Legend

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

NAOMI: Eh. You'll only get cancer if you stay around more than a few years. Most of these folks get deported to the workhouses before then, so I hear. Funny how so many of the resistance folks I meet have stories like that, huh?

*By the look in her eyes, it isn't very funny. She checks her watch again, then taps something.*

NAOMI: T-minus one minute. Any affairs you gotta set in order, do 'em now.

@Tank O The Lake

*Briefly taps both myself and Vector on the forehead with two fingers*
We should be good to go.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

NAOMI: Yessir. Easy as.

@Tank O The Lake

*For a moment's breath, a glassy deepness seems to stretch across the device at my touch, as if glinting against space itself before blinking back to its proper palette*
When will they set off the first one?
*Hoists it over my shoulder with no apparent effort now*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Legend>

NAOMI: Not insiders. Just buddies in the countryside and a couple hacktivists we got the data off of. The Cooperative is very good at detecting spies in its government apparatus, I'm afraid. Hundred and twenty years of psychoanalysis and profiling research does that. Dead drops are easier, though.

*Naomi dips into a nearby alleyway and emerges carrying a big, navy blue military rucksack. She tosses it to Vector.*

NAOMI: That's the bomb. It's simple enough to set up; you'll figure it out. I might have to... run interference if it comes to that, keep them after me and not you, so I'll need you to take it just in case. Don't let it get damaged or none of us make it out of that place alive.

@Tank O The Lake

*Holds out my hand to Vector*
Is there anywhere specific we need to plant it? I can't imagine we just drop it wherever looks best.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

*Naomi collects the ID cards and hands them over. The officer goes through them, occasionally looking up at the three, then hands them back with a nod.*

MIA OFFICER: Your Chinese is good, Ms. Lovelace, but you must work on your accent. Enjoy your stay in Hong Kong, ma'am.

NAOMI: Of course, sir. Thank you, sir.

*They hurry off towards the metro and board; Naomi looks a little shaky after what just happened, and it's too crowded in here to dare talk about the job. It's only when they get out and towards the deserted city limits that she starts talking again.*

NAOMI: We're going to be hitting the onshore loading dock in order to get to the place. The blacksite itself is an underwater complex; it's only got one entrance we could hope to use, a maintenance tunnel setup that runs under the seabed. The doors automatically lock if they detect unidentified persons around them, and we wouldn't even get close enough to trigger that if the place is guarded as heavily as it normally is, so Mr. Lucy's gotten in touch with some buddies in the local resistance, and they've made arrangements. Once we're in position, they're going to make a distraction, and part of that'll be detonating a low-power EMP bomb near the complex. It won't take out the power entirely, but it'll knock out anything sensitive, communications, surveillance systems, all that. It'll stop the doors from locking, too, since they'll go into a failsafe mode without their linked cameras. Once we're in, we'll make a beeline for their data analysis cluster and grab Drive 24C; it's a black storage drive, shaped like a book, about yea big, probably stored in a cryofreeze briefcase sorta thing.

*She holds out her hands about twenty centimeters apart.*

NAOMI: The second the drive is disconnected from the main network, every alarm in the complex will go off, so we'll set another EMP inside the complex, blow it, and go out the way we came once the lights are out. We'll have to run like hell, but we can make it.

*She chuckles sardonically.*

NAOMI: I'm gonna take the biggest fuckin' nap of my life after this.

@Tank O The Lake

You make it sound like they have insiders. If they have people who can go and grab this on their own, why ask us to?

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

NAOMI: I've known you for less than a day, Vec. Ask me when the Devil's work's done.

*With a huff, she sinks into her chair and closes her eyes.*

@Tank O The Lake

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

*Chuckles*
Of course.
*Leans forward on my elbows and watches throughout the cabin, with no discernable hurry*

@Etcetera

*Crosses my arms less patiently and after a few minutes, starts scribbling on a notepad*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Legend>

NAOMI: Daiquiris are still pretty good; they're basically straight sugar. Can't really mess that up no matter what you do.

@Tank O The Lake

*Half smiles*
You had me at sugar. I'll take two.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Legend>

*Naomi points to her earmuffs and shakes her head.*

*The vessel taxis up to the runway, which stretches on for what has to be at least a few miles. There's a dull, low whine of engines as the aircraft accelerates, then, with a jolt, lifts off the ground. It ascends at a nearly 45-degree angle for a few minutes, and then, without warning, the engines cut to a piercing roar, even through the earmuffs. In an instant, everyone is pressed back hard into their seats as the aircraft breaks the sound barrier, climbing higher, higher, until all outside sound fades away and the engines cut off. Suddenly, the pull of gravity can no longer be felt.*

*Naomi removes her earmuffs and presses a button overhead.*

NAOMI: Check this out.

*The hull panel beside the group turns transparent, showing the dark, gray and brown surface of a poisoned Earth fading slowly into the distance behind them. The lights of huge cities can be seen glimmering through the smoke clouds, and the seas are black as ash.*

*The flight attendant bot reappears.*

ROBOT: Hello! Welcome aboard Cooperative Starlines Flight 1010, and thank you for choosing our first-class accommodations suite! Could I interest you in a snack, or would you like to browse our drinks menu?

*Screens descend on robotic arms to come to rest before each person, displaying food and drinks menus, music, movies, all those premium airline accommodations.*

@Tank O The Lake

*Shakes off the sudden acceleration and weightlessness*
I never get tired of views like this.
*Scans the menu briefly and glances at Naomi*
Anything you recommend over the other?

Myriad Reality

Hi to both

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Legend>

NAOMI: In my opinion, the last good mimosa in this universe was served in a Cuban cantina in Tampa in 2048. After that, the oranges were kind of dick-all; they got all tough and mealy when the climate heated up. Now it's too cold to grow 'em anywhere, so they make it all synth. That's all any food is nowadays, y'know? It's hydroponic or shipped in from the colony farms if you're lucky; most people just get all these chemicals, and they mix them up and sorta just convince them that they're supposed to be food.

*Without warning, the vessel detaches from the boarding gantry with a hiss. Naomi's ears pop as the cabin pressurizes. She reaches into a compartment under the seat and retrieves a set of earmuffs, donning them.*

NAOMI: Put these on. It gets really loud on the way up.

@Tank O The Lake

*The two of us equip the earmuffs, and I speak up to test their properties*
I don't imagine you can hear me?