“Like I said,” chimed in Maysah. She flourished her hands out like she was presenting a brand new car as the Tower clarified his abilities. “He does exactly what he looks like he does.”

The look on Maysah’s face slipped from slight skepticism to pure bemusement as Peterson outlined their plan. Just drive right in. Sure, easy enough. Arbiter spoke for her as he called it a fucking stupid plan. She hid the hint of a smile behind her hand by taking a drink of water and pretending to wipe her lip. It was nice to know that Arbiter was at least smart enough to realize that this was absolutely stupid, although he was still dumb enough to go along with it. Then again, she hadn’t gotten up from her chair and hopped the waist-size fence that divided the street from the patio so how could she criticize his intellect?

“I have a question,” said Maysah, draping an arm over her seat. It was for Arbiter, not Peterson. “In general, how close must you be before you can wiggle your fingers and exert control over tech? Theoretically, couldn’t we use your power to shut down the seismic sensors and loop the cameras to give us an option that’s a little less gung-ho than walking in the front door and saying we know Janice.”

Her eyes darted over to Peterson, “By the way, is that even a real person who is actually working with us? Or are we risking having a suitably farcical moment where this whole none-plan blows up in our face when we inadvertently tell the Janice Park that we were sent by a Janice Park?”