"Right," she said with a chuckle. "Thanks again!"
He nodded and turned away when the comm buzzed, which required him to get back to his work. She resisted a sigh as she left the office. While she didn’t have the signature she wanted, she had a signature. That was a start, right?
She headed to the bathrooms that were mostly abandoned at this time of day. The window of privacy wasn't likely to last, so she needed to work fast. She placed both forms on top of each other with the indoor stress-test on top of the outdoor form. With a few drops of water carefully applied, the ink began to soak into the second form.
It was a delicate process but one she had learned over the years. Not that she'd ever needed to forge signatures before—which this process was, even though it was through a slightly different method than was normally used—but it had helped her to replicate forms so she didn’t have to complete them over and over again.
The final signature was a little smudged but it would pass a cursory inspection. With everyone in as much of a rush as they were, that was probably all she would get—hopefully. One call to Armstong7 would land her in trouble.
Her breathing became short and rapid as she hurried down the narrow halls and she fought to keep herself calm while the seconds ticked by. Every person she passed looked at her like they knew exactly what she was doing and were on their way to report her to the Sanctuary leadership. To her overactive mind, every eye looked accusatory and each glance made her feel like they could see right into her.
She was being paranoid, of course. Jessica13 knew it but the truth didn't make her feel any better. What if one of them actually had divined what she was up to? Was security already dispatched to have her sent to the recyc level where she would work the furnaces in the sweltering heat and fumes until her lungs gave out and she was put into the furnaces herself?
No. There was no way that would happen. She would get out of this place and when she did, she would head out and make her own discoveries, exactly like the Great Prophet said she needed to do.
At the entrance to the hangar, she paused and took a deep breath. Something seemed to burn a hole in the pit of her stomach but not in a painful way. It was more of a tickle. Her hands trembled again but there wasn't much she could do to stop them. Deep breaths were supposed to help, but they didn’t. She remembered feeling like this when the bunker was under attack but she had been drilled for that. In that situation, she knew what she was doing because she’d done it countless times.
Jessica13 had never done anything like this before and very few people had. Sure, there were rumors of those who had Fallen. Either they had tried to escape and been remanded to the lower levels or they had managed to leave. Tales were told of how they had died in the open with no shelter and no Sanctuary. The stories were always the same—the poison filled their lungs and left them screaming through a painful death that took days before they finally succumbed.
Some told of how they had taken mechs with AIs in them and once they died, the mechs kept going until something damaged the power reactor or pirates captured them. Apparently, they had been seen walking for days on end until they were cracked open and the remains of the unfortunate pilot who had taken them were found.
Now, with everything Mini had told her, Jessica13 wondered if any of these were true. They were handed down to her by her superiors who told her they were stories from peddlers and the like. What if they were lying?
It seemed that everything else they had told her was a lie. That made her whole life little more than a pathetic joke. She imagined the likes of John5 and the other admins laughing behind her back over what a gullible fool she'd been. And it was true. She’d never questioned anything and always simply bowed her head and obeyed their words.
Why would they lie like that? What could they possibly have to gain from the subterfuge? Her frustration was tinged with offense, which in turn strengthened her resolve.
She didn't understand any of it but damned if she wouldn’t find out.
The tickle had gone and the shaking with it. She was no longer afraid. Thinking of the admins laughing at her for being so stupid made her angry. Her face heated and she suspected it would turn red before too long.
"Anger's better than fear," she said to herself and hefted her pack on her shoulder from where it had begun to sag as she stepped into the hangar.
A hint of niggling doubt remained in the back of her mind, but she did her best to ignore it. It was easy to do when she reminded herself she was moving away from it and walking away from her doubts.
They would follow close behind but as long as she continued to move forward, they wouldn’t be able to catch up.
It looked like most of the bulletfoots had already dispersed and gone to other areas to work on projects there. The only people who were present in the hangar bay were a group of security officers she hadn't anticipated and a few pilots who worked on their mechs once the day's responsibilities were over.
Security posed a possible problem. The men and women who worked there were among the few allowed to carry weapons in Sanctuary. These were small portable weapons they could carry without a mech. Most of them were electrically powered, the kind that could incapacitate someone when needed. She'd never seen anyone use them before but
