Mobotropolis - a grand name for a grand city, a labyrinth, a sprawling metropolis of rat-runs and hideaways, towering blocks of concrete and paintwork all standing silently in apparent sentinel to the great palace at the centre. The citizens, many a-race of Mobian peoples, are in their homes, the day's work over and a return to this brief sanctuary that in some small way belonged to them. Past their windows trod the stragglers, that scant handful of those for whom either work was a burden or some more macabre task was theirs to bear. Save them, the day was over for the dwellers of the day, and now those of the night moved from their holes into the night light.
The thieves, the bats, the rats, the other more exotic species that thrived in such conditions...hardly now. Their jobs were nigh impossible these days, homes safely secured and mechanised patrols casting searchlights through the streets on the king's work. Nevertheless, work had to be done, money had to be either made or taken, and shapes moved through the darkness, those you would expect...and those you wouldn't.
It was in a small room within one of the myriad towers of the gargantuan palace that one such shape was preparing to make their move. The figure was a young woman, twenty-two years of age, her species a mix of a squirrel and chipmunk. Tall for a Mobian, around five feet, she was covered in two separate tones of brown fur, with soft red hair falling from her head and cresting her shoulders. She was clad in a close-fitting blue body glove, with a white bar around her slender waist, and black boots and gloves protecting her extremities. Sharp, royal blue eyes scanned over her form in a mirror, before she looked over her shoulder at the other figure sharing the room.
"What do you think, Nicole?"
The other, Nicole, shifted uncomfortably. "Aesthetically pleasing, princess, practical, yes, but is it necessary to use such vibrant colours? This is an escape, not a fair."
Sally Acorn spun on one heel to properly face Nicole, taking her in at a glance. Lynx…slightly shorter than her own self, a shade of pale brown for the most part, her extremities – namely ears, hands and feet – sunk dramatically into jet black, so much so they were near-invisible in the gloom. Her trademark thistle-purple dress was not suited to an escape…but she was not coming. As always, she would remain behind, an attempt to cover for the squirrel princess' disappearance.
Sally bristled slightly with her motion. Why did it matter what colours she used? If she was seen, she would be caught anyway.
"I don't have anything else, Nicole. You know that very well." Sally pointed out, as she headed for the door, scooping up an unassuming backpack along the way. "And even if you tried to wear something more appropriate and hand it over to me, Father's men would send you home for being 'improperly dressed', or something like that. Now, did you check the hidden cameras that we set up? Is it all clear?"
The plan was simple. Make sure the coast was clear, and make a bolt for the outer wall, then use a rope tied to a parapet to shimmy down to the ground, then pursue. The beauty of the idea was that they had worked out all of the possible routes to the outer wall, and had chosen the one that was the most abstract. Another benefit of this route was that, if timed correctly, such as during, say, the changing of the guard, no guard patrols would be near it. Provided that the plan was kept secret, there was no way it could be halted, and Sally knew that her best friend and adoptive sister of nineteen years wouldn't tell anyone, no matter the situation.
"It's clear, I think." The lynx spared a glance at a screen on her wrist, displaying each of the screens in a miniature cube. "You don't have long – better get moving now." Her hand dropped back to rest by her side, her eyes dropping as if uncertain of something.
"Is there something you're not telling me?" queried Sally. "I thought we didn't keep secrets from each other."
"It's- I'm-" Nicole stuttered, still unsure how to begin. "I'm worried, more than ever. Your father has been incredibly lenient so far, and I'm not sure how long his patience is going to last."
"I'm not going to just lie down for him. I don't plan to stop trying, ever." The princess shook her head sadly, took one last look round the room, then ducked into the ventilation shaft, which, if she had memorized the route correctly, should take her to the interior wall. A very plain and desperate plan, but a plan nonetheless.
Sally crawled through the vent, but didn't make it very far before she had to stop. In front of her was a heavy, iron grate, bolted down to every surface of the shaft by a set of rivets. The grates had, as far as she could remember, been installed recently. As Nicole had said, Sally's father was being extraordinarily lenient for a man famed for his unrelenting harshness, and was more focused on preventing Sally from getting away than punishing her for trying. She backed up, unable to progress, until she found another grate, and dropped into the corridor.
As expected, it was empty, and she quickly padded into one of the passageways she had noted down in her original plan. Peering round the corner, she spied a pair of guards near a door.
Both were tall, male Mobians, one of them a muscular, orange furred ox, and the other white tiger. Both were wearing heavy, archaic-looking armour, and carrying spears. The crest of the Acorn Kingdom was imprinted the left pectoral of each breastplate, over the heart, and they had a gold sash running diagonally from the right shoulder. They were stood at attention, silent and unmoving, staring at the wall opposite them.
Shit.These were royal guards, and two of the best. Strong, agile, and well-trained, it was likely that her father himself was nearby if these two were around. While Sally would have no trouble outrunning them, they would not only sound the alarm, but she had learned the hard way that those spears could fire a jolt of electricity powerful enough to send her into the brink of unconsciousness.
Sally reached into her backpack, and pulled out a dart gun. She checked the clip, and levelled it at the tiger. With a barely audible click, the dart shot out and embedded itself in the feline's neck, and he suddenly began to stumble. His comrade turned to check on him, and Sally fired again, striking the ox as well. Both guards collapsed, and Sally took off, faster than before. She was now on an even tighter time limit. She had until her father or whatever official warranted the protection of the two guards left that room, and if she wasn't out by then, then it was unlikely that she would ever get out.
Hallways and corridors flashed by in her flight, feeling strangely alien as with every escape she plotted, columns and carpets, tapestries and portraits…another dart used, another guard down. She wouldn't permit herself to use anything more likely to kill – this game was with her father; the guards were collateral and merely following orders to avoid the inevitable beheading that would follow were they to defy their king. Keep moving.
Her mind briefly thought back to Nicole, the risks she took every time, often only saved by Sally's insistence and her father's peculiar benediction. Now that was something – that was too strange – but a rumination for another day. Concentration on the escape was imperative- something landed heavily on her shoulder, a vice-like grip that could no longer be mistaken. No point screaming, no point trying to run. No doubt several stun-weapons were pointed at her from the darkness, through which she could not reliably see.
"Let go of me." Her voice dipped to a chilly tone.
"Now, now, dear, you know I can't do that, for your own safety."
"I don't need you to protect me, dad." The last word was spoken with such a venom that the hand flinched, even briefly, minute, impossible to detect but for one who had known him all their life.
The lights came up – she was right. A dozen guards, armed with a variety of stun-guns and null rods, all poised and ready to fire if it were to prove necessary. Now it was clear escape was quite clearly impossible this day, Sally shrugged the hand off her shoulder and spun to face her father.
King Maximilian Acorn the fourth was again, a tall Mobian by normal standards, just above five feet and thus only a couple of inches above Nicole, Sally could barely control her hatred for him. He was unarmoured, though the scores of medals pinned to every available surface of his ceremonial robes could have served as such, and his face held the same fire he had held in his youth. A well-kept beard and moustache smoothed the roughened and lined features he held, and still Sally could not help but loathe him.
"Come now, dear daughter. You must really stop these childish games. I appreciate that you do not kill the guards – some foolish notion of kindness I'm sure, but it would not matter if you used a proper weapon. The outside world is dangerous for you, my dear, and I do not try to prevent you from escaping. I only want to stop the pain of this world making its way to you." He spoke, placating, but his severe baritone voice ruined the effect to some degree. Even now Sally wanted to lash out, to fight back in some, even futile, way, but she could not deny that she was scared of her own father. Scared of what he might do were she one day to actively defy him.
"Just take me back to my quarters. This rigmarole you always blather on about has already grown tired and old, father, much like yourself."
Elsewhere, in a far grimier corner of the city, another young Mobian sat in her room, hunched over a computer. The room was Spartan, little more than a bed and a desk, though the girl had taken time to pin up a propaganda poster of the king, which had been lovingly decorated with many throwing knives in the image's head and chest area.
The girl was a lot shorter, and not just because of her younger age, only four feet, and she looked slim and slightly underfed. Much of her visage was kept in shadow by the thick bangs of reddish-brown hair that hung down over her forehead, but despite this, her icy blue eyes shone brightly as she glared at the monitor in front of her.
Her exposed hands, covered in red fur, darted over the keyboard in front of her, as her rate of breathing started to rise. The adrenalin rush always came when she pulled this little trick, even though she'd been doing it for years and had never once been detected. This time, though, she had good reason. Hacking into the server on which the entire city was run was one thing. Hacking into the castle's systems themselves was a whole different story. Her hands danced across the holo-keyboard, complicated lines of text and software lining up on the screen.
A progress bar popped onto the ambient blue of the screen, and started to fill up, indicating that she was close to getting into the second stage of the task.
Things were going smoothly thus far – once again the bland hunter programs that roamed the system's outer reaches had missed her on the way in, and the inner functions had not yet detected any attack. Her home was in the old area of Mobotropolis, and built out of bricks and mortar, and not scores of nanites like the rest of the city, and thus, even the city AI could not hear her. She kicked her chair away from the wall, careful to avoid running over her long, bushy tail as she did so. She pivoted on the seat, pulled another knife from her belt, and threw it at the poster. It landed in the image's eye.
The computer bleeped, and she rolled over to it again, hoping to see the authentication message. Instead, there was a text box helpfully informing her that 'T2' was online. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and closed the box. She wasn't expecting him to be on so soon, and she would have to explain later, but she couldn't stop now. It was impolite and unprofessional.
"Nicole, you think you can open this terminal?" Sally jabbed a thumb at the blue, humming security pad in her room. Since her return her mood had soured, as it always did after each failed attempt. Nicole was doing her best to stay quiet and do as asked as quietly and unobtrusively as she could.
"Sure." Replied Nicole, risking a quick smile to try and lighten the mood. She crossed the few feet of carpeted floor and lowered herself into the seat, her fingers began to move, slowly, a little uncertain, but with ever-increasing confidence. It took her ten minutes, but in the end she had managed to open a secure route through the security. As she stood up and allowed the princess to take her place, backing away a few steps, Sally said something that surprised her.
"Nicole, do you reckon you could, you know, step outside? I want to be alone for a bit."
Nicole stepped back, considering the request. She couldn't exactly say no, but leaving Sally on her own wasn't a very inviting prospect either. In the end, she could only agree.
"Alright. Give me a shout when you want me back in?"
"Yea." Sally nodded and turned away, waiting until the door shut before starting to work. It wasn't that she didn't trust Nicole, just…she wanted to try something out alone this time. It was her plan to peruse the data network, see if someone was out there who might help her, or if she could do something to-
-[Hello? How did you get onto this channel?]-
Sally blinked. Had the computer just talked back? She typed her own response in the keyboard.
-[What do you mean?]- A few seconds, and the reply came back.
-[This channel is sealed from the outside. No other software should be able to get inside.]-
The squirrel-princess sighed. It was just one of the roving data programs, apparently an artificial intelligence in the city AI. At least it was someone different to talk to.
-[Sorry. I didn't know.]-
-[Never mind. I guess it won't hurt. Who are you?]-
-[Sally Acorn]-
-[No shitting? How did you even get onto the DataStream? I heard the king kept his little girl hidden from the world]-
-[I'm not exactly allowed on here]- Sally paused. Was this really something she should be discussing with someone? They couldn't be a hunter program, or any AI – they were too vulgar for it. It couldn't hurt to bounce old ideas off someone, just as long as she didn't reveal any new ideas. -[Father doesn't know. I've been trying to get out…just to see the world a bit, but I never get further than the inner wall]-
-[You've probably got Nicole tracking you]-
Sally started at the accusation. How dare this anonymous interloper make such a claim? Nicole was her friend; she wouldn't betray her!
-[Why should I believe that? Nicole has helped me plan all of my escapes, and they've all been very good plans]-
-[That's probably it then, or did you not know that Nicole is the resident city AI? She's loyal to the king. I should know, I've seen the software myself. If she's been helping you each time then it's no doubt you keep getting found out. I'm not exactly one to work this far in, but maybe you should-}- The rest of whatever they were about to say faded into static. Outside, Nicole shuddered as she expunged the foreign software from her system. As the software withdrew, it left a sizeable hole in the network code, and suddenly several vital commands around the city deactivated simultaneously.
Acting in defence of remaining systems, the instinctive backup kicked in, shutting down all systems temporarily. The result was a citywide blackout, lights, televisions and computers dying suddenly.
As her computer fizzed loudly and spat a stream of data at her before dying along with its fellows, the fox-girl sat back in the seat, sighing heavily. That was close – too close. She shouldn't have allowed herself to become bogged down in that chat with someone who was apparently the princess.
Sloppy, unprofessional – the mistake of an amateur. You didn't get distracted in the system, you got in, did what you wanted, and got out, and she had just broken that rule. Damn. He hand came down heavily on the desk, and she fumbled a curse as a splinter dug into her hand. Again. Well, Nicole was getting smarter every day, but if she could be made to break from the king's law…that conversation had given her an idea. Perhaps the loyalty programs could be damaged, or even reversed…it would create some very funny results. Something to look into.
Later. For another time.
{Calling User: T2…}
"Hey man. Listen, could I ask you something?"
Sally sat in the darkness of the room, staring at the dead screen. She didn't believe a word of her conversational partner's words, but she was certainly intrigued by them. She stood up, and headed over to her door. Opening it, she looked around. Nicole should have been there, waiting and watching, her face lighting up when she saw her best friend. There was no sign of her. Sally whirled around, ran back into her room, and slammed the door, before she collapsed, staring at the floor. She wasn't thinking logically at this point – she was too frightened, too confused to do so.
Another thought flashed into her head. She could remember meeting Nicole, when she was only three years old. Nicole was a small child too, and she had a mother. The older lynx had been Sally's nurse, and she was definitely real, and Nicole was too. She ate, drank, and the two girls had shared meals sometimes. However, in the past six years, Sally and Nicole had never once eaten the same food, or shared a drink. Nicole always made an excuse when Sally offered. She had believed the excuses, but now... Perhaps that was it – Nicole didn't share food with her anymore because Nicole didn't eat food! Nicole was an artificial intelligence, and the Nicole she knew and talked to was a hologram. She wasn't in the corridor because her projectors had been killed by the power outage, and she really had been telling her father her plans the whole time.
A new plan was starting to form in her mind. She would sow her own seeds of doubt. False trails, open possibilities, bouncing ideas and other bits of information. After a week, she would tell Nicole that she was repeating her attempt from tonight, in the hopes that her father would not expect it, and then use a route on the other side of the castle. A new route.
The red herrings were to make her father doubt Nicole. Despite the horrible, sickly feeling of betrayal in her gut, she still loved Nicole as a sister, and wanted to free her from her father's control. If he felt that Nicole was no longer useful, then perhaps he would be convinced to remove her powers, at which point Sally would rescue her. The hardest part was not telling Nicole the truth. She hated lying to her friend, and this was certain to upset the lynx, but it had to be done.
The lights flickered, and burst back into life. Someone rapped on the door, and Sally opened it, revealing Nicole.
"Sorry, had to go to the toilet." She said, a little too fast.
"OK, I'm done with the computer anyway." Sally replied, hoping that she wasn't giving too much away.
"What were you looking for, anyway?"
"Oh, you know, stuff. Was wondering how far the security goes, that sort of thing. I've got a new plan in the works. Want to hear it?"