the idea of utilizing the sewer lines.
“I’ll feel filthy for weeks afterwards,” she stated, “regardless of how things turn out.”
In the end, we’d settled on utilizing the air vents. According to the schematics, the underground structure had numerous ventilation shafts that broke the surface at various, widespread points.
“There’s at least two dozen vents spread out over an area of at least a couple of square miles,” Smokey noted. “Why so many?”
“Even buildings on the surface need HVAC systems,” I said. “Air handlers, cooling towers, etc. – in order to get high-quality air. These guys have a huge facility, so big it has its own power plant, and three-fourths of it is completely underground. They need massive amounts of airflow, which means a lot of air vents.”
Smokey nodded his head in agreement, and I smiled to myself. It may have sounded as though I knew what I was talking about, but I was essentially regurgitating stuff BT had told me when he’d gone over the blueprints and schematics with me.
“So we just pick a vent and go in?” Electra asked.
“Not exactly,” I said. I pointed to a specific area on the drawing. “This is the vent that we want to go in. It connects to the shaft that terminates the closest to the living quarters, which is our destination.”
“So if you’re not supposed to be teleporting us, how do we get to that vent?” Smokey asked.
“They can’t monitor every square inch of the desert,” I answered. “It’s impractical. Assuming everybody’s okay with it, I believe we’re safe with me teleporting us to within about a mile of the shaft. I think that’s far enough out that there aren’t likely to be any cameras watching us come and go. Plus, they’ve got some kind of motion sensor that picks up anything that gets much closer than that.”
“Oh, so you saw that on the schematics, too?” Electra asked.
“Uh, no.” I grimaced. “I may have triggered it when I went to check the place out last week.”
“What???!!!” Electra asked, aghast.
“I was planning a rescue mission!” I said defensively. “I couldn’t teleport in because I’d never been there before. So I popped up as close as possible – a few hundred miles away – and zipped over at super speed.”
“And you got within about a mile and then an alarm went off?” Smokey asked.
“It sounded more like an air raid siren, but yeah,” I said. “I tried approaching from three different directions and it was the same every time.”
Electra put her face in her hands and practically screamed in frustration. “How did I get such an idiot for a boyfriend?”
“It’s fine,” I insisted. “I was in and out so fast that they probably thought it was a glitch or a bug.”
“Once is a glitch or a bug,” she said. “Three times is someone testing your perimeter. Your security.”
I blinked, somewhat in shock. This is the kind of thing I should have recognized on my own. I’d been so intent on keeping my promise to Rudi that I hadn’t been giving any serious thought to strategy, tactics, etc. – despite all the training I’d been given.
“Speaking of security,” Smokey said, trying to get back on task, “what are we talking about here?”
His question snapped me out of my reverie. “Uh…the whole area’s a no-fly zone, so presumably they have radar.”
“Which explains why you hoofed it over there instead of flying,” he said.
I nodded. “There are a total of forty-five security guards working three shifts, so fifteen guards per shift. At any given time, twelve of them are on duty in the subsurface facility.”
“Twelve guards,” Smokey said in contemplation. “Seems kind of lightweight.”
“There’s also at least two supers,” I added.
“Of course,” Smokey said, before adding sarcastically, “Why wouldn’t there be?”
“Any idea who the supers might be?” Electra asked.
“No,” I said. “Why? You think they might extend us a little
“I’ll feel filthy for weeks afterwards,” she stated, “regardless of how things turn out.”
In the end, we’d settled on utilizing the air vents. According to the schematics, the underground structure had numerous ventilation shafts that broke the surface at various, widespread points.
“There’s at least two dozen vents spread out over an area of at least a couple of square miles,” Smokey noted. “Why so many?”
“Even buildings on the surface need HVAC systems,” I said. “Air handlers, cooling towers, etc. – in order to get high-quality air. These guys have a huge facility, so big it has its own power plant, and three-fourths of it is completely underground. They need massive amounts of airflow, which means a lot of air vents.”
Smokey nodded his head in agreement, and I smiled to myself. It may have sounded as though I knew what I was talking about, but I was essentially regurgitating stuff BT had told me when he’d gone over the blueprints and schematics with me.
“So we just pick a vent and go in?” Electra asked.
“Not exactly,” I said. I pointed to a specific area on the drawing. “This is the vent that we want to go in. It connects to the shaft that terminates the closest to the living quarters, which is our destination.”
“So if you’re not supposed to be teleporting us, how do we get to that vent?” Smokey asked.
“They can’t monitor every square inch of the desert,” I answered. “It’s impractical. Assuming everybody’s okay with it, I believe we’re safe with me teleporting us to within about a mile of the shaft. I think that’s far enough out that there aren’t likely to be any cameras watching us come and go. Plus, they’ve got some kind of motion sensor that picks up anything that gets much closer than that.”
“Oh, so you saw that on the schematics, too?” Electra asked.
“Uh, no.” I grimaced. “I may have triggered it when I went to check the place out last week.”
“What???!!!” Electra asked, aghast.
“I was planning a rescue mission!” I said defensively. “I couldn’t teleport in because I’d never been there before. So I popped up as close as possible – a few hundred miles away – and zipped over at super speed.”
“And you got within about a mile and then an alarm went off?” Smokey asked.
“It sounded more like an air raid siren, but yeah,” I said. “I tried approaching from three different directions and it was the same every time.”
Electra put her face in her hands and practically screamed in frustration. “How did I get such an idiot for a boyfriend?”
“It’s fine,” I insisted. “I was in and out so fast that they probably thought it was a glitch or a bug.”
“Once is a glitch or a bug,” she said. “Three times is someone testing your perimeter. Your security.”
I blinked, somewhat in shock. This is the kind of thing I should have recognized on my own. I’d been so intent on keeping my promise to Rudi that I hadn’t been giving any serious thought to strategy, tactics, etc. – despite all the training I’d been given.
“Speaking of security,” Smokey said, trying to get back on task, “what are we talking about here?”
His question snapped me out of my reverie. “Uh…the whole area’s a no-fly zone, so presumably they have radar.”
“Which explains why you hoofed it over there instead of flying,” he said.
I nodded. “There are a total of forty-five security guards working three shifts, so fifteen guards per shift. At any given time, twelve of them are on duty in the subsurface facility.”
“Twelve guards,” Smokey said in contemplation. “Seems kind of lightweight.”
“There’s also at least two supers,” I added.
“Of course,” Smokey said, before adding sarcastically, “Why wouldn’t there be?”
“Any idea who the supers might be?” Electra asked.
“No,” I said. “Why? You think they might extend us a little
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