Outlaws (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 2)

Chapter 13

The large ship was like a silver and chrome scalpel, slicing through the blackness of space that was ahead of it. Nothing stood in it's way, and it seemed to be almost like a divine power, something that was not meant to be tampered with. The Independence Zero was meant to be that way, built as a weapon of intimidation as well as destruction. The Quantum Engine it had been equipped with only added to the fear. When it was fully charged and operational, they could travel across the entire galaxy in a blink. No one would be able to see them coming, or be able to catch up with them. They were truly an unstoppable force. As Gottlieb looked at the small paperweight on his desk, he felt a strange mix of fear and excitement from being the one who was capable of holding this power. Lovecraft may have escaped from him this time, but now she had nowhere to run. He had been most distressed at first when he had found out that the Quantum Engine had transported them to a separate location. Apparently, since it wasn't exposed to the full quantum field, it didn't follow the same coordinate algorithm as the ship did, and therefore just went somewhere random. Just as he had been ready to track down the architect and have him shot, he received a message from someone he didn't quite expect. He saw a holo-message from Alistar Caligula on Purgatorio. Curious, he had opened up the file, and began to smile more and more as Caligula talked about the two prisoners that had landed on his planet. As the message had ended, he had leaned back in his chair and told the helmsman to chart a new course. Perhaps his luck hadn't run out after all. And as he thought about how his mission would be complete soon, he knew that Metreo's had.

"So, what purpose is this thing supposed to serve again?" Nolun looked down at the small blue dot that Trace had just handed to him, after she had said she could help them. Trace looked at Nolun with a sly stare and pointed at it, trying to keep her voice down and be discreet so the guards on the balconies wouldn't see. "That, lovely, is a contact disruptor. A device of my own design. Simply just stick it on something electronic, and boom! Instantly deactivates. To reactivate it, just take it off. That easy." Andress looked at it, confused. "Ok, but how is this going to help us?" Trace grinned. "That's the fun part. It won't. At least, not directly. When the guards come in to fix the camera, thinking it's broken, they'll expose the wires. That's when you slip this little guy in." She then handed Nolun a small black brick, which was almost as small as a microchip, but longer. "This is a Data Sapper. It can download the files and programs of any device, and copy it into it's own programming. Whatever it saps, it becomes." Nolun nodded, understanding now. "So, you're saying I can put this in my cell's camera, and this thing can become a camera?" Trace nodded and crossed her arms. "Pretty cool, huh?" Andress looked impressed, but also intrigued. "Yeah...Trace, where'd you get the materials to make all these?" Trace shrugged playfully. "That's strictly my business, thank you very much. But, all I can say is that I just knew where to look for the right parts, and I...well...borrowed them." Nolun smirked, then examined the pieces, breathing out a half-sigh, half-pant. He was nervous about this, but it was all they had. He just hoped it would work.

Later that evening, Nolun decided to put his plan into action. When he was sure that there were no guards patrolling outside his cell, he unscrewed the pipe and retrieved the items from where he stashed them, in case they searched his cell. He palmed the Sapper in his hand, and then stood up slightly, pressing the blue button against the camera. He then stood there for a bit. Then, as soon as he heard footsteps approaching, he quickly hid the disruptor under his mattress, and then sat on the bed just as the guards opened the door. The lead one looked at him with a glare. "Did you do something to the camera?" Nolun looked up at him and shrugged. "How could I? It's buried in the ceiling." The lead guard stared at Nolun, then motioned two other guards to move back outside and grab a large tool kit. They took out a large drill and inserted it into two screws in the ceiling that Nolun didn't even know were there, and he doubted he would be able to unscrew it himself. Then, they removed the plating around the camera. Nolun saw several blue and black wires tangled up in a large bundle which went up into the ceiling, and were attached to what looked like a large hard drive on the top of the camera. As the guards turned around again to grab more tools, Nolun quickly placed the Sapper on the hard drive. It blended in with the box perfectly, so they wouldn't be able to see it unless they looked too close. As they prodded and poked around with several instruments, Nolun was beginning to get nervous. If they saw it, it was all over. But, as he was looking up at the camera, he saw a small green light blink on the Sapper. That meant it had successfully downloaded everything. He needed a distraction to get it before they saw it. He kneeled down like he was tying his shoe, and grabbed the disruptor from under the mattress, and slid it over to the small generator for the tools that the guards were using. It stuck to it, and the laser scanner the guard was holding stopped working. He looked confused and sighed as he went to check the generator. "Goddamn old equipment..." As soon as he wasn't looking, Nolun quickly grabbed the Sapper and hid it in his mattress. Then, his heart stopped as he saw the guard pick up the disruptor from the generator. He froze, and watched as the guard looked at it, and was about to say something when the generator started again. He looked at the disruptor and shrugged, tossing it into Nolun's toilet. After he put the camera back in the ceiling, he talked to the head guard. "Everything works. I dunno boss. Probably just a faulty wire?" The head guard shook his head and closed Nolun's cell. As their footsteps went out of range, Nolun laid down on his bed and sighed a huge sigh of relief. But, it still wasn't over yet.