Alec pulled the motorcycle into the driveway of what had once been an
expensive and ornate home. Now it was deserted. He pulled the motorcycle
into an empty shed, and started to walk up the back of the hill, coming up
behind the great gothic brick building. He moved silently, creeping unseen
through the trees like a panther. He came to the perimeter fence and jumped
over, landing on the other side with a light thud. He looked at his watch.
01:45. Perfect.
As he crept along the darkened path, Alec's senses were primed. He got to the wall, so far so good. He shot a bolt up onto the roof with a rope attached and rappelled his way up the brick façade of the building. He could hear every sound, every scuff of his shoes on the mortar, every insect in the woods around him. He reached the roof and looked around. According to the schematics Sophie had procured, a hatch nearby would lead down to a room where Alec believed the other X5 was. As his luck would have it, the hatch was bolted shut. Damnit. Alec prowled around the roof looking for another entrance down. He could see a sloped Gothic section of roof that he could jump over to and then he could climb down and get in through one of the windows, but if his rescuee was unable to move, he'd be screwed. Crap. He also would be further away from the records room than he'd hoped. Oh, well, this was what he's spent the first twenty years of his life training to do. Might as well get started.
Alec made the leap from the flat section to the sloped one, but botched the landing. He slid down the roof, his shoes scraping on the slate. He stopped at the gutter, but a spray of twigs and slate chunks hit the ground with a rat-a-tat. Alec froze, listening intently for the sound of alarms, guards, dogs, anything. Nothing, just the rustling of leaves he had been hearing all night and the distant sound of the guards laughing. He breathed again, and climbed back up. He slid along the roof to the window, which projected out of the roof like a tent. The window was locked, but Alec could see there was no other security on it. He jimmied the lock, and slid into the room. It appeared to be a lab. Which meant he had a whole lot of creeping to do before he could even think about getting out of here. He went out into the darkened hallway, his transgenic eyes picking out the shadows, moving cat-like towards the record room. He arrived incident free and checked his watch. 02:15. Four hours until dawn, slightly more until the shift change. He figured as long as he was out by five, he was safe.
The door to the records room was sealed to a numerical lock, which Alec cracked in 30 seconds. Child's play, he thought, for children with training in burglary. The files were locked but Alec was soon leafing through the documents within. Most used the letterhead of Conrad Pharmaceuticals and were normal boring lab documents. But the older paperwork had the letterhead of Advanced Recombinant Technologies. A bell went off in Alec's head. That was the name of one of the companies that had inhabited Terminal City. Max had thought they were related to Sandeman, but Alec couldn't remember the details. But his interest was piqued. He looked further, but time was running out. None of the papers were worth taking and none were related to the tryptophan problem. Damnit. There was some information about the X5 in captivity, as well as hinting at least one other X class that had been held at some point in the past. The records had been purged recently most likely immediately following the fall of Manticore.
Alec left the records room and began the long walk to the room in which he thought the X5 was being kept. He crept down the hallway, the silence of the building occasionally broken by the shouts and laughter of the guards rendered oblivious by their cards. The journey took him about ten minutes. He looked at his watch; he still had time as long as the prisoner inside was mobile, otherwise he wasn't sure. The door was effectively locked and it was another ten minutes before he could get into the room. It was a smaller room with a deeply pitched roof. There were several banks of machinery, all of which bore the Advanced Recombinant Technologies caduceus symbol. In the middle of it all were two cryochambers. One was obviously empty and looked as though it had been smashed. The other showed some signs of damage but looked both functional and occupied. Alec peered into the second chamber and saw a beautiful blonde, obviously of Manticore design. He looked at the control panel and recognized it as being the same used at the Gillette facility. He began the shut down sequence. While the chamber was defrosting its inhabitant, Alec went over to look at the other coffin like box. It looked like someone had taken a crow bar to it, like they had tried to utterly destroy it in a rage. He noticed that the lock was broken and he opened the chamber. The inner padding was torn out, and there were still streaks of blood on the white fibers. Alec shuddered as he imagined the inhabitant awaking and attempting to claw their way out of the cryochamber. An X class probably based on the damage left behind. Alec heard the gasp of the machine behind him and turned to see the door opening. He walked over as the figure inside sat up slowly, and then looked at him, a look of joy and surprise on her face.
A smile lit her pale face and Alec could barely hear her as she spoke a single word, a name that chilled him to the bone: "Ben!?"
As he crept along the darkened path, Alec's senses were primed. He got to the wall, so far so good. He shot a bolt up onto the roof with a rope attached and rappelled his way up the brick façade of the building. He could hear every sound, every scuff of his shoes on the mortar, every insect in the woods around him. He reached the roof and looked around. According to the schematics Sophie had procured, a hatch nearby would lead down to a room where Alec believed the other X5 was. As his luck would have it, the hatch was bolted shut. Damnit. Alec prowled around the roof looking for another entrance down. He could see a sloped Gothic section of roof that he could jump over to and then he could climb down and get in through one of the windows, but if his rescuee was unable to move, he'd be screwed. Crap. He also would be further away from the records room than he'd hoped. Oh, well, this was what he's spent the first twenty years of his life training to do. Might as well get started.
Alec made the leap from the flat section to the sloped one, but botched the landing. He slid down the roof, his shoes scraping on the slate. He stopped at the gutter, but a spray of twigs and slate chunks hit the ground with a rat-a-tat. Alec froze, listening intently for the sound of alarms, guards, dogs, anything. Nothing, just the rustling of leaves he had been hearing all night and the distant sound of the guards laughing. He breathed again, and climbed back up. He slid along the roof to the window, which projected out of the roof like a tent. The window was locked, but Alec could see there was no other security on it. He jimmied the lock, and slid into the room. It appeared to be a lab. Which meant he had a whole lot of creeping to do before he could even think about getting out of here. He went out into the darkened hallway, his transgenic eyes picking out the shadows, moving cat-like towards the record room. He arrived incident free and checked his watch. 02:15. Four hours until dawn, slightly more until the shift change. He figured as long as he was out by five, he was safe.
The door to the records room was sealed to a numerical lock, which Alec cracked in 30 seconds. Child's play, he thought, for children with training in burglary. The files were locked but Alec was soon leafing through the documents within. Most used the letterhead of Conrad Pharmaceuticals and were normal boring lab documents. But the older paperwork had the letterhead of Advanced Recombinant Technologies. A bell went off in Alec's head. That was the name of one of the companies that had inhabited Terminal City. Max had thought they were related to Sandeman, but Alec couldn't remember the details. But his interest was piqued. He looked further, but time was running out. None of the papers were worth taking and none were related to the tryptophan problem. Damnit. There was some information about the X5 in captivity, as well as hinting at least one other X class that had been held at some point in the past. The records had been purged recently most likely immediately following the fall of Manticore.
Alec left the records room and began the long walk to the room in which he thought the X5 was being kept. He crept down the hallway, the silence of the building occasionally broken by the shouts and laughter of the guards rendered oblivious by their cards. The journey took him about ten minutes. He looked at his watch; he still had time as long as the prisoner inside was mobile, otherwise he wasn't sure. The door was effectively locked and it was another ten minutes before he could get into the room. It was a smaller room with a deeply pitched roof. There were several banks of machinery, all of which bore the Advanced Recombinant Technologies caduceus symbol. In the middle of it all were two cryochambers. One was obviously empty and looked as though it had been smashed. The other showed some signs of damage but looked both functional and occupied. Alec peered into the second chamber and saw a beautiful blonde, obviously of Manticore design. He looked at the control panel and recognized it as being the same used at the Gillette facility. He began the shut down sequence. While the chamber was defrosting its inhabitant, Alec went over to look at the other coffin like box. It looked like someone had taken a crow bar to it, like they had tried to utterly destroy it in a rage. He noticed that the lock was broken and he opened the chamber. The inner padding was torn out, and there were still streaks of blood on the white fibers. Alec shuddered as he imagined the inhabitant awaking and attempting to claw their way out of the cryochamber. An X class probably based on the damage left behind. Alec heard the gasp of the machine behind him and turned to see the door opening. He walked over as the figure inside sat up slowly, and then looked at him, a look of joy and surprise on her face.
A smile lit her pale face and Alec could barely hear her as she spoke a single word, a name that chilled him to the bone: "Ben!?"