CHAPTER 27
Martin opened his eyes, roused from his slumber by the quiet chime emitted by his communicator. As a soldier in the Leader's army who had seen some battlefield experience, he was not particularly bothered by sudden unexpected interruptions to his sleep. But it had been just over thirteen years since his last time in a hot warzone, so this awakening was a little jarring.
He sat up and reached for his communicator, which was on top of the desk next to his bed. Its small display screen indicated who his caller was.
Bruce.
He pressed a button, and a scrambled text message resolved into coherence. Encrypting audio communications on the Mother Ship was much more difficult than text messages, so he and the Fifth Column adopted this technique for real-time remote communications amongst themselves.
"Diana to resume Parrish's conversion in twenty minutes. Serums injected, Parrish brought to conversion chamber. Diana en route," said Bruce's message.
Martin composed a reply, remembering to encrypt the message back to Bruce.
"Acknowledged. Will be ready. You know the plan. Will deploy and execute upon receiving your signal."
He sent the reply, then composed another encrypted message, this time to both Barbara and Lorraine.
"It is time. I will meet you at the designated station in thirty minutes."
Martin sighed, then looked at the chronometer on his desk.
0221 hours.
A bit obscene to resume the conversion process at such an hour. But I suppose that is part of the strategy.
His communicator chimed again, indicating that it had received two new messages.
Lorraine and Barbara had sent identical replies: "Acknowledged."
Martin sighed, then rose to his feet. He walked to his washroom and prepared himself, putting on his synth-skin mask and his contact lenses with great care before donning a fresh uniform. He fixed his hair last, then grabbed his boots and put them on.
This is our only chance, Martin thought as he stepped out of his quarters, heading for his rendezvous with Lorraine and Barbara.
We are risking so much.
But if this does not work…
Martin didn't want to finish the thought as the implications weighed down his soul.