| |
Magnus and Carter left the cell and walked down a long dark corridor. Magnus worried that they’d run into more guards, but they never did. At first he thought the absence of patrolling guards was odd, but the more he studied the situation about the Sleeper Chips, the less he worried about encountering any guards at all.
“Why should they need patrols?” he reasoned. The men guarding the miners did so without worrying about the workers rebelling or rioting, so there wasn’t much need for patrols.
Magnus settled his mind and became more at ease.
“I see you,” a female voice whispered through the speaker in Magnus’ snug helmet. “Who are you and what did you do to Cain?”
Magnus stopped walking and looked around the corridor. He didn’t see any cameras overhead. His nervousness spiked slightly.
“What’s wrong?” Carter asked, turning around.
Magnus held up his hand informing Carter to remain silent.
“Who is this?” Magnus whispered with his visor down.
“Boony.”
“Who are you and what makes you think that I’m not Cain?”
The lady softly chuckled through the helmet speaker into his ears. Her soft voice was sultry when she spoke. “I watched Matt and Cain enter your cell. Only you came out. That uniform is a tad too small on you, but not necessarily in a bad way. You seem to have a better muscular build than Cain.”
Uneasy, he looked along the ceiling for a camera.
“Who is your companion?” she asked.
“I’m afraid I cannot reveal that to you.”
“Why not?”
“We hardly know one another,” Magnus replied.
“You hardly know him or me?” she asked, teasingly.
“Honestly, neither of you.”
Boony laughed softly. “Well, I know your location and every move you make. You can’t hide. I can have a team of guards on you in minutes.”
Magnus nodded. “You could, yes. I don’t doubt that for a moment. So why haven’t you sent them for us?”
“You intrigue me.”
Magnus chuckled. “How’s that?”
“You’re a prisoner, unlike the others, making rounds with a man that I do not recognize. And yet, you wish to keep him a secret? There’s not much to entertain us here in the security center, so I’m curious as to what you plan to do next.”
“Actually, I’m kinda curious about that myself,” Magnus replied.
Carter lifted the mirror face visor on his helmet slightly. “What are you doing? We need to keep moving.”
“He cannot hear you?” Magnus asked.
“Not unless I want him to, and I don’t at the moment,” she replied.
To appease Carter, Magnus started walking again.
“Ahh,” Magnus replied, “I see.”
“So where are you going next?”
“Where’s the element of surprise if I tell you?”
Boony sighed softly in his ear. Magnus liked her voice. It was comforting to hear a woman whispering next to his ear. It was almost intimate.
“You’re heading toward one of the vaults where the MarQuebes are stored,” she replied.
“Then I’m going in the right direction.”
“Hmm, once a thief, always a thief, eh?”
Magnus shook his head. “Never until today.”
“Then why are you in prison?”
“I’d rather not say.”
“Why not?” Boony asked.
“Because you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
Magnus and Carter turned into another corridor. The overhead lights were brighter. He noticed the surveillance camera and nodded.
He said, “I was framed.”
Several seconds of silence separated them.
Magnus shook his head. “See? I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Sorry,” she whispered. “Another tech came into the room.”
“Ahh.”
“If you’re innocent, how’d you manage to get sent to Mars? Usually we only get the worst prisoners. You must have been framed for something horrible.”
“Not that severe a crime actually,” Magnus said.
“Then why did they send you here?”
“A judge wanted to keep me silent.”
“Now you have me even more intrigued.”
“I’m full of surprises like that.”
She laughed.
“Nice that I can keep you entertained.”
Boony whispered, “Tell me. What good are these stones to you here?”
“They have no value on Mars. They’re rocks.”
“Then why do you want them? Do you intend to somehow escape from Mars?”
“You want me to further incriminate myself?”
“Magnus Knight? Is that correct?”
Magnus held his breath for a moment. She held every advantage. He couldn’t see her and didn’t know if only she was watching him, or if there were other partakers, waiting to close in on him and Carter.
“Yep. That’s me.”
“Good. I wanted to make certain.”
Magnus frowned. “You didn’t really know?”
“Sometimes it’s easy to get the rooms mixed up. It was the last time that Cain and Matt reported in.”
“Shit,” Magnus said.
“What’s wrong?”
“Their absence will have other guards coming soon.”
“No,” she whispered.
“And why wouldn’t it?”
“Because your uniforms are tagged with tracers and you’re both active.”
“Oh.”
“According to your chart, your sleeper chip malfunctioned. Wow.”
“What?”
“You act fast for someone that has only returned to the real world for two days.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“You’ve stolen guard uniforms, now planning to steal MarQuebes, and I suppose you’re somehow planning to escape from Mars?”
“It has crossed my mind.”
“As it has many of ours,” she replied.
“What?” Magnus asked. “You don’t like the accommodations?”
“It’s not as glamorous as the virtual tour they gave me.”
“At least they gave you a tour. I got a shovel and an orange jumpsuit as consolation prizes.”
She laughed softly. “I suppose you’re right. It could be worse. I imagine it was a rude awakening for you, huh?”
“It wasn’t good, but it could have been much worse.”
“How?”
Magnus told her about the man that killed himself when his chip had shorted out.
“Oh, God. We got the report for that, but I’d hate to have witnessed it.”
Carter walked ahead of Magnus and reached the vault door first. He pulled at the door lever, but it didn’t budge.
He faced Magnus. “Can you open it?”
“Patience,” he replied.
Magnus slid the guard’s card but the computer denied access. He took the key ring and tried each key. None of them worked.
“Sorry,” Magnus said. “I can’t open it.”
“Damn,” Carter said. “What do we do now?”
“Not sure.”
A few seconds later, the vault door panel glowed. The lock clicked loudly, and the door opened about six inches.
Perplexed, Carter looked at Magnus. “How? Did you do this?”
Magnus shrugged.
He whispered to Boony. “Was this your doing?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“I will allow you to keep moving until I find out more about what you were accused of doing on Earth.”
Magnus pulled the vault door open. “I don’t have time to go into the details right now.”
“You don’t have to,” she replied. “I can research everything about you on the computer. I have access to your records and everything you’ve done while on Earth.”
“I’m an open book, eh?”
“Not yet. But soon.”
Magnus chuckled.
Boony sighed. “Whatever you have to do while in the vault, do it quickly. Anytime someone enters a vault, it is logged, so you don’t have a lot of time.”
He took a deep breath. His stomach ached like someone had kicked him in the gut. He feared someone else might see the opened vault and send guards to investigate.
“I’ll hurry then,” he said.
“You need to. My shift ends in fifteen minutes. Get what you need quickly and get out so I can secure the door.”
“Are you going to turn us in?”
“Not unless I find out that you’re lying to me.”
“I’m not,” he said. “I promise.”
“Let me be the judge of that after I read your records.”
“Fair enough.”
“Now hurry.”