I only had to think about it for a second. “Not quite,” I said, and felt myself smile again. “Not this time.”
Chapter 27
I stood over a computer console a few hours later, with Foreman next to me, Reed and Scott lurking behind us. Ariadne hovered near the door mostly, I think, because she wanted to observe without getting in the way. I was okay with that.
I was standing over the shoulder of a woman named Harper, who was as serious as anyone I’d ever met. When she’d offered me her hand, she didn’t give me the dead fish handshake, she pumped with some strength. Not trying to crush my hand or anything, but enough that I knew she’d shook hands with me. She’d not indicated whether Harper was a first or last name, but I suspected it was last because of her ex-military bearing.
“Man,” Scott said from behind me. “That is so cool. You can see everything.”
We were all staring at a flatscreen perched in front of Harper. It was big enough to give us a fairly panoramic view. She had two smaller screens on either side, computer monitors we’d had on hand. She was fiddling with the complicated briefcase-based computer she’d brought along, handing us HDMI cables and asking us to sort out where to place them while she set up. I admired her brass; not many people tell the head of a government agency what they need in such brisk terms.
Being a fan of the no-bullshit approach myself, I liked it.
We were staring at the screens, which displayed a top-down view of a building. A warehouse. One of the smaller monitors had a clear-as-day picture, but the one on the main screen was on infrared. We could see five bodies moving around inside the warehouse through the walls, orange masses with human appendages and heads. Harper fiddled with her interface and the picture zoomed closer, focusing on where three of the people stood talking in an office in the corner of the warehouse.
Like Scott said, it was cool.
“How high up is the drone?” I asked Harper.
“That’s classified,” Harper said neutrally, as if she were telling me the sky was blue.
Reed was standing next to him, just shaking his head. “Like I said, totalitarian surveillance state.”
I just shook my head at him. “Yeah, yeah, I’m not arguing with you. But since we live here anyway, I might as well use it to my advantage.” Reed rolled his eyes, but I saw the hint of concession within them. What else can you do to keep surveillance on your enemies when they’ve got a telepath that can pick you up a mile off?
Well, actually, I had an idea for that, too, but it didn’t come with real-time, down-looking infrared imagery of the Century facility.
“We’ve got movement in the southwest quadrant,” Harper said flatly. “Town car. MARS ONE is rolling up.”
I looked at the left-hand screen and saw what she was talking about after a moment of searching. There were actually a lot of cars moving on that screen, given that there were a few major thoroughfares among the surrounding streets. Once I saw the town car, I figured out how she’d picked it out. It was the only vehicle for about six blocks on that particular street. Sharp eyed, this Harper.
“Comms?” I asked, and Harper nodded once before flicking a button on her console. A speaker came on, presumably filtered out of what was going to her headset a moment earlier. Then I realized: she was listening to the car’s chatter the whole time, and presumably had been in communication with them. I hadn’t even realized it.
“Can they hear me right now?” I asked. Harper gave me a sharp nod. “Janus, are you there?”
Harper gave me an “Are you stupid?” kind of look. “MARS ONE, this is MARS SIX. What is your status, over?” she asked, making me feel like an utter and complete amateur.
“What?” Janus’s voice came over the speaker. “Oh, is that us? Oh. MARS SIX, this is … uhm … MARS ONE. We are settling into position and attempting to place the laser on the target.” He paused for a good five seconds. “Oh, uhm, over.”
“Understood, MARS ONE,” Harper said and flipped a switch on her console. I could still hear the fuzzing and fritzing of the speakers, so I assumed she had turned off the microphone on our side.
“Nifty little thing,” Scott said. “What’s with the speakerphone on the drone controls?”
“We sometimes have to operate in unusual locations,” Harper said, not taking her eyes off the screens in front of her. “The communications capability in the system is designed so we can receive orders from units in the field or a commanding officer who’s offsite.” She shook her head. “This is a new application, I have to admit.”