(Airolo, Switzerland 2060)
"JT10, target is thirty meters from your position. Currently stationary in Lab C3-A. We'll wait. Stay covered."
"Copy. Got visual from here." Rade Loncar, hidden in the shadows, said through his communicator. He had been with the Piéton Garde for the last ten years. But this was a first, displacement. There were teams trained and assigned to do this, not theirs. But there were specific instructions from the client, "Assign different guards for this." His seniors and teammates were well-aware of the corruption within the Piéton Garde, but there was no proof. They needed proof.
"Nervous?"
"Wee bit," Rade answered. His partner, Sanja Ilic, was watching and guiding him from a camouflaged tent above grounds of the Hirstad, the Hirst-Stadelmann Subterranean Facility. The Hirstad was an underground research institute founded by researchers Patrik Hirst and Urschel Stadelmann in 2035. The remote location and its underground construction meant the obvious, that everything in it remains secret and stays in secret... regardless.
But nothing remains secret forever.
"I read from an old document that the Piéton Garde was established by consensus among third-generation board members of the Hirstad," Sanja said. "Did you know that?"
"Captain Fischer discussed it over coffee," Rade said. "When Hirstad decided to publish their research on wormholes, they were aware of what can happen. Hence, us."
Sanja laughed. "Guess we owe these scientists our jobs."
"Maybe." The truth? Rade entertained the thought of retiring early in his thirties and living a normal life. But where they come from, it was a battlefield. They were a necessary force.
"I'm reading the file Anselm sent yesterday. Just bits of info on our target. She became part of Hirstad's R&D at age 11. Promoted to high-level at 14. Wow, some kid."
"She is. Anselm provide pictures?"
"None. Oh... What?"
"What what?"
A loud explosion suddenly disturbed the peace, rocking the ground and even the elevated, hidden space Rade stood from.
"What was that?"
There were clouds of dust and rubble, an indication that the explosive was powerful enough to damage the virtually indestructible walls of Hirstad. The explosion came from C3-A. Rade raised his mask to cover his face. His target was needed alive. "I'm moving, C72," Rade said. "She's needed alive."
"Wait. Try to get visual. It might be a trap."
Two shadows struggled within the setting dust clouds, a bigger figure, and a smaller one. The smaller one was faster, but the towering figure was stronger. The struggle went on until the bigger figure fell to his knees. The smaller figure emerged from the dust, a girl in her teens, cropped brown hair, perhaps with poor eyesight because of the thick-rimmed glasses. There were bloodstains on her researcher's uniform. She was kneeling on the floor, as if watching and catching her breath. She sneaked her hand into her right pant leg, as if drawing something underneath. She took out what seemed to be a wrapped black handle. She swung the handle and a sharp blade came stretched through it.
Could that be their target, Rade wondered. He could tell she was injured. He looked at the time. Access point is an hour away by transport. They needed to arrive before it forms. "I'm moving, C72. Cover me. We don't have much time."
"Copy. Be careful."
Rade stepped into the light. "You're wounded."
The girl stood and turned around. She put down her weapon but did not withdraw it. "Who are you?"
"We don't have much time. I'll explain along the way." The dust behind the girl had cleared. Rade recognized the man the girl struggled with earlier. He was once with the Piéton Garde, part of the Displacement Team. The marshals dismissed him some years ago. Suspicions were right. What is he doing here? Rade wondered who the former guard now works for.
The security alarms sounded off.
A little delayed, Rade thought.
The man suddenly stood.
Rade leaped in front of the girl. "Run." he whispered. "Head to the north e-shafts. Someone will meet you on the surface."
The girl swung her sword and the blade retracted. "Be careful," she said.
"I've handled stuff like this, don't worry," Rade assured. "Go."
The girl nodded and faded into the shadows.
- 1000100.1001110.1000001 -
(Kyoto, Japan 2064)
Hozuki stared at the blueprint. For the nth time, she tried powering up the machine for testing. It would start up but fail midway. Distribution is theoretically correct. Configuration is at optimal. She looked at the document across her. She followed everything it contained. Why is it still failing? She slumped over her desk.
The Ferrari family agreed to not miss summer in Kyoto since the sisters' stint as fugitives had ended. Hozuki managed to build a mini-laboratory in her grandfather's basement. If not touring the city, she would be in the laboratory, going through her secret project. She decided not to think about the Galileo Tesoro, her current project, during the summer. Finding an old document her father kept in his old room in her grandfather's household made her decide to dedicate part of her summertime for one other thing that mattered: visiting Galileo. But she needed to do so without causing disruption.
The document contained research on time travel by a scientist named Rui Kägi. In the document, Rui stated that she was able to develop a prototype of a time machine, what she called the Kairoskand. At the end of her research was a blueprint. Could the document have been incomplete? Or did Rui intend to put in errors for a reason? Hozuki had questions. That aside, she wondered why and how the document ended up in her father's hands. But it was worth a try if it meant meeting Galileo again.
Footsteps suddenly sounded from the stairs.
Kaa-nee, Hozuki recognized the sound of her older sister's steps. She sat up and looked at the stairs, watching her sister as she approached.
"Any luck yet?" Kazuki asked.
Hozuki shook her head.
"The stench is really bothersome, Hocchibi," Kazuki remarked as she walked about the basement. "Ojii-san might complain, you know."
"He's come down here a few times," Hozuki said, standing up and stretching. "I haven't heard him complain."
"Well, I am," Kazuki said sternly. "At least, keep the basement clean."
"Hai, Kaa-nee," Hozuki said softly. Her sister can be a pain. But it was fine. She always meant well.
"Come on, let's eat," Kazuki said, smiling. "We can't keep them waiting."
"Hai!" Hozuki smiled back.
- 1000100.1001110.1000001 -
The girl sifted through her things. Whoever had infiltrated and corrupted Hirstad's security and attacked her will come after her. She was not safe. She needed to run. She removed her lab coat and grabbed her satchel and coat. She took a box out of her closet, took out a heavy silver and white metal cuff and wore it around her left wrist. She changed into her boots and wore her satchel over her shoulder. Then, she put on her gray and red coat. She took the cap and scarf on her side table and the disc that leaned just below it. She approached the blank wall across her bed. She pushed a spot on the wall. The wall hissed open, revealing a glass shaft, an emergency exit that led anywhere in the Hirstad.
If the stranger she met in the hall did not succeed subduing her attacker, her attacker was going to come for her at the north e-shafts. Each Hirstad high-level researcher was provided a room with a secret shaft. She now realized its purpose. She opened the shaft and entered. The shaft hissed closed and tilted horizontally. Then, it darted through the dark tunnel, the wall closing after it.
- 1000100.1001110.1000001 -
Sanja Ilic loaded the last of her equipment into the jeep. She looked at the time. They were behind schedule. But if she drove fast enough, they may be able to reach the access point in time, at most, before it closes. She looked through her binoculars again, at the north cottage, one of Hirstad's secret entry and exit points. Still, no one was coming out of it.
Maybe I should go after them, Sanja thought.
But then...
A man in black was running to her direction.
Sanja shifted her binoculars for a better view. Blue bonnet, dark hair, tan, goatee, and sunglasses. No one wears sunglasses in the dark except Rade. He was fast approaching. But where is the target?
Rade waved with both hands.
Sanja waved back. "Where's the target?" she asked through her communicator.
"Isn't she with you?" Rade answered.
"No." Sanja felt a rush in her system. The target is still inside.
"I ID'd the attacker in C3-A," Rade said again. "He's after me. We need to go."
"Wait... what about the target? We can't come back without her." Sanja continued to view through the binoculars.
Someone suddenly comes out of the north cottage.
Sanja shifted her view again for a closer look. It was a girl. The target? Woman's intuition says so. "Clear out," she said.
"Clear out? What about the target?"
- 1000100.1001110.1000001 -
A significant distance behind Rade, the girl placed the disc on the ground and stepped on it. The disc shifted itself into a board. She slipped her feet into the board's support. The support snapped her feet into the board. The board began to elevate.
"Speed three," the girl declared, pinching her right black ear cuff.
The board began to run through the snowy terrain.
She quickly approached the man she met earlier. "Hop on!" she called out. She grabbed him by the hand as he stepped up. "Hold on!"
"Thanks."
"Speed five," she pinched the ear cuff and declared again.
The board sped up.
"Where is he?" she asked.
"He's still looking for you in the grounds. I'm JT10, agent of the Piéton Garde. We'll talk about you later. For now, we need to head to the access point. The jeep, we'll ride from here."
"Okay," the girl declared. "Speed two."
- 1000100.1001110.1000001 -
Sanja put down her binoculars and met with the two as they pulled to a stop. They were behind schedule, but they made it. She removed the communicator in her ear and switched it off. "Let's go," she said. "We'll talk later."
"This is my partner, C72," Rade said, turning his communicator off and introducing his partner. "Outside work, I am Rade Loncar. She is Sanja Ilic."
"I know you're from the Piéton Garde," the girl declared, fixing her disc and carrying it."You also know who I am."
Sanja and Rade looked at each other. How did she know?
"These past few months, people have been coming for me," the girl said. "All of them were killed by the same man who attacked me outside Hirstad. I wanted to run... but I've nowhere else to go. Seeing you... maybe you can help me."
"We're here to help," Sanja said, smiling and offering the passenger's seat to the girl. "Stay here and buckle up. Rade, stay in the back in case he comes."
The girl boarded the jeep and buckled up, watching Sanja as she climbed into the driver's seat.
"It's half an hour to rendezvous point," Sanja declared. "You'll be briefed from there." Then, she started the jeep's engine.
"Where you'll be going, you'll be known as Sacha Senn," Rade said from behind, handing over a leather case of valuables to the girl.
"Sacha Senn..." the girl echoed as she received the leather case.
The jeep started to move, faster and faster across the bumpy terrain.
"They'll tell you this," Sanja said. "Never tell them who you are. If you can't, at least wait until it's over."
"Where am I going?"
"Somewhere safe," the two chorused.
- 1000100.1001110.1000001 -
"Boring today, isn't it?" Hazuki said, resting her back on the porch.
"We should tour a different place, you know," Kazuki said, watching the clouds across the sky. It is boring, very boring. They needed to stay home as their grandfather and parents were out.
"When they get back, I guess," Hazuki said, sighing. "But maybe you should with Hocchibi... or on your own." Then, she turned her back against Kazuki.
Kazuki frowned. Her sister is keeping something. But it was too obvious. "Are you hiding?"
Hazuki curled up. "No..." she said in a faint tone.
"I thought so."
"What?" Hazuki suddenly got up and looked at Kazuki.
"Try harder... Hazu-nee," Kazuki said.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed through the silence of the lazy afternoon. The ground shook, as if it happened just nearby.
"What's that?!" the two said.
"Did you hear that?"
Kazuki looked back. The crash was so loud that it reached Hozuki from the basement. "You two stay here," she said, getting up, rushing to the mat to wear her shoes.
"I'll come with you," Hozuki said.
"It might be trouble," Kazuki warned. "If it's trouble, at least, you'll be safe here. Ja!" Then, she headed out. Today might not be so boring after all.