In Media Res - Part 2

Arex inhaled deeply and leaped from his crouched position in a single fluid motion. The edge of the building approached rapidly. It was hard to make out make out the exact edge of the building threshold in the darkness. Arex felt a final jolt of fear rip through his chest as he took his last step onto what he dearly hoped was the barrier of the roof. He extended his leg and arched his back, leaping off the building and into the warm night air.

He kept his eyes on the wall in front of him, ignoring the thirty meter drop to the ground below him. Arex felt the pull of gravity on his shoes as his fingers connected with a windowsill. Immediately, his legs retracted and his feet connected with the wall. Only a slight grunt sounded in the vacant alley as the whole of Arex's weight strained against his arms and his messenger bag slammed against his pelvis.

Arex let his arms absorb he shock for a few seconds before continuing the climb up the wall. He moved silently from windows to pipes in short bursts of motion. He curled his hands around the roof threshold and mantled himself with a final push to the top.

The building was one of many high rise living quarters in the residential area of Eavesdown. Prefabricated units that housed a variety of peoples of low income. Naturally, crime rates were high and morale was low throughout the region. The kind of place that everyone pretended didn't exit and police forces preferred to ignore. Arex walked to the northwest corner of the building, keeping his profile low against the night sky. There was actually very little need for stealth in truth. Heads were kept low in the prefabs. People knew better than to ask questions about the unusual.

He reached into the messenger bag and retrieved four small discs from a side pocket. He twisted each of the discs and removed a cover from the tops of each one. A sticky gel glistened in the darkness and he carefully placed each disc carefully on the roof. He crafted an imaginary rectangle with four discs, one at each corner and pressed a button on each one. Soft clicks echoed quietly in the air with each press.

He stepped away from the discs and reach into his bag a second time. He retrieved a rolled piece of plastic from his bag and unfurled it in his hands, revealing a blank iridescent surface. He pressed a black square on the plastic with his thumb and watched as the blank plastic lit up with a bright Blue Sun logo. A few minutes passed as the embedded radio in the plastic began to broadcast instructions to and receive data from the discs. Each disc synchronized with the machine in Arex's hands and began passively receiving information from its surroundings. Seismic activity, electromagnetic radiation, and temperatures all passed from one receiver to the other.

Arex watched as all the information collected together on the plastic screen to form an image. It was a blurry, indistinct image to begin with, the words INFRARED broadcast at the top of the screen. Arex motioned with small twitches of his fingers, and the screen responded with a new image each time. X-RAY, SEISMIC, and TEMPERATURE GRADIENT passed by with little change in each screen. The RADIO screen flipped forward and showed an intense white patch across the entire screen.

Arex poked the middle of the screen with his finger and watched as a small menu appeared on the screen. He touched several menu items, each bringing new options until he chose SQUELCH. A simulated dial appeared in its place, and Arex used his fingers to adjust it. The white on the screen began to diminish and new colors appeared. A series of bright red dots, each surrounded by halos of yellow and green fields, replaced the white field.

Arex removed his fingers, and the dial disappeared, leaving only the colors on the screen. Arex placed the plastic on the ground and tapped the left corner of the plastic with his finger twice. The screen went blank, only to be replaced with a hologram that hovered at Arex's chest. Arex reached to the edges of the hologram with his hands and pinched the hologram with his fingers. He widened his arms and the hologram expanded to follow, adjusting the resolution to match the expanded view. Dozens of bright dots of varying colors and intensities glowed in the darkness; the radio signals detected by the discs.

Arex recognized the five dots at the top of the hologram. They were the discs and his control panel. Other dots seemed dull in comparison, and others were much brighter than the five located at the top. Cortex communicators most likely. Yet, most of the hologram was dark blue or solid black, signifying little to no radio signal at all. No communicators. No satellite receivers. Not even a remote control car. Practically every luxury items built in the 'Verse had a radio of some kind.

Arex continued to scan the hologram, finally noting an odd patch of color near the middle of the hologram. He placed his hands in the middle of the field and widened his arms slowly and carefully until the patch covered the entire hologram. He removed his fingers and watched as the hologram struggled to adjust to the new resolution. The discs compensated, but the hologram remained largely unfocused. Arex could still make out several soft red dots glowing through the darkness. They were too small to be communicator and strangely placed. Arex guessed the image was of a single apartment, which meant that several of the radio signals were located on the ceiling. Others were on the walls.

He used his hands to rotate the hologram in various ways, mentally taking note of each dot location. Arex continued looking at the hologram before poking the center of the image with his finger, bringing a menu to the foreground. Arex sifted through the options before choosing FREQUENCY LIST. He clicked the option and watched as the hologram disappeared. Arex picked the plastic sheet back into his hands as the screen returned with a spreadsheet, listing the frequencies of the radio signals and a variety of technical information. Arex sorted the menu by percentage and watched as the information rearranged itself.

Arex recognized the frequency at the top of the list. It was the reserved frequency for Blue Sun's line of personal network devices. The radios of a variety of luxury devices for those people too lazy or too affluent to write a "to-do" list more than once. Very classy, very expensive, and extremely unusual for low-income buildings like this one. Arex used a personal Blue Sun wireless station on a regular basis.

Arex removed his PDA and poked several of the colorful buttons adorning the touch screen. He punched in a series of numbers and brought the PDA to his ear as he patiently waited for Tazami to answer his. Several rings passed before Tazami's voice sounded over the speakers.

"Speak."

"We have our contact."

"Go on."

"East Building, 7th Story. Hot radios."

"Security?"

"No, Blue Sun wireless."

Tazami didn't respond. Arex could tell he didn't like his response.

"Independents aren't stupid, Nomad."

Arex knew what Tazami's reservations were. Independent affiliated terrorists were prone to paranoia. This particular cell was excellent at keeping their identities hidden. Code names were firmly established and adhered to with utmost diligence. Only the bare minimum business was conducted via public wave. The only lead they had was that one of the contacts lived in Eavesdown. Finding them usually meant weeks of searching databases, sifting through Cortex communication logs and good-old fashioned stake-outs. Luckily, the last communication had been an emergency. They'd gotten sloppy and used a black box communicator that prevented public eavesdrop, but could still be triangulated to a degree of success. Now Arex was suggesting that their target was stupid enough to buy expensive items in a poor housing project.

"Smart people make mistakes too."

Tazami paused and responded tersely, "Ten minutes, undersand?"

"Aye."

Arex slipped the PDA back into his pocket, clicking the "End" button as he retrieved the plastic sheet from the ground. He turned the sheet off and rolled it back into his messenger bag as he walked to the door leading to the stairwell. He looked over the door and prepared to retrieve his lockpick set but stopped as he caught sight of the deadbolt. It hung loosely on the doorframe and Arex frowned as he looked over the lock. It almost appeared...

Arex put his hand on the door and pushed slightly, almost falling over as the door swung open effortlessly. Arex regathered his balance and almost laughed at the fortune.

Maybe the night wasn't going to be so long after all.