“Oh, this is why you hacked into the systems and scheduled maintenance for this condo building,” ADI said, guessing at what Catie had planned.
“Yes,” Catie said. She walked around to the back where the service van was; then, she sneaked into the building using the Comm she had programmed as belonging to one of the workers.
“Hmm, we should close that security gap,” ADI said.
“Later.”
“Yes, I’ll close it tomorrow. Of course, that will provide you more cover unless someone spots the timing of the change.”
“Thanks.”
Catie used the elevator to get to the top floor, where Sophia Michaels lived with her parents. She then made her way to the utility closet. The service crew was working on the floor below, so she had no trouble entering the closet and climbing up into the crawlspace in the ceiling. She made her way to the area above Sophia’s bathroom. She clamped her gizmo to the hot water line that led to Sophia’s shower; then, she twisted the screw until it pierced the line, making a connection. Catie reversed the screw so her surprise could flow into the line, then she flipped the switch on and ran a few tests before she pronounced everything ready.
Then Catie made her way back to the utility closet and retraced her steps out of the building. When she made it back to Sharmila’s condo, she carefully snuck back inside and ducked back into the room that she was borrowing for the weekend.
She brought up a display on her HUD and reran the tests she’d run in the crawlspace. Everything checked out, so she went back to bed.
“Okay, I give up. What did you do?” ADI asked.
“You’ll see,” Catie said.
“I don’t want to wait; it’ll be more fun if I know,” ADI said.
“When did you start whining like a little girl?” Catie asked.
“When I stopped getting my way.”
“Okay, in ten days when Sophia takes her morning shower, she’ll get a little surprise,” Catie said.
“Ten days; so you want to put distance between your opportunity to act and the act itself.”
“Exactly.”
“And what is the act going to be?”
“That you’ll have to wait for.”
“Pooh, but I will get to see it happen,” ADI said. “See if I share the video with you!”
“That’s okay. I’m sure I’ll hear all about it.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Are you guys ready to go to Delphi Station?” Catie asked the twins.
“We’re more than ready!”
“Okay, we’re meeting Liz at the airport. She is taking an Oryx up so she can give us a ride. It’s not as nice as flying in the Lynx, but we don’t have to wait.”
“We like the Oryx,” the twins said.
“Hey, Liz,” Catie said as she and the twins arrived at the airport.
“Hey, Alex,” Liz said, giving Catie the once over. “I like this look better than Keala.”
“I do too,” Catie said. “I’m more like myself.”
“We like the green eyes,” the twins said.
“They’re still talking in unison?” Liz asked.
“Most of the time,” Catie said.
“Hey!”
“Hey, yourself. You’re the ones who keep behaving like you’re just one person. It confuses the rest of us,” Liz said.
The twins giggled. “Let’s go!”
“Hang onto your panties, we have to wait until the Oryx is loaded,” Liz said.
“We’re not wearing panties,” the twins said, alluding to the fact that the shipsuits had a built-in panty liner and were designed to be the only thing touching the body so they could manage the heat and moisture.
“Who are they rooming with?” Liz asked.
“They have their own room,” Catie said.
“Good.”
“Ah, there’s our signal,” Liz said. “Come on, your Oryx awaits.”
“What are we carrying?” Catie asked as she and Liz settled into the cockpit.
“Kitchen appliances,” Liz said. “They’re finishing out the last two levels of ring three.”
“No way!” Catie exclaimed.
“Of section one,” Liz said.
“Oh, that makes more sense. I guess you would have said ring six if it was section two.”
“Only if I remembered,” Liz said. “Now, do you want to fly her?”
“You bet! It’s been four weeks,” Catie said.
“It’s going to be a long year.”
“You’re telling me.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Once they reached Delphi Station, they handed off their luggage to one of the stewards and headed directly to the microgravity obstacle course. There was no way they could put up with the twins whining if they delayed that.
“Hey, Liz, hi, Pasha and Aisha. I see those two found a new victim.”
“Hi, Randy. This is Alex, and yes, the twins talked me into bringing them up here so they could torment her,” Liz replied.
“Well, I just finished cleaning it up. The last group didn’t do that well in the microgravity.”
“Tourists?”
“Unfortunately, no. A couple of new security guys. They’ll adapt, this is their first trip up. If they don’t adapt, there’s plenty of work for them in Delphi City.”
“They made you clean it up?” Liz asked.
“Well, the bots did most of the work,” Randy said. “Now, you’re not going to get sick on me, are you?”
“I don’t think so,” Catie said. She did a quick flip to show him that she was comfortable in the microgravity.
“Good, because I have to clean the bots,” Randy said, laughing as he walked on by.
“Okay, how do you guys want to do this?” Catie asked the twins.
“Us against you and Liz.”
“That doesn’t sound fair. Has anyone ever tagged one of you?”
“No way!”
“You might as well give in,” Liz said. “You know that they’ll turn it into them against us no matter how you divide the teams.”
“That’s true,” Catie said. “So, we chase you?”
“Sure!”
“Gotcha,” Catie said as she reached out and tagged one of the twins.
“No fair! We get a ten-second head start.”
“Then go!”
The twins raced through the door and bounced off the ceiling.
“Well, that’s the last time you get to tag one of them,” Liz said.
“Except when they’re chasing us.”
“There is that.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Get!” Catie shouted as she kicked one of the twins in the butt.
“You’re just a sore loser,” the
