Chapter 5: To Business
It's hard to describe the training room. It's a cross between a gym, a sparing room, some kind of war headquarters, and a kitchen. For weeks it's been getting up at the crack of dawn, stretching after sleeping on a paper thin mattress, then spending all day training Malcolm which, actually, isn't as bad as I'm making it out to be.
I find myself every day enjoying training with Malcolm more. He always seems to be in a good mood, the guy doesn't even seem to frown unless we're going over the blueprints to the Cruciform building (which I pretty much know backwards). Today, however, we're not going over blueprints, we're sparing.
We dance along the octagonal pad surrounding the computer monitors, our foils clanging together as we try to one up each other. I laugh when I start to see sweat come down his face while I'm still cool after a half a hour of parrying his attacks.
"Would you *grunt* please remind me *huff* how you're so good at this Turner?"
I easily parry another attack and stab at Malcolm's chest with a triumphant smile. "I was the California State champion at my high school. I'm still a little rusty."
"A little?" Malcolm looks at me sideways while he towels off his face. "I wish I can see you when you're up to snuff."
We walk over to the computer monitors and Malcolm starts to pull up the blueprints again for my daily rehearsal.
I think about what he said and ask, "I wish I could show you too, Malcolm, but I'm kind of looking forward to leaving this place after the mission."
"Leaving. Right." Malcolm says while he stares at the blueprints slowly coming to life on a holographic projector. "That's one word I've only dreamed about."
The hologram comes up fully and Malcolm starts going over the plan.
"Cruciform Technologies works on some of the biggest military contracts you can think of. Next generation robotics for bomb diffusion, drones, even robots to go into the field and rescue wounded soldiers. They don't just let anyone come into their headquarters and have a look around. They have sonar tracking anything bigger than a breadbox and have heat signature detectors monitoring the ocean for fifty square miles. That was one of the reasons what I wasn't chosen for this mission."
Malcolm presses a button and the interior of the building bleeds through.
"What's interesting about your powers is that they increase when more pressure is placed on your body. Right now you're slightly stronger than the average man. By the time you get to Cruciform you'll be jacked with power for around eight minutes. After that you're back to the weakling you are now."
I punch him in the arm and he laughs.
"No offense. The detectors won't pick you up because the suit you'll be wearing will be hiding your body heat. You'll get through them nice and easy. But what're you going to do once you reach the docking station?"
I repeat the plan like I'm reading straight from the script. "Activate the digital cloak installed in my suit. Keep out of sight of any of the guards and make my way to the elevators. Ride it up to the twentieth floor and retrieve a sample of the Templar data chip along with any digital information I can find. Make my way back down to the docks and get the Hell out. Knock out any guards that get in the way before the sound the alarm."
Malcolm clasps me on the shoulder and smiles. "Good work man. You're ready."
I'm taken aback for a second. Ready? "Ready?"
Malcolm nods his head. "Cruciform's already announced the details of the chip to the world. In three days they're going to be showcasing it and you're going to get to it before they do."
"I've got less than three days to be prepared?!"
Malcolm looks at me with a sad smile. "You already ARE prepared, Turner."
I sigh and plop down on a chair in front of the computer monitors. For the first time in weeks I feel exhausted. By next week, Jane's going to be back home and I'll be back in the water like nothing ever happened. I look at Malcolm for a second.
"Who were you before the Impact?"
Malcolm looks at me for a second and I can see the sadness in his eyes. He sighs, turns to me and leans against the monitors.
"I was a soldier. I was about to go on leave when those damned ships came down."
He looks away from me and instead stares out into nothing. "I can remember running through the streets, thinking that any minute now some ship's about to crush me into a pancake when suddenly I look down and I can't see my feet anymore. People rushed by me like I wasn't even there and those…I don't know, zombie things just sniffed at me like I didn't even matter."
I can see tears start to form at the corners of his eyes.
"I come home and find my wife turned into one of THEM. I could hardly recognize her and she didn't even care about who I was…"
He breaks down and starts to cry.
"I'm sorry man," I say, appreciating how Jane's still alive even more now than ever.
"I-it's okay." He says, wiping away the tears. "Uh, it took me weeks to figure out how to make myself visible again. I helped to fight off the Blights as best as I could, then I found work here, doing, well, whatever you would call this."
I nod and stand up. I clasp his shoulder. "Thanks for the training, Malcolm."
I walk towards the door to go back to my room when I hear Malcolm call out to me.
"Hey, Turner!"
I turn back around and I see Malcolm with the most serious look on his face I've ever seen.
"The contract that I signed to work here? It didn't end after just one job. When you sign on for Sinclair, you sign on for life."
To be continued
Log in to comment