John Krygelski - The Aegis Solution

“No, she hasn’t called in.” She typed a few keystrokes and added, “No email from her either.”

“That’s strange. She always beats me to work, especially now, as close to finishing as we are.”

Bonnie shook her head. “You both pulled a long shift yesterday. Maybe she’s still sleeping.”

The explanation did not ring true for Syndi. With a sigh, she proceeded through the two-stage air-lock entrance to the lab, donning her sterile gown at the final room before entering. She was the first of the team to arrive this morning and immediately took a seat at her station. The white cotton towel she had left in her work area the night before was partially hanging down the front lip of the counter.

Syndi pursed her lips for only a moment, as she recalled placing it neatly beside her work space last night.

“I guess I was more tired than I thought,” she said aloud and picked up the towel, folding it twice, and setting it off to the side.

Next she turned on her work station and, while waiting for it to boot up, lifted up the sterile gown so she could reach her pocket. Syndi pulled out her cell phone before she remembered that there was no service inside the lab. Tucking the phone back into her pocket, she hit the speaker button on the desk phone, dialed for an outside line, and called Yolanda. After five rings, it went to voice mail. Syndi hung up without leaving a message, assuming that Yolanda must be on her way.

Taking a moment to rub her temples in an attempt to sidetrack the advance of an incipient headache, she tucked her hands into the manipulator gloves and opened the capped vial she had been working with the night before.

Marilyn sat on the front seat of the rental Ford Explorer, staring at the front of Aegis in the morning light. Despite the fact that the marshals guarding the perimeter regularly had tow trucks haul away the vehicles of new entrants to Aegis, to either turn over to family members or to auction off, the parking area was surprisingly full. During the thirty minutes since she had arrived, at least fifteen other vehicles had pulled into the lot, the occupants abandoning their cars, bundling the possessions they wanted to take in with them, and braving the hellacious winds.

She knew that once she walked through the front turnstile, there could be no turning back.

“Marilyn, you’re a fool!” she chided aloud, her words barely audible, even inside the enclosed SUV, over the clamor of the incessant gale.

Slipping on the hooded windbreaker, zipping it up to her chin, and pulling the hood over the top of her head, she yanked on the drawstrings and cinched it tightly around her face. With a final deep breath, as if she were about to duck her head underwater for a long dive, Marilyn opened the door.

Jerry Clowrey knocked one time on Faulk’s door before he turned the handle and swung it open, wondering why Marilyn was not at her usual station. Faulk glanced up from some papers and did not greet Clowrey, only looking at him expectantly.

“There was no transmission last night from Charon.”

Faulk did not seem to be surprised by the news. “And Stone?”

“Nothing from Stone either, sir.”

“Have we received a report from Boehn? Is he out of Aegis yet?”

“Yes and no, sir. He has the notes from Bonillas, but in the process was detected by Kreitzmann. It was necessary to subdue and detain Kreitzmann.”

Faulk turned over the new input in his mind for a moment. “At this point, it doesn’t really matter what Kreitzmann knows. Why hasn’t Boehn left Aegis?”

“I can’t say, sir. We were communicating through the hard line, when it went dead. I’ve tried contacting him repeatedly with no luck. I’ve even tried to reach him through the dedicated point-to-point T1. I was unable to connect with his computer.”

Faulk’s mood visibly worsened. Tersely, he asked, “Did he, at the very least, upload Bonillas’ files to us?”

“No, sir.”

Slamming his fist down hard on the desk, Faulk took a full minute to compose himself before he could trust his voice. “Very well. Let me know if anything changes.” He snatched up the telephone handset and punched in a four-digit extension.

Anxious to leave the room, Clowrey simply answered, “Yes, sir,” and backed out, closing the door. As he walked back to his office, Clowrey’s phone vibrated in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw in the display that the call was coming from the lab.

“Now what?” he muttered aloud.

Elias awakened on the cot to the gentle sounds of percolating coffee. Turning his head, he saw that it was Wilson who had lit the camp stove and put the pot on. A few feet farther away Tillie was sleeping on her side, her back turned to Elias. Wilson noticed the movement from Elias, and they made eye contact in the dim light.

Not wanting to disturb Tillie, Elias carefully twisted around on the narrow camping cot until he was in a seated position, the tops of his knees almost level with his chest. Neither he nor Wilson spoke for the few minutes it took for the coffee to finish. When two metal cups were filled with the black brew, the men walked away together, putting some distance between themselves and their sleeping friend.

Elias spoke in a muted voice. “I assume you had a quiet shift.”

“Quiet as a tomb. Did you get enough rest?”

“It’ll have to do.”

“Have you thought of a direction for our efforts this morning?”

“I think so. With the killing of the ZooCity residents, the destruction of the solar panels, and their loss of Eric, I have the feeling that the rats are going to abandon this ship.”

“I would agree. It seems that whatever benefit they may have had from operating in Aegis is deteriorating rapidly for them.”

“When Kreitzmann told you about his back door to Aegis, did he give you a clue as to its whereabouts?”

“He did not. I am not aware of the location of that point of ingress and egress.”

“I think we need to find it.”

“What good will that do? You aren’t planning on leaving Aegis, are you?”

“No. But if we want answers, Kreitzmann is probably the only one in this place who has any. And if we’re right and they are getting ready to leave, then covering the exit makes the most sense.”

Wilson nodded his understanding. “How do you propose we do that?”

Elias shrugged. “I’m not sure. We all went over the plans for this place yesterday, but we were looking for a hiding place, not the logical spot for Kreitzmann’s private entrance.”

“Perhaps a second review, with that in mind, might be helpful.”

“As much as I hate to do this, I guess it’s time to wake up Tillie.”

“Has anyone seen Sweezea and Crabill?” Milton Pierce shouted over the heads of the rapidly assembling crowd.

He singled out three of his regular Madison security team; each in turn shook his head to indicate he had not.

Without giving the two men another thought, Pierce continued in a loud voice, “We are all aware of what has happened at ZooCity. That enclave is no more. We also know that there has been a catastrophic occurrence which destroyed the solar collector system atop Aegis. This has caused partial outages throughout the complex. But the long-term…actually, not so long-term…effect of this is that we are now running on reserve battery power, which will run out in a matter of days, or perhaps weeks.”

The gathering had quieted to listen. He went on, “We are fortunate in that we have two men in our community with training and experience in this area: one, an electrical engineer; the other, a journeyman electrician. But without help, they cannot begin to address what is required. So I need volunteers to assist them in their work.”