Eagle X, Mission 21: CTRL

Part 14: Patricia

Cracking the building's security system and rerouting the surveillance feeds to her datapad would have normally been child's play for Patricia. However, a moment after she got in, she detected another cracker rewriting the code in the directory. The thought of disconnecting came only after she'd already piggybacked the new code and disguised her own activity as just routine self-maintenance. The camera feed came up with no prompting from her end. The new cracker wanted to monitor the proceedings in the hallway too.

Patricia projected the information on the living room display, while she carefully tried to find out the identity of her competition. She sat down and crossed her legs as her fingers flew. With a worried glance towards the door, Chillard leaned on the back of the couch and watched with apprehension.

Hortensia and the six other tenants of her floor knelt on the ground with their hands behind their heads. Three security guards stood at attention while the fourth read to them from the station bill of rights. Patircia had gone over them long ago with her normal dogged intensity. They boiled down to one sentence: Station personnel have all of the rights and privileges of any citizen of the EC, until station security deemed otherwise. What the document did not explain is that station security's authority could be overridden by the dominant Core AI in times of emergency.

"Atten Hut!" one of the guards snapped.

The fourth guard joined the others at attention as a tall human male exited the lift. Olive complexion with shortcut white hair dyed green at the temples, he wore a crisply ironed security uniform and a pair of steel-toed frontier boots. With each step his footwear clicked similar to the spurs of earther cowboys in the VR vids Liam liked to watch. He was broad in the shoulders with large hands and an equally imposing gaze. His bearing was that of a military officer used to being in command.

"Austberg," Chillard whispered.

Chief Yosef Austberg, head of station security. Patricia had read his file during her research of the station leadership. Ex-EC Military, he served two tours on the Felarnian-EC border and one on the frontier where he'd earned himself a medal of valor. He'd gone from policing a gridport frequented by miners and explorers looking to discover the unknown mysteries of space to overseeing operations on a blacklist research station. At a glance it seemed like he was overqualified for the position, but, considering the true military purpose of the CTRL project, it all added up.

Austberg pulled a datapad mini from his breast pocket, spoke a command, and the building PA system flared to life.

"All occupants of Building SJ300, this is Security Chief Austberg. You are currently being held in suspicion of harboring a fugitive from justice. Your building is under security lockdown, your station accounts have been frozen. Anyone who does not cooperate will be detained as an accomplice. Each of you will be interviewed and released unless detainment is deemed necessary."

The various feeds on the living room display showed the lobby and halls of the complex. The tenants of each floor were being held in much the same way as Hortensia and her neighbors. Austberg muted the PA.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please forgive my staff and I. We are merely following protocol. We will perform our interviews and move on to the next block." The veteran soldier smiled and gestured to his staff to get started. Rubbing the space between his brows, he leaned against the wall.

The floor's cameras all focused on him, magnifying the man from various angles. The other cracker seemed to be studying Austberg. Patricia redoubled her efforts to locate her query without alerting them to her presence. Whoever they were, they hid their tracks exceptionally well. The challenge sent a thrill of excitement running through her.

"Chief, can I please stand?" asked a young man from two apartments over. "An old biking injury makes kneeling agony."

Austberg studied the man for a moment then nodded. "Get up, but keep your hands on your head. Protocol and all." He gestured towards the camera as if to say they were being watched.