Radioactive

1. SERVER ROOM

Alex Mitchell had been deceived. She had been under the false pretence that an undercover mission in Australia would consist of many hours of lounging around on sun-beds, surfing on the gentle waves and eyeing up attractive, topless Australian boys. But her information, and presumptions, couldn't be any further from the truth. Instead, she was currently located thousands of feet in the air, climbing up the side of a zeppelin and relying on the thin strand of metal attached to a carabiner clip to keep her from falling to her untimely death. As she climbed another step up the ladder which was drilled into the side of the zeppelin, Alex fastened the carabiner clip to another step. It was slow going but Alex was too focused on her safety to be bothered. Clank, another step down, God only knows how many more to go. Alex was dressed in fitting, black trousers, a tight, black jacket with the hood up, leather gloves and black boots. Her outfit was designed to ensure maximum movement whilst guaranteeing a comfortable wearing experience.

At least that was what the Mission Controller, Zara, had told her but now Alex was beginning to have reservations about the outfit as the seam of the trousers began to dig into her thigh again.

She quickly adjusted her goggles, which were offering little protection to her eyes from the unrelenting wind which buffeted her at every opportunity it got, and nearly let go of the ladder when a voice crackled through her headset, startling her.

'How's it going, Al?' Came the voice of Alex's hacker friend, Lucy Craig. 'You don't seem to be moving very quickly.' Lucy considered pointing out the blatantly obvious her personal gift.

Alex didn't disagree. She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "How about you try climbing an ice-cold, steel ladder which is attached to a zeppelin which in turn is floating thousands of feet in the air and then tell me that it's slow going!" She cried down the headset.

Lucy snickered and replied with a smile in her voice. 'No thanks, I'll leave the legwork to you and you leave the computer and tech work to me.'

Alex scoffed at the word 'legwork' and retorted. "Isn't that the whole reason Zara asked you to come on this mission?"

'She obviously thought I was crucial to the success of the mission.'

"You keep telling yourself that Luce."

Another voice crackled into life in Alex's headset and a stern voice began speaking. 'Of course Lucy is a vital component in this mission, I'm still not sure if you were the best choice for this Alex, I would've preferred James Adams.'

Alex scowled at Zara's sarcasm and carried on climbing. "Unfortunately for James, he's been stuck on the bog with that stomach bug that's going around campus. I had it last week, couldn't stop hurling-!" Two sets of 'ew's erupted in Alex's ear and she smiled. She could just imagine their faces on the other end of the secure line.

'Okay Alex, you should be about three metres from the hatch door.' said Lucy.

Alex said a silent thank you and continued to climb, slightly quicker seeing as she knew she was so close to getting inside the zeppelin, and soon found the hatch door. With her gloved hands, she tugged at the handle, which was slightly frozen, and let out a roar of disbelief when it refused to budge. "It's locked, Lucy!" She cried and continued to try and free the lock.

'Hang on...hang...oh.' Came Lucy's troubled voice. 'I could've sworn I disabled all the systems that I needed to, I'm not sure if I can hack this lock.'

Alex banged her head lightly against the locked hatch and, through gritted teeth, said. "What?"

'Well, it's very complicated code and...if I don't open it the mission will fail and then...holy crap you could get caught if I mess this up!' Lucy continued her frantic ramble and Alex was half-tempted to rip the headset from her ear and throw it into the wind.