Acheron Rising: A Federation Chronicles Novella by Ken Lozito

Author:Ken Lozito [Lozito, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Acoustical Books LLC
Published: 2020-09-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Miles glanced back at Wade to make sure he was still following. His friend’s wide-eyed gaze scanned the dark corridor.

“Where are we?”

“Maintenance corridors. No one ever comes down here. Well, except for the maintenance bots, no one comes down here.”

Wade cleared his throat. “Won’t some kind of security monitoring system get flagged and alert that we’re here?”

Miles shrugged. “I’ve been down in these corridors on and off for months, and I’ve never had a problem. Besides, whatever alert might get sent up wouldn’t be for us specifically. We didn’t authenticate to get down here, so we should be fine.”

Wade was quiet for a few moments and then asked, “These tunnels lead directly to your lab?”

Miles nodded. “Well, it’s an access hatch in one of the storage closets, but yeah.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask, but what were you doing in one of the closets?”

Miles quickened his pace, and Wade easily stayed with him. “It’s part of my research.”

“Closet study? Come on.”

Miles shook his head. “No, I needed to access a few autonomous bots that we have around. I needed to make sure… I was just testing some things.”

Wade made an uh-huh sound. “Miles, are you sure we should do this? Breaking into the lab? I’m sure Chancellor Martin has already alerted the university’s governing authorities.”

“I don’t have any choice now,” Miles replied.

“Yes, you do. You can appeal the decision.”

Miles scowled. “It’ll take too long. My brother doesn’t have months for me to go through the appeals process. There's only one way I can speed this along and get what I need.”

They turned down a small passageway that brought them to the access hatch. Miles sent an open-door command using a standard bot communication protocol and climbed through the doorway. Wade followed. A light came on overhead once they were inside the maintenance closet.

“I can’t do this without you,” Miles said.

Wade shrugged and smiled. “What are friends for?”

“No… I appreciate that, but I literally can’t do what I’m going to do without you in there. But thanks.” Miles looked at his friend regretfully. Sometimes Wade didn’t interact so well with people.

“Let’s get this done,” Wade said.

Miles walked to the outer door that led to the lab and leaned toward it, listening for anyone on the other side. He waited a few moments and then opened the door.

Along the ceilings were tracks of thick cables sectioned by high-powered conduits, which pulsed lazily in a dim blue light. A collection of nearly identical workstations formed a phalanx in front of the broad opening of a protective transparent ceraphome screen. The power conduits encircled the room beyond a metallic recliner that sat empty, and the large shadow of a sphere hovered beyond.

Miles walked over to one of the consoles, which flickered, giving the area an odd radiance.

“So, this is where you spend all your time?” Wade asked.

“Yeah,” Miles said. “I was trying to get a proof-of-concept ready to secure the patents in my name, but I couldn’t get the approvals in time.”

“Proof of concept? Do you mean a concept validation for human trial?” Wade asked and gestured toward the room.

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