When Elaine returned to her lab she could feel the fatigue clawing through her veins and she knew she should crash in a chair and stay there; but the anxiety in her nerves wouldn’t let her sit still. So she paced. Almost all of the bullet-time available through the spellcode had been exhausted and the … Read more
“Zane,” Elaine said as she watched the newborn program compile into bytecode and begin to produce results. “I have to run this down; it’ll take me a little bit. I’ll get in contact as soon as I’m done.” Her brother lowered the cellphone for just a moment and nodded. “It’s all good,” he said. “I … Read more
“Longitude in this hemisphere is negative,” Elaine said, pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. “I’ll try that,” Frog said. The satellite picture resolved on the screen into a very familiar set of buildings: the Student Recreation Center. Right smack on the edge of Arizona State University. In fact, not so far … Read more
Achievement Unlocked: Darknet Mission Accepted Warning: Mission dispenser device is tamper resistant; attempts to breach internal firewall will result in destruction and mission failure. “Really?” Elaine said. She withdrew a Firewire connector from a recess in her goggles and poked at the tablet with her fingers looking for another port. “Challenge accepted!” Zane’s hand flashed … Read more
Both having listened in, both Russell and Benjamin nodded vigorously. “I love this thing,” Russell said, gesturing with his phone. “It’s nice being able to talk to everyone else on the team and the spy versus spy part really makes me feel like you said: Mission Impossible. Do you know, I had someone from another … Read more
“I’m not the enemy here,” Zach said. She glanced up from her phone just in time to watch him cross his well-thewed arms across his unformed chest. As a member of the campus security himself, he cut a particularly formidable figure as he loomed over her. “And no, nobody’s raiding your lab. I just wanted … Read more
“The dean isn’t in this morning,” the woman behind the receptionist’s desk said, her voice a dead-monotone matter-of-fact. After a few clicks of her mouse she shook her head. “He didn’t leave me any instructions for you personally, either. I could convey him a message for you, when he returns, if you’d like.” Elaine had … Read more
Agent Toller waited for him to grab his latte before she waved hers at him speculatively. “I take it that Harwood is sticking to his man-of-little-action routine again?” She, of course, referred to the Dean of Engineering, one Richard Harwood, and possibly the least exciting surveillance subject that Agent Warren had ever found himself the … Read more
Elaine shook her head. “If someone is spying on him by leaving bugs in his office,” she said. “It would take some intense training and habit changes for him to address his own personal security.” “Still have your mind on that bug we found in his office?” Frog caught the pillow, set it to the … Read more
The gentle crinkle of ionizing air emanated from Frog’s skin as Hadaly gently brushed her holographic hand across her hair and back. The lights in Elaine’s room were off, but the suffuse glow from the various monitors, LED status lights, and Hadaly’s projected body provided more than enough light to distinguish the edges of objects … Read more