting the Ghost Wire tag. It proved to be nothing more and nothing less than a warning: You don't have much time. Leave.
"I'm copying all the chip's information.
Neither Valerie nor Shannon understood Jessica's newfound urgency. Disturbed, they observed her dominance of the keyboard with R2-D2 jammed in the port. File after file transferred from the tower to the flash drive.
"Jessica, what's wrong?" exclaimed Valerie.
"A hunch," she said. "Variables."
"Variables?" Shannon repeated. "What? What did you read just now?"
"Format unrecognized," Babel interrupted. Heeding his voice, all three girls turned to the monitors. A white box on the center panel displayed the failure to initialize a download. Hence, the loading sequence froze at zero. The freeze startled Valerie and Shannon but injected Jessica with a newfound curiosity.
"Babel, display file script," she said.
The computer displayed new images across the nine panels. They were cryptic, orange, and parsed in sequences of nine in never-ending black. They looked like simple dashes and lines, except with a curvature like no character on a keyboard. "Like binary," Jessica whispered to her clueless friends. "That," she exclaimed, sitting upright, "I think that's Azarean code. Maybe their own programming language. It's their binary, for lack of a better term. Wicked..."
"Como su idioma?" asked Valerie.
"Yea. So why is this file among the rest? All the crazy stuff we could learn, but we would need an Azarean processor, or to translate it..."
Valerie whimpered. "But you can't even download it."
"Babel, screenshot the entire script and download everything in JPG format. Label it Trinity." A bleep confirmed her command. Snapshot after snapshot of orange code sorted through the holo-panels, copying into the removable drive. "Still copying."
"How long?" said Shannon.
"Not too long." However, she had not forgotten the audio file. Finger on the cusp of the panel, she made eye contact with Valerie then Shannon. Enveloped by anticipation, she tapped.
A conversation commenced:
"Let me remind you, thespian, precision is key in every step of the operation. A margin of error shall leave us vulnerable. The slightest detail overlooked and your mistakes shall be redressed. Are my words clear?"
"'I am the epitome of precision, good agent. I'm no inept dog, like the people outside. I'm still loyal, and this job hits two birds with one stone. Plan, guide, command as you like, a mistake will not fall on the execution but the planning. I take my work very seriously."
"Then you understand the layout?"
"My people know the streets, sure. They'll stay hidden and meet every request. So long as your applications keep people away, as long as the citywide blackout occurs as you promised, every player will be in place before Judgement Day. And then the show will begin."
"Remember discretion. Surveillance shall not be an issue. Simply ensure your followers secure the parcels."
"Then it all hinges on the final show on the fourth. You've chosen the right man. I promise. I can deliver the entire message from memory, even now."
Jess, Val, and Shannon hooked onto every word of the playback, disquietly piecing the evidence together. The same two voices carried on, back and forth, both familiar.
The first voice resonated in Jessica's memory, his identity on the tip of her tongue. She listened intently as the playback continued:
"Not necessary."
Throat clearing. The voice suddenly changed its American accent. "Citizens of the deceitful sovereign—"
"I said, it is not necessary."
The accent brought the memories back, alongside a flood of emotions. They listened to the so-called face of Sub Terra.
"Guess you were serious about no curtain call. Do you distrust your own security or..."?
"All security is proofed by layers. Now, I must see to a dilemma. Be ready."
"Hail the—!"
The playback ended.
"I knew it!" stammered Valerie. "Fucken knew it!" Her hand fell on Jessica's shoulder. "That's no resistance! That's some conspiracy bullshit! Sub Terra's not involved."
"This is unreal!" Shannon said, quivering.
But Jessica dwelled on the other voice. Stoic and uptight as it was, the face floated somewhere in the data stream of her thoughts. And why did the other man sound like a kiss-ass artist?
"That's proof though, right?" said Valerie. "Someone else has gotta see who the murderers are!"
Jessica was too busy toggling her pair of goggles. Then her mouth fell. "That's him!" she exclaimed, and disquietly thrust the specs into Valerie's grip.
Curiously, receptively, Valerie strapped the goggles and saw what her friend saw. "Who's the alien?"
"That's the other speaker," said Jess, finalizing the pieces.
"Really?" Valerie felt a tap on her shoulder. Underneath the lenses, Shannon's eyes glistened under the monitors. The same sadness surrounded Jessica.
"I am sorry," she moaned. "I'm sorry for staking the blame on you, Val."
"There is no blame, homegirl." Valerie approached and patted Jessica on the back. Jessica spun, stood up, and held her in a sisterly embrace.
Shannon coughed back a whimper. "You guys are getting too wound up."
Valerie waved Shannon over, and the three of them latched onto one another.
"I'm going to miss her," said Jessica.
Valerie scrunched. "Me too."
"She won't be forgotten, though," said Shannon.
Jessica tightened her hold on the necklace. "No, she won't..."
ns 15.158.61.51da2
