wildcard

stealing the moon, password

(author's note - my formatting is for speech in italics, but it did not come through. Speech is mostly marked by a dash, however.)

When Karl arrived in the briefing room, the Sergeant was already there, talking to Juniper. The General was just taking his seat at the head of the table.

-What do you mean, ‘what is the moon?’ the Sergeant asked.

-I do not know this word. I know it is strange that I don’t know a word, but not impossible. Why are you so alarmed, Sergeant?

Karl broke in, Because the moon is…the moon. The opposite of the sun. How could you not know what it is?

-The moon is the satellite which orbits the earth, a common feature of all human life, the Sergeant said. Everybody knows the moon. It is mentioned billions of times in human literature.

-I see, said Juniper. I am reading books right now at the rate of 20 per second and I find no mention of it. Blank spots where perhaps it could be, however. Juliet says, ‘Swear not by the…, the inconstant …, but by the sun.’

Analysis: I have been attacked. Wildcard demonstrates his power. He has surgically excised this word from my memory. This is frightening, as I understand that term.

-Qu’est-ce qu’il veut dire? The General said. What does it mean?

The Sergeant leaned back, folded his arms across his chest. We need to accelerate the mission, sir. It means its time to go.

The General stood, clasped his hands behind his back, and paced around the table. Thinking. He stopped, looked at the Sergeant. Vous avez raison. Depart le soir. He walked out of the room.

-We leave in three hours, said the Sergeant. Karl wondered if they were ready.




LuvRay could put himself in a fey mood when he had dangerous tasks to perform. He could simply cease caring if he lived or died. It was helpful, a potent asset for such times. He looked at the Sergeant, saw an arrow constantly moving towards a target. The Sergeant didn’t look like a standard military man. He looked somewhat ordinary, a subtle disguise against his competence.

LuvRay signaled a stop, sniffed the wind and said, Dogs. A kilometer later, the two men silently came to a high fence.

The Sergeant clipped the fence with some device LuvRay could not see and they stepped through. A guard dog came angling in quickly, growling. The Sergeant moved to take out the dog.

-No. Let me. He moved his hand forward, tossing a handful of pebbles which hit the dog’s eye. It stopped. LuvRay kneeled down, put his right hand forward, and leaned in so that his head was above the level of the Rottweiler’s. They held eye contact for about two seconds, then the dog rolled over whimpering, licking his face.

More dogs were arriving, having heard the first growling. They stayed away from the Sergeant. Not all were so friendly or easily cowed. But none barked or attacked. It was mystical, prehistory. LuvRay stood, touched several of the dogs on the head, then briefly played with one. The dogs seemed satisfied that the men were permissible and went back to what they were doing.

They moved toward the only man-made edifice inside the fence, a tiny square building, little more than a door. Barely enough space for 2 people to fit inside at the same time.

-How did you do that, LuvRay?

-Can not explain. You must speak to them. I cannot teach. Become a dog in their tribe, then become the…rule.

-You knew the danger early.

-I felt when we crossed the road. Took rocks then. Dogs do not lie. If you lie to them, they believe.

-How do you know what to do in danger situations?

-How do you?

The Sergeant thought for a second.
-I have deep training in heuristic military analysis. I evaluate without thinking based on having spent so much time in training simulations. I also have Eastern martial arts training, a lot. Kai Tan Pe, a teacher of mine, taught me a skill called mind reflection. You can know if someone has negative or violent intent towards you. Very effective if they don’t know. But you need line of sight. For unseen dangers, I have heightened, highly trained reflexes.

-I do what I feel, said LuvRay. Usually it works. Why did the dogs fear you?

The Sergeant pondered. I’m genetically incapable of fear. It probably has something to do with that.
The Sergeant leaned his head back, spoke to himself.

-Who do you speak?

-I’m talking to Trident, said the Sergeant. The battle computer I told you about in the briefing. Here. He handed LuvRay a wrist device. Put this on. You will need it to communicate.

LuvRay examined it, then clipped it around his wrist. The Sergeant slipped off his pack, pulled out a device that he placed over his eye. It was a round metal frame with an odd-colored shimmering disc inside. All right, Trident, pick the lock. The Sergeant bent down on his knees, looking at a tiny hole on the door, which had no handle. He held himself still.

-What do you, now?

-Trident is building a nanotic key to pick the lock. It’s too small to see, but it threads out of this optical device. I have to hold my head completely still once it starts, so I can’t even talk then.

-Why your eye? LuvRay tilted hid head, curious.

-I need to see something, a groove inside. If I slip, then the system alarms will go off.
The door popped open, and the Sergeant moved his head, swiveling to keep it at the same relative distance and orientation as the door swung open, giving Trident time to pull the nano-key free without touching the sides. Then he sat back.

-Why do you tell me your secrets of battle? What if I am against you later?

-Loyalty demands honesty. It doesn’t matter, you couldn’t defeat me with the knowledge. They’re just tactics, anyway.

-But you hid something at the General’s.

The Sergeant turned, looked at LuvRay. We will tell you. There are reasons we cannot yet.
LuvRay accepted this, heard the truth in his voice.

-Let’s go down, the Sergeant said.

LuvRay and the Sergeant walked down the stairs, 20 flights. Another door, and the Sergeant did the nano-key again. The door popped open, revealing a small room with stacks and stacks of identical silver boxes built into the walls.

One wall had a computer. The Sergeant looked around, nodded, then walked to the computer. He sat down, typed a few things. A on-screen box said password?

-LuvRay, I have to go back up. This building is transmission shielded. I can stand in the door and reach you and the other team simultaneously. I will radio you in 90 seconds with the passcode. You simply repeat it there. He pointed to a microphone. Got it?

LuvRay nodded. The Sergeant flipped the microphone switch on, then began running upstairs. 90 seconds later, LuvRay’s wrist device spoke, the Sergeant’s voice. A very long string of numbers and letters which LuvRay repeated faithfully. The on-screen box went away, and a small coverplate on the computer slid open. LuvRay told the Sergeant.

-Good. 50 seconds, I’m back.

The Sergeant came in, pulled out a card, and slid it into a slot. He sat down, turned off the microphone, and typed at the computer for a time. He told Trident quite a bit of information. 30 minutes later, he stood.

-Let’s go.

-That was easy.

-We’re not home yet. But, yeah, it was pretty easy.

The Sergeant did the nano-key trick to relock the door, and they climbed the stairs.

They exited the building, relocking the top door. They moved back towards the hole in the fence. They both knew something would happen, LuvRay by senses, the Sergeant by a communications pulse.

Two men stepped from behind a tree, both noticing LuvRay, who had the lead.
The Sergeant yelled something Asian as he pulled his sidearm. They stopped, confused, then turned to him. He took out the first before he had a chance to do anything. The gun jammed. Sabotage.

-Go, LuvRay. Go. His hand pulled his knife from the leg sheath, brought it forward in the same fluid motion, sent it spinning towards the second man. A burst of fire raked the Sergeant and he was down. The man leaned forward fractionally as he fired and the knife missed his left eye by centimeters, striking his forehead, the point of it sticking in the bone and holding. The man fell, firing wildly. His face was covered in blood and he couldn’t see.

LuvRay slipped behind the man to avoid the gunfire, kicked the gun from his hands, and killed him with the Sergeant’s knife. He looked into the man’s eyes as he died, wiping them of blood to do so.

-Go to peace, LuvRay said. He padded over to the Sergeant.

His artery was exploded from the bullet. He held his fingers to stop the blood, and was talking to his wrist device.

He looked at LuvRay. What did you say to him?

-I sent him to peace if he could find it.

-Listen. I can hold my life for about two more minutes, max.

-Do you wish I take you to hospital?

-No. There is nothing to do for me. The wound is too severe.

-Goodbye. You will not complete your next mission. I am sorry. LuvRay always stayed with dying things, trying to ease the process. Learning from their experience. You are not afraid.

-Death is relative.

LuvRay thought so, too, but sensed the Sergeant meant it in a different way.
-I have set it up so that you can return to the plane. The pilot will leave without me. Take this with you. He unclipped his wrist device. Trident, initiate nanotic decomposition on death. He waved the wrist device over his body, then handed it to LuvRay.

-Ready to go boss.

-I will stay with you until you die.

-No need.

-It is not for you. It is for me. I must.

-Suit yourself, but leave soon.
The Sergeant took his fingers away from his artery.