Water and light was all that Malcolm knew. With each new footfall, Malcolm could feel his strength ebb away into the water and sand he was walking through. His shambling steps were now just sloshing trough the water as he struggled to keep moving.

When he had first arrived here he had marveled at this landscape. Water not much deeper than what you could wade through stretched in all directions, disappearing into the blue horizon. Spires of twisted rock stuck out the water here and there but most were just brown dots in the horizon. The rocks were all no wider than 10 or so meters and they had been etched by the salty wind. Their strange shapes made it appear like the sky had melted them as the water ate away at their base.

The endless water sparkled in the white hot sun and it all dazzled Malcolm even through his mirror shades. Up to his torso was drenched by his splashing footsteps, but where the salt water had reached highest it had baked in the hot sun. The dried salt itched and stung as Malcolm staggered along.

The only sound that could be heard was the sound of his footsteps sploshing in the water, so it was only natural that his mind would start talking to itself to keep itself company.

How had he arrived at this place? Best not to think about it, just keep moving. But why should he keep moving, this was mad. He knew, but it wasn’t important anymore. Nun of this stupid insane journey mattered anymore? What about his friends? It still didn’t matter. Just keep moving and try to ignore his hunger and thrust. Try not to temp yourself to drink the salty water, it would only make you sic.

It was ironic, he thought. To be surrounded by water and possibly to die from a lack of it. Just keep moving and don’t look back, don’t give into the incredible weariness of your legs. Try not to realize how little progress you made in the water which grabbed and your legs and held you back. Try not to look behind you at the huge smoke column in the very far off distance. This smoke billowed and rose into the light blue sky and the hot sun. It was so far off now that it didn’t seem to be moving much at all.

Malcolm soldiered on, his eyes not leaving a rock formation he had been aiming for for the past 3 hours. He was almost there now but he was moving at a snails pace and a few hundred meters seemed like a few light years away. His feet splashed and sploshed and he was now barely lifting his feet. His eyes were transfixed on the roc shelter so he didn’t notice the small submerged rocks under his feet. He tripped up and landed with and almighty crash in the water. With his remaining strength Malcolm turned himself around, and defeated, he lay in the water that lapped about his body.

Why was he even here? It seemed like it was a lifetime ago. All he was able to remember now was his long trudge through this giant wading pool. There was this time he had walked along a sand bar and it feel good to be out the water. Then there was the time he had to pick his way carefully through rocky reefs. And then there was the time when the water reached his armpits and times when he had to swim. But what had he been doing before all that. How had he come to this watery world?

How?

Are you in need of advise?

Talk to the experts of business super computing. Walter co

Are you interested…?

[error, unknown]

My I ask… %100;

mem -activate: ‘doorway 1@channel 2032’

[Channel open]

[The door’s open] said a bodiless voice. In sounded like a middle aged man, calm and serious.

[I’m ready.] said a reply. It was another mans voice, deeper and thoughtful. Then there was only silence again.

Sharp and in focus, the stars were bright tonight. There were only a few whips of thin clouds and an immensely tall building to obstruct the view. Through a sun-roof of a car, a man dressed in a smart grey suit sat looking up at the sky. In any other city the dust or pollution in the air would have made it impossible to see past the glare of the city lights. But in this clean city, the sky was as clear as it was in the rocky country outside the city limits. Lights other than stars twinkled in the night sky. Some lights even flashed, these lights moved in coordinated smooth lines and arcs, others moved in formations like cars in traffic lanes.

Although the man thought about the stars, he was also thinking about a lot of other things. He looked closely at the tall tower. It was giant, a few hundred meters across and a few hundred stories high. At its top there was a thin white illuminated strip whose top was lost in the sky.

Towards the top of the building, there was a black shape the moved swiftly from the building. The man saw the black shape but paid it only fleeting interest. He then looked out the cars window. Outside there were crowds of people bustling on the large plaza outside the front of the building. The plaza was also big, lined with plant features and in the centre was an even larger water feature, lit up with orange and red lights.

The crowds were made up of all kinds of people, some dressed for work, some dressed to go out, some dressed in crazy combination of glary colours, and some dressed as dull as possible. There were humans, and there were other… less human people. Some looked human in shape, other looked like monsters and some looked like animals. All of these creatures were dressed in on kind of clothing or another. Some of the clothing looked like they were fashioned from metals while others looked like their cloths were made from still living materials. One creature walked close to the car, or more accurately, it strode past. It was as tall as a giraffe walking on four legs which could nimbly move at any angle, a trim body with a large tail, a long neck and a small head.

The man looked at the entrance to the big building. It had a giant flight of stairs, as tall as some houses and just as wide, if not wider. Near the entrance were guards, dressed in blue and grey uniforms, eyeing the crowd with less interest and concentration than they should.

The man thought to himself, and his inner voice was transmitted as clearly as if he had said it out loud.

[I’m going in now.] He thought.

He opened the car door. The car itself had no wheels and the driver sat in a seat stooped below the passengers. The man shut the car door and the driver nodded to him, not that the man paid him any heed.

The man began to walk, picking up his pace he walked swiftly and certainly towards the large buildings entrance. Past the giant pot plants, past the hissing water feature, past the crowds and the lazy security guards and into the building.

Once inside the man walked along a highly polished floor, his reflection flawlessly mirrored in the shinny marble. He walked with a smile on his face as he approached a reception desk that stretched for one hundred meters and had almost 100 receptionists.

As he approached a receptionist made eye contact. ‘Good afternoon sir. If you’re a visitor I’ll need to see your ID before passing. If you’re an employee, just make sure you are carrying your corp card before passing through.’

The man showed the receptionist his card. [I hope you got the first floor security Don.] Said the suited man in his mind.

‘Thank you sir. please stay in the areas your level 3 clearance permits.’ Said the receptionist.

Without thanking her, he left to go inside the main building.

[All lights green ma’ man, just don’t do anything rash for a while] Came the somewhat excited voice, less calm now than what it was before. The suited man continued walking through the lobby, aware that at all times something was watching the man.

High above the fake marble floor of the cavernous foyer, a black sphere embedded in the ceiling watched the man. It relayed every thing it sensed back to its owners. Through the orbs eyes, in a virtual environment, floating figures monitored the entire building. They glided about a wire frame model of the gigantic structure like ghosts and watched for anything unusual. A small icon representing the suited man moved from the reception desk towards a set of gigantic cylinders that represented the entrance into the buildings main hall.

The suited man walked on towards a row of Greek style columns. Each hid a bundle of scanner, each dedicated to sensing anything out of the ordinary and reporting it to security.

If the suited man was going to worry about anything, it was now. If his partners in their virtual universe had not got these sensors fooled, loosing the mission was not the only thing that could happen.

The suited man took another step. But nothing happened. Letting himself breath again, he kept walking.

[You’re past the first big hurdle Leman] came the cracker Don’s voice.

The suited man, known as Leman didn’t even smile.

Past the first row of columns the building opened up into an even larger area. This was the heart of the building. The main area was circular in shape and a few hundred meters in diameter, its levels went up for almost a hundred floors. The first floor sank in the middle giving way to a lush garden of impossibly well kept plants, real ones too. The entire inside was like a hotel wrapped around on itself. Each floor had a generous amount of outside walkway, and every three stories hovered another garden on a flat disk suspended by walkways above the ground. All the suspended gardens had a large hole in the middle to allow natural sunlight through to the main garden. Lens in the holes allowed what sunlight there was to be filtered over all the gardens below the other. What natural sunlight could not do, artificial light filled in.

The entire central enclave was designed like a fantasy, it almost had a temple like feel with all its sand stone and marble. The effects of the place had little effect on Leman so he continued to walk through the busy ground floor aware that there were sensors still watching him. If he did anything forbidden in the enclave, security would begin asking questions, or maybe just shoot him first. It was all to late to worry about being a good boy he thought. He was already doing several highly illegal things, like carrying a remote access terminal, a few explosive charges and a weapon into the building. If it had not been for Don, he would have been arrested the minuet he walked in.

The thought that at any minuet Don’s control over the buildings sensors could slip had occurred to Leman, but it was best not to think about too many things, it’s just best keep a mind on the job at hand.

Leman walked onwards towards one of the many, many elevators and calmly walked in along with several other people. The doors closed and the elevator began its totally silent rise. No one else in the car bothered to talk, each just looked at the door in front.

The car made two stops, letting more people in and off, Leman just stayed at the back of the elevator.

In the virtual simulation of the massive building a wire frame diagram of the lift rose up through a wire frame diagram of the elevator shaft. Little icons representing people blinked in the elevator, even Lemans.

[I’m about to cut you out the system Leman, I can’t do much more for you once I set your ghost lose, just remember not to do anything that upsets the system OK, your on your own] said Don in warning.

[’K] replied Leman..

[Transfer as soon as the doors open] Came another message from Don.

[Drake dropped off] said a different voice.

[Drake in position] a voice said, very different to all the others, cold and deep.

[Received] Replied Don.

The conversation conducted in complete silence. Nobody in the elevator was any the wiser. The elevator came to a halt and with a little ping, the doors opened and Leman bustled out along with the crowd.

The clock was now ticking. If Leman didn’t complete his job in five minuets, the cycle in the security system would close Leman’s window of opportunity.

In the virtual security world of the buildings main frame, a shape moved in the computer-generated reality, just on the corner of the virtual eye.

An invisible icon was manipulating data as it lurked near the virtual elevator doors. Just as another icon representing Leman stepped out the elevator, his icon jerked ever so slightly then began heading south along the rim walkway. The tinny glitch could have been a lapse in sensor feed, or any number of faults and so it went completely unnoticed by the human security operators in the virtual universe.

A small virtual screen was not too far away from the virtual elevator doors. It represented live feed from a camera pointing in the direction of the doors and its job was to also make visual confirmation that all people it saw were represented by an icon and vise versa. As the last people exited the lift on the next floor, so too did Leman. He walked briskly onwards along the rim of the enclave. He walked past the walls of glass where humans and the occasional Alien working behind a desk. To Leman they all looked like fish behind aquarium glass.

He eventually came to a deeper passageway leading off the main walkway. He had only been inside the building once before to get the feel of the place, it was an operation to scout out the area and find out if any faults existed in the three month old map they had obtained illegally on the black market. Now he was going further than he had been on the scouting mission. Don’s manipulation combined with a foraged E-card were giving Leman a gold pass to all the areas ordinary people were not allowed. The whole building was really a huge cylindrical rat maze with complicated signposts and armed security drones patrolling. Yet Leman never once went down a wrong corridor, never once getting spotted by a security guard or drone, always stopping to read a sign if one should pass near. Don gave excellent direction and led Leman faultlessly through the building. Combined with Lemans excellent memory and having studied the building maps. He could have found his way around even without Don’s help.

In virtual reality the buildings security system tracked every movement of the buildings occupants. A blinking icon representing Leman was leading the security smart frame on a goose chase. The smart frame was powerful enough to track the movements of everyone in the building, all 130,000, and keep video surveillance at the request of the human operators. The system could run itself, but human programmers and system administrators where also kept on duty as additional hands.

At that moment a particular member of the security staff had taken an interest in Leman’s icon and called up video surveillance. All they got was a picture from inside the toilet block from an angle that covered all the cubicles but not inside them. Then, by changing the angle a little, right at the bottom of the door was Lemans feet, you could even hear him whistling a tune.

Strangely Leman was not where his Icon suggested he was. The real Leman was waiting for Don to clear his E-card that was currently slotted into a heavy looking card scanner. All the while cameras showed the area to be empty and the doors access routines to be silent. Then a pleasant ping sounded, the doors opened and the card was ejected. Leman took it and headed off.

[Walk faster Leman, I think I got some programs sniffing me. I’ll have to call in Owa a little early to throw e’m off]

Leman quickened his pace. If the system sussed out Don’s hidden avatar then there would be little he could do against the killer security programs the system used to defend itself against any would be cracker. If Don was found then all the doors would have to be forced open and Leman would have to use all his skill to get past security checkpoints.

Further into the building the decorated affects of the inner parts of the building were giving way to sterile modern areas with increasing security. Finally Leman found what he came for; a small steal door with a big red and white sign reading ‘Access 4A, Authorized personnel only’.

Leman reached into his pockets and pulled out his authorization.

The door was sealed shut by large hinges and a pneumatic locking system that needed high level clearance to enter. So rather than place more suspicion on Don’s presence in the system, Leman had decided to go for a direct approach. Pretending to read a direction sign Leman waited for a security guard to pass before he pulled a small object out his pocket. He placed the device over the pneumatic locking area and flicked a switch. The sliver object emitted a short pulsing noise before Leman switched it off and replaced it in his pocket. A neat hole the size of a bean had penetrated the door and severed the pneumatic lock.

Looking up and down the corridor, hoping the security cameras were still under Don’s influence, Leman opened the large door and slid inside, closing it after him.

Behind the door was a cramped access tunnel where all the main fiber optic trunks lay. Leman felt like he was standing inside some kind of organic nerve system, and he might as well be. This was the buildings lower level relay station that connected to the isolated upper level security.

Leman found a ladder and climbed up three levels until he came to another access tunnel higher up. However this one was occupied.

A small drone about the size of a monkey was attending a fiber optic trunk. Fortunately this drone was completely uninterested in Leman, but it still caused Leman to duck back down the lip of the access tunnel.

When he popped his head back up, the drone was still working away and Leman decided it safe to ignore the Drone.

He hauled his body up into the cramped access tunnel and squeezed past the drone, this time it tried to maneuver out his way.

‘After you sir’ Said the drone polity in a cheaply synthesized voice.

[Don, I’m in the access corridor. There’s a bot in here too so see if it’s sending any data to the system.]

[Already on it m’a man] Replied Don.

Don’s invisible form shifted through the computer generated representation of the building until he was where Leman and the drone were located. A quick data commenced as Don made a few had gestures backed up by a few neurological impulses and a small box popped into existence, showing all data transferred between the drone and the system itself.

Only Don should be able to see his own dialogue boxes. However, the more you prod a dinosaur, the quicker it wakes up.

As Don worked to keep an eye on the data transfer within the system he hardly noticed a hulking shape glide out from the glaring neon existence of the computer generated building. It looked rather like a huge eyeball with wings and a sword clutched in its talons. It was a program dedicated to searching out electronic intruders and causing them as much pain as possible. Don’s protection programs pricked his nerves like a cold shiver. His invisible form turned and just caught a glimpse of the security program just as it glided by.

It’s times like these that some people really begin to understand why they hack. It was also at times like this that Don realized he was beginning to outlive his welcome.

Leman jogged at a steady pace down the cramped red lit corridor until he came to an inconspicuous steel box. Without so much as a pause Leman pulled a tool from his pocket and begun to slice off the imbedded locking mechanism.

It too only a few seconds before Leman and made a small triangle around a vital part of the lock and the box popped open revealing a mass of organized fiber optic cables and a central board with a verity of lights and connectors. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small black packet no bigger than a cigarette lighter and attached it to the main board. With a few adjustments and connecting a few cables to the small thing, Leman activated the transmitter who’s little red light perked every so often to show it was active. Satisfied Leman began to exit the corridor.

[ Tap in place Don, next step now.] Was Lemans simple code call.

However, there was a long delay before Don replied.

[Listen, Leman, I gota bug out, It’s gettin’ crowded in here.]

[Right, the transmitters online, go see if you can help Owa and Dave in the fifth level entry.]

Leman was a man of manners and he expected a reply, but Don was a man who only worried about what he thought of himself, so he didn’t give a reply and just left Leman alone in the red, cramped corridor.

Another voice broke over the encrypted channel.

[Go next.]

Towards the top of the building, the architecture changed and the walls were ribbed by regular support pillars. In the black of night the tower normally stood out like a column of light, illuminated by thousands of flood lamps, but close to the columns were wells of pitch blackness. Waiting silently in one such shadow was an even blacker shape. It wore a strange kind of armour that seemed to glisten ever so slightly.

[Go next] said a voice in the shapes mind.

[Going.] replied the shape.

The architecture of the buildings upper floor interiors was also different, bathed in smooth reds and yellows the floor was made from polished marble and the roof was decorated in elaborate gold patterns. Most of the upper levels were made up of large halls filled with displays of various antiques and desks for various conferences. During the day the exterior walls were floor to roof windows, but at night, like now, they were covered in steel stutters.

The sound of metal on a tiny metal instrument could be barely heard in the deserted hall, and then the black shape dropped from an opening in the roof. It landed with the softest of impacts, making barely any noise. The room was shrouded in shadows with the only light coming from the display cabinets and the smooth reads of the walls. The shape quickly and quietly made its way in a straight line to the exit, not worried about being noticed.

Outside in a brightly lit and just as lavish hallway, a very tall human dressed in brown business cloths with perfectly dark facial features stepped out from the conference hall. Without a moments hesitation he moved briskly down the empty corridor until he came to a large open room. This room was circular but a good deal bigger than the conference hall. Its walls and roof were enforced by cold steel support frames and the center of the room had a thick column. The column had three sets of glass doors at intervals at every third section of the column. At each set of glass doors stood a pair of heavily armed security guards. The brown business man approached one pair who stepped in his way. The business man looked at the guards and produced a small device from his pocket.

‘I’m here from the meeting upstairs.’ He said, showing the guards the device that displayed his identification.

In the virtual model of the building complete with blinking people icons, the system was again under assault. This time Lemans remote tap into the system meant breaking in was a lot easier, but staying in one piece was getting interesting.

Two more invisible crackers floated around the building.

A small inconspicuous icon representing the brown suit man walked steadily from the lift and was approaching an area marked with little red messages in the building simulation. As soon as the man reached the area a male voice came over the intercom.

‘Please remember that the space life is off limits to those without proper authorization. If you do not have proper authorization, please leave the area as soon as possible. If you are lost, please consult a staff member.’

The suited man paid no attention to the little fan fare given by the system to those who got this close to the large doors marked ‘space lift’.

A security droid hummed quietly in the corner and was happy to observe the man walking over to the doors. The man slotted a card into a decorated scanner.

In the virtual reality building, a little notice popped up near the space life area. It detailed the identification of the man, apparently named Mr Wane, and the local scanners showed their results on the security log. The scanner log red ‘off line’.

One of the security operators floated over to a hovering dialogue window. Normally there was nothing of interest around the space lifts, but the security smart frame had posted a warning notice that couldn’t be ignored.

[Shit] Said the male voice in the head of brown suited man as we watched the doors open. He didn’t even flinch at the sound of the words which where, in that tone, applied to something going very wrong, and in situations like this, stuff ups were very grave indeed. However the man kept walking.

[Christ Dave, see if you can stall the Admin until Drakes up there] replied a female voice. The brown suited man who had been referred to as Drake listened keenly to the conversation as he entered the small room behind the guarded doors. Drake calmly pushed a button on a panel inside the room, folded his arms and waited patiently.

[I trust everything’s going OK] Said a deep voice with a hint of an accent. It came from Drake.

[ I got the logs forged right again but I don’t know how long I can keep our tails covered. ] said the response. It sounded feminine and the words seem to come out so quickly the mouth seemed it couldn’t keep up with the brain.

The female crackers urgent tone was warranted, her clocked icon was hiding inside a data packet as a large medieval looking guard lumbered past. After it had passed the cracker looked about her.

[Dave, get movin’ and jam the lift prog. ]

[Hold on, I’va gotta finish this stuff first] said a worried reply.

The rounded doors in the lift chamber soundlessly slid aside to reveal a lift.

Drake calmly walked in and stood casually in the centre while the doors closed. As the lift rose, so too did a representation move in the virtual model of the building, it also caught the attention of one of the security staff.

‘Hey! Bobby are there any more people late for that assembly up at the hat?’

‘Duno, check the logs.’ Said a very unconcerned voice.

‘Just some dude, ID checks. But...’

A man hovered in the virtual building overlooking the lift shaft. He popped up a few secuirty logs. A voice came in over the security operator’s bandwidth

‘Bobby, what’zit like your end, I got programs all over the place trying to patch up some run time errors, you haven’t retooled anything have you.’ remarked Bobby’s work collage over the other side of the building.

‘I was about to ask you the same thing about the sensor logs, you ain’t reset them have you.’

The lift began to accelerate only a few seconds after leaving it’s holding position at the last few floors of the building. Then it left the last before behind, rising on a large tube made from three separate stands. This ‘stalk’ rose up into the clouds and its top disappeared into the sky. The special composites allowed the ‘stalk’ to reach out past the atmosphere and into space allowing anybody to ascend into space with minal required effort. It didn’t take long before the lift reached mach 2 and if there was any air in the lift tunnels, would have created a lot of structural damage.

Gravity accelerators propelled the lift, 100, 200, 300, 1 kilometer above the surface of the planet.

The lift was like a tiny bubble of air rising through a flexible ferrous alloy tube. It looked rather like a plant stem with three transparent strips going down the side of it. Plastic-glass doors in the lift let an occupant view the breath taking sight of traveling through clouds, then to the upper atmosphere, then breaking free into space.

The lift still climbed, higher and higher then disappeared into the metal bulk of a space station. The station was circular in shape but it had a domed centre on its top that made it look like a hat.

Inside the station, well armed security guards ran towards the left terminal.

‘Shit. The lifts already arrived.’ Barked a security guards down his comlink. Five other security guards arrived in the small lift terminal.

‘Check the surrounding area.’ Said a voice in the security guards ear. ‘There isn’t anybody here.’ Grumbled the guard to himself as his colleagues went about checking the lift.

[Drake, we’ve done all we can. Breaking the lift code was tricky but they’ve freed the lift program again, so you’ll have to surf em back down. ] Said a male voice.

[Drake, Dave’s bailing out, but I can still help you with the station security doors. It’s getting hotter up here so move quickly. ] said the female cracker.

‘Check outside the lift.’ Said one security guard standing outside the lift. The two other security guards were starting to look about the lift room while two others checked inside the lift.

‘That’s impossible, it’s a vacuum outside the lift.’ Said one guard inside the lift. He had turned around to face his superior.

If the guards had looked at the back wall at a different angle, they may have seen that it was not actually flat. However, Drake was trying to be as flat against the wall as possible. His appearance had changed to mimic the back of the lift but it would not give him totally invisibility. As one security guard got close Drake grabbed him and kneed him in the head. The force was so vicious that his helmet came off, the stumbled back clutching his head. In the next instant, Drake grabbed the other guard that had his back to Drake. There was a quick sound like a flash bulb and the guard went limp. The other three guards leveled their weapons at the apparition that looked like featureless wall paper with human form. But their colleague was in the way. Drake heaved and threw the unconscious guard at his friends while jumping at them. Drake landed on the back of the unconscious guard as he bowled over his friends. Drake the broke into a bolting run.

He ran fast around a corner just as shouting began behind him. He picked up speed down a long passageway, running headlong towards a plate glass door.

[Drake, I can’t open that door] Said an urgent voice.

Drake didn’t seem to care.

Security guards appeared from the other end of the corridor behind Drake.

High-energy particles ripped down the corridor and impacted with a small ball of light on Drakes back. His back smoked but he seemed to be otherwise unharmed. He stumbled slightly but found his running rhythm again as he reached inside his suit and pulled something out. Aimed a fist, a flash leaped from his hand and splintered the glass without breaking it. With one meter to go before the door, Drake rammed the glass at full speed. The door showed little resistance after the particle barrage then Drakes tackle and gave way in a shower of glass shards.

Drake rolled as he hit the ground and lifted his fist again as a security guard just rounding the corner at the end of the corridor. This time, the weapon Drake used killed the security guard with a hail of rapid particle fire.

Without a second thought, Drake leaped to his feat and rushed over the dead body

[Drake, I can keep em off your back with radio static, get the guy and shoot through, I’m bailing out, good luck.] More security guards rounded the same corner as their collage as Drake just closed another door.

Somewhere in the station, men of great influence were conducting a meeting. They all wore suits of similar style and plain hair cuts, but age and diets made otherwise similar people have distinguishing qualities.

The conference room was large and decorated with paintings of other people and strange modern art sculptures, the dominating feature was the window that over looked the blue planet. Above them a glass ceiling made up the floor of the next level and the roof of this level, the ceiling window looked like an eye.

A guard then stormed into the room in a hurried yet marching style job. ‘Sir, I have been instructed to evacuate all personnel to standby at the departure shuttles.’ panted the guard.

One man looked at the guard from the far end of the black ebony table. He was not so much fat as lose skinned, giving him the appearance of a Pug dog.

‘What is this about?’ Said the pug.

‘Sir, there is a trespasser inside the station’ Said the guards. At these words, most the member murmured amongst themselves, something to the affect of ‘that’s impossible, a trespasser here?’

‘Very well, we will need to finish our business some other time. Gentlemen, we will have to wait for this to be sorted out in the shuttle bay’ the pug announced to everyone.

The congregation began a somewhat slow process of getting up, packing up papers and computers as if a launch break had been called. The guard looked distressed at the lack of speed but didn’t want to boss his superiors around and further.

As one tall and sunken faced man was packing up he saw something reflected in the highly polished table, a man in a brown suit standing above him.

A gun nozzle and part of a pistol was showing through a strange optical illusion that looked like a heat haze, and it was pointing at him.

Drake stood on a glass portal set in a floor above the meeting hall as he pointed his gun at the mesmerized man who only had time to gasp before Drake opened fire.

The particle beams sliced through thick glass floor, the businessman, his chair and dissipated on the steel floor under the red carpet. The man hadn’t even time to scream.

All that could be hears was the dreadful soft sound of charged particles tearing through air molecules, and then shouts of distress at the sight of a smoldering figure hunched over the table, a pool of blood pouring out his mouth and parts of charred flesh.

The other members backed off like the table had suddenly become an open sewer. Through the glass floor riddled with roles, Drake began to make his exit. The security system, with a little surprises left behind by Owa was proving to be no longer under the staffs control. throughout the station, false security codes and dispatches were being made, all the security cameras were also turning a blind eye.

Drake ran into an outer section of the station ribbed with a large gray cage and covered with thick glass. At each end was a pair of blast doors and behind Drake was a pair of security guards. Not one of them shouted a warning.

The guards went into a kneeling position and opened fire at Drake.

Drake’s hearing was good enough that he had heard the guards setting up for their barrage, and so decided now would be a good time to take shelter somewhere. Consequently Drake’s reaction to the guards was to quickly run behind another pillar. The first two shots struck Drake in the back and made him wobble from the force of impact while the rest exploded on the pillar.

As he took cover Drake pulled something from his jacket. It was a small canister about the size of a large battery and you could only see bits of it through some kind of heat haze effect that extended a centimeter for Drakes fingers.

He then threw the small device over his shoulder and waited. The first reaction from the guards was to run as no body wanted to be near a grenade, especially if someone was crazy enough to throw one inside a space station.

The guards didn’t stick around and fled through the doors they had come through.

A few seconds after the device came to a rest and then exploded in a cloud of grey gas. The gas quickly escaped and filled the corridor choking the fleeing guards. The wispy vapor also swirled about Drake, but it didn’t effect him in any way.

As he was confident the guards were not looking, Drake darted form his cover and ran.

Owa’s residual control over the network was still causing trouble for the security staff who hacked away in their virtual world to restore control.

Three programmers where sweating over windows and windows of code and they worked especially had because their boss didn’t look like he was in a good mood. Their actions like hyperactive drummer, They tried to wrestle control back from the confused system.

Not only did they have to contend with the code left behind bt the attackers, but also their boss who stood behind them like a grim reaper. He maintained control over his minions not by ranting and making threats, but by his freezing cold attitude.

‘Can you locate it without the visual and sensor arrays.’ He said with not even the slightest sign of announce. However the people around him knew there was lava boiling away some where.

‘I, I mean…. sorry, I’m really sorry sir, but it’s still not responding. I’ve only just got the control nodes back for the security doors, and two of them are reporting breaches.’

‘Good, that means you know where it is.’

‘Sorry sir, but that’s a maybe, it could be the system screwing a… I mean, it’s possibly wrong.’ Stammered the female programmer.

‘Where exactly are these door.’

The other programmers tried to ignore their boss’s interrogation of the female programmer and thanked god it wasn’t them.

‘The third rim corridor section 3.’

‘Check all external ports Ms Baxton, I don’t want him escaping in any ships you hear.’

‘Yes sir... sir, those doors lead to the lifts.’

‘It’s best to consider all possibilities Ms Baxton.’

‘Yes sir. Sir, I can get the lift control node back under our control, they’re the most heavily corrupted.’

‘Good, that means he’ll try and get down using the lift again.’

‘It would seem so.’

The programmer sweated over the windows that popped up and disappeared within a blink of an eye as they were given commands.

Many windows came up with a message saying ‘Error in node 345’ or some other bunch of numbers. Eventually, up popped a very large window that showed a model of the station.

Drake had been thinking about a lot of things, mainly the amount of trouble he was in, the other was the settings on a small device he had planted on an access hatch. He fiddled with the device not even looking at it, but keeping his eyes on the corridor in front.

As he worked with his right hand, Drake brought his left hand over to his waist and pressed down. His image gave a little flash, and dissipated.

What was left behind would shock most people.

Drake was a good quarter meter taller than his image would suggest.

The only thing that made the illusion work was that it was a big image and nobody touched him. Drake’s features were concealed behind a completely black armour suit. The thin armour plates had a black reflective surface that projected the image while a backpack powered the holoprojectors. It was clear even through the suit that Drake wasn’t human at all. He pulled his tick long tail from the straps that kept it from waving about and giving away the illusion.

His facial features were alien as well. The helmet sloped down gently ending in a short mussel. Three pairs of spikes protruded from the helmet in a swept back position. Drakes walked on the balls of strange dinosaur like feet , three toes and a spiked toe on his heal.

When he finished with the device he stepped to the side as it gave a little tune then turned into a glowing plasma ball that carved a clean sphere into the access door. As the door fell open sirens went off as air was sucked into the vacuum lift tube.

An emergency door made of glass slid down behind Drake with lightning speed and sealed the breach, as Drake had expected.

The air dissipated into the shaft leaving the corridor devoid of air.

Fortunately, this went unnoticed to the still suffering security.

Drake entered the shaft and dropped down onto the top of the lift he had arrived on.

‘The lift’s moving sir.’ said the alarmed voice of the female security administrator.

‘Then stop it.’ Came the cold, calm reply of the boss.

The administrator gave a command but was rewarded with another error message. The boss raised an eyebrow on his virtual face and decided against a comment, best not to distract the lady.

The administrator flew into a panic and began giving commands this way and that, a virtual picture of the lift was shown speeding down the shaft.

Then, with little warning the administrator cracked the problem and the lift began to come to a halt.

Inside the lift chamber Drake activated something and there came a shudder and a blinding light as three more plasma detonators carved into the braking pads.

In the virtual world, the lift began to descend and a counter counted out the height of the lift as it plummeted.

Prepared for this little extreme measure, Drake tried not to think about what would happen if he hadn’t worn a G-suit. Drake’s hands and feet were clammed down with magnetic gloves to allow his hands to firmly grasp the lift. Fortunately the lift and Drake were freefalling so there was no difference in speed in the vacuum. The lift began to really pick up speed and reached six G’s.

‘The crazy bastard, he’ll kill us all... Shit, open the emergency buffer.’ Blurted the administrator who was now babbling a little, nothing like this had ever happened to her before.

At the bottom of the elevator shaft, huge doors were opening to reveal the emergency grav chamber that caught any runaway lifts. These chambers were more to prevent the lift plummeting into the bottom like an explosive missile than saving its occupants.

Drake raised a hand into the air (well, vacuum), a heads up display in his goggles read out the height he was at. Then a small shot was fired from his wrist and a monomolecular edged razor cut into the shaft and when it penetrated, it split in two strengthening the grip. A small unit under Drakes arm began to hum as spider-web-thick-cord reeled out at over 300 kilometers-per-hour. Luckily the device was made for this sort of thing.

The thick cable could support the wait of a car, or a speeding alien like Drake. The device slowed the rate of cable being reeled out and Drake began to leave the lift behind still traveling 250 KPH.

Drake rate of decent slowed to 170, then 50, and finally to 20 KPH and it seemed as if Drake was going to collide with the wall as the line began to grow taught. But then, just as the team planned, the lift tube opened out into a chamber where all three lift shafts were exposed and Drake swung out like we has Tarzan on a vine.

He planned his magnetic feet comfortably on the opposing wall then grabbed on his one hand. He released the cable and planted his third last plasma charge on a panel in the lift chamber. It exploded and left Drake free to open it.

It opened 50 kilometers above the planets surface. Drake didn’t really care, not giving it a second though he flung himself out the hatch and into space.

Drake, who would reflect on this moment later, had to say it was the most interesting part of the whole thing. The landscape below him slowly gained more detail. He began to see individual buildings and even the cars in the streets. The lights from cars looked like molten magma giving the whole city an appearance of a living creature.

Drake sailed downwards and slowly, very slowly, a little rooftop began to get closer. It seemed to be the one Drake was aiming for, his arms folded by his side and his body like an arrow.

He lined himself up with the roof and then somersaulted so his feet were now pointing down and his arms flapping in the hurricane rush of wind, he almost looked like he was sitting on a chair of wind.

In the darkness of night nobody noticed Drake plummeting towards the roof.

Only fifty meters above the ground Drake reached for his belt and pressed a button. His rate of decent instantly began to slow untill he reached a safe speed.

Drake landed heavily but was unhurt by the landing. Any normal human would have broken both legs, but Drake wasn’t human. Straightening himself out, Drake walked through the jumble of air conditioning pipes and power transfer units that decorated the roof.

He walked over to a very inconspicuous grey steel box about the same height as Drake and sported several black cables running off it and up to a rather large antenna who’s top was constantly illuminated by a red beacon to warn flying vehicles.

He pulled the lock off and opened the unit to reveal a spiers web of fibre optics cables and other couplings. A small black box about the width and length of a piece of paper and about twenty centimeters thick.

Drake reached inside and pulled the box out of its nest of wires and disconnected the ones the box was plugged into.

‘Hello Owa’ Said Drake, more to himself than the box. Owa didn’t reply.

Outside, a very respectable alien stepped out onto the city streets. He was reptilians in appearance with a light brown colour to his scales and various diamond patters like tiger stripes across his face. His eyes shined amber and a black slit regarded the world around him. Drake wore casual white clothing with a lose fitting cloak and hood, boots and bulky trousers. He lifted a sports bag onto his shoulder and began his journey.