It doesn’t take
long for something to, even temporarily, become engrossed in the public
conscience. Take The Mirage for example;
it took, about, a week for him to be openly discussed in the public
square. The discussion might have died
down if the police hadn’t refused to talk about the matter; some even
insinuating he wasn’t real. Tyler and
Susie kept a low profile about the matter; though they did try to get a sense
of public option. Of course, the big
question was how he could become invisible and, thankfully, no one seemed to
know what tech behind it.
After school,
the Smith siblings went home with Tyler going straight to his room. Packing up his gear he went right downstairs
again. Stopping to give his mom a hug he
said “I’m going to meet Sam in The Lab so I might miss dinner.”
“Make sure you
let me know when you get there.” she asked as she gave him a water bottle.
“Will do mom.”
Tyler said as he walked out the door.
Walking out of
his house he turned left to get to the nearest crosswalk to Central Park. Walking through one of the park's many
entrances he saw Jennifer sitting on a park bench. She had on a light purple coat with jeans;
looking like she was waiting for him. She
got up as Tyler took a deep breath and meet her along his way. She walked right alongside him without saying
anything for a minute, letting the obvious hang in the air.
Clearing her throat, she asked, “Have a minute?” When
he answered he did she continued with “Is there something you’ve been meaning
to ask me?”
“Yeah, I
suppose there has been.” Tyler said taking a moment to pause. He continued with “We know each other a long
time now. I just didn’t want to mess
things up at this point.”
Jennifer
stopped walking and said “Listen, I understand that but I’m getting a little tired
of waiting for you to ask me out. Meet
me outside my apartment complex tomorrow at five if you still want that date.”
A little
surprised he said, “I kind of wish you did that two years ago.”
“I was giving
you time to muster up the courage but a girl can only wait so long. Now, I’m assuming, you were off to The Lab.”
She said walking alongside him again.
The two walked
while discussing where they could go eat tomorrow; deciding on nothing
special. Reaching The Lab, Jenifer gave
a nice hard pat on his shoulder and went her own way. Looking up at the two-story cement building
it appeared not very special. The
building appeared, at first glance, to be a cement block that looked more like
a warehouse than a state-of-the-art laboratory.
Going through the first double door, under a “Convergent Industries
Labs” sign, he swiped his key card in a reader.
With a
mechanical beep, a second set of doors opened automatically. Opening into a large reception area Tyler
said hello to the receptionist and headed straight for the elevator to his
left. The Lab was the visual definition
of research design; that is the place was mostly light and muted colors with
everything being ergonomic. Warm LED
lights gave off a comforting feeling with differently styled clocks lining the
walls of the room. The open floorplan was
cut off by a glass wall on the right side, letting people see into the lab
area, and a solid wall, leading to a privet research area.
The second
story was for administrative business and then there were three basement
levels. On the way down to the third
level Tyler let his mother know he made it to The Lab. When the elevator doors opened, he saw his
dad showing two people around the floor’s facilities. Happening to look over Mr. Smith waved his
son over to meet them. One of the people
was a man who looked to be a little younger than his father; the man was
wearing business attire and had short-cut brown hair. The other person was a young woman who
appeared to be Tylers' age. She had on casual
day clothes, a slightly tan complexion, and very light brown hair in a pixie
cut.
Introducing the
two Mr. Smith said, “Son this is Mr. Jones and his daughter Brenda.”
“Nice to meet
you both, I’m Tyler Smith.” He said shaking their hands.
Returning with
a warm smile Mr. Jones said “Nice to finally meet you; Dr. Smith has talked you
up quite a lot. I was interested to hear
that you do work here.”
“I don’t
generally advertise it but yes, I do. Had
to pass a pretty rigorous test and interview process but I work over in Lab 3
of Practical Application of Emergent Technology.” Tyler replied trying not to sound miffed.
Picking up his
son’s tone, his dad said “Miss Jones here is going to go through the process to
show she can work here as well.”
Finally speaking up for herself, Brenda said
“Your area of work sounded most interesting.
If I get in, I hope we can work together. Sharing some classes will be a good start all
the same.”
“Well, if you
start tomorrow, I’ll see you then.” Tyler said and turned to leave. Looking back, he added “Good luck with the
rest of the tour dad.”
He walked the
short distance to a door that read “Practical Application of Emergent Technology
Lab 3” and walked in. it was a large
space filled with movable tables, screens on walls, a few stationary desks with
computers on them, and rolling chairs littering the place. Sam Brown was hunched over one of the tables
tinkering away with something. Her red
hair was in its customary braid so that it wouldn’t get in her way. Walking into the room he saw she was working
with the Nano-Tech ball they created earlier that month.
Putting his backpack
on the table Tyler asked “Meet the new people?”
“Yeah, Dr.
Smith brought them in as part of their tour.
To think he might let someone else work in the space that was, almost,
excursively created for you to work in.” Sam said with sarcasm heavy in her
tone.
“Ignoring that, I wanted to run diagnostics on
my equipment. There’s only so much I can
do at home.” Tyler said putting on a lab coat hanging by the door.
The two of them
pulled out his equipment and started attaching his equipment computer terminals
as Sam asked “How are you holding up, physically that is?”
Taking a seat
in a rolling chair Tyler answered “Alright I suppose. Pretty sore in the shoulder and knee
areas. Beyond that, nothing serious.”
“I was just
making sure we didn’t have to involve another member of staff to treat
you. I would hold myself responsible if
something serious happened to you out there.” Sam said turning from the
computer.
“I know; I
promise I’m taking care to not get myself into situations I can’t get out of. We aren’t exactly partaking in normal, even
legal, activities.” Tyler said getting up to pace.
Turning back to
the computer screen, Sam asked “So how did you make the name The Mirage stick?”
“I didn’t have
to do much. Just talk to a couple people
here, a couple there, and they spread it naturally from there. It helps that it’s nice and catchy for newspaper
headlines.” Tyler said glancing out the door.
All of his
equipment came back in good condition, as well as refueling the rocket boosters,
so he packed up the gear again. The two turned
their attention to the Nano-Tech ball with Sam saying “I ran some of our number
past Neil, on the second floor, and he agreed with our ‘hypothetical’.”
Tyler pressed
the activation button and watched the one-inch disk expand into a six-inch
metal ball; then again to see the reverse.
Doing this again a few more times, He picked up the metal ball. It still had a slight give to it, it was by
no means bouncy, however. Looking back at
their numbers again, the main problem the two were trying to work out was
making the Nano-Tech go around objects.
“How confident
was Neil in his agreement?” Tyler asked.
“He liked the
idea and suggested that if we actually accomplish such a feat, we can likely get
military contracts. As to how confidant
he was; his main concern was power to keep the Nano-Tech in its shape.” Sam
replied putting the ball back in a case along the wall.
“Has the simulation
program found a suitable material match yet while we’re on the subject?” Tyler
asked walking to a computer terminal in the back.
Following him,
Sam answered “Not yet. It must agree
with Neil that power consumption is an issue.
I’m having it run through the possibility of using Crystallite as a
metal base.”
Tyler packed
himself up and said “Normally I would stay but, on the way, here I got a date
with Jenifer. Got to make sure I’m ready
for such a thing. If that simulation
finishes yet today just let me know.”
Patting him on
the shoulder Sam said “Good luck with that buddy. I don’t have much in the way of advice.
Getting home
shortly after his dad he talked with his parents about his talk with Jenifer. His mother smiled warmly while his
dad looked over his daily newspaper. Patting
him on his shoulder, she said that the best thing to do was let her take the
lead. His dad offered up advice on how
to dress and to be sure that he maintained all the manners of a Smith. Susie overheard, while doing her homework,
and came up to him later. She patted him
on his shoulder and said she would give him pointers later.
Later, when
Tyler headed out as The Mirage, he was planning to spend his night in the Lower
Manhattan area. He scaled the side of
the Empire State Building, using it to get clear sightlines of the city. He stopped at the top of the building to take
in the view for a moment. It had become
one of his favorites since he started being The Mirage. It seemed like the only place in the world where
he could be alone with his thoughts and truly take in the beauty of New York
City.
“As much as I
love the view as well, I don’t know how you can sit there and not worry about
falling.” Susie said in his earpiece.
Turning his
sight to the sky he replied “It’s just so relaxing. Sure, it’s not the easiest place to get to
but I know I won’t be bothered here, except by you and Serene of course.”
Serene chimed
in with “I would like to report that no criminal activity is currently being reported
or pursued Sir.”.
Looking around
the sight once more Tyler breathed a sigh of relief. Getting up, he took a running start to the
edge of the building and jumped off. Susie could never watch the camera feed
during his free falls. Tyler soaked up
every second of the free falls; letting the air rush past him and feel the pull
of gravity on his body. Twisting his
body so wasn’t facing the ground he kept an eye on the elevation meter inside
his helmet display. Time almost slowed
to a crawl during free fall, feeling like he was moving in slow-mo, with his only
reminder being the elevation meter.
Passing the six
hundred feet mark he grappled onto the building on his right, using the
boosters to soften the action. The pull
of the grappling hook brought his mind back into focus; bringing his thoughts back to his present action. He swung
from building to building until he found a small apartment building to land on. Taking a moment to breathe Serene said “Sir.
I’m putting through a call from Miss Brown.”
“So, I can only
assume you’re out doing, well you know.
You have a minute to hear me out?” she asked. Saying he did she continued with “So the
simulation came back negative for a full crystallite Nano-Tech suit. I happened to bump into Neil and he suggested
changing the parameters of our ‘speculation’.”
“Full
nano? I would go Compressed-Tech meshed
with Nano-Tech.” Susie chimed in.
“That’s what
Neil suggested actually. I’m building
that model for the simulation program now so we should have results by tomorrow
afternoon.” Sam said, not surprised to hear Susie.
“Great, though
I don’t think I’ll be in The Lab tomorrow.
You’ll just have to let me know about the results later tomorrow night.”
Tyler said assessing his current location.
Going building
hopping he found the night to be quiet on the police scanners. There were one or two complaints of loud
parties but not a lot in the way of crime.
After about an hour of Tyler being out a report of suspicious people,
ten or more, hanging around a shipping yard in Brooklyn Heights. The call said that these people were walking
around with flashlights and seemed to be carrying weapons. With nothing else to do Tyler headed toward
the Brooklyn Bridge.
His journey was
about fifteen minutes long, a combination of scaling the bridge and rocketing, to
get to the shipping yard. Walking up to
the scene, invisible, he saw an unattended police car with two police officers
stunned on the ground. After making sure
the police officers were all right Tyler grappled up on top of a large shipping
container. Looking around he saw a ship
pulled into the dock with more than a dozen people milling about.
The people were
all dressed in black, covered nearly head to toe, with all of them carrying
around a bulky gun. They were opening
unmarked shipping containers and pulling out crates onto dollies. Before he could try and see more Serene said
“Sir, the weapons those people are holding match blueprints of the High-Power
Energy Pulser Model 397. I would advise
caution if you engage with them.”
“I agree with
her on this one. If I were you, I
wouldn’t engage them because we don’t know what that kind of firepower would
do to your outfit.” Susie said trying not to sound as concerned as she actually
was.
Putting his hand to the side of
his helmet Tyler said “I’m only going to observe, for now, gather
intelligence. I promise both of you I’ll
only engage if necessary.”
Getting onto a
different container Tyler tried to find some kind of name or logo on the people. He watched the people open crates only to see different-sized metal cases in them. The
only markings on the metal cases were serial numbers; someone would come and
check the number against a list of serial numbers and have it moved to a van
without a license plate. Finally, after a half-hour, a small black car pulled into the shipping yard.
From the back passenger's door out stepped a man wearing professional business clothes. Serene could not get an I.D. match right away
but he was a white man with combed-back black hair. From the other side of the car, a man stepped
out that Serene identified as a cop by the name of Matt Johnson. One of the people in black walked up to a businessman and handed over his tablet for him to look over. Looking over the data he handed it back and
gave the off-duty cop a thumbs up.
Simultaneously they both got back in the car and it drove away.
The tablet was
handed off a few times and Tyler followed it by moving from container to
container. Finally, the person with the
tablet separated themselves from the main group and Tyler sprang into
action. Throwing two smoke bombs to
cover his landing, Tyler appeared right in front of the person. His sudden appearance started them enough
that Tyler could stun them. Grabbing the
tablet, he boosted away as he heard two more people quickly approaching. Before he could turn invisible again, midair,
energy blasts were flying past him.
Slipping the
tablet into his jacket pocket he started firing back in the other direction. One of the shots actually hit him making him
crash onto the ground. Before they could
see exactly where he landed, he turned invisible and ran into a shipping
container. A few of the people ran right
past him while one stopped just outside his hiding spot. When the person turned their back to him, he
used both grappling hocks to drag them inside the container.
Without
becoming visible, he ripped off the person's helmet to reveal a woman in her
late twenties. She went to say something
but he cut her off with “Who are you people and what’s in the boxes?”
Not exactly
sure where to look she said “You’re The Mirage aren’t you. Even if you’re not you won’t get me to talk.”
Tyler stood in
the container doorway and said “That’s fine for now. If you’re doing something I don’t like I will
be back.”
Before taking
off again, he stunned her and she collapsed onto the floor. Getting away before he could be shot at it
was a while before anyone said anything.
Susie broke the silence with “You should probably come back because that
was a lot.”
Looking over
the tablet, Tyler said “Yeah, I think you’re right. We’ll have to see if we can hack into this at
The Lab tomorrow.”
Tyler made it
back almost thirty minutes later; making sure he wasn’t followed. He was doing the nightly routine of packing his gear
in the bench but he didn’t put the tablet with it right away. Turning it on showed a white background with
a number lock screen. He tried a few common six-digit passwords with
none of them working. Before putting it away tried one combination, the date
Smith Tech went public. The tablet
opened to the list of serial numbers with the list heading being ‘Shipment #0157,
Energy Cells and Components’.
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