KingCorto
Really Experienced
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2021
- Posts
- 185
It had been a hundred years of progress and prosperity for humanity. The sustainability crisis had been solved, and soon after a series of substantial peace treaties had emerged across long-term conflict-torn areas around the globe, leading to relaxed politics, cooperation, and opening of borders. As so often before, it had been a leap in science that had put an end to the calm. This time, it had begun when Daniel Flux, owner of the Flux Foundation, had launched his missions to the Europa moon, Ceres, and as far as Neptune, settling his private federation, the Flux Federation, on these as of yet unreachable destinations. It had been panicking, among nations, organizations, and corporations, and a new era of paranoia and technology racing had begun.
The word in the intelligence communities was that Flux now had even better technology and were reaching for the stars. After a year of painstaking investigation, including espionage, murder, and a few close calls, the Windward Corporation was finally on track towards the details. The speculation was that Flux was developing his new interstellar engines on San Soliman, a private island in the South Pacific, a tropical plateau between two volcanoes, with shorelines that were insurmountable over massive cliffs to the deafening sea below. The only way in was through the massive steel gates to a seaway tunnel that lead from the sea level into the mountain interiors, where all planning and construction was done.
And it was there that they were going. Dragging the fifth and last picture to the virtual board in the innermost Windward Intelligence meeting room, Arnold took a step back, cocked his head and looked over at Esmeralda standing by the wall, looking at the six people, one picture was of two women, that had just been presented. “What do you think?” Arnold said, “Where do we start?”
The plan started simple enough, get into the facilities, but then it became more complicated. They needed to know where to go, what to look for. Word was that some of the plan, vital parts of it, would be in Daniel Flux’ personal chambers. On paper. It was supposed to be large, though, filling a quarter of a volcano, so they needed to find out where to look. At the science section of the complex, the larger part of the same volcano, were the digital schematics locked down on unconnected computes. They would need the access codes. And then, finally, there was what was only known to be the ‘burn-core’, an essential part of the mechanics, without which Windward didn’t hope to replicate the Flux technology, so Arnold and Esmeralda needed to get it.
Arnold pointed to the first two pictures that were labelled June - Scientist and Maxwell - Engineer. “These two are in the facility now, and mostly all the time. So, we can’t get to them before we enter.” Arnold recapped. “But once inside they’ll be key.” He carried on. “Like all these people, they have… Vulnerabilities in their lives that we can exploit. We’ll see how we handle them, seduce, swindle, extort. They can get us to where we need to be.” Arnold looked at Esmeralda, before continuing, “June faked her research,” he said, “and we know it, her entire career is at stake. She can give us the computer passcodes, perhaps. As for Maxwell, well, he has depths and expensive tastes—it’s unbelievable how much that man can spend given his limited time out in the world, but he does, and he might take money to supply us the part we need.” Arnold smiled at Esmeralda, “Or maybe we find another way to get them to play along, who knows?”
Focusing on the next picture, Arnold’s face became worried. It read Alexander – Security. “Now, this guy,” Arnold tapped the holo-screen, “this guy…” he trailed, “He’s head of security detail during his shifts. And he can potentially get us in there. But the interesting thing with Alexander is his past. Or, that he has no past.” Arnold thought for a second, “So, he’s got his credentials and his CV and all, even friends, it seems. But for a company like Windward, dealing in information, it didn’t take long to shatter that shell. It’s all a ruse, and we have no idea about from where this guy emerged. He was suddenly just there, which makes us speculate if he’s a spy. Maybe one that will work with us, all depending on where he stems from.” Arnold smiled, “Now, as it happens, Alexander is in town for the weekend, so we can reach him. Normally, he’d be on San Soliman too, but this week, there are some conferences at Flux, and he’s here, staying at the Omni, which is just down the street from here, actually.”
The next picture was of the two women, reading Tracy – Flux’ daughter and Tulip – Flux’ wife. “Now, it may seem strange,” Arnold started, “that those wife and daughter to Daniel Flux, because they’re just about the same age. But it isn’t of course. After Tracy’s mom died on Europa, Daniel remarried, so this is a stepmom/daughter type of thing. My strategy is to remember the wife is the brunette, or was that the other way around...” Arnold’s eyes lingered on the picture a little while, then, “They’re on the Moon, at a luxury resort. They hang out a lot, and it would be no problem to get to them there, given the right cover story. Tracy has had some unwanted videos made of here many of whom are in our possession, while Tulip, well, it seems she’s got some affairs going on on the side, something we can document.” Arnold looked back at Esmeralda, “A luxury trip to the Moon to see what these two can tell us about Daniel Flux’ private quarters sound like a sweet deal, don’t you think?”
Only one picture left, Armand – Astronaut. “Last one,” Arnold said, “and maybe a long shot. Armand doesn’t work with Flux anymore. But he was the first to land on Ceres, and he does know a whole lot about the facility. Armand’s fallen on bad times, I’m afraid, it could be worth a reach-out. He’s currently hitting casinos all over the planet, we can quickly find out where he is now.”
Stepping back to the table, Arnold sat back on it facing Esmeralda. “So, where do you think first? Down the street to the Omni? A trip to the Moon? Or see what casino is up, and make our way to Armand?”
The word in the intelligence communities was that Flux now had even better technology and were reaching for the stars. After a year of painstaking investigation, including espionage, murder, and a few close calls, the Windward Corporation was finally on track towards the details. The speculation was that Flux was developing his new interstellar engines on San Soliman, a private island in the South Pacific, a tropical plateau between two volcanoes, with shorelines that were insurmountable over massive cliffs to the deafening sea below. The only way in was through the massive steel gates to a seaway tunnel that lead from the sea level into the mountain interiors, where all planning and construction was done.
And it was there that they were going. Dragging the fifth and last picture to the virtual board in the innermost Windward Intelligence meeting room, Arnold took a step back, cocked his head and looked over at Esmeralda standing by the wall, looking at the six people, one picture was of two women, that had just been presented. “What do you think?” Arnold said, “Where do we start?”
The plan started simple enough, get into the facilities, but then it became more complicated. They needed to know where to go, what to look for. Word was that some of the plan, vital parts of it, would be in Daniel Flux’ personal chambers. On paper. It was supposed to be large, though, filling a quarter of a volcano, so they needed to find out where to look. At the science section of the complex, the larger part of the same volcano, were the digital schematics locked down on unconnected computes. They would need the access codes. And then, finally, there was what was only known to be the ‘burn-core’, an essential part of the mechanics, without which Windward didn’t hope to replicate the Flux technology, so Arnold and Esmeralda needed to get it.
Arnold pointed to the first two pictures that were labelled June - Scientist and Maxwell - Engineer. “These two are in the facility now, and mostly all the time. So, we can’t get to them before we enter.” Arnold recapped. “But once inside they’ll be key.” He carried on. “Like all these people, they have… Vulnerabilities in their lives that we can exploit. We’ll see how we handle them, seduce, swindle, extort. They can get us to where we need to be.” Arnold looked at Esmeralda, before continuing, “June faked her research,” he said, “and we know it, her entire career is at stake. She can give us the computer passcodes, perhaps. As for Maxwell, well, he has depths and expensive tastes—it’s unbelievable how much that man can spend given his limited time out in the world, but he does, and he might take money to supply us the part we need.” Arnold smiled at Esmeralda, “Or maybe we find another way to get them to play along, who knows?”
Focusing on the next picture, Arnold’s face became worried. It read Alexander – Security. “Now, this guy,” Arnold tapped the holo-screen, “this guy…” he trailed, “He’s head of security detail during his shifts. And he can potentially get us in there. But the interesting thing with Alexander is his past. Or, that he has no past.” Arnold thought for a second, “So, he’s got his credentials and his CV and all, even friends, it seems. But for a company like Windward, dealing in information, it didn’t take long to shatter that shell. It’s all a ruse, and we have no idea about from where this guy emerged. He was suddenly just there, which makes us speculate if he’s a spy. Maybe one that will work with us, all depending on where he stems from.” Arnold smiled, “Now, as it happens, Alexander is in town for the weekend, so we can reach him. Normally, he’d be on San Soliman too, but this week, there are some conferences at Flux, and he’s here, staying at the Omni, which is just down the street from here, actually.”
The next picture was of the two women, reading Tracy – Flux’ daughter and Tulip – Flux’ wife. “Now, it may seem strange,” Arnold started, “that those wife and daughter to Daniel Flux, because they’re just about the same age. But it isn’t of course. After Tracy’s mom died on Europa, Daniel remarried, so this is a stepmom/daughter type of thing. My strategy is to remember the wife is the brunette, or was that the other way around...” Arnold’s eyes lingered on the picture a little while, then, “They’re on the Moon, at a luxury resort. They hang out a lot, and it would be no problem to get to them there, given the right cover story. Tracy has had some unwanted videos made of here many of whom are in our possession, while Tulip, well, it seems she’s got some affairs going on on the side, something we can document.” Arnold looked back at Esmeralda, “A luxury trip to the Moon to see what these two can tell us about Daniel Flux’ private quarters sound like a sweet deal, don’t you think?”
Only one picture left, Armand – Astronaut. “Last one,” Arnold said, “and maybe a long shot. Armand doesn’t work with Flux anymore. But he was the first to land on Ceres, and he does know a whole lot about the facility. Armand’s fallen on bad times, I’m afraid, it could be worth a reach-out. He’s currently hitting casinos all over the planet, we can quickly find out where he is now.”
Stepping back to the table, Arnold sat back on it facing Esmeralda. “So, where do you think first? Down the street to the Omni? A trip to the Moon? Or see what casino is up, and make our way to Armand?”
