“Look at this,” Ida said and pointed to a page of Neesha’s journal.
“DON’T LOOK AT IT,” Neesha shouted and not for the first time, tried to snatch the book out of the captain’s hands.
Ida simply lifted it above her head and with Neesha’s own momentum, pushed her away. Doram glanced at Neesha with an apologetic look, before reading the page. His brows furrowed as he skimmed the neat handwriting.
I should write as illegible as possible from now on, Neesha vowed silently. She stopped scowling when she saw their stilled faces. Slowly, she crawled to where Ida had the book open on her lap and read over her shoulder. She, like any avid writer, would recognise any part of her writing. This entry was a blow by blow account of a small operation she took part in.
“He definitely would have tried to take it back,” Doram said firmly. He got up from Neesha’s bedroom floor and went to the panel installed onto the desk. He pressed a few keys and a woman’s face appeared on the screen. “I want to confirm the location of item 000.”
“One moment, captain,” the woman said and her screen turned dark.
“What is the matter?” Neesha asked. “That was just a small operation. Nothing extraordinary happened that day.”
“That’s right... it was your first reconnaissance wasn't it? I see why you were worried while it happened.”
Neesha remembered the day clearly. She, Derek, and two more of their comrades were sneaking into one of the Imperial Force’s bases. Since they had intelligence that the base would be less guarded that night due to an event they were holding, they risked the operation, which was a total success. “Are you going to tell me why it is so important?”
“You mentioned Derek finding a document. He opened it on his tablet right then and there, you say.”
“Yes…?”
“And you mentioned the title of the opened file that you saw before Derek seemed to have panicked and ‘swore up a blue streak before ejecting the chip and putting it in one of his million pockets’. That document was crucial to them and Thandisry must be desperate to have it back.”
Neesha recalled the dark office they were searching. “Um…Plan AT-26, right? What is it?”
A beep that sounded from her desk caused them to look up. “Captain, item 000 is in secure holding.”
“Thanks,” Doram said and pressed a button to turn off the communicator.
“What’s Plan AT-26?” Neesha asked again.
Ida bit her lip. “It’s a weapon Thandisry planned to use but now it’s in our possession. With his magic, Thandisry should have retrieved it but we still have it.” She pointed to the words on the page. “This must be what prevents him from taking it back.”
“It’s still too big of a coincidence,” Neesha said. “I don’t feel different at all when I write. There can’t be any magic.”
“Not only that, but these entries also resulted in us gaining an advantage over Thandisry.”
“I think we should speak to Erik about this,” Doram said.
“You mean the Erik?” Neesha asked.
“He should know about this…magic,” Ida said.
“Don’t forget: sci-fi fantasy exists,” Doram said when he heard Ida’s sceptic tone. When she scowled at him he shrugged and walked out, waiting for them to follow. “So captain, will we see Erik?” Although Doram was also a captain, Ida still held a higher position than he did and no matter what he said, the final decision came down to her.
“Yes, we will. God, this is too big to hide from him. With this we could make a proper counter attack.”
Neesha slowed to a stop. No one asked me for my opinion. Does it even matter? She considered the question she posed to herself for a moment before she jogged to catch up. They didn't ask for her opinion because she already agreed that she’d help them win this war. Of course her opinion mattered but at the moment, refusing to help will be the wrong choice. Thandisry would continue to hold their country in a deadlock and squeeze them until they crumbled to dust.
They needed her. She had the abilities that none of them had. And with her abilities, they can finally defeat the Emperor.
“Where is Prince Erik?” Neesha asked when the elevator doors closed behind her.
“Erik in the main base, about a day’s air travel from here.”
“That’s not far. Will we be seeing him in person or holo?”
“Holo. There is no need to risk meeting the Imperial Force just to speak with him.”
Neesha quickly grabbed hold of the rail as the elevator shot upward. The doors opened to reveal the first hall Neesha walked down when she arrived. They passed doctors and technicians, all so busy that they could only give Doram and Ida a quick wave before moving on.
They made their way to one of the meeting rooms that Ida had pointed out two weeks ago. She scanned her palm onto the plate outside. Doram did the same and they gestured Neesha to do so as well. She placed it hesitantly while asking, “Why do I need to have my hand scanned?”
“It’s a way to locate everyone immediately in an emergency and to confirm that you don’t have us captured and forced us to open the door,” Ida said. She keyed in a pass code and pressed ‘CONFIRM’.
“There are sensors that can tell how many people are in the room. If you did not have your palm scanned, or if you did but it is not registered, a silent alarm will be triggered.”
“That is some security for a meeting room—oh…” Neesha stopped at the doorway when the doors slid aside to reveal a large, dark room lit only by the small flashing lights of all colours on a wide dashboard that stretched from the wall in front of them to the one on their right. A few dozen monitors took up the entire wall to their left, showing all the hallways and public rooms of their base.
The floor was carpeted and a huge rectangular table took up the centre of the room. She could tell that the surface of the table must have several functions, as it was not made out of steel or any other sort of metals. It looked like a touch screen but she couldn't be sure.
The moment they stepped in, soft lights lit the room to show the black machines. She then noticed that the floor beneath and surrounding the table was not carpeted. Above the table attached to the ceiling was another odd device, one that was as wide as said table.
She heard humming coming from the dashboard and looked. On the left side of it, the dashboard made a slight U of a bend where there were three glass monitors facing away from them with information scrolling up the screens at a speed Neesha could not read.
Sitting in front of the glass monitors was a young girl just a few years older than Neesha. She looked through the glass to watch them enter as the lights went on. She had wireless orange headphones cupped over her ears and continued to hum.
Ida waved at her to continue working and the girl gave a lazy salute before doing so.
“The lights...motion sensors?” Neesha asked.
“Yes, they are. You could adjust the settings for them. Lucy must have ordered to keep them turned off unless someone entered the room. Come—stay just outside the white line,” Ida said and beckoned her towards the table. Neesha obliged and took a closer look.
“What’s this?”
“We’re going to have a conference call with Erik if he’s available,” Doram said and stood beside Ida while she tapped its surface.
It lit up with an alphabetical list of commands taking up the part of the table where Ida was standing. It appeared in a white coloured font on a dark blue background.
At a glance, Neesha saw the options ‘ADVANCED’, ‘ENCRYPTION’, ‘LOCK DOWN’, ‘MAP’, ‘SCAN’, ‘SEARCH’, and ‘TRACK’.
Ida tapped the option ‘CONFERENCE’. The other commands faded away and more appeared. Ida pressed ‘HOLO’ and spoke aloud, “Main Head Quarters, Monique Francis.”
It took a moment to connect and once it did, the screen flashed blue with white streaks slowly swirling around the screen. “Francis speaking,” a woman’s voice came out in a clipped tone from speakers Neesha could not see.
“Captain Ida and Doram of base 6 requesting a conference.”
Then the flat device above the table came to life and a soft green light shot down like a curtain on all four sides of the table. The green lights connected with the white line on the floor which had lit up the moment the green lights appeared. At the same time, the lights in the room near the table turned off, giving their holo conference the darkness needed to see the figures clearly.
“Your voice has been recognised. Enter your codes immediately or I will disconnect this call.”
“Touchy today, aren't we, Francis?” Ida murmured as she and Doram quickly typed in their codes on separate keyboards that appeared on the screen.
“It is none of your business, captain. I am not programmed to share my problems.”
Neesha asked, “Is Francis real or AI?”
“AI. I don’t know what they were thinking, giving them personalities,” Ida said with a wry smile.
“Your codes has been approved. Wait a moment. The conference will start when all participants are available—and captain, I heard and resent that opinion.”
Ida gave a two fingered salute, making Neesha realise that the captains were already being projected holographically to the other end of their connection.
White swirls continued to traverse the screen. A moment later, a hologram appeared across the table. It was of a tall man with brown hair and brown eyes. His features were set in a calm expression, showing a smiling mouth and a straight nose. He wore a uniform similar to Ida and Doram’s with some changes. His hands were in his pockets, showing just how at ease he was with this meeting.
“Ida, Doram. Hello.”
“Erik,” they said. Neesha stared at the man again. This was Prince Erik? The one who was leading this revolution?
“We have some information that will help counter Thandisry’s magic,” Ida said.
Erik’s hologram straightened and removed his hands from his pockets. “What is it?”
“It’s a girl. She has similar powers as Thandisry but from what we can tell, she can only solidify the history, not rewrite it. Once she writes what happened for a certain event, not even Thandisry can change it.”
“That is…intriguing,” Erik’s hologram said and placed his hands on the table. “Are you sure? Have you tried to test this?”
“No, but we found some instances where our victory affects Thandisry greatly but he does not retaliate using magic,” Ida said with a frown. “It’s hard to figure out what Thandisry tried to change but failed, or did not attempt to change at all.”
Erik was silent for a while. He shifted his head behind him and returned his gaze to them. “There may be a way. I’m afraid it’s too sensitive to talk about here without constantly protecting this connection—”
Ida interrupted, “I have a technician right here that can help us run interference. I trust her. Plus she’s probably listening to her tunes on full while wearing sound cancelling headphones.”
Erik nodded his approval. He waited patiently as Ida stepped out of the white line and beyond the green curtain of light to tap Lucy on the shoulder. Lucy swivelled her chair, headphones still over her ears. She looked at Ida questioningly.
Ida didn't bother telling her to remove the headphones since she knew Lucy was the best lip reader on the planet. “Make sure the conference line that’s currently open is protected against all hackers and bugs.”
“Right away, captain,” Lucy said and faced her controls. She slid over to one side and flipped a switch before typing in commands on a keyboard. She gave Ida a thumbs-up with her right hand as she continued to type.
Ida returned to the table. “We’re safe from all eavesdroppers,” Ida announced.
Erik nodded and began to explain his plan.
...
A/N: Sorry it's late. I was internet-deprived for a week or so.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
