“AJ programmed them to go anywhere. Beyond the main atrium, there’s a code inside the badge to scramble our identity. Can’t have security knowing where we’ve been.” He slid his badge down the reader, and a green light lit up. We were in.
The break room appeared like any other break room. Vending machines, a sink, microwave, and a table with chairs. A simple design over the other rooms we passed. There wasn’t even a window to let natural light in.
“Over there.” Another reader on a bathroom door.
“That has to be a secret entrance; the last thing anyone would want to do is constantly fight these readers if they have to poop.” I slid my card first, and the door unlocked. Slowly, I peeked through the crack of the door as I pulled on the handle. There wasn’t a toilet in sight. But there was a matte glass door and a golf-ball-sized green button. I couldn’t see beyond the glass at all.
“Clean room.” Vincent propped the door open, then stepped inside first. I followed and as the door closed behind us, the glass box we stood in turned blue. Vincent hit the green button, and air rushed around us. I assumed the lights were UV, and the air kicked everything around. A second glass door I hadn’t noticed opened when the air died down.
Silently, we stepped past the door and saw the labs. People worked on various small projects, but nothing looked predator-house-melting worthy to me.
“Put this on.” A white coat came into my view, and I took it from Vincent’s outstretched hand. The starchy material wasn’t my style, but it would do. I glanced at Vincent and blushed.
“You look hot. Maybe we should play doctor and patient later.” I could see him being attentive to my needs, so patient. Vincent winked before leading me into the room. Oddly enough, no one batted an eye as we walked around. I figured it was safe to say, if we could get in through the security, then they assumed we belonged.
“The satellite is almost ready for trial.” Vincent’s head perked up, hearing the conversation between two men on our right. They walked into a command center look-alike room. There was a big screen with the Terratrex logo bouncing around the edges like an old screensaver. Five men sat at long rectangular desks with computer monitors in front of them.
“HQ1 to ship base, still set for trial in twenty?” someone spoke, and the bouncing logo disappeared as two men fiddling with their own computers came on the screen.
“We need to see more,” Vincent whispered, and I agreed but didn’t see how. It wasn’t dark in that room; the men would definitely notice us, perhaps even ask questions.
A water cooler sat nearby, diagonal to the command room. Perhaps we could be very thirsty workers to hang around it. I pointed to the cooler, and Vincent nodded.
“Confirmed, HQ1. Opening wings at sixty-five percent,” the person on the screen answered before leaning close to his monitor.
“Objective is repel. Ship base, do you have clear sight?”
“Clear sight, HQ1. Countdown in five, four, three…”
I forgot I was pouring water into my cup until water spilled onto my shoes.
“Shit,” I whispered and looked around for a napkin or something, but Vincent’s hand grabbed my wrist to stop me.
“It was them.” My gaze shot back to the screen just as the countdown finished and a bright yellow light shot into space from what appeared to be a big orange satellite.
“Excellent work, ship base.”
Then an alarm sounded from the large screen. That didn’t sound good.
“Communicate, ship base. Our computers show satellite B23 has shifted course.”
“Confirmed. Turn it off! Bryan! Turn it off now!” someone yelled, and the men in the command room were hollering at the ones on the screen as the computers showed the satellite turning.
“Shit.”
“Shut it down!” The computer closest to us showed the trajectory of the satellite. The zoo.
“It’s not turning off! Bryan! Enter the kill code!”
“Don’t you dare. That’s a thirty-five-million-dollar satellite you’re about to leave powerless.” Someone from our side slammed his fist on the table.
“I think we should go,” I whispered to Vincent.
“I have to confirm it’s them.” It appeared obvious to me. I glanced around the offices and saw a few eyes darting to the command room but otherwise continuing on as normal. Perhaps this wasn’t the first time.
“Unplugging now!” The satellite’s yellow beam vanished, then shot back out seconds later.
“Ship base, confirm where it hit!” I knew where it hit. After a few minutes, they confirmed it was the zoo.
