CHAPTER 52: Bide Our Time
"Do it," Skull said after a moment's consideration.
"Yes, Master," Blank said. He was kneeling behind his master's chair, as always. He had just informed Skull of the request Shadow had made, and was also the "lucky" soul who informed his master of any new developments, good or bad. "I still have been unable to locate Black, as well. I believe him to be off the grid."
"If he's located, bring him to me," Skull growled. "If he's been deactivated, reactivate him, then bring him to me."
"Yes, Master," Blank said. "Have you arrived at a solution to our energy problem?"
"Not yet," Skull said. "I haven't been thinking about it very extensively. I think we can operate off of targeted brownouts, and gas- and battery-operated equipment until I can think of a solution. If worst comes to worst, we can just help ourselves to someone else's power."
"Yes, of course," Blank said.
"I've noticed the slaves are beginning to slack off," Skull said. "What is the problem this time?"
"Poor health, we believe," Blank said. "Master, I'd like to make a suggestion that may seem ridiculous, and outright contradictory to your plan."
"Go ahead," Skull said.
"Perhaps we should shut down the lines, give the slaves some time away from work, and bide our time," Blank said.
"I was considering that, actually," Skull said. "That would enable us to conserve our resources until we're ready to move ahead with the beginning phases of the main operation. Speaking of which, how is the hack job coming along?"
"We're proceeding about as smoothly as one could expect," Blank said. "We're still trying every password possible to gain access to the servers. Once we do that, we can upload the viruses, eliminate most of the safeguards, and take care of business."
"Excellent," Skull said with a dry laugh. "Simply astounding. Someone keeps trying and failing to gain access to the servers, and they ignore it. They don't log the unsuccessful access attempts, leaving anyone and everyone wide open to try and find the password."
"I find it amazing myself," Blank said. "Although, I have to say, it would be much easier if we had in our possession skill software for the ability to hack computers."
"There's probably a hacker among the slaves," Skull said. "But I trust them about as far as they can throw you. How long can we expect to wait?"
"I haven't a clue," Blank said. "I've observed the password elimination process. The server's password entry field will not accept more than five characters, so the possible combination if drastically reduced from what it could be. If our mainframe were to be set to the task, it would probably be over and done with much sooner."
"I'll consider that," Skull said. "In the meantime, shut down the lines, return the slaves to their barracks, and any who are ill, send them to the medical wing. Tighten security there. Any systems that are not in immediate use will be shut down for the present. Obtain more supplies from the surface by any means necessary. You know the priority items. Also, the time is coming for our priority targets to start getting hurt. As soon as we have the fifth of the Emeralds in our hands, we will move forward. Begin double-checking the security in the 'guest quarters'. Someone is going to be making a little magic in the near future. A little disappearing act."
"Master, I'd like to ask why you only want five of the Emeralds as opposed to all seven," Blank said.
"Five is enough," Skull said. "I wish to be sure that all seven will not fall into hands that I don't want them in. I will have the Master Emerald in my possession, just in case. Your run-of-the-mill would-be conquerer would consider that unnecessary, but such arrogance is often their downfall."
"Yes, of course," Blank said.
"Leave me now," Skull ordered.
"Yes Master," Blank said, standing up and leaving the room.
"Shut down the lines, gather all the slaves, and send them to their barracks or to the medical wing, as necessary," Blank ordered.
"Yes sir," one of his subordinates said. As the security units filed out of the room overseeing the workshops in which a thousand slaves worked, Blank looked at the ground. He turned and looked to make sure he wasn't being watched, then he reached over to a nearby control panel and shut off the power to the whole room, including security systems.
"I'd rather prefer not to be a part of this whole thing," he said to himself. "But, I'm in a position to prevent the whole thing, and I'll be damned if I'll pass it up... I still can't believe it. That evil son of a bitch wants to hack a military server and launch missiles by sitting here putting in every possible password until the right one pops up. That is just the dumbest... Well, I guess if they aren't expecting it, it's the most effective way to do it."
Yes, you read that lastpart correctly. I know this is a shorter chapter, but I just felt I needed to throw out something to remind you all that I'm alive and haven't forgotten you all. Let me give you a little tip: Consider everything in this chapter. Just about all of it is going to come into play at some point. Short as it is, this is actually a kind of important chapter.