So this damn thing was mine, and I could prove it if I could bust the plans open. Without those plans, nobody would take me seriously. The authorities were shy about the big corps. I’d need to make the case myself and hold their hand through it all.
This meant I needed to steal the Sev Tech plans. Tonight. During this night expo.
All participating companies were given storage space in the basement levels of the expo center. It was easy to hitch a ride down the elevator with staffers milling back and forth. No security at that point.
The main basement level was as vast as the ground above. Neon tape partitioned the floor, coded to indicate the company assigned to that partition. Sev Tech wouldn’t be here. This was for the peon companies. Small fries. Sev Tech would have its own room. Or maybe its own basement level.
“Elly Henderson! Wipe your ass again!”
I turned to see a broad-shouldered, sweaty man with a large grin spanning his red face. The ass thing was an in-joke with unpleasant origins.
“Jagcoop!” Then I was in a sweat-coated embrace, lifted off my feet momentarily before returning to the ground.
“You haven’t aged a day.”
Jagcoop had provided muscle to the colonial leaders during the war. He’d been assigned to “protect” me while I did my work. I hadn’t needed protection, but I had appreciated the company. Good guy. Dumb as rocks, but good guy.
I brushed down my shirt after that rigorous hug. Jagcoop was packing heat—a gun on either hip. “Who you working for now?”
“Was about to ask you the same. You got a booth?”
“Nah.” This was an opportunity. “But a friend sent me down to fetch something from storage. You know where Sev Tech’s assigned?”
His eyes lit up. “That’s my employer. I was just coming back from break. Here, I’ll take you.”
The world depended on naive stupidity to keep running. I felt bad taking advantage of an old friend, but…well, no, screw Sev Tech. Jagcoop could find a better employer.
He chattered while leading me through a maze of twisty partitions, dodging workers and robots and the odd dog or two. In the meantime, I got filled in on Jagcoop’s hapless series of romances. Guy never had a clue how to make things work. And unlike me, he kept trying.
“So then, Keala tells me that I should shower. Every day! As if that’s not a waste of time and water, right? So I walked out on him, ‘cause I could do better.”
Smelled about right.
After telling me about his sixth unsuccessful tryst—a Resalian that Jagcoop had insisted on calling “Lizzie”—Jagcoop stopped at a modest-sized elevator tucked away in the back corner. I wouldn’t have noticed it if he hadn’t slapped the door upon arriving.
“Personnel chute,” he said. “Cargo’s got another access point.” He put his thumb in his mouth before plopping it into a thumb-slot on the wall. Ugh, I hated thumb locks. Germ enclaves.
The door whooshed open, and I was in. Through blind luck, I’d gotten access to the restricted basement.
Said basement was less cluttered but not any better lit than its less eminent counterpart upstairs. A hallway stretched into darkness, two doors dotting the wall about ten meters down. Big-shot companies got way more space and privacy than the small vendors.
Hopefully, I could get in and get out. I already had a data tab clutched in my hand to grab whatever was on their comp and run. I knew that the plans may not be there, but I didn’t have any other options. I had to assume the plans they were.
Jagcoop thumbed the lock to gain entry to one of the doors. The room was massive, larger than my garage. A vacant space in the middle marked where the engine had been before it was dragged up to the presentation. The far wall was dominated by a garage door, currently closed. Probably some cargo backway. A small office with glass windows snuggled against a wall. Inside, a woman was watching vids with the volume turned way up. It sounded like some Extreme Spacing show.
“I’m back, Erly.” Jagcoop made an awful hocking sound before launching a loogy onto the floor.
The woman thumped the glass in acknowledgment. She didn’t turn around.
“What was it you were looking for?”
Already sited. I jerked my head towards a portable computer terminal in the corner. “Found it. I’ll just be a minute.”
The data tab was a thumbnail-size hunk of silicon with a hacking program pre-installed. Once plugged in, different routines were implemented to break through security procedures and plunder the computer’s contents. I always had one handy, just in case. No, it wasn’t legal, but it was useful. At the very least, it could backup files from a failing system on the quick.
As Jagcoop checked in with his colleague, I plugged the data tab into the port and waited. The time needed for the program depended on the security features of the target computer. It could be anywhere from twenty seconds to ten minutes. I was hoping more for the former. Yeah, I had gotten into this room, but every second spent here risked discovery.
The screen blinked, and a drive somewhere whirred. I tapped a foot on the floor. The only other sound was Jagcoop and Erly arguing about something on the vidscreen. So far so good.
It was too easy. Far too easy. And so some law of the universe forced a correction. Footsteps sounded outside from the personnel elevator. More than
