The Liberation Paradox

I Wouldn't Trust Me.

Danny

14:05

(7hrs, 3min remaining)

Danny quickly closed the false panel which concealed the safe and motioned towards the data terminal on Daniau's desk. Marcio took his meaning and shut down the secret camera network. Without waiting for Marcio, Danny moved quickly to the office door and opened it a crack. No one was there. The time to move was now, but before Danny could step out into the empty hallway, Marcio tugged on his shoulder, halting his movement.

"Wait," Marcio said to him.

"We have to go now. It'll be bad if The Mushroom catches us in his office."

"But he's on the roof, directly above us and I'm all set up to mirror his QSP. We can open the safe right now."

"No, we can't." Danny stepped out into the hallway without further comment. He moved swiftly and silently towards the back stairs, grateful once again that the 17th floor was empty. He heard Marcio, less skilled at the burglar's silent arts than himself, hesitate for a moment behind him and then begin to follow. Above their heads, The Mushroom shut down the plane's engines. When they were at the door to the back stairwell, Danny brought them to a stop.

"Why didn't we open the safe right then?" Marcio demanded. He was clearly annoyed and ready to get the job done and get out of there. "Mr. Daniau was within range and my QSP is already set up to mirror his."

"Because safes like that have a lot of security features on them. As soon as you mirror that signal, the safe's gonna send a confirmation alert back to either Daniau's QSP or his phone. Maybe both. Regardless, he'll know pretty quick that his safe is being opened. Once we open that safe, we'll have only a couple of minutes to clean it out and get out of the building."

"We can't leave without that data. The Boaters will throw us out an airlock if we do."

"Exactly. That's why we can't open the safe until we have the data."

"So let's get the data and get out of here."

Danny had to suppress an exasperated sigh. The kid really wasn't going to like this next part. "You can't come with me to get the data."

Marcio was visually perturbed at that. "Why can't—"

Danny cut him off. "Because you need to get to work hacking that back door into Sky's data pad. And besides, you're about as stealthy as a draft horse."

Marcio opened his mouth to dispute this point, but fell silent as they suddenly heard, from the other side of the stairwell door, footsteps rapidly descending the stairwell from the rooftop landing platform. Eddie The Mushroom. Danny's heart stopped in his chest as he pressed himself against the wall. Marcio followed his lead and did the same. Danny had gambled that The Mushroom would use the front stairs, but he'd used the back stairs instead. That went against what he knew of The Mushroom's character. Had he not clearly read the gangster?

Danny mentally readied himself for a fight. If The Mushroom caught them here, they would have to use violence to subdue a man who was almost certainly armed. Danny knew that he himself would be next to useless in a fight and as for Marcio...well, Danny was next to him. Violence was for people too stupid to find a less dangerous way, in Danny's opinion. He may be about to become one of those stupid people as he saw no alternative here.

Thankfully, they never had to find out. The footsteps on the other side of the door proceeded past the the 17th floor and continued downward. Danny heard The Mushroom open the door directly beneath them. He was on the 16th floor. They were safe for the moment. It bothered Danny that he'd been wrong about which stairwell The Mushroom would use. He needed to know if his read on the man was off. "Do the front stairs have rooftop access?" he whispered to Marcio.

"No," Marcio whispered back. "Only the back stairs."

So that explained it. His read on The Mushroom was accurate, after all. The Mushroom must be going downstairs to check in with his chief goon, Miles. As soon as all matters of state were taken care of, the crime lord would want to get some sleep. He must be exhausted after having been up all night and then going and doing bad guy stuff all day.

In Danny's mind, the pieces of the plan all fell into place and lined up like the gears on a complex machine. The gears all fit together perfectly and the machine hummed merrily along. Good. This was going to work nicely. "You go back to your desk in the server room and I'll retrieve your data," he said to Marcio. Marcio opened his mouth to protest again, but Danny held his finger up to silence him. "I know what I'm doing. You're going to have to trust me, here. Unless you want to try your hand at burglary and trust me to hack into Sky's data pad. I mean, how hard could it be to hack into the personal device of a hacker? I'm sure I can handle whatever booby traps he's got on his data pad."

The kid needed some busy work and he needed to get out of Danny's hair.

Danny could see that Marcio was taking his point. "Alright," Marcio said reluctantly. It was clear that Marcio still didn't fully trust him, though.

He's wise not to trust me. I wouldn't trust me.

Another thought occurred to Danny. "Also, we're gonna need a bag for all the stuff in the safe. You got a backpack or something in your room downstairs?"

"Yeah," Marcio said.

"Good. Get it and keep it with you. We're going to need everything—and I mean everything—in that safe to bribe, cheat, or steal our way off this forsaken planet and onto that starhopper." Danny looked at the four unmarked doors nearby. They were clearly access doors for housekeeping, maintenance, and servants. "Which door do I need?"

"This one," Marcio indicated one of the four doors. "Be careful, I haven't seen her all day. She's probably in there somewhere."

"Don't worry, kid. This is what I do. You go do what you do and get that back door set up in Sky's data pad. As soon as we get that data planted, we can drop the dime on Sky, move on the safe, and get out of this building. Then, it's just a matter of getting to the spaceport before the last shuttle leaves."

"Okay," Marcio nodded reluctantly. He was scared, but Danny felt confident that the kid had more strength than even he himself realized. Marcio wanted to survive this and he wanted to see his sister again. Marcio would do his part when the time came. Danny held Chisel's stolen security access card up to the stairwell door.

"Access granted! Welcome, Chisel."

While the door was open, Danny used a screwdriver from his tool belt to disconnect power to the Door's AI and to disabled the door's locking mechanism. "That should prevent that thing from causing us any more trouble."

Marcio began towards the stairs leading down, but Danny caught his arm.

"One more thing: keep an eye on me when I come out of here." Danny indicated the door leading into Mika Claire's apartment. "When I wink at the camera, that's when it's go time, understand?"

The kid nodded and disappeared down the stairs. Danny used Chisel's security card to access the servants' door and got to work burgling the apartment of The Mushroom's girlfriend, Mika Claire.