Tuesday, 15th January, 2104.
Since Laurie discovered the anomalies in the electrical system, the three of us avoid raising the subject - for our own reasons, I'm sure. Em probably doesn't believe, Laur maybe wants to believe but isn't sure if she can trust what she's found, and I don't want to stir up trouble so early in our stay. Instead, we're still adjusting to our new home and bedrooms, whilst battling the cold which is insistent on coming in one way or another. So much for insulation.
"Did one of you leave a door open? My thermometer shows one of the rooms is at three degrees Celsius!"
"Laurie, it's probably you hon."
"Emily, I swear I always close the doors! It must be you or Cora!"
"Oi! You're the one who usually forgets to lock your locker at school!"
"That was one time in Year Nine!"
"Guys, please!" Em's extra volume shuts us up, "Thank you. Laurie, you did say one of the rooms went to three degrees, right?"
"Yeah…"
"If that's the case, what's the weather like outside? The windows have been too fogged up to see clearly. Have you tried wiping them?"
I frown and slide my hand across the glass of the living room window (and my own glasses), gasping while peering through the clear patch.
"Well? What's it like Corrie?"
I immediately dash to my room and shove on a coat, gloves and beanie from my wardrobe, bolting out the front door of the house and straight into fresh white powder. I don't even care that my eyesight's a white cloudy mist on my glasses again.
Definitely a perfect snow day.
Thirty minutes later, The three of us are bundled up in full winter gear, already having made some snow angels and snowmen. Actually, Laurie's still going with hers.
To my right, she's been building a literal monster out of snow, using whatever things she can to add onto the effect. Branches as arms, black pieces of the old cracking tar as eyes, that kind of thing.
Dear god, that thing is huge.
"I'm grateful she's not using the icicles for teeth," Em admits, encased in a puffy silver parka, "I'd honestly be terrified if she did. I know mum and dad are a little spooked out by it."
"You sent them a photo?"
"Have to."
"Well if they're spooked, that's their problem, Emmy. I think that snow monster looks friendly, actually."
"A friendly snow monster?"
"A friendly Smonster, you might say- ow! Emmy!"
Even with multiple layers of clothing on both sides, Emily's elbows can still be quite painful, if unintentionally so.
"Please don't, Corrie. That was terrible."
She's smiling.
"Icy you're not a fan of my puns or the name, but please give them a good thawed!"
"Oh shush!"
Em pushes me and I trip onto a thick patch of snow, but she's giggling.
"Admit it Emily, I'm just sleigh-ing at these puns. And if you're gonna bury me alive today, I want you to know: It was ice snowing you!"
Plap.
A snowball lands straight on my face, but I can hear Em's heavenly laughter through the white powder.
Wiping the remains and streaks off my glasses, I sit up to see she's on the ground, clutching herself while her laughs ring through the air.
Plap.
Wait. That's not Em's snowball…
Plap.
"Scrooge you and your puns!"
"Oh, Laurie, you little- it's not even Christmas!" I call back while forming a snowball and hurling it at my sister.
Laur ducks.
Plap.
But I make the hit.
Beep!
Just… Not on her though.
The area where the Smonster is starts to rumble, Laurie scrambling off it just in time for her to witness her creation disappear underground, replaced with a circular patch of peculiarly fresh green grass.
Even Em's stopped laughing as we approach the scene before us.
"I think you might've hit a button or something." Laur shrugs.
"I wonder what's down there…" I mumble.
Oh boy, they're giving me those looks.
"Come on!" I protest, "We have freaking five levels of basement, I'm pretty sure it's still part of the house and not some Egyptian death tomb or something!"
Both of them exchange suspicious glances at me, each other and the grass patch, though I'm guessing for different reasons.
"What if there's treasure down there?" I try again, "What have we got to lose?"
"Well…" Em slowly shrugs.
"And you don't need to share any of whatever we find down there with your parents, Emmy. Just the smonster is probably more than enough for them today."
"I suppose…"
"If we have a crapton of like, gold coins down there, I am SO gonna pull an actual Scrooge though," Laur grins, "Just one thing. How do we get in?"
"What if I threw another snowball at it?"
Plap.
Beep!
Yup.
"Laurie, I know we give you a lot of flack for it mostly, but I'm grateful you still have some holos on you."
"Eh, I never go out anywhere without 'em now," Laur shrugs smugly, "Always gotta have them in the inner jacket pockets!"
"Could you make them a bit more of a blessing in our lives and light up the area around us, please?"
My exact thoughts, Emily, just a little less formal-sounding… Ish.
"Alright, alright! Geez, I'm getting there! Ah, there we go. Maximum brightness aaaand… Let there be light!"
My jaw hits the dusty floor.
Did… Did this place house a giant robot and a couple tanks underneath?
"Check it out, old blueprints!" Laur points to a desk nearby, a mess of partially ripped papers, covered with at least a century's worth of dust on them.
"Peculiar," Em notes, "That mark on the corner there. Isn't it the same one on the lever of your bedroom?"
I'd see for myself, but I'm not risking hayfever. Especially in winter. Keeping up with Laur and Em as much as possible, I hold my breath whenever we approach a dusty relic or find some sort of strange old-tech device which could potentially blow up in our faces. It's bad enough I have to keep wiping my glasses from fogging up.
But everything we go past, as I learn from Laur and Em, always has some form of the symbol found on Laurie's bedroom lever. And I'm getting goosebumps under my coat. It's probably me just thinking about old family tales again, but I can imagine someone (probably a Lawson) feverishly hard at work with all these mechanical things, also making and signing blueprints off with the symbol…
Are we… Intruding on something?
"Hey guys? Check this out - a vault! And I could hack the entry point easily!"
Laurie must've gone ahead of Em, as she's standing in front of a massive steel-door, which has a manual ship's-wheel twisting handle in the centre and a keypad off to the left.
"I have to admit," Em folds her arms, "That's impressive."
I want to mention the mental images rolling in my head and how much I'd like to get out of here, but my mouth finds different words entirely.
"What's in there?"
"Well, may I?"
"Be my guest."
Laur grins excitedly as she slides away all her holo-screens except for one, brighter than the rest.
LLGD.
LaureL. .
My sister's ultra-customised, homemade hacking system; one of her biggest pride and joys.
Scanning for Potential Access Sites…
9 Sites Found.
1. Red Army Vault Code (Active)
2. Red Army Wifi
WARNING: PINEAPPLE WIFI,
RISK OF DATA LOSS (Active)
3. Launch Pad (Active)
4. 27 Dirdum Lane Electrical (Active)
5. 27 Dirdum Lane Water (Active)
6. 25 Dirdum Lane Satellite base (Inactive)
7. 25 Dirdum Lane Electrical (Inactive)
8. 25 Dirdum Lane Water (Inactive)
9. UNKNOWN (Active)
"What's with all the Red Army stuff? Sounds stupid in an edgy kinda way."
"Goodness, why would there still be online connections to the neighbours' system, of all places?"
"I don't think it's even been touched, Emmy. Let alone working in the first place or even renovated."
"…True."
"The unknown entry point though," Laur whistles, "Should we check that out instead?"
Let's not.
"Shouldn't we look at the vault first, then maybe check the unknown source later?"
Emily, do you read minds or something?
"Okay," Laur sighs a little wistfully, "Show us the code, buddy…"
Red Army Vault Site selected…
Picking the lock…
SITE UNLOCKED
Creating key for future use…
KEY CREATED: 2 0 0 4
"What's with all this lock-picking lingo recently?"
"Isn't hacking pretty much an electronic version of lockpicking? Plus it sounds cool."
Well… She's not wrong.
The metal wheel on the door creaks to the left.
Pop.
Shhhh…
Clearing all traces of presence…
We're in.
There's a lot of tech in the vault, so much that there's multiple copies of each unique piece. All of it seems a little more modern than outside, but it's still clearly dated. Laurie's holoscreen light reflects on the dark metals and glimmers in the places where lights are supposed to be functioning.
"What the bloody hell is this stuff?" I mutter.
"Language, Cora!"
"Sorry Em."
We keep walking around and look at the old tech, Laurie especially picking up a prosthetic arm. At least, I think it is. It looks like one.
"Wonder what's the deal with all these parts and why there's so many of them," she turns it around to get a better look, "You'd think somebody would be trying to make a bunch of androids."
"I guess, Laur," a grin cracks my face, "They were making-"
"Don't!"
"An arm-y of androids!"
"Uggggh! Nooooooo!"
"Corrie, that was awful."
"Come on guys," I lean back with a smirk, "You gotta hand it to me for that one!"
"Stooooooooop! It was terrible and you know it," Laurie groans.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop! But you have to appreciate this handiwork in the build."
Emmy doesn't say anything while shaking her head, but I thrive for her disappointed look whenever I have the means and chance to invoke it.
Taking the arm from Laurie, I admire all the details of it, thinking. First, about the twins and how they'd go ballistic over it (maybe literally!), and second…
"Hey Laur? D'you think this thing could be an upgrade to your setup in the lab space?"
"… Maybe?"
We end up taking three arms back, just for fun: one for the display shelf in Emily's attic room, one for Laurie to retrofit into her current setup later (she's stored it away for now), and one for me to… well, I'll figure it out. For now I've left it standing on my desk as a display.
Though, now while I'm trying to sleep… I can't stop thinking about what happened.
Staring up at the ceiling from my bed, the events down in the basement repeat over and over, sometimes diverging on strange what-if paths. Really, this can't be a big deal.
But the unknown source Laurie's program picked up down there…
Why was it noticed? Or even there in the first place? What is it? Is it the reason why those four white dots appeared on our first day here?
I growl and turn over to the side in a huff. Gotta try and calm down…
CLATTER.
What the-?
I bolt upright, yanking my glasses off the bedside table, flicking on the lamp-
Oh. It's just the arm, having fallen onto the computer setup.
…Actually, it seems kinda creepy from here. I'm gonna keep this outta sight for… Maybe a while.
As I put away the arm into the wardrobe, one question lingers in my head.
Is there someone… Watching us?
