Chapter 8 - Fenrir Snow - Hunters
November 16, 3040 9:50 PM
The night sky is shaded with a hue of pink and orange. The lights from Las Vegas make stars non-existent in this part of North America, especially in Primm which is thirty miles away from it.
Colbo and I have arrived at the Primm-Phillips supply depot. We stand outside its gates and I see no sign of a break in. The local law enforcement has been surprisingly cooperative with giving us full access to most of the public buildings in Primm. We didn't really give them any specifics about our mission, just that we were hunting fugitives and that they were most likely hiding within the confines of one of these depots. When law enforcement gets the order directly from the highest members of the United Species Alliance, they tend to cooperate hastily, even if it means answering to a lowly wolf or gorilla. In human territory it's still a human mentality.
The police have provided us with general access keys, allowing us to get past any security the depot may have. When I first heard about what systems they have, or lack thereof, I thought it was a joke. I almost let out a laugh, but then I realized this is all they really have. I guess I wasn't expecting a human city to be in such shambles.
When you're in a close proximity to a place as morally questionable as Las Vegas, these kinds of things aren't surprising. Corruption tends to leak from the source. Just look at all the cities surrounding it. They are hotspots for prostitution, gambling, and illegal drugs. Interspecies hooking, an act that is strictly punished and looked down upon by most societies, human or otherwise, could only happen in a place as poor as Primm.
We walk through the front gate toward the main entrance. It's automatic and slides open the instant we are in range. The area inside the gate looks decrepit. Dead plant life litters the premise.
With the access keys, Colbo and I plan to enter through the front door. The supply depot itself isn't difficult to navigate through. Trevor handed us the floor plan, and I examined every detail on it.
There's a front lobby that is no larger than an average living room. Two doors are at opposite sides, leading to two different areas of the depot. The left one, marked 'holdings,' goes to a hallway that leads to an enormous warehouse where all the supplies are kept and processed. It holds several items, but what the halfkinds are looking for will most likely be food and the insta-items. The warehouse is a large maze of stacked boxes and automated conveyor belts that lead to different teleport stations. Someone far away orders their item, it gets processed through the belts. At the end of all the twists and turns, it is sent out for consumption to whomever ordered it. There are cranes and mechanical arms that help in the shipping process, picking certain items and dropping them in the teleporters for jobs that the belts can't handle. I've never seen these things in action before, but I heard when it's working, the only thing you hear are hundreds of gears and robotics moving simultaneously at one time. So many parts are in motion, too many for the naked eye to keep track of.
The other door in the lobby leads to the clerical rooms. That is where workers do their inventory checks, making sure that all the orders are processed correctly. Machines do most of the work flawlessly, but bugs still occur in the programming and it's up to these workers to maintain things. They set up these offices in case any manual labor needs to happen.
Colbo and I are here mainly to patrol and investigate the warehouse. That's where the goods are, that's where the target will be snooping around. I doubt we'll even step foot into the office side of the depot.
"So Colbo, what do you make of all this?" I ask him as we head to the entrance door.
"Make of what? Our mission?" he asks me quickly as he looks around for anything suspicious.
"No, of this whole situation. These halfkinds and their existence."
"My opinion doesn't matter. I'm here for the same reason you are, because my kind asked me to."
"You obey your orders blindly? Don't you ever stop and think about if they're right or not?"
"Judging by your question, it seems you are the one who has trouble with what we've been assigned to do."
I look at him sharply.
"Not even," I say. "I am loyal to the Brotherhood of Wolves and would never suspect any of my orders. I'm curious, that's all."
"It is not my place to question the motives of my leaders," he says.
"Ah yes, of course not. But I assume you do know the Gorilla Government is in cahoots with the humans. I imagine the Human Council will now be funding a chunk of your war against the lions in South Africa thanks to this mission."
I get under Colbo's skin and he looks mildly angry by my comments.
"Since we have just met, I'll be polite and refrain from knocking the fangs out of your mouth," he says. "And you should be one to talk. Rumor has it that the wolves need some upgrades in their tech. I'm sure human engineers are jumping at the opportunity to help your kind out?"
I flash a small smile.
"Whatever you say," I say. "Guess both of our governments are free dealing then. Politics aside, why do you think they, the Human Council and the other species, want these things dead?"
"I think they feel that these halfkinds are a threat to the balance our world has maintained."
"Balance?" I scoff. "Last time I checked, our world is anything but balanced. The humans are still in control. They have the leg up on all of us, always will. They got better tech, higher numbers, and more resources. We're second class citizens compared to them."
"Better than no class," Colbo says matter-of-factly. "There was a time when we didn't stand a chance. Much has changed and now we are equals in our intelligence. We aren't on the verge of extinction like in the old days."
"Yes, and now we are on a mission spearheaded by their council. And to do what? To make a new species extinct. Seems that things haven't changed at all."
"Don't be so cynical. They are abominations and shouldn't even exist. Their conception only happened through the most perverse actions that the sickest minds could think of. I do not see eye to eye with the Human Council all the time, but I can see why they pushed for this operation. These things are a disgrace to the laws of nature, created by bio techno monsters, a rogue group that is playing God. We need to send a message to those who think they can wield such power."
"If I recall correctly, the last time humans played God, our intelligence was created. Perhaps it's something we should encourage more often," I say wistfully.
"But if I recall correctly, they lost their path to a perfect world. They had everything before we came around. Teleporters had broken through. There were plans for advanced biotics, technology that could be integrated into your mind. Imagine watching a TV without having one, it appears in your eyes. Amazing. So much could've been created. But all of that became lost after the Event, after we showed up. Their development stood still. It's a miracle that they were able to finish completion of the terraformed moon."
I sneer.
"Who cares about the humans, it worked out for us," I say.
"Not this time," Colbo says. "It could open a plethora of issues. People trying to breed halfkind children, genetic mixing that shouldn't exist, and none of us, wolves, gorillas, humans, would be able to control the chaos that might ensue from it."
"Seems like we're picking and choosing."
But in a way, Colbo is right. The existence of halfkinds would bring upon issues that could put society in a panic. Things have barely smoothed out after the Event, the world was not ready for another one.
"I see your point, Colbo," I say. "But what we're doing isn't a mission, it's an assassination."
"What must be done must be done," he says. "It's the cold reality of what we signed up for. Besides, you don't seem like the type to care."
"I don't."
We have reached the front entrance. Colbo takes his access card and puts it in front of the scanner. It takes a few seconds to complete,
but when it is finished the device says "Security systems already disabled."
"Our access cards didn't do anything," Colbo says. "It looks like the security system is already off."
"What do you make of this?" I ask him.
"Either the security system malfunctioned or someone turned it off already."
"If it malfunctioned, repair drones should have been sent already. This was a manual shutdown. Someone is here."
We both look around.
"Did the police say if there was any maintenance scheduled for today?" Colbo asks.
"No," I respond.
"We should contact Commander Trevor to report our status."
"No, I think we should investigate first. I don't want the human to get involved yet."
"It's protocol Fenrir, just do it."
"Fine."
Begrudgingly, I activate the communicator that Trevor has given to us. It provides direct communication via headset to all our squad mates, and has video holographic capabilities.
"Trevor, do you read me?" I ask.
Trevor's face pops up on a video hologram in front of me.
"I read you, Fenrir. What is your status?" he says.
"Colbo and I have entered the Primm-Phillips supply depot," I say. "The security system was already disabled before our arrival. We both agree that an intruder has turned it off. Do we proceed?"
"Yes, but be careful. Over."
We both walk through the front door and, as the schematics tell us, there are two doors, one that leads to the warehouse, the other to the offices. Without hesitation, we head to the warehouse and slowly saunter through the hallway, trying to be as discreet as possible.
The warehouse machines are off, so the whole building is silent. If there is an intruder in the premise, they must be very good at keeping low because I can't hear anything.
We make our way through the warehouse doors and hit an outsized cage that separates the entrance of the warehouse from the rest of it. There's a small doorway that has a manual handle, as opposed to all the automatic doors we had walked through. Since I do not have hands to operate the human handle, I motion to Colbo to open it. He proceeds to gently pull it down, creating a large enough crack for me to pass through. I motion for him to wait until I scout the area, since I am shorter and possess the stealth that his hefty frame doesn't.
All I see are stacks of boxes everywhere. They are labeled with the product names. One box says Alphabrans, a popular cereal among the human population. Another is labeled peaches. It seems this place stores fruits and vegetables. They must be pumped with fresheners. I don't see how a peach could last long in a dank warehouse like this.
All the boxes looked untouched, as they are still piled up neatly. If there was a halfkind looking for supplies, it hasn't happen yet. Things would have been strewn about messily from the rummaging that would have taken place. Either that, or our would-be intruder took every precaution to mask whatever evidence they would have left. I doubt they are that good.
I pace around to see what else is in the warehouse, but I become disoriented by the clutter and shipments. I look back and can't even see where Colbo stands. The fact that my vertical height reaches just over three feet prevents me from seeing over the stacks.
None of the machines have been operating. There's a compcube nearby, so I walk to it and turn it on. It has an encryption device, but my access card allows full rights to go through it. I quickly navigate the menus to check the operating logs of the building.
The first thing I go over is when the last shut down was. The menus are voice operated, but that shouldn't be an issue. There's no one in the warehouse to alarm.
"Computer, state the last time of operation," I say.
"Last time of operation was at 7:00 PM," the computer says.
"That was three hours ago," I say to myself. "Computer, when was the security protocol activated?"
"Security protocol activated at 7:01 PM."
"When we entered, it was off. Computer, when was the security protocol last disengaged."
"Security protocol was disabled at 9:55 PM."
I look at a clock on the warehouse wall. The time reads 9:58.
"Hmm, three minutes ago. Computer, was the security protocol shutdown as a scheduled routine?" I ask.
"Negative, shutdown was disabled manually."
I didn't see any manual override rooms when I was looking at the floor plan. Wherever it was, it wasn't in the warehouse.
"Computer," I say, "where is the manual override located?"
"Manual override controls are located approximately thirty feet below this current room. Its entrance is via manhole in the northwest area of this building."
"If the security protocol was disabled three minutes ago, and it was done manually, that means whoever did it is probably still there. We have to get to that manhole."
I motion to Colbo to let him know the coast is clear. He does not see me, though, so I navigate myself through the labyrinth of boxes and supplies, back to the front where he is waiting.
"What did you find?" he asks me.
"The security protocol was disabled manually, according to their system logs. It's about 10 PM, the system was shut off at 9:55. And the manual shut off is underground, right beneath this very room."
"That means whoever turned it off is still here!"
Suddenly, Colbo and I hear an earsplitting clang hit the floor. It comes from the northwest area of the warehouse, which is the opposite side where both of us stand.
"Manhole cover," I whisper to Colbo, "that's how you get down there. I'm certain that's the noise."
"Let's go investigate," he whispers back, "but we must stay silent."
We walk toward the direction of the clink quietly, traversing through the stacks while remaining on our toes. I hear slight grumblings and heavy panting as we inch closer to where it is.
We are now just around the corner from where an intruder stands. The murmuring is even louder. I can almost make out what he is saying to himself. Colbo wants to proceed, but I tell him to stay behind me. I want to get a glimpse of what we're dealing with before we charge in.
From around the corner, I peer in and see a man. But this man has feathers. And he has a beak. And he isn't wearing any shoes because he has talons instead. It is the bird man from the briefings, it is Lombardi Lawton.
I retreat back to where Colbo is hiding and look at him. I nod my head and give the motion. Before we do anything, I turn on my communicator to reach out to Commander Trevor.
"Commander, we have an ID on a hostile," I say to him. "It's one of the halfkinds, the bird one."
"Is he alone?" he asks.
"Positive, it's just him."
"Good. You have your orders. Engage the target."
"Understood."
I turn off my communicator and give Colbo the signal.