Black Star

Chapter Nineteen

Touchreik had adapted well over the years to his double life. By day a respected historian and lecturer and by night a humanist. Living as the very beings he had studied. The complete lack of amenities became second nature to him. He'd stopped asking for things like food, water and changes to mood lighting and would naturally do it himself. He staggered into the bathroom and twisted the taps and got the water somewhere near the required temperature. Leaning on the sink, he watched it twirl and splash against the sides. Then he looked up into a mirror steaming up and wiped his hand across its surface. He looked at the face staring back at him. Every day he looked in the mirror he looked more and more like the man he knew was him in Nova's memory. That's if he was called Nova at all, seeing as he'd held no memory of that name.

Not for the first time he chopped and changed the scenario in his mind, playing over what the dude had said about time travel. It had to be done in your own lifetime, so what if he went back and met Nova. What if it really was the professor in that image?

That left two problems. The first was according to the dude it would be impossible for Nova to hold that memory. That's because according to the loaf theory, even though he might travel back in time at some point, it would still not have happened yet. The second problem was concerning, even if it was the case, there were no plans for the professor to go back anyway. There were two replica belts and probably two pieces of 'Black-Star', these were intended for Jak and Antoine to return. The pair had clear plans to scupper the thawing out altogether or kill Nova before he could cause the damage he has caused.

They were right on one thing though, it all led back to Nova even more than they knew.

Touchreik had avoided the need to face these questions because the chances of even attempting to steal the 'Black-Star' least of all get away with it stayed distant and unattainable. But things were changing, Antoine was giving off an air of confidence. There was daily talk both in their inner circle and in Heathen that the mission was drawing close. Lazarus was undergoing her final trials in Orbit above the Earth and most significantly the drone missions had left. These were already heading across space to put the infrastructure in place for the drop.

Tickets were sold for the general passengers and Antione showed no sign of panic, the following week proved the opposite.

Antoine announced out of nowhere he had finished his preparations in readiness for the mission. Touchreik was believing they might all have decided to just go along for the ride and see what happened. Antoine had other ideas. He announced that he was ready to execute a definite plan that would enable a group of amateur thieves to outwit the highest levels of security on Earth and steal the 'Black-Star'.

"I've been looking over the security precautions, software systems and procedures and they are flawless." He paused. "Almost."

They waited. "The interesting thing is, perhaps its budget, but they are using a slightly older version of the security cabinet upgrade."

"So, you think there might be a weakness to exploit?" said Jak.

"No," said Antoine with a grin, "the opposite in fact. I am going to try and find a way of upgrading to the newer version which has some additional security features."

Everyone looked at each other puzzled. "Better."

"Exactly."

"The security drone will be programmed at the high-security compound in Syntex before it leaves. Then it takes the shuttle and logs itself into the vault, once there it will check and upgrade all the systems in readiness for the flight."

"Can we get to him?" said Touchreik, embarrassed at using the term we.

Antoine shook his head. "It's a security drone. It's designed to detect interference of any kind. Instead, we are going to have to ensure he arrives with the correct upgraded software with all the new features."