Customs check in went remarkably smoothly – Hunter's work on their cover story providing legitimate reason for them to be there, and the detail about them carrying live-virus samples and tissue cultures kept the officials from wanting to get too close to press for a bribe. The airport facilities team didn't care who or what they were, as long as they paid the hire fee on the hanger, and as soon as Kai transferred a few hundred Nuyen from his stick over to the reader, they handed over a flimsy mag-lock passkey and headed off in their rusty and battered cart to elsewhere in the airport. The hanger they were directed too was pretty old and very basic – essentially just a massive arch to hold the aircraft in, with a set of very primitive toilets to one side. Checking the doors revealed that the name 'lock' was perhaps optimistic, and the place was most definitely not secure.
"I am not sure if we need to use the passkey in the maglock, or just slide it thought the large gap between the door and frame to trip the sensor." Marius examined the security with his voice and facial expression revealing just how cheap and nasty the setup was, and how unimpressed he was with their security situation."
"Well, we just lock the aircraft up tight, and make sure we leave a spirit to keep a watch on it, right? Should be safe enough as long as we're not gone too long, and we've got to be back here to pick up the materials from the international terminal right? We can leave a spirit on guard, I hope, Tads?"
"Yes, Aswon, and as long as we're back by dusk, we can renew it."
"I'll keep an eye on things as well. I ain't going wandering around that shithole…" Hunter hefted his deck up in front of him for a moment. "I got plenty of research to do on Novatech and the facility, the area and so on. So I'm gonna stay here and be comfortable, rather than out there getting spat on by the locals."
"It's not Japan, Hunter! I don't think they'll have any issue with you at all. There's not much in the way of racial bias here actually…"
"I'm alright cheers, Aswon, think I'll not risk it." Hunter did seem determined to stay, so Aswon gave up arguing – and if he was here, with his small arsenal of weapons, it did vastly improve the security situation – that much was certain!
"I am not sure how far our comms will reach. Let me show you the sequence on the power amplifier if you need to cross-link to the communications system… just in case." Marius headed into the cockpit with Hunter, running through the electronics system just on the off-chance that Hunter needed to send a signal to the team. Their own comms wouldn't have the power to respond, but they could at least receive a message from him and know that there was a situation, and that was worth something.
The rest of the team gathered some gear, stashing their larger weapons and taking only what they could conceal under their street clothes, racking helmets and swapping out the heavy combat armour for more lightly armoured but socially acceptable jackets and long-coats. Aswon went a step further and reverted to his tribal gear to go alongside his spear.
"I'll come with you, but not in the group. It's not particularly common to have tribal clothing like this in the city, but it's not that unusual – and I may draw a little attention away from you if we're in the same area."
"Speaking of your tribe – shouldn't you warn them that we're not coming?" Kai reminded him. Aswon gave a gasp of dismay as his memory was jogged and then pulled out his commlink and sent a message to his tribal shaman, letting them know about the change of plan – adding in that they were pursuing a different avenue of attack against their shared foe and that he hoped that the spirits would approve of their course of action.
With that done, the team headed out of the hanger and to the edge of the domestic terminal, finding the stop for the shuttle bus that ran from the airport into the centre of Port Harcourt. They had a few minutes to wait according to the battered and dim electronic sign at the layby, but nobody else was here, so they could at least discuss their plans.
"So – we don't have any substantial information about the Novatech tower at the moment, though hopefully Hunter can dig up some intel by the time we get back. But we do know that she's one of the directors, so like Aswon said it's probably safe to assume that she's on the top floor and in a corner office. That narrows down her location considerably – we might even be able to work out which corner office based on the views once we've had a look around."
"I am in favour of a rooftop insertion. The less of the tower we have to traverse, the better."
"I agree with Marius. Fewer sensors, fewer people – makes a lot of sense to me. Of course, their security will also take that into account, and is likely to be configured to prevent that."
"Agreed. And we need to get a read on their airspace, find out how much drone traffic is present, and of what kinds. Knowing what kind of cover or possible observers will play a key part in our planning of the insertion."
"Couldn't you get some idea of that from the aircraft? With the sensors?"
"Unfortunately not, Aswon. The city is about twenty-three kilometres away," Marius raised an arm and after a quick look around to confirm his bearings, he pointed into the distance. "That means that even a fair-sized city is only going to take up one or two degrees of arc from here, at least the portion that we are interested in. At that kind of range and narrow bearing, we will not get a clear picture of what is going on – any drone traffic will tend to merge into one electronic lump that cannot be easily resolved or distinguished."
"Ahh, so you need to get in closer?"
"Indeed. Close enough that the city is taking up most of the view. " He gestured with his arms, opening them up until they were about a hundred degrees apart. "That will allow us to discriminate any data much more easily. And, it will cut down on transit time and the chance of interception as well, and significantly increase loiter time."
"So we just need to find somewhere nearby that is nice and quiet for you to set up the drone in and pilot it from, without being disturbed?" Marius nodded to him. "Well, it's a sprawling city – I'm sure they'll be a back alley or quiet place we can find to hole up in and do some recon."
"Yes – I will need a few minutes to set up the gondola and inflate the lifting bag, so we need enough room for a vertical take-off once the drone is inflated – but that should not be too hard to find. And we may need to fit in with other drone traffic in the area. If we spot nothing crossing the perimeter, or only drones entering that are broadcasting some kind of licence or authority, we may have to restrict ourselves to flying around the facility and grounds, and gathering data from side views. That will still be valuable, but just take a little longer to piece together.
"From what I understand, Novatech is a tech company. I mean, all of them are to some degree or another – but they have a focus on the more high tech and advanced industries, so it's probably safe to assume that the tech level of their security systems is going to be quite high. And as they're a fairly new mega-corp, it's probably not going to be that old either, so we can expect stiff resistance in that regard. With that in mind, I think we ought to focus a lot of our thinking on the softer side of things – the people. Find out who does the security, or the cleaning, or the low level admin, and work on them, see if we can find a way in there."
"If they use contractors for menial jobs, they will probably arrive via public transit, or perhaps a corporate organised shuttle. So that will indicate they are likely to enter and exit from the main security point, rather than the smaller ones to the corners. We should be able to set up surveillance to watch for that, and determine who they are and where they are coming from."
"My guess is that once you are in the offices, you're pretty much sorted. Classic corporate hard perimeter, but then fairly soft inside – people will assume you're supposed to be there, unless you look out of place or do something suspicious. Maybe we need to buy clipboards from somewhere…"
"And high-vis vests." Marius snorted. "A construction hard hat and a tape measure will also do the job most of the time."
"Another thing we might want to consider is that of the local shadow-talent. There has to be at least someone, in a city of this size. There's a whole bunch of businesses that work on the docks and things, so there's bound to be some activity. Maybe if Kai can talk to the right people we can get connected with the local scene and find some information from that?"
"Certainly worth a try, Aswon. If we can get someone local with some knowledge of the area that could save us a lot of time, or cut down on risk significantly with trying to gather our own data."
"And you might also be able to find out what the mood of the area is, and how much of a difference that might make. If the population all hate Novatech, we might find sympathetic people to work with us, or at least hide us if something goes wrong. If Novatech have an outreach program and have eliminated homelessness in the area, it is much more likely that people will be willing to act as informants for them and report questions about them. Not that I expect a corp to do anything altruistic, but you get the idea?"
"Exactly, Marius – we should investigate their influence and the state of politics in the area, and find out what's going on. Do they have a cushy deal with the local police – do they own the police, in fact? Is the government in their back pocket, or do they have the ear of the local council… could really change what we want to do." Aswon saw a couple of people heading their way, and gestured for the team to look over. "Got some businessmen heading this way, we may need to watch what we say."
"I was thinking of checking the underground access given a chance," Shimazu said quietly, "see if we can find a way into the facility for one, and the tower if possible. Underground might limit our options, but reduces our visibility too."
"One thing I'd like to do if possible, is stop at local shops and restaurants and sample the food." The team looked over at Tads, and she shrugged at them. "For one, it's nice to have some variety. But the main reason is that once I've tasted it, I can look at reproducing it. I'm thinking if I can make something local, it'll be a lot easier to bribe the local kids or homeless people with hot fresh local food than with something they've never seen before." Understanding dawned on the rest of the team, and they nodded in approval at her. "And of course, that means I can make a taste of home for you when we leave here as well, Aswon…"
"You had me at nefarious bribes, but ok." He smiled at her, exposing the massive incisors implanted into his jaws.
"I also want to see if there are any talismongers with interesting things that might be worth picking up – though I have no idea how we're doing for funds."
"I'm sure if we found bargains, we can see about purchases, especially if it's going to help us with our current tasks." He saw the two businessmen stop a good few metres away, pulling their suitcases in between their legs and then burying their heads into their commlinks, dealing with their messages and not paying much attention to them.
A minute later, the bus appeared, a rusty and ancient-looking vehicle with an engine that sounded rough and on the point of giving up. On entering the vehicle, they saw the driver in his cab, protected by a wraparound armour-glass panel, but behind him was just a space. Tracks on the floor running down each side showed where seating had once been installed, but there was nothing there now – but there was instead a badly welded second bar running down the inside edges of the vehicle with additional hanging straps dangling down. By removing the seats it had made moving around with suitcases or other large luggage considerably easier – but it also maximised the capacity of the vehicle, allowing them to cram in a significant number of passengers.
The team paid the couple of Nuyen fee for each of them, moving in to stand in a gaggle on the left-hand side of the bus, letting the two businessmen pass them by and move to the back of the vehicle. Aswon boarded separately, as if he didn't know them and stood slightly apart at the front of the bus. As they pulled away from the stand, the driver called out to him, asking how his trip had been and then starting up a long and rambling conversation about the world, tribal lands, the weather and local happenings. Aswon was happy enough to chat, listening in for any tidbits of information that might be useful, or if nothing else occupying the driver's attention and making sure he didn't focus on the rest of the team.
The first couple of kilometres of road were bordered with fields, gangs of workers already making their way through the hard-parked earth pulling up weeds and getting ready for the first planting operations of the year, the fields stretching off into the distance on the relatively flat plains of the coastal region. The road was badly maintained and frequently they hit potholes hard enough that the suspension on the bus bottomed out and gave them a bone-jarring shake as they passed by.
After about five kilometres, they turned onto a slightly better road – in so far as the potholes were further apart and some of them had been badly filled in and patched, but the bus driver just sped up in response, meaning that when they did hit them the impact was just as jarring as before. Buildings started to close up on the roadside, poorly-built affairs made from ill-jointed concrete blocks and sheets of thin metal that were stained with grime and rust. Property after property they sped past seemed to be selling ancient goods in a lackadaisical fashion, with sad-looking owners sitting on upturned buckets or ancient plastic garden furniture as they watched people speed by.
Progressing down the road, the buildings started to grow closer together, eventually turning into terraces or blocks, all still made in the same rough and ready materials. Huge billboards dotted the road side, but without anything to advertise – leaving only the skeletal frame hovering like a silent tribute to capitalism, lacking even the base material that adverts could be displayed upon. As they drove along they saw police cars dotted around the neighbourhoods – a lot of them, all seeming to be cruising around slowly, hiding behind their tinted windows and just patrolling the streets. Around them, cars and trucks fitted into one of two categories – either seeming to be brand new or ancient, with nothing in-between.
Turning to the south at a dusty roundabout seemed to be the marker showing where the suburbs ended, and the city itself began in earnest. The buildings took another step in towards the road, crowding by the side of the tarmac with narrow lanes leading off into cramped courts showing all manner of manual industries fitted into them. The building quality stayed the same, but the buildings rose in height – yet as they drove along they could see that almost universally the top floors were uninhabited. Indeed, on many of the buildings they passed, there weren't even window frames on the top floors, just gaping holes in the walls that revealed mouldy plaster and ruined rooms as they drove past. The traffic steadily built up, with the usual third world standard of driving, and the honking of horns blared into a cacophony of rage and impatience as moped riders risked dismemberment on a constant basis as they darted through gaps between trucks and cars, or cut into an opening on the wrong side of the road through gaps in the central reservation between the two lanes.
There were no green spaces, no parks or playing fields. No lakes or rivers to run under the road – just unrelenting buildings clinging to the artery of the main road, feeding from the life blood of traffic and passing trade, a constant wave of dreary sameness. Examining the shops a little closer, they saw that most of them sold clothes that looked to be about twenty years out of style, electronics not much newer or foodstuffs – much of which looked to have best it's best long before it made it onto display.
Tads shuddered as she examined the scene in astral space, being hit with an almost overwhelming aura of malaise and depression, the combined hopelessness of thousands of people working a menial and dreary existence with no hopes or aspirations. There was an undercurrent of fear as well, spiking whenever a police car was near them, and all of the people seemed to be uneasy and watchful, guarding themselves well with eyes that flitted around the street in a constant hunt for danger.
Through the traffic, a large number of people were moving around on foot, darting back and forth across the road where they could between the honking cars, taking shelter amidst the cracked lumps of concrete that sometimes lined the centre of the road that provided refuge from the speeding vehicles. Drone traffic was light – and was almost all smaller drones, delivering personal packages of some kinds. Nowhere did they see any of the larger commercial lifters that could deliver heavy goods or bigger packages – they all seemed to rely on the ubiquitous delivery vans – rusty flat-bed trailers with tiny cabs that looked to have been bolted on almost as an afterthought.
"Have you noticed how many churches there are?" Kai murmured, pointing out a shop that appeared to have been converted into a place of worship. Two doors down was another, on a small side lane, then a gap of four shops before another small hall that proclaimed to have been sanctified by some kind of elder preacher. Each seemed to be a different denomination or sect, but all of them had large vinyl banners hanging over the tops of the doors, advising of their times of prayer and extolling the virtues of their own congregation. "That's normally a bad sign – really desperate people, very downtrodden, turning towards a higher power – some supreme being. That's the only way they can see some kind of salvation…"
"Given the state of the buildings and the lack of anything growing, I can see their point." Shimazu responded. "Look at the angle of some of the power lines… they're leaning about ten, fifteen degrees, some of them. Loads of buildings just have rubble piled up outside the entrances, there's litter everywhere, and nobody seems to care…"
On and on it went, kilometre after kilometre of the buildings that could have been turned out of the same low quality mould, ill-fitting lumps of concrete with rusting rebar holding them together, hopeless people milling about, trying to earn enough money to survive another day, and a dry, dreary environment that had to sap the will to live just as much as the high-tech chrome, steel and glass hellholes of the cores of modern cities.
Eventually they arrived at the terminus, a large turning square in the centre of the city, that was only a few blocks away from the Novatech compound. They headed out of the bus, being replaced by a couple of new businessmen and a family looking to travel to the airport in their place, mothers lifting children to stand on their suitcases and reach up so they could hold onto the straps. The bus roared, the clanking diesel engine belching out black smoke as the driver engaged the gears and slowly the vehicle turned and headed north, heading back to the airport and leaving them by the side of the road, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the city centre.
One thing that did surprise them was the same-ness of the area here. They'd expected the buildings to keep on rising, and to improve in quality as they hit the central business district – but instead it was just more of the same, crammed together and without relief.
Kai looked around to get a feel for the people in the local area and then concentrated hard, working on his facial muscles and slowly shifting his appearance, darkening his skin slightly and reshaping his eyes. Over the course of a few minutes his iron control shifted his apparent origins a few thousand miles to the west of his normal appearance. He didn't fit in with the locals still – but now he was a weird generic cross-breed, someone who didn't really appear to have any one set of ethnic markers or origins.
The others took in the sights, examining the city and trying to get their senses used to the massive amount of noise that surrounded them, deafening and incessant after so long spent out in more remote areas. Even here, in the heart of the city, there were buildings that were shabby ruins, stripy faded rooves sitting over empty window frames, home to nothing more than flocks of birds and shattered dreams.
"There is at least a little more drone traffic here – but not much." Marius looked up and around him, turning in place to examine the grey skies. "We should not draw that much attention if we put the drone up – but if we get spotted and tailed, then we would not be able to evade easily. There just is not the infrastructure to break line of sight or blend in with other traffic."
"Could I put a spirit on the drone to conceal it? I mean, that would work against normal sensors right – though it does make it obvious to any magical search, they'll just see the spirit hiding something."
"If there's no magical element to the search, then yes – but as you say, all they need is a watcher accompanying the search party and it becomes very obvious." Aswon was standing ten metres away, studying the bus timetable with interest as far as anyone watching could see – but the comms carried his conversation to them all easily enough at this short range.
"I've been looking at the police since we got into the middle of town. Or rather – I haven't. I've been seeing the police cars, but nothing else. Have you noticed that?" Shimazu glanced up and down the street to confirm his observations. "I've not seen a single police officer on foot, or on a bike or any other kind of open-topped vehicle. Only the police cruisers. And they seem to be just on endless patrols, wherever you look. Just…watching and riding around. I have to wonder if there's a psychological element to this from the government, to remind the population that they're being watched."
"Just stand-by for few minutes, will you? I'm going to go buy a few drinks, maybe some food. Maybe tag along and just soak up the atmosphere." Kai headed over to a small van that had a counter and opening built into the side, and started to haggle with the owner over a few cans of nuk-a-cola and some snacks. Shimazu moved in slightly closer to him and studied the shop owner's body language, while the others just casually milled around, keeping their eyes peeled in different directions.
Once they had some drinks, he headed over to a different vendor, operating out of a concrete porch, and purchased a bunch of strange pancake-like concoctions, made out of a lumpy batter mix poured onto a hotplate and then filled with some kind of mashed plantain. He chatted away for a few minutes, handing out the food as each one was made to the team, eventually getting around to asking about the Novatech facility. The vendor claimed to know someone who worked there as a cleaner, claiming that they had a good job, a nice job working for great people. When Kai indicated that he was interested, and that he and his friends were businessmen looking to invest in people who had experience, the vendor almost fell over himself to tell Kai that he could arrange a meeting, perhaps with his family to make their family friend feel more comfortable – perhaps at a nice restaurant. Kai nodded along and said that it sounded like a great idea, and smiled as the vendor pulled out a phone, dialled, and then dropped into rapid-fire Nigerian.
"It's me, I'm at work. Hang on. What is your name, sir? Your name, can you give it to me?" He looked at Kai and smiled, and Kai just smiled back reassuringly. "Can you tell me your name? I need your name to tell my friend who he is meeting." He glanced around at the others, taking in their blank and confused expressions to, repeating himself a few more times. "Ok, listen carefully. There are some people here, foreign people – they want to meet with someone who worked at Novatech. I told them I knew someone…"
Next to the stall, Aswon stood against the wall, mostly out of sight of the vendor, apparently studying his phone carefully as he listened to the man talk with his wife or some family member, informing them that they were all going out to a nice restaurant that evening – so make sure the kids were well dressed, but didn't have any food until that evening. He struggled to keep his face impassive, and started to tap in some notes onto his phone, getting ready to push those out to the group. After another minute of chat, the vendor hung up and turned to face Kai again.
"Ok, ok, it is all arranged. We will meet with the man who worked at Novatech, and he will tell you everything you want to know. We can meet you at the restaurant, ok?" Kai nodded and smiled again, then passed over some contact details to the vendor, who was now beaming fit to burst at the idea of a grand meal for him and his family. Kai thanked him and led the rest of the team away, while Aswon hung around for a few minutes before carefully following them towards the main road, sending the message and then activating his comms.
"Kai, the guy was spinning drek. I don't think he knows anything at all, and it's just a big con-job to get a free meal for him and his family."
"Well, that's a shame. Still, we'll go along anyway."
"What?"
"Well, we'll need to eat regardless. And it might be a good cover to make us stand out less. And we can still talk to him about other things and get some background info. There's something very wrong here. Very wrong indeed."
"What do you mean?"
"When I was talking with the people – they're all very happy to serve you, very friendly – but it's only skin deep. They're worried, really worried about something. Even when I'm paying them for goods, their eyes were constantly on the move, watching for something. And there's proper fear whenever the police cars go past. The people here… they remind me of people moving through gang territory at night, on their own. They're worried enough to fear for their safety, even here in the middle of town. And I can't work out why."
"I was getting that kind of vibe, too. And the other thing that struck me when you were talking with people is their willingness to do a deal. It felt like if you'd pushed hard enough they'd have sold you their grandma or their kids…" Shimazu added. "It felt very much like everything was negotiable, for the right price."
"So yeah – I think it's still worth going for dinner. After all, around here – it's not like the restaurant is actually going to be that expensive is it?" Aswon was forced to concede that to Kai – and even a slap-up meal for an entire family wasn't really going to dent their funds noticeably – not when set against the kind of fuel costs or gear purchases they normally dealt with. "What's that!" Kai suddenly broke off, and Aswon picked up the pace a little to close the distance. He saw the group standing on a corner, looking over the road at a small plaza that showed five large well pools with a large number of people standing around them, filling up old plastic drums, used pop bottles and other containers with the water that emerged from the hand pumps, carefully filling their containers with water that didn't look that fresh or potable.
"Drinking wells – here in the middle of the city?" Tads said with obvious puzzlement. "I would have thought there would be taps and pipes and things, like other places."
"So do I, Tads. Out in Aswon's village, I'd kind of expect this, maybe in a large village or a small town – but not here in the city. I tell you, something is really off about this place…" Kai looked around a bit more, then down the main road, spying the huge grey wall at the corner. "I guess that's the edge of the Novatech compound. Let's go for a walk…"
"Are you heading down the south side, Kai?"
"Planning on it, Aswon, why?"
"That's cool. When you get to the corner, take it steady and feel free to window shop. I'm going to walk north along the west side, then go along the back of the facility, and down the other side, then I'll come back along the main road to meet you. I just want to get some quick recon done on the far side."
"You ok on your own?"
"I should be – I don't think I'll get into any trouble, not in daytime. And I've got my walking stick, just in case. And even if I do, our comms should just about reach."
"Alright then – be safe, and we'll take it steady." Kai watched as Aswon strode off, his long legs propelling him along the dirty littered pavement at a speed that would have been a trot to most people. The crowd parted for him as he moved, even the most churlish of men deciding not to get in his way as they looked up to his face – either that or the confident way that he swung his spear forward, the butt rapping on the floor with each step. They gave him a few minutes, then crossed the road to the southern side and started to slowly amble eastwards, heading along the main road.
The compound was set back from the road by about ten metres, and the area between the road and the wall was pretty much clear and mostly barren – being either compacted bare earth or struggling grass, patchy and intermittent, mixed in with a few hardy weeds. Here and there were piles of litter or odd burnt patches, possibly the results of abandoned mopeds or idly discarded cigarettes setting fire to some of the random litter that seemed to accumulate on every street. Beyond the cleared patch, the wall rose sharply – climbing vertically as far as they could see, a dull greyish-blue slab of plasteel that rose more than eight metres up. At the top they could see metallic struts sticking out towards them, rising up at a forty-five degree angle for a metre. Zooming in his view, Marius caught sight of a faint glint there – there were four sets of wires running through the struts horizontally, incredibly fine strands of something that were stretched taut from one strut to another.
"I do not know what it is, but there is a defensive wire on top of the wall. Four wires in fact, split out approximately every twenty centimetres. It may be monowire, or capacitance wire – or just a taut wire attached to a strain gauge and alarm. I cannot tell without a closer look, but we should assume the worst until we know for sure. That makes climbing the wall considerably more difficult, and we need to rethink any plan that involves ladders, grappling hooks or lines, and if we are levitating over the wall, we need to allow for considerably more clearance to avoid the possible sensors."
"Yeah – no drek. Monowire's the stuff that cuts you real bad if you run into it, right?" Kai looked at Marius, getting an emphatic nod. "What about the capacitance stuff – what's that do?"
"It detects changes in magnetic and electrical fields. How it works is quite technically complex, but the simple explanation is that if you take a device with a power cell – like tactical comms, or even a commlink, or a meta-human body near it, it changes the capacitance of the wire, and it sets off the alarm. They can be set to detect very small changes, and are very difficult to spoof – though depending on the environment, they can have issues with things like birds landing on the wires and setting off the alarm."
"Ok, so no damage, but they alert the troops. Not quite as bad, but definitely not good." Kai stared at the wall for a minute, then waved for them to move onwards, and they continued to wander down the road, examining the shops and businesses on the south side as much as the unchanging wall on the north of the road.
To the west, Aswon headed up the side road, following the compound wall to the north. The gap between the road the wall here was not as wide as the front, being five metres at the most, but it was just as clear as the front of the wall. However, about two hundred metres up the road, he spotted a deep drainage canal running alongside the road, about a metre and a half wide, and perhaps two metres deep, made of U-shaped concrete pre-cast troughs that had been sunken down below road level. A sickly green slime filled the bottom of the canal, and there was a noticeable smell of pond scum or decaying matter that indicated that the water in there wasn't flowing. He wasn't sure where the canal went – it just stopped quite abruptly, so there must be an underground chamber or pipe that funnelled it away somewhere – or this was the 'head' end and it flowed away much further around the wall. It seemed odd though, and he made a mental note to discuss with Hunter – hoping that his engineering knowledge would make sense of it.
Further up the wall, the road angled away to the west by a few degrees, gradually opening up the distance between the edge of the road and the wall, until it was nearly as wide as the front clear zone – but unlike the front, people had then built on the road-side, plopping down rough huts and buildings in the first few metres. They didn't look like dwellings, but more like low-end commercial properties – and each one of them had either a wooden or concrete slab walkway over the canal to reach their entrance. Eventually he found someone working in one of the small businesses, busy refurbishing a gas bottle with some hand tools, and he asked him about the canal, wondering how much it made things difficult with getting supplies and customers over the deep canal.
He was surprised to learn that the canal had been dug or put in when the compound was built – as apparently there had once been a lake or natural bowl there that used to fill with water from the area, collecting surface run-off and storing it to drain away slowly. When Novatech had cleared the area, it had been put in to act as a storm drain of sorts, providing somewhere for the flash-floods to run off into. He immediately wondered what that meant in terms of conditions underground – and made another note to discuss with Tads. They'd have to be careful with tunnelling if there was a chance of underground streams or possibly even subterranean pockets of water, as that could pose a significant risk to them.
Finally he came to the north-west corner, and found the pedestrian entrance, and discovered it was not quite as small as they'd been led to believe. A sturdily built gatehouse was covered from above and had two heavily reinforced sections with a gated tunnel between them. The outer door was a heavy-gauge security shutter, made of horizontal and vertical bars densely packed together – you could see into the corridor, but there was no way even the smallest or most slender elf was sliding between those bars. The gate at the far end was a solid shutter, blocking the view of the enclave beyond. A quick glance to the sides showed a large mirrored window on both sides, along with scanner pads, mag-swipes and other gear. Presumably people headed into the centre path from the outside, and the outer gate was then locked, their credentials checked and only when they were cleared were the inner gates opened. No doubt there was a security detail in both sides of the gatehouse, and short of heavy weapons or explosives, he doubted they could breach the walls or gates of the guard posts without giving them time to respond to any attack.
He turned east, picking up speed and following the narrow road as it ran between the wall and the houses to the north side of the road. They, too, had walls, though theirs were only a couple of metres high – but it was still enough to make the road feel more like a canyon than anything else, and it cut down the light reaching the area by a noticeable amount. The houses to the north appeared to be slightly better constructed than they'd seen elsewhere, and he spotted security cameras on many of them, angled to cover their own walls. No doubt they'd have partial coverage of the road as well, and that added an extra complication to any attempt to cross back here – though not much of one.
He also spotted some graffiti on the walls back here – not much, and it looked more like the individual work of kids or youths rather than gang or tribal markings. The canal had also narrowed here, being no more than a metre wide, though if anything it was possibly deeper than on the west side. As he was studying the paintwork on the wall, he noticed a subtle shift in the colour and felt himself gasp. Looking forward and backwards to ensure that nobody was actively watching him, he strode over to the canal and then hopped across it, closing on the wall. He didn't stop moving, wanting to keep up his pace and not look like he was interfering with anything, but he did need to get a closer look at the wall, and possibly a physical check of it. He swapped his spear to his left hand and let his right hand brush along the surface of the wall, checking the texture of the surface.
"I don't believe it." He muttered to himself. Another quick look up and down, and while nobody was actively watching he pulled out his knife and scored it along the surface of the wall, trying to get a few flakes of the material to scrape off the surface. If he was right then this wasn't just Plasteel – but Plasteel-7. It had been 'discovered' quite a while back, an evolution in the Plasteel line of materials that replaced the cunningly named Plasteel-6. Promising lighter weights, increased resilience and cheaper costs, it had been widely used all over the world – until its fatal flaw came to light. When a special compound was applied to it, a very strange chemical reaction occurred, turning the incredibly hard and strong material into something more like chewing gum. It bubbled and heated up, but could be cut with a pocket knife and reshaped by hand – at least until the catalyst boiled off. Then the reaction reversed, hardening the material into the new form. While it was flexible, though, even a solid wall like this could be manipulated and forced to open up, allowing a person to actually push their way through what should have been a solid wall.
Of course, when the flaw came to light, people stopped using it, and replaced it where they could – but some people just couldn't afford that, and there were still some odd places around the world where it was in use. Aswon just couldn't believe that Novatech were using it here… He then realised that Novatech probably hadn't, and that they'd almost certainly sub-contracted out the work to local companies for building the enclave, and clearly someone had either had a back stock of old material, or had decided to cut corners and use cheaper and non-ratified materials – and pocket the difference. He wiped the knife edge carefully into a plastic bag and sealed it, then moved on smartly -hopefully either he or Hunter could do some tests on the material to confirm his suspicion later.
At the front of the compound, the rest of the team saw the opening to the main entrance, and fortuitously, a service station opposite it. They headed in and purchased a few drinks and snacks, then sat on the rickety picnic table just outside the entrance of the station, studying the compound on the other side of the highway.
One of the first things they noticed wasn't anything to do with the Novatech facility – at least not directly, though they had no doubts it was still the root cause. But, for the first time since their arrival they actually saw a police man, standing in a small structure in the middle of the road. It was little more than a wind-break and roof, open from the waist up and giving almost 360 degree vision for the lone officer standing inside. His uniform was crisp and clean, but a large polarised visor obscured the top part of his face, including his eyes.
Beyond him was the wide four-lane entrance road, stretching back into the compound with the walls rising up above it on both sides. More sensor posts littered the top of the wall, blanketing the area with coverage. About thirty metres back from the main road was a large fence and set of sliding gates – heavy-duty barred metal affairs that could slide shut over all four lanes of the entrance road. They were wide open at the moment, but manned with half a dozen guards, all wearing Novatech livery and wearing tactical belts laden down with gear – including a drop holster for a fairly meaty-looking pistol.
Beyond them, the road continued for another hundred metres, until it reached the actual main checkpoint – the covered area they had spotted on the overhead map. Here the road split up into smaller lanes, each passing next to a gatehouse or checkpoint. The guards here were more heavily armed and armoured, sporting sub-machine guns and heavy flak jackets. All the traffic was being stopped for at least an identity check, and as they watched they could see every few vehicles were subjected to a more thorough search, with sensors being extended under the vehicle to check the underside, rear doors and cargo bays inspected or the occupants being asked to step out of the car and wanded by the security team. This happened just as much to the leaving traffic as those entering it seemed, though it wasn't to a consistent pattern – it varied from as little as every third car to as many as five.
"So, looks like the outer gate is the edge of corporate territory, and where their extra-territorial status starts, and they're keeping the guard force light and more in lines with a low-key public presence, while the heavier troops are inside. And I bet they've got some drones or gun turrets tucked away there as well."
"Standard procedure would be to have some anti-ram barriers buried in the approach road as well, that can be triggered by the security force or if the sensors detect a vehicle attempting to speed or force entry." Marius added. "But I would agree with your assessment, Kai."
"I think the outer forces do a preliminary screening and are probably more versed in social etiquette and customer handling than the inner forces. They turn away the gawpers, or prepare people for the proper ID check, but they're probably not meant to actually stop a serious threat – more to act as a tripwire. The distance between them allows for a few seconds of response time to do things like raise the barriers or activate the turrets if there is a problem." Shimazu added.
"Oh, what's this?" Kai gestured with his head down the main road to the east, where a large column of people were approaching. Marching down the clear area between road and wall were four lines of civilians, moving with purpose towards the main entrance. They were not marching in the traditional sense you would see of armed forces – they definitely were not walking in step, or even directly level with each other – but it was clear they were all together and moving with a common goal, keeping in the same formation and moving at the same speed. "Ok, I don't know what's going on here, but get ready to bail."
"Look at the policeman!" Shimazu said quietly, and they saw the officer holding one hand over the concealed earpiece while the other held his microphone close to his mouth as he called in the occurrence. From his body language he clearly expected that this was not a good thing and was calling in backup – but he also made no move to leave his post or take any physical action.
As the head of the column broke past the concealment of the wall and started to march across the road, it kicked off a wave of response. At the closest gate, the pistol-armed troops immediately fell back, crossing the path of the gate and standing in a line across the four lanes of traffic, stopping anything from entering or exiting, while the gates started to trundle closed, moving at walking speed with a low rumble that carried clear across the noise of the traffic.
At the far gate the response was just as noticeable. Barriers rose up from the ground, blocking the road in every lane and troops appeared out of the checkpoint, moving weapons into a ready position as they, too, positioned themselves across the road. The handful of cars caught in the space between the two checkpoints were directed to pull over to the sides of the road nearest the walls, the drivers remaining inside their vehicles as they cleared a fire lane towards the front gates – though the range would be quite long for the sub-guns. That was soon answered though as a couple of electric buggies appeared from the main building and sped over with reinforcements, all armed with assault rifles and wearing much more overt security armour, all emblazoned with the Novatech logo.
The marchers had moved fully across the road by now, obscuring the team's view of the entrance, and then they turned, the first three ranks facing to the north, towards the Novatech facility, while the last turned to the south, facing towards the main road and the team. On a shouted command, placards and banners appeared, and were raised overhead, and a few of the marchers swung round drums or whistles, and started to bash out a rallying cry. One of the marchers produced a bullhorn and began an address, calling out Novatech for their ecological damage and destruction, citing them for their abuse of the land and making an emotional call for the Nigerian people to rise up against the foreign polluters.
By now a lot of the passers-by on the road had also stopped, lining the south side of the road and watching the demonstration, and traffic also slowed to a crawl as people looked out of their vehicles to see what was going on. Some of the traffic had wanted to turn into the facility, and finding their way blocked by a hundred strong mob of people sat in the highway, blocking traffic behind them and adding to the jam.
Kai wandered over to some of the local people, asking what was going on and found that this had been happening for several days now – and that around midday each day, the column of protestors approached and blocked the entrance, calling on Novatech to repair the damage they'd done. Opinion seemed split amongst the crowd as to if the protests was a good thing or a bad thing, and there were all kinds of contradictory rumours flying around. Kai was tempted to add some more to the mix, but refrained for the moment – best to see just how this one played out.
It didn't take long for the police to arrive – in fact it was a suspiciously short amount of time since the call from the policeman out of the front to when the first vehicles came driving down the clear space outside the wall, having to go off-road to work around the backed up traffic. A horde of police emerged from the vehicles and headed towards the entrance, forming a counter-line that covered the four lanes of traffic and mirrored the protestors.
"Look at how they're armed and armoured," murmured Shimazu, "those aren't regular cops. They're riot troops. Stun batons, extendable staffs and clubs, pepper spray, riot shields. None of them are armed with firearms. Their armour is all heavily padded and tends towards rigid plate. No good for stopping a gunshot, but great for a punch or a cosh. I'd bet money they're also fire-retardant as well."
"That makes sense, I guess. You don't want to risk getting into a melee and finding the protestors grabbing your gun."
"More than that, Kai, look at the body language. Those guys are up for a fight. They're itching to wade in and disperse that protest, but they're being held back. But if someone gives the command, they're going to be more than happy to run in and crack some skulls."
"Hmm. I think you're right. Look in astral, and they look like a predatory beast, like a wolf stalking. They really want to engage. And it looks like Novatech have a couple more of those big elementals on the gate now as well. Two big air elementals, watching from inside the perimeter fence."
"I'd imagine they're going to stay well inside unless someone breaches the perimeter. Looks like Novatech is going to let the police deal with this as a civil matter. That indicates that they have pull with the local police – they must have to get a couple of squads of riot police set up and waiting nearby just in case – but they don't control them outright."
"Well, let's just wait and see what happens…"
To the north, Aswon hurried along the back road, eventually reaching the north-east corner and turning south, finding the third and final entrance to the compound. It was a mix between the pedestrian entrance to the north-west and the main entrance. It was far smaller than the main road though, limited to a single narrow lane in each direction, with no room for bigger trucks or high vehicles – but retaining the twin fences and dual layers of security. As Aswon approached he saw security tightening up, and gathered from the fragments of team chatter that something big was going down at the main entrance. The guards here responded as well, tightening security and increasing scrutiny on every vehicle that tried to pass – of which there were few.
He studied the scene for a minute, then hurried south, trying to get back to the rest of the team before anything major kicked off. Picking up the pace until he was almost breaking into a trot himself, he soon covered the distance, approaching the service station from the east and heading over to stand near, but not with the team, making eye contact with a few of them to reassure himself that they were all ok.
Now that the police cordon was in place, the protestors responded by starting to chant and sing, interspersed with speeches and cries. None of them made any physical moves though – whoever was organising the march kept them under iron control, and not a single person made a step forward or any move that could be construed as a hostile act. The row on the back, facing to the south also made sure that nobody approached the marchers from behind or was able to disrupt them by surprise, keeping a watchful eye out for any agitators or infiltrators from the police.
A few minutes later and the first reporter arrives, filming the scene and starting to make reports, the journalist or presenter standing in front of the cameraman, laden down with a holo-recorder and light rig, external microphone booms extending over their backs to hover over the journalists head and pick up their every word. Once they'd reported on the scene, and with the lack of action from the marcher or the police, they turned and started to interview the crowd, finding out the thoughts and opinions of the locals on the event – with the usual range of responses. Some clearly thought that Novatech operating in Nigeria was a good thing, bringing in cash to the economy and providing jobs, while others were much more rabid about their opposition, claiming that the corporation was extorting cash and resources from the country for their own nefarious needs.
The team started to move, making sure they weren't in the background shots of any of the news cameras as they worked through the crowd, canvassing for opinions and looking for those polarising views at either end of the spectrum that would make the best sound-bites for the evening news. Aswon gave a wink to the team and then wandered into the crowd, starting to ask questions of his own but with a very loaded viewpoint.
"Say, have you heard about the village they destroyed the other day? Tried to steal all the women and children for one of their camps."
"I heard they're having troubles in the hills, substandard work on one of their bridges killed an entire train full of people – but they're covering it up, of course."
"Friend of mine knows the tribal shaman up there. Says they've awoke the spirit of the land, and now the Mountain of Death is after them. Killed a whole bunch of them too…"
He moved through the crowd cautiously, not staying in one place too long and choosing his victims with care, looking to find the most gullible and garrulous looking people he could, sinking a nice little tidbit of partially true information along with a healthy sprinkle of drek, then moving on and leaving it to stew.
He caught sight of one banner amidst the protest and broke away from the crowd, heading over to the team and joining up with them for the first time since they'd approached the facility.
"Look in the middle there. See the biggest sign, the one in green? Look what's written on it."
"Terra Comes First!" so what?
"Well, it's not conclusive – but it's their tag line. Terra First – they're a militant arm of the Greenpeace organisation. They're NOT above bombing polluters, sabotaging camps, blowing up bridges – all that kind of stuff. Direct action when peaceful protests don't work. If there's Terra First operatives here, then this 'peaceful protest' might not stay that way, or it might be being used as cover for something else. But whatever it is, we need to be careful and observant."
"Fair enough, Aswon. Well, this has just gotten a lot more interesting, to say the least. Let's move down the way a little and find somewhere away from these journalists to sit and watch a bit more, and see what happens – but be far enough away in case it drops in the fire."
With that the team headed east, moving down until they found a low wall they could sit on and watch the protest from a safe distance, waiting to see what would happen next.
