RESTORATION (a science fiction novel) (RESTORATION (the science fiction trilogy)) (52 page)

As he turned and began making his way towards the lab it dawned on him who it had to be, it was Glitch!  Damn, not good, glitch was a little runt and Toby knew he could kick his ass but that would cause a full scale investigation.  Why in the world the little weirdo wore those little pointy toed boots was beyond anyone’s best guess, but right now Toby was glad he wore those instead of something quiet.

Glitch was smart, he wasn’t like the Guards, most of whom were a little dense, or they just didn’t care all that much to begin with.  Glitch would call for back up immediately if he suspected anyone was messing around in the labs at this hour.  If he made that call there would be a dozen guards down there and even slipping out through the computer labs would be difficult.  

Toby slipped off his shoes very quickly so that he could run to the lab in his sock feet and not be heard.  He got there fast and found Alice just beginning to work on the fifth and last clone.  He came rushing in and just about scared her to death.  She clutched her chest with both hands.     

“Oh my god Toby, you scared me so bad!” She whispered. 

“We have to go NOW!” Toby whispered, “Glitch is heading to the labs, I heard his pointy toed shoes clicking down the corridor.”
         “Oh shit!  We gotta get out of here fast,” said Alice.
         “I’ll get the i-phone off the wall.”  Toby said in a panicked whisper. 

“
Quick, give me that high voltage generator!”  Alice removed it from the clone and handed it to Toby while jamming the rest of her stuff into her bag.
         “Just go out through the restroom and slip away. I’ll take care of the camera and I’ll be right behind you but you gotta go now. I don’t want us to get caught together.”  She started to argue with him but realized he was right, they had to separate. 

As Toby headed to the front of the lab Alice grabbed her back pack and quickly went to the back where she slipped into the women’s restroom.  She went out the other side and began making her way through the computer labs looking for a safe exit.  Toby felt his heart racing, it was as if he couldn’t move fast enough, like in one of those dreams where you’re trying to run away from someone but you can’t get any traction with your feet.  He tried to stay calm, he knew he had about twenty seconds before Glitch got to the lab and he knew you could accomplish a lot in twenty seconds if you just stayed focused.  He jumped up on the stool and stuck the high voltage probe into an air vent in the side of the camera and turned it on.  Sparks began flying around inside the casing.  As he held the probe with one hand, and the battery in his mouth, he reached over and yanked
the i-phone, projector, and all, right off the wall and put it under his arm.  He removed the probe, spun the camera around away from the wall, jumped off the stool, grabbed his shoes, kicked the stool under the desk and took off towards the women’s restroom at the back of the lab.  He was quite certain the high voltage took out the camera so no one could have seen him dashing to the back. 

Just as he was stuffing his shoes and the equipment into his bag, he heard the door to the lab swing open.  He very quietly opened the door to the women’s restroom, just far enough to slip in and let it come to very softly so as not to make a sound.  Now still in socked feet, he went out through the other side of the women’s restroom into the computer labs.  He knew he only had a few minutes to get out of there because the toasted camera had put out a good bit of smoke that Glitch would notice almost immediately. 

He was pretty sure Glitch would insist on that camera being replaced tonight and there would be about five or six guys down there poking around in less than five minutes.  He made his way almost all the way across the compound towards the dorms when he realized he still didn’t have his shoes on.  He had the bag too, and really didn’t want to get caught with the stuff in it.  He was fairly close to the dorms when he noticed some shadows moving along towards the end of the corridor and he figured some guards must have been told to do a walk through.  On the other hand, it might only be the tech guys coming down to replace the camera, but either way he didn’t want to be seen.  No doubt Glitch was suspicious about the camera and anyone out of their rooms at this hour after such an event would be questioned and searched.  He made a decision, he would head for the old maintenance room. 

He made his way along the dark corridor until he almost couldn’t see anymore.  He stopped and removed his shoes from the bag and put them on.  He would rather not go into that dark dirty old maintenance room in sock feet.  He made his way on down to the end of the hall and down the narrow stairs.  He waited for several minutes at the bottom for his eyes to adjust.  He got into the bag and retrieved the
i-phone, it had a great flashlight function on it so he turned it on and used it to locate the light switch string over the bench.  He found it and gave it a yank. 

The whole room lit up with the light from the old LED lamp.     
“Solas Ray to the rescue again.”
He figured he could stay down there until morning.  No one ever came down there and it wasn’t likely anyone would check there during a fairly routine security sweep.  It was nearly 2:00 a.m. now, he only had about 5 hours to get through until the common areas would begin to fill up with people.  After that he could easily slip to his dorm room and get cleaned up.  He had to leave with Todd in the morning to return to the house. 

He began looking around trying to see if there was a spot where he could get comfortable and maybe take a nap.  It was damp down there and a little chilly but he was dressed fairly warm.  He found an old desk chair that leaned way back and was pretty comfortable.  He put his feet up on the table, crossed his arms and fell asleep.  He woke up about once an hour because he wasn’t very comfortable and he kept hearing noises in the pipes overhead.  He didn’t think any of those old pipes were still being used but sounds were traveling along them none the less.  He
woke up again at 6:45 a.m. and he just couldn’t wait any longer.  The cold had finally soaked into him and he was really feeling tired and hungry now. 

He took the voltage probe and
the i-phone out of his bag and stuck them in the back of the bottom drawer in the old rusty tool box.  He noticed for the first time then that there was a water line on the side of it up about two feet.  That must be why the old maintenance room was abandoned, it had a flooding problem.  Oh well, it was dry enough to do what he needed for now.  He turned off the light without looking up at it to preserve his night vision and then he stood there for about three minutes to let his eyes adjust.  He made his way up and out to the end of the long narrow corridor. 

He waited about ten feet back of the end of the corridor where it came out int0 the foundry floor area.  There were a few people milling around down there sipping on coffee and a few here and there reading
digipapers.  It was the closest thing these people had to a court yard and many of them used it as just that every morning.

He didn’t want anyone seeing him exiting from the corridor so he waited for just the right moment.  He saw his opportunity and he walked out swiftly moving along the wall and then down along the ovens towards the stairs.  He made good time and got safely to his room.  Inside he quickly started the shower and undressed.  He was looking forward to washing off the mustiness of the damp maintenance room.  The water was usually quite hot and even though it never lasted as long as he would like, it would warm him up for sure.  As he showered he wondered if Alice got in okay.  He was quite confident that she would have because she got a much earlier start than he did and he nearly made it himself. 

He dried off and got dressed as fast as he could.  He knew Todd would be knocking on his door any minute and didn’t want to leave with him until he laid eyes on Alice.  He was beginning to have serious feelings for her and he just had to make sure she was okay before he left for the house on the outside.

He grabbed his overnight bag and took the remaining items out from the night before and replaced them with his clothing for the trip to the house.  He quickly jotted a note on a sticky pad and slapped it on the door on the way out, it read.
“Went down to kitchen.”  When he first met Todd he wouldn’t have dared to do something like that, but now that they had gotten to know each other a little better, he felt that Todd would probably still question him but not report it. 

He walked just as fast as he could to the kitchen.  Sure enough Alice was there, she looked upset and she was looking around nervously until she spotted him.  He smiled and he saw the look of relief on her face.  No doubt she was tossing and turning all night wondering if he made it out.  He went right over and sat down with her.
         “Oh my goodness,” she said, “I’m so glad to see you.” She kissed him on the cheek when no one was looking. 

“I was so worried,” he said.
         “Me too, I thought that Glitch caught you, I laid awake all night in my bed staring at the ceiling and crying thinking that this morning they would have you down on the foundry floor to do God knows what to you.”
         “So what did you do about the camera?” She asked.
         “I jammed the high voltage probe into it and turned it on, I figured that would fry it pretty good.  I yanked the i-phone down, kicked the stool under the desk and went to the back hall by the restroom.  I was stuffing everything in my bag when I heard Glitch come in the lab door.  I heard his shoes start clicking around in the lab but I didn’t stick around, I slipped out through the women’s restroom as quiet as a church mouse and cruised on out through the PC labs.  I was making good time towards my room when I noticed some shadows moving up the hall towards the foundry floor area.  I figured Glitch had called for a security sweep.  I was a sitting duck all alone in the middle of the oven area holding that bag full of goodies in just my socks.  I slipped into the corridor behind the ovens and put my shoes back on and went down to the old maintenance room for the night.” 

“Oh my god, you stayed in that dark creepy little room all night, that gives me the heebie jeebies.”
         “Well I didn’t have much choice, otherwise they would have caught me and searched my bag and I still had the probe and the i-phone and some hand tools in there.  I would have been dead meat for sure.  So anyway, I got through the night with only a few spider bites, do you think you got everything done on the clones that you needed to?”

“Well I’m not sure, the fifth clone only got about five seconds of juice before you came running in and scared me to death.  The chips in the locked cooler are toast for sure, I zapped them really good.  I’m not so confident about the clones though, especially number five.  Maybe by the time Cyrus gets to number five, he will just give up and assume that they are all brain dead and not even try number five.” 

“Well let’s hope so, we don’t need Cyrus getting information out of Dodge, we need the element of surprise on our side when the team decides to make their strike.  I’ll be leaving here any minute, that is, just as soon as Todd finds me.  I left him a note on my door, I hope he doesn’t get too angry about my not being there in my room.  When I get back to the house, I’m sure they’ll send me back to the Kerrington’s to snoop around some more.  While I’m at the Kerrington’s I’ll update them on everything you and I have done in here the last couple of days.  I think Dodge and John will be pleased.  Oh, here comes Todd.”

Toby had spotted him but Todd had not seen him yet and was still looking around as he stepped into the kitchen area.  Toby gave Alice a real quick kiss, and smiled at her as he got
up, he grabbed his egg sandwich and headed towards Todd.
         “Hey Todd” he said, smiling as he walked toward him.

“Sorry about the note Todd, I was starving and my clothes were still damp this morning.  I had to wait a few minutes to get them dry enough to put on and that ran me late getting breakfast.” 

Todd didn’t seem to upset but he hadn’t really looked at Toby yet he was looking at Alice and a little grin had begun to form on his face.  Toby didn’t know it but Todd saw the two of them together just as Toby was getting up, and he was quite sure he caught the tail end, of what looked like a quick kiss.  Just then Todd returned a little hello wave to Alice who had realized she was discovered and there would be no secret now about their relationship, they were busted.

Todd’s small smile had morphed into a big smile and as they turned to walk away, Todd slapped Toby on the back.    

“You dog!  I saw the whole thing bro, just what have you been up too!  Huh?  Come on, wet clothes my ass, you’ve been cavorting with that little female up in here man, you’re busted.”   Todd shoved Toby sideways with one hand as they walked along and Toby shoved him back.     

“Come on man, cut me some slack, you
’re cool with this right? You’re not gonna? . . .” Todd interrupted, “No way man, I wouldn’t do that to you, in fact I’m kind of starting to like you Tobe, you’re okay.  I just thought you were an old fuddy duddy in a kids body and you were gonna be nothing but trouble, but you’re actually pretty cool for an old dude.” 

Toby snorted out a laugh.

“Well I don’t feel old, in fact until you brought it up, I sort of forgot that I wasn’t just a kid, damn hormones, I guess.” 

Todd smiled.          

“Yeah that must be kinda messed up, having to go through that crap again huh?”
         “Yeah it’s messed up, but it’s a lot easier the second time let me tell ya!”