The Lone Gunmen: Your Title Here
*Gasp* It's Chapter 2! Yea! Thanks to everyone who reviewed Chapter 1, I hope you enjoy the next addition. As usual, I don't own these characters, except for Shane. This story is based off characters and situations created by George Lucas... waitaminute, wrong fic. Chris Carter owns it all. May the Force be with him.
-2-
Shane sipped the mug of hot tea that Byers had brought her and glanced up at the three men. "It happened when I was fifteen," she said softly. "My high school was the testing ground; my mother's company, Digital Horizons, sponsored a vaccination there. It was supposed to be a flu vaccine, or some normal front like that. But what they really did was inject a group of kids with a microscopic GPS chip. It's called Cyber Guardian. It monitored heart rate, blood pressure, and could transmit the location of the subject, no matter where they were."
For a moment there was silence. At last Byers asked, "How did you figure this out?"
"I walked in on my mom while she was running a program on her laptop, and before she shut it off, I saw a readout listing all the places I'd been over the week. I didn't talk to her about it, but when she was gone, I hacked her computer and found all the information she had. When I was sixteen, I dropped out of school legally, packed my stuff, and ran away. Then," she went on as she rolled up her right sleeve, "I had the chip surgically removed." Just above the elbow, an inch-long scar could be seen, old but still very present. "Probably not the most sanitary way to do it, but I couldn't risk going to a reputable doctor."
Frohike grimaced. "And there are others whom this happened to?"
The girl nodded. "About a hundred kids my age were injected. Maybe more. I don't think any of them know about it. I didn't tell anyone, for fear that they'd turn me in. With my mother in the company and my father working for the government, there was no telling what could happen. So I left. I faked some ID and got a temporary job at a bike shop, doing repair. In effect, I became a fugitive. I know my parents are still looking for me. I don't think they'll ever stop. I'm important. If news of this got out... it'd look extremely bad for the company. That's why I came to you." She pulled a creased copy of The Lone Gunmen newspaper from her backpack. "I hoped you could run a story on the conspiracy. If you could reach an audience, word would spread."
The Gunmen exchanged a glance. "We need evidence to run a story," Langly told her.
Shane reached into the front pocket of her backpack and retrieved a plastic container, the kind vending machine toys came in. She handed it to Langly, and he brought it over to a microscope hooked up to a computer monitor. As he magnified the view, a tiny computer chip appeared in vivid detail onscreen. All three Gunmen crowded around the screen for a look.
"And there's more," Shane said. As one, Byers, Langly, and Frohike turned to eye her. She continued, "Digital Horizons is holding a gala event this month for the official unveiling of Cyber Guardian. They're marketing it as the latest tool in medical care, but if we can prove they have other plans..." She let the sentence hang unfinished.
Byers shot another glance at the magnified chip onscreen, then at his companions. After a moment he turned back to Shane. "Okay," he said, "we'll do it."
The girl smiled.
*Gasp* It's Chapter 2! Yea! Thanks to everyone who reviewed Chapter 1, I hope you enjoy the next addition. As usual, I don't own these characters, except for Shane. This story is based off characters and situations created by George Lucas... waitaminute, wrong fic. Chris Carter owns it all. May the Force be with him.
-2-
Shane sipped the mug of hot tea that Byers had brought her and glanced up at the three men. "It happened when I was fifteen," she said softly. "My high school was the testing ground; my mother's company, Digital Horizons, sponsored a vaccination there. It was supposed to be a flu vaccine, or some normal front like that. But what they really did was inject a group of kids with a microscopic GPS chip. It's called Cyber Guardian. It monitored heart rate, blood pressure, and could transmit the location of the subject, no matter where they were."
For a moment there was silence. At last Byers asked, "How did you figure this out?"
"I walked in on my mom while she was running a program on her laptop, and before she shut it off, I saw a readout listing all the places I'd been over the week. I didn't talk to her about it, but when she was gone, I hacked her computer and found all the information she had. When I was sixteen, I dropped out of school legally, packed my stuff, and ran away. Then," she went on as she rolled up her right sleeve, "I had the chip surgically removed." Just above the elbow, an inch-long scar could be seen, old but still very present. "Probably not the most sanitary way to do it, but I couldn't risk going to a reputable doctor."
Frohike grimaced. "And there are others whom this happened to?"
The girl nodded. "About a hundred kids my age were injected. Maybe more. I don't think any of them know about it. I didn't tell anyone, for fear that they'd turn me in. With my mother in the company and my father working for the government, there was no telling what could happen. So I left. I faked some ID and got a temporary job at a bike shop, doing repair. In effect, I became a fugitive. I know my parents are still looking for me. I don't think they'll ever stop. I'm important. If news of this got out... it'd look extremely bad for the company. That's why I came to you." She pulled a creased copy of The Lone Gunmen newspaper from her backpack. "I hoped you could run a story on the conspiracy. If you could reach an audience, word would spread."
The Gunmen exchanged a glance. "We need evidence to run a story," Langly told her.
Shane reached into the front pocket of her backpack and retrieved a plastic container, the kind vending machine toys came in. She handed it to Langly, and he brought it over to a microscope hooked up to a computer monitor. As he magnified the view, a tiny computer chip appeared in vivid detail onscreen. All three Gunmen crowded around the screen for a look.
"And there's more," Shane said. As one, Byers, Langly, and Frohike turned to eye her. She continued, "Digital Horizons is holding a gala event this month for the official unveiling of Cyber Guardian. They're marketing it as the latest tool in medical care, but if we can prove they have other plans..." She let the sentence hang unfinished.
Byers shot another glance at the magnified chip onscreen, then at his companions. After a moment he turned back to Shane. "Okay," he said, "we'll do it."
The girl smiled.