All posts by Jim Zoetewey

Arc 10.4.0: Truth and the True

Truth and the True: Part 7

6 Comments

Hardwick laughed though it didn’t have the joy and surprise of most laughter. “You want me to go to war with the Nine? Don’t kid yourself. I’m sure we’re every bit as compromised as anyone else. The moment we try to do anything, they’ll know.”

Ryan shook his head. “I’m not asking that. I’m asking that you talk to people over there and see what you can do to free us from them. Say that you want us for yourself. Since they know you’re friendly to them, they’ll know that if they want something from us, they can get it.” Continue reading Truth and the True: Part 7 →

Arc 10.4.0: Truth and the True

Truth and the True: Part 6

6 Comments

It’s worth noting that technically I hadn’t received a physical list. I’d received a list as part of Hal’s message to my implant. When I thought about the message, I knew everything on the list. Russell Hardwick’s name was on one of the most recent conversations.

It had happened yesterday around eight in the morning, only a few hours before I’d come into work. The message described the location as Sandy LePage’s office, but the meeting was with Ryan McCall.

Of all the meetings, and there were more than 20, this one stood out because of who was involved, when it happened, and where.

I knew I wanted to look at it first. Continue reading Truth and the True: Part 6 →

Arc 10.4.0: Truth and the True

Truth and the True: Part 5

5 Comments

Whatever emotion showed on my face, he took it as disbelief. “Look, you saw us talking. We’ve been talking a lot since she broke up with Sandy.”

I glanced around. While Emmy and Sandy’s relationship might have been an open secret for some people, it was possible that saying it aloud might force someone to take official notice.

The people in line for the door ahead of us weren’t close and no one stood behind us. On the other hand, there were people coming in our direction—Art and Zola. I hadn’t been wrong in thinking that Art was both a good six inches shorter and 20 years older than I was. It did surprise me that he could get away with wearing a “Rick and Morty” t-shirt in an office environment. On the other hand the shirt’s message, “I’m not arguing. I’m explaining why I’m right,” fit Art well enough. Continue reading Truth and the True: Part 5 →

Arc 10.4.0: Truth and the True

Truth and the True: Part 4

8 Comments

In order to power the abilities that supers have, humans need to be changed. The standard Abominator practice involved implanting genes that allowed humans to absorb energy not only from our reality, but from others as well. The Abominators were working to set things up so that they controlled which humans could use the powers they’d gained.

At the point where they’d designed the True though, they were at a point where those genes weren’t fully understood or as effective as they’d eventually become. So, they were trying to design human soldiers that used a lower level of energy, something a normal human body could produce. Continue reading Truth and the True: Part 4 →

Arc 10.4.0: Truth and the True

Truth and the True: Part 3

3 Comments

Then I worried if they’d notice that I was looking around or worse, that I was barely working. For a moment I felt like my heart was about to speed up, but it didn’t. My implant informed me that it was, “Quelling ‘fight or flight’ response,” and I began to feel normal.

While I hoped it wouldn’t do that when I was in a fight, I felt relieved to know that it worked.

Though I didn’t see either Art or Zola, I decided that I ought to get back to work. I could check through access to the library later.

Coding did distract me from the world for a while, but not forever. Midway through the afternoon, it struck me that if someone in the company had a Citizen’s Mark, finishing the helmet might be the best thing I could do. My implant’s hack into the birthing chamber platform only allowed me access to the library of creatures, but not total control. Continue reading Truth and the True: Part 3 →

Arc 10.4.0: Truth and the True

Truth and the True: Part 2

8 Comments

“No shit?” Vaughn looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “Do you know when?”

Emmy frowned. “Are you making fun of me?”

“No,” Vaughn shook his head and then smiled at her. “I believe you. There are psychics all over. The Heroes’ League in Grand Lake has had at least two—the Mentalist and the Mystic. They’re pretty well known and I’m sure there are a bunch of people with potential out there that no one knows about. Do you take power juice?” Continue reading Truth and the True: Part 2 →

Arc 10.4.0: Truth and the True

Truth and the True: Part 1

20 Comments

With everything going on at Higher Ground, you’d think that I’d work on that and nothing else, but life wasn’t that simple.

We’d gotten to that point in the semester when the tests begin to appear and papers along with them. Electronic engineering and materials science weren’t majors with a lot of papers, but I did have to turn in a couple of short ones explaining the technical choices I’d made on projects. The tests weren’t bad—Dr. Strazinsky’s calculus class asked about material I’d learned on my own and “Principles of Photonics” was interesting enough that I couldn’t ignore it. Continue reading Truth and the True: Part 1 →

Arc 10.3.5: Jekyll Or Hyde

Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 18

11 Comments

Haley raised an eyebrow. “But for real, who are they?”

Crossing her arms across her chest, Stephanie said, “They really are in the Marketing Department. Zola’s a graphic designer except she also writes—which means she writes a lot of internal memos from management to the masses. She’s not a bad person. She’s artsy—likes to talk about different periods in graphic design. I went out with her to a few bars when she worked in the lab. I haven’t seen her much lately. She’s been busy with work and learning to use her powers, I guess. Continue reading Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 18 →

Arc 10.3.5: Jekyll Or Hyde

Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 17

5 Comments

Flipping through the people I could remember from work, I couldn’t think of any that had even hinted that they might be Feds or in any way on my side. To be fair, that was probably a mark of competence.

That in turn reminded me of Stephanie. I needed to show her this video. Even though I wasn’t quite sure she was trustworthy, we were in this together now and she deserved some warning if they somehow caught on to her.

You could make an argument that she might be better off not knowing given Zola and Art’s senses, but I couldn’t quite make myself believe it. At core, the more a person knew, the better they could adjust their actions to match their situation. Continue reading Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 17 →

Arc 10.3.5: Jekyll Or Hyde

Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 16

11 Comments

A few hours later, I found myself on a call with him. Isaac sat in his home office. I sat in my lab. I’d used backchannels to let him know I had something big and he’d called me from his secure system—the one so secure that even his superiors wouldn’t be aware of it because they might have been compromised.

I’d given him access to the video I’d made. He’d finished watching and shook his head. “That’s bad. I’ve seen worse, but that’s pretty bad. Higher Ground is blackmailing their own employees into getting their DNA modified by alien artifacts. Then they’re using them to steal an unknown piece of data from Hardwick Industries. It seems to be organized by their research director who might have connections to the Nine.” Continue reading Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 16 →