Chapter 32
Jack be Nimble, Jack be quick
"He got the van. There were no questions asked. He just showed his permit, signed the paperwork then we simply drove away." Don said as Luke just stood there smiling and holding up the signed paperwork still attached to the vehicle's keys.
"Way to go Luke. I'm beginning to think you are enjoying this too much." Scott just had to add. "Remember this is just the first step and each of the following steps could be dangerous."
"I'll remember and I will be careful, I promise." Luke turned and smiled at Andrea and she smiled back.
They loaded the items they had retrieved from the ship then all crawled on board for the flight.
Luke, at the controls, powered up the vehicle and took it into the air with a slow spiral that gave them the opportunity to make sure they were clear of other flyers. Tilting the vehicle forward as they approached the traffic lane increased the speed allowing them to merge with those flyers already in those busy lanes.
When they reached the area where an exit would bring them down close to their target's entrance road they left the speeding traffic behind and descended in that same slow spiral.
Touchdown was anticlimactic even though no one had any particular expectations at this time. Once on the surface they drove to the front of the massive structure in search of an entrance.
No door in front but driving around to the south end gained them a view of a single door sitting on a small platform accessible by a set of concrete steps.
"It starts now, please activate your shields for protection for we don't really know what or who might come next." Scott told each as Don exited the vehicle.
Don quickly ran up the steps and investigated the single door. There were no latches or knobs on the flat metal surface of the access. The dust was considerable and it had piled up against the door to indicate no recent entry through this way for some time.
As they had planned, Don, not finding anything resembling a door bell, beat on the door with his open palm. He whistled while he waited hoping someone would respond to his pounding. Several minutes passed with no response from inside so he made it back to the vehicle.
Everyone exited and stared up at the daunting exterior of the huge edifice. The lofty rim that ran the gambit and circled the castle like structure was unobtainable from their present location out here in front.
"I would not have been surprised if there had been a moat around this thing, it is so crusade. You don't see any knights up on the top, do you?" Jacque said as he stared.
Everyone piled back into the vehicle and Luke drove it around the end and up along the side to see what lay in the rear of this monstrosity.
"Can we fly up to the top with the van and then jump out onto the roof?" Andrea asked as they drove around the end.
"Can't be done as all vehicle, including this one, have undefeatable security, when in flight, that prevents its doors from being opened. We have to do this ourselves without the van's use." Luke explained.
Not much different in back but, due to the way the whole thing was built into the side of the mountain, the rim was not so lofty and, with some effort, it might be reached.
All again exited the vehicle and gather around the front of the van.
"I hate to say this and I will probably hate myself in the morning but here goes. Jacque you and Fortried, could the circus come to town again letting you two entertain us with your high flying act?" Scott asked.
"Ha, you want the big guy to toss me up onto that wall up there, are you nuts?" Jacque said as he pointed toward the rim above.
"Well I just thought of it. After seeing you two at the mezzanine entertaining that crowd, I'm sure you were thrown higher than our wall here."
"I can toss him up there, no problem." Fortried's deep voice echoed off the side of the fortress.
"No problem for you but what if you or I miss."
"I'll catch you and throw you again." Fortried didn't see a problem with this approach.
"You don't have to do this, we can find another way." Andrea said as she touched Jacque arm.
"Ha ha, what a jokester. Jacque loves this type of challenge. He's just looking to see if anyone falls for his wish for sympathy, so humor him if you want.” Scott noted to all as he helped Fortried retrieve the ropes they would use from the rear of the van.
"Thanks Andrea but Scott is correct, I need these challenges to keep my balance in line with my dynamic personality." Jacque's smile was wider than his face as he appreciated Andrea's reaction to his pretended distress.
"Ok, but just to let you all know I am still concerned about Jacque's safety." Andrea smiled as she looked at the others insuring they all knew her thoughts.
The braided line that Jacque slung over his shoulder was light, not meant to hoist anything with significant weight. Once Jacque made it to the rim he would lower the small line so it could be attached to the actual climbing rope. He would tow that rope up and attach it so all would have an opportunity to gain the roof access for themselves.
It was the second toss that clued them into the idea that the rim was just a little out of reach. Jacque fell about two meters short of being able to grab the edge of the target they had set.
Fortried caught Jacque and lowered him to the ground. "That was as high as I could toss him." Fortried seem to lose some of the assurance he had held with this failure.
"Hang on I have an idea. Cut me about ten feet of that climbing rope and give it to me and we can try again." Jacque said as he pointed at the lengthy coil of rope that lay at Scott's feet.
The next toss had Jacque swing that section of rope in a loop as he held one end in each hand. The loop fell over one of the small rectangles that dotted the rim giving that structure the castle like appearance. The sudden jerk of that secure looping swung Jacque into the side of the wall with some force. He held on tight and hung motionless for a few seconds before he brought the two ends of the rope together and climbed too and over the edge of the building.
The sudden appearance of that tow line at Scott's side was met with a round of applause and cheers for the circus act and their performers.
Surprisingly, Luke and Andrea both scaled the wall as if they had practiced this task many times. Scott was a little unsure but got the hang of it by the time he was half way up. They all gathered at the edge and looked back down at the van in the distance marveling at their success so far.
Access into the interior was fairly simple once Frotried had grabbed and yanked, ripping the lock off the entrance hatch they found at one end of the roof area. A electrical contact was made up and a light came on when the hatch was opened and the stairs, now dimly lit, seem to invite them in.
"After you." Jacque said as he bowed the way for Fortried to enter.
"Thanks, I got it, I'll go in first." Fortried took the steps down inside as those with him waited his entry.
Once he reached the floor below he stepped aside and waited as each entered in single file.
Chapter 33
Andrea was simply beside herself
Once entry had been gained from the roof there were no barriers inside so they started to explored the entire facility. The huge control center took up a complete floor with switches and knobs on panel after panel. Each panel was a copy of the next panel on and on from wall to wall. Lights on each switch showed its condition as either closed or open with a red or green glow visible from anywhere in the room.
At the end of those panel on the south wall were the computer links that evidently operated those breaker as desired. The small LEDs blinked and seem to beat with a pulse as they monitored and operated everything in accordance with their internal programming.
Luke headed for that wall as he opened the small pouch he had brought with him. The small rectangle box he retrieved had several wires attached with plugs of different designs suggesting it probably had multiple uses.
It only took a moment to attach the equipment to the wall unit. The three s
eparate plugs, all now secure in place, brought the small machine to life with the small monitor on top lit up and now mirroring the units operation.
The small machine started to buzz and the monitor indicated an incompatibility between the large installed wall unit and the small handheld machine.
"It's been totally redesigned and the output power has,.. that can't be right. That could allow the output through the net to reach an intolerable level. Whoever got caught in that net with the power at max could have their brain scrambled. The safety level stops I had placed in its program have been removed to allow this increase in output." Luke was shaking his head as he read the small monitor. "My guess is that you were right and this net is being used for something unlawful and not just for a shopping lure."
"Can you correct the program and put it back to its original use or purpose?" Don wanted to know.
"Not sure, maybe they left my access code alone but if they didn't, no way." Luke said as he typed out a rhythm on the small exposed keyboard. "If I upload my original program, changing this one back, it will show up somewhere as having an error and someone will have to respond here to correct it. Each facility was individually loaded and I can see that has not been changed."
"That's great, maybe we can use the individual who responds to get to the other facilities and reprogram them also." Scott put in as Luke kept typing. "I suggest we find a way to open that south entrance and hide our vehicle before anyone comes."
Andrea took the van keys and she and Jacque took the stairs that led them down to the next levels and hopefully to the exit Scott had mentioned. The floor below was open with nothing stored or worth mentioning so they made their way to the ground level floor and started toward the south end and the outside access panel they had previously pounded on.
Andrea stopped as they started pass one of the many rooms available off this long corridor. The quick peripheral view through the door left ajar had grabbed her, pulling her head around as if by some magnetic force. She turned and pushed the door fully open to get a better look.
Jacque moved back beside her and they simply stared for several moments.
Lined up in ranks, standing at attention as if they were in the military, were androids. Everyone was a perfect copy of the beautiful face of Andrea and they were too numerous to mention.
Andrea's knees were suspect as she mumbled something incoherent and would have collapsed if not for the quick action of Jacque who caught her and helped her to a nearby chair.
"I never contracted for this many androids, go get Luke. If he has been producing more of these things than I agreed too he better have a good answer." She waved Jacque away. "I'll wait right here, hurry please."
Gathering some strength and regaining her composure Andrea moved over and row by row she inspected the silent stationary clone like duplicates that simply distressed her as she moved among them.
She heard her friends come in and heard there exclamation as they took in the unexpected sight that confronted them.
"Andrea must be beside herself with this menageries." Don said as he looked around for the real person to step forward into view.
"There's a lot of them beside themselves as far as I can see." Fortried added then called her name. "Andrea, are you still in here?"
"Right here." She said as she came back out of the ranks around in front. "Luke, can you explain this, did you do this?"
"No way, I could never do this. I've only done the ones you asked for. You know my factory is too small to accomplish something like this." Luke took a good look at one of the androids up close and personal. He even took a moment to smell the makeup material as he checked the android from top to bottom. "They have my design right down to the access ports and buttons." Luke said as he touched a button and the back of the android opened to allow a look inside.
Luke looked and then quickly backed away. "We should leave this room right now, right now please." Luke hurriedly led the way out into the corridor and down toward the door that hopefully led outside.
The latch on the door operated as expected but it took the strength of Fortried to open it due to the buildup of debris outside against the door and in its swing path.
Once all were clear and outside, Scott asked. "What spooked you in there, was the design so bad?"
"No no, the design is mine, however, the explosives packed inside belongs to someone else. Scared the shit out of me. My opening it like that might have just set it off and nailed us all. My hands are still shaking and my nerves are shot." Luke took a seat on the running board of the van. "I can't go back in there, it's too dangerous, too dangerous."
Andrea sat down by Luke and took his hand. "Sorry Luke, I knew you couldn't have made those. Forgive me for my accusation earlier, I was just so shocked?"
"I don't blame you, you must have been floored when you saw all those copies." Luke look up at her. "It has to be partly my fault. It's my design and I'm responsible for that design's security and somehow that security has been compromised, albeit without my knowledge."
"Those things are so dangerous. If they have the program similar to the net generators, when they are turned on, it would be hard to resist their attraction and lure." Luke nodded his head. "I believe you now. Using Andrea's face to kill people, until I saw it with my own eyes I didn't believe it possible but, the proof is in the pudding, so they say."
Luke moved everyone away from the van then pulled it around in amongst the trees until it was out of sight from the front and not visible from the air.
They all trooped back inside and made their way back up to the generator control floor. As they passed the room with the androids, they reset the door to the previous ajar position to avoid suspicion from whoever responds to the introduced electronic error now malfunctioning in the equipment.
They made themselves comfortable and played the waiting game by getting to know each other. Rapt attention was given when Andrea told of her life and path to the super model she had become. Unknown to most she was a tomboy until her late teens. She played soccer, basketball, hockey and baseball, all with boys teams until she began to draw too much attention from her teammates. Parents began to complain about their boys not keeping their minds on the game when she was around.
Andrea said she did not encourage this attention but soon realized there was no way to avoid it. On the day she turned sixteen she abandoned those sports she dearly loved and signed on to a career in modeling. Offers from manufacturing scouts who had seen her play ball were numerous. Many wanted her to model sport and casual teenage clothing and foot wear. That beginning soon expanded into her own line of recreational wear and the success she now receives galaxy wide.
Luke added comments on her face being known from one end of this universe to the other.
Scott, holding up his hand said. "I have an idea if Andrea is willing to do a little acting."