Sword of Minerva (The Guild Wars Book 10) Mark Wandrey (e novels to read .TXT) 📖

eyes settled on old computer consoles, work benches, and a hive of storage compartments. “Storage compartments,” he said and removed the key. It only took a moment to find compartment 22XF; the key fit the lock perfectly.

The door opened with a slight grind—the lock was old, and this section of the ship had not been restored. If they’d gone over this section, they would have found the locked box, he thought. How long has it sat here, sealed against time? Inside was something wrapped in cloth. He lifted it out carefully, almost reverently. Before he could unwrap it, he was interrupted.

<How’s it going?> Rick transmitted to him via pinplants. The signal was weak, likely because of the surrounding ship and the museum structure.

<I have what I came for. Are you okay?>

<Fine.> His voice held a hint of amusement. <The security guards are easily startled.>

Sato frowned, trying to imagine what that meant. <I’m heading out. Meet you at the main exit.>

<Understood.>

The wrapped object was not much bigger than his toolkit, so he left it covered and slipped it into a pocket. Closing storage compartment 22XF, he relocked it and removed the key. Finally, he used the little laser tool to reseal the hatchway. Anyone entering the room after him would have no idea he’d been there.

Sato collected the apparatus he’d used to defeat their rather weak security measures and moved through the rest of the ship. The bridge wasn’t as hauntingly ‘familiar’ as the avionics and computer room had been. He put a hand on the captain’s chair as he passed. Somehow, he felt a feeling of loss. Without a backward look, he left.

* * *

Rick hadn’t had this much fun…well, since he was resurrected, he guessed. His memory was full of many fun events, most shared with Jim Cartwright. After the logjam in his mind had broken, he’d slowly been reliving moments, good and bad. Some events he’d had access to before, others he hadn’t. Some were complete mixtures, having entire events with bits and pieces missing. Now it seemed most were back.

He found a small alcove in the wall next to a display of alien races beside a Human for comparison. Sliding back into the small alcove, Rick engaged his active EM shielding. Three security guards trotted past, yelling into a radio. His translator didn’t catch all of it, just enough to confirm that they’d lost him completely.

As he led the museum security on a merry chase, he’d had time to observe the other patrons. A small group of school-aged children were being shepherded through by a pair of adult women. They’d taken no notice of the strange goings on. A smattering of obvious tourists was mixed in, identifiable by their languages. English, French, a pair of African dialects, and one pair speaking Portuguese. He only realized there were no aliens when he saw an alien.

He’d seen videos of temples in Japan with hundreds of monkeys living off handouts and the food monks gave them, so when he saw a large monkey walking along, he blinked in surprise. Then he noticed the monkey was wearing clothes and holding a slate, which made his logical mind kick in. It’s an opSha, he realized.

The opSha were an uncommon race in the Human arm of the galaxy. They did bear a striking resemblance to howler monkeys, except the opSha possessed tiny, nearly vestigial eyes, and massive ears. Their main sense was more akin to a bat’s echolocation. They were known as master chemists in the same way elSha were mechanical geniuses. Seeing one strolling through a museum in Japan was surprising, to say the least.

The security guards raced past the opSha without giving it a second’s glance. But once they were past, the opSha’s ears moved, tracking the retreating men carefully, even when they were well past being out of traditional sight. Rick moved the barest fraction, and the ears twitched, swinging his way. Holy shit, they’re sensitive!

With a simple command to the armor, he froze all movement. After a long moment, the opSha’s ears moved away, sweeping the area left and right before moving back in the direction of the departed guards. The alien continued to appear to study the displays and its slate, but Rick could see the ears working on other tasks. Knowing the being used its ears more than its eyes told a bigger story. Something was up.

Rick waited until the opSha had moved on around the corner before leaving his hiding place and finding the nearest service door. He didn’t bother with subtlety; he grabbed the handle and use his suit’s strength to break the lock and open the door. Since he didn’t know the layout of the museum, he again used the suit’s code-breaking ability to access the museum’s internal system and downloaded the building schematic. With it, he found the shortest route to the front door.

He moved fast, and through several areas where workers were busy. His speed didn’t allow much sightseeing. In one room, though, he noticed a group of people carefully disassembling a missile. They appeared quite alarmed as Rick entered through a door, gave his jump fans a pulse of power to vault over the missile, landed, and exited the other door.

Someone tried to sound an alarm. Rick was still inside their computer systems, so he overrode it. No doubt that someone was quite confused, because they repeatedly tried to activate it. Not wanting to waste his time continually overriding it, Rick simply disengaged it from the computer. He didn’t have to monitor the alarms anymore, and long after they were gone, he wondered how long they kept trying to activate it.

Rick reached the last door and blew through it into the main atrium, surprising a big group of pre-teen schoolgirls, who screamed and scattered. He took advantage of the situation by racing through them toward the exit. As he jumped