Consensus: Part 1 - Citizen

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Lukas stepped through the open door and rapped his knuckles on the cold, polished surface. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

Director Terrell looked up from his seated position behind a large metal desk. His silver hair and gray eyes echoed the rigid feeling of the office. "Yes. Close the door and have a seat."

Lukas did as he was told, settling himself into one of two uncomfortable chairs facing the desk. If he had been any one of the other thousands of operatives who worked for Outlier Control, he might have been nervous. But he had a special relationship with the director. Terrell appreciated intelligence and talent above all else, and Lukas had an abundance of both.

"I wanted to show you something," Terrell said, waving his hand toward one of the two-dimensional screens on the wall of his spacious office. It flickered to life and began playing what appeared to be footage from an old security camera. "Tell me what you see."

Lukas sat up straighter in his chair. This was obviously another of the director's tests of which he was so fond. "It's from the Barrens," Lukas began, noting a slight gradient in the color of the foggy sky at the center of the footage, telling him which direction the sun was shining. "East. Segment Three."

"What else?"

Lukas ignored the four people in the footage for the moment and concentrated his attention on the less-obvious details. It was a discipline instilled in all operatives from their earliest moments of service, and one the director was sure to appreciate. "From the elevated position, I'd say this is from a rooftop camera. Time of day is ... about seventeen hundred."

"Eighteen zero nine this evening, to be precise," the director said. "I had the footage run through image processing to filter out the fog, so it appears to be earlier than it is. Keep going."

Now Lukas let himself take in the details of the people in the footage. "Three males. Age could be anywhere between mid-twenties to late-forties. The glow around their hands suggests they're in the system, but lowrates, judging by the dirtiness and thickness of their clothing. Outskirt thieves."

"What about the other?"

Lukas leaned forward in his chair. "Female. Fourteen to eighteen. Well rated. Wrong place at the wrong time. She's about to get her credits stolen."

"Good," Terrell said with a smile. "Now keep watching. When it's finished, I want you to tell me why this is important."

As the footage progressed, Lukas watched the thieves in the foreground swipe the girl's credits with a portable scanner. In the background, two people came running. One dropped to the ground a few seconds before the next. They were too far away for the thieves to notice, but the image processing allowed Lukas to see them clearly enough. He could already tell by their movements that one was female, the other male. Both were young. The female got up and started jogging toward the group.

"Do we have audio?"

"No," Terrell answered.

Lukas wished he could hear what the newcomer was saying, but he could tell by the men's body language that they didn't consider her a threat. There was some back and forth, but the second girl was doing most of the talking. Then she walked right past one of the thieves and embraced the first girl, indicating they were friends. "Interesting technique."

The director nodded, but kept silent.

The two girls were making their way toward the city when one of the thieves finally realized what was happening and jogged over to them. When he took hold of one of the girl's wrists, the young male got up and ran toward the conflict. As soon as his presence was known, the body language of the men shifted into combative mode. One pulled out what looked like a knife. Lukas was watching his movements so closely he almost missed the preemptive attack, not expecting it to come from one of the girls. He suddenly got up from his chair and moved closer to the screen, watching it unfold with disbelief. When the three youths ran away, the assailants were still on the ground. Then the screen went dark.