Mind Trace (25 page)

Alice looked up and was startled by her reflection in the
mirror. Her cheeks were flushed, most likely from her nerves, but it gave her a
rosy glow. Her eyes were also wide and alert, in the sort of way that made her
seem bright with purpose. Alice normally had her hair pulled back, but
somewhere along the way she lost her hair tie and her hair fell flatteringly
around her face.  She had not given much thought lately to her appearance, but,
ironically, captivity had somewhat improved her looks.

Not that it matters…

She shook her head and hid the knife once again before returning
to her workspace.

Alice spent the rest of the day making plans for the first
item she needed. The scanner.  She mentally created blueprints for the device
and compiled a list of supplies in her head. There could be no writing down of
anything if she wanted to remain undiscovered.

In order to get what she needed, she had to think of
something she could construct with those items that would seem legitimate in a
hovercraft. After some complex manipulations, Alice was finally able to
rationalize the supplies. 

Alice knew her methods cost her precious time, but she
could not afford to be careless. She had to take every precaution possible to
ensure Eric had no reason to suspect her ulterior plans.

Her efforts paid off. When she gave him the list of things
she would need, he simply nodded and handed the list to someone else to be
filled.

The next day in the lab, the supplies were there. She sat
down eagerly to work, appearing to be creating the item for the hovercraft she
planned, all the while siphoning off parts to make the scanner. She slipped the
pieces into her pockets as she worked, making sure not to be seen by the
cameras.

When she had enough parts, she grabbed a pencil and paper
and pretended to settle down to make some more designs. She conveniently sat
down at the workstation where the cameras formed the tiny blind spot, and began
working.

It was tedious work, appearing to be drawing while actually
assembling components. Alice had to be ready to hide her work at any moment,
should someone enter the lab. They mostly left her to herself to work, but it
would only take one incident for her opportunity to be taken from her.

She finished the crude scanner after several hours of tense
labor, switching between assembly of the electronics, and pretending to make
sketches and notes on the hovercraft. Since it was not an overly complex
device, it was no larger than a cigarette lighter. Alice slipped the device
into her pocket and went to one of the instrumentation tables.

She pretended to hook up some equipment to an oscilloscope,
but instead she connected her scanner. Alice was able to rig the scope to display
the data coming from the scanner. This allowed her to see a frequency graph of
the different signals around her.  She innocently made sure to tilt the screen
away from the nearest camera to prevent anyone from getting too curious.

What she saw on the screen puzzled her.  She saw the
typical groups of signals like wireless routers, Bluetooth, the security
cameras, and the equipment in the lab. There were two remaining signals on the
chart. She knew the lower frequency signal belonged to the bracelet she was
wearing because the designs for them specified that range for operation. The
other one…she had no idea where it was coming from.

The other must have been close to where she stood because
it had signal strength comparable to her bracelet's. Alice decided to do a
simple test. She walked across the room, pretending to need something, but once
she was there she glanced back at the oscilloscope screen, trying to seem
pensive.

Both of the signals had decreased in strength, proportional
to the distance Alice was from the scanner. It seemed that the other signal was
also transmitting from somewhere on her body. The hair on her neck rose as her
mind whirred with the possibilities.

What can possibly be sending out that signal? And for
what purpose?

Surely, they had all they needed in the GPS tracker within
the bracelet on her ankle. What disturbed her even more was that whatever was
sending that signal had been concealed on her person without her knowledge. 
She could not help but shudder at the thought.

Alice selected one of the screwdrivers before returning to
the other side of the room. She picked up the scanner, along with some random
hardware on the table and pretended to be getting a closer look, but she was
discretely moving the scanner to and fro on her body to see where the signal
was the strongest.

She had done several passes, coming up with the same
conclusion each time. The signal was coming from her head.

Don't panic. Think about this rationally.

She shakily set the scanner down and sat back in the chair.

Did they somehow drug me and put a microchip in my head?

She knew that EngineerCorp didn't possess any kind of
brainwave resolving technology, so there was no way that it was sending back
her thoughts, or anything like that. What was it then? How did it get there?
Why had she not noticed a scar or other mark?

Millions of possibilities were passing through her mind.
Was it some sort of permanent tracking device? Would she never be able to
escape them again? Paranoia made her irrational, and she worked to calm herself
so she could make sense of the situation.

She took her glasses off, setting them on the table, as she
rubbed her eyes. She was starting to get an awful headache from all the stress.
When she looked up to grab her glasses, she saw through blurry vision that the
graph on the scope had changed dramatically.

What on earth…

Her glasses were sitting right next to the scanner. She
experimentally moved them closer and further away until she could be sure that
it was her glasses that were changing the graph's readings. Relief surged
through her as the realization sunk in.  It wasn't something in her body that
was sending the signal! Just to be sure, Alice discretely ran the scanner near
her head again, but saw that she no longer had anything to fear.  She shakily replaced
the glasses so she could see clearly.

Apparently, her glasses were transmitting a hidden signal
to an unknown destination. Her elation from finding out that there was no microchip
in her head was short-lived.

A new barrage of questions sprang up in her mind. Sometime,
without her knowledge, her glasses had been taken and altered to send this
signal. Eric was getting some kind of information from her of which she had
been completely unaware. She doubted it was any kind of audio or video signal
because she would have noticed anything remotely resembling a microphone or
camera lens. No, this was something concealed within the frame itself. 

Alice was determined to find out exactly what was being
transmitted through the signal. It would take more time, but she had to figure
out what she was up against and if there was a way to stop it. Who knew what
Eric was planning to do with whatever information he was receiving?

It also made Alice realize she had to be more observant
than ever, so nothing like this could surprise her again. She had to anticipate
Eric's next move and be ready with a counterattack. This was no time to get
sloppy or careless.

Alice took mental notes over the frequency of both signals
before she carefully disconnected the scanner and slipped it into her pocket.
She would pass it through the hole in the wall later so it would remain
undiscovered.

***

Alice spent the night tossing and turning. She endlessly
wondered what could be coming from her glasses and whether or not Eric made a
routine of waiting until she was asleep to use her as a guinea pig. When the
guards came in the morning to escort her to the lab, she was exhausted with a
pounding headache.

Nevertheless, Alice forced herself to focus and work diligently
on the second part of her plan. The first part, to create the scanning device
had been a success. Now, she had to create a tuner to receive and transmit the
information she needed, not to mention find out what was coming from the hidden
transmitter in her glasses.

Under the pretense of wanting radio equipment to test out a
theory on the hovercraft, she was able to obtain the parts she needed. To keep
up her guise, she completed an unimpressive communicator for the hovercraft
while working on the tuner.

As Alice worked, the pressure of staying constantly alert
did little to improve her irritation and exhaustion. Her eyelids became
irresistibly heavy and, without realizing it, she shut them for a few moments.

But the few moments turned into a few hours, and she was
woken by someone gently calling her name. 

She jerked her head up, ignoring the shouts of protest from
her stiff neck and shoulders. She would regret that later.

Behind her, Eric stood and asked if she was okay.

How did he enter the lab and get that close to me,
without me realizing it?

Alice realized with a sickening horror that she had not had
time to hide the tuner and it was lying on the desk in plain sight.  She
doubted she could explain away the presence of such a device. She found herself
frozen, unsure of what to do next and afraid to turn around.

She sucked in a deep breath, preparing to turn around and somehow
distract him, but she began choking instead. As Alice struggled to clear her
throat and breathe normally again, she decided this was a far better
distraction than she could have hoped for. She hunched over on the desk,
coughing more than was necessary and slipped the tuner under the edge of a
power supply next to where she was working.

She turned around finally and looked at him, disheveled and
flushed.

"I wasn't sure it was a good idea, but finding you
here collapsed on the desk makes me think I was right in coming here. You have
been working too hard. It would be an excellent idea if you had a break from
all this. Perhaps it will help your thoughts to flow more smoothly when you
return."

"What are you talking about?" Alice's confusion
was genuine.

"Alice, I'd like you to have dinner with me."

"Huh?"

Dumbstruck, she blurted the question out before she had a
chance to consider her response.

Eric laughed warmly. "I know it seems like a contrary
suggestion from what you know of me and the circumstances of your stay. But,
you must think about this situation logically. This is your new home now. There
is no need for us to remain enemies if we are working side by side. Maybe if
you felt more comfortable, you'd learn to appreciate what we do here."

He turned away from her for a moment, seeming to consider
something, his expression becoming grave.

"And I hope that, over time, you'll realize I'm not
the monster you think I am."

Eric turned his face downward, appearing to feel genuine
sorrow over her judgment of him. In that moment, he could have even been
construed as slightly vulnerable.

Alice knew better. Despite what she might be seeing here,
she knew it must be part of another ruse. He was probably setting her up to do
some impossible task for him that he knew she would refuse otherwise.

Not a monster? What, exactly, do you call this thing on
my ankle?

Any type of emotion other than pride, greed, or arrogance
was beyond the spectrum of this man. No, he was up to something again, but she
would not let this chance pass her by. Instead, Alice decided to play along. If
an opportunity presented itself, she had to be ready.

"You want to have…dinner?" she asked innocently.

"Yes, I can arrange to pick you up at five thirty. We
will be eating in my office on the top floor of the Central Tower.
Unfortunately, for both your safety and everyone else's, we can't dispense with
the necessity of your bracelet."

Alice frowned inwardly. She knew it would not be that easy,
but it didn't hurt to hope.

"What is your decision, Alice?"

An opportunity is an opportunity…no matter how strange
it might appear.

"I suppose a break would be nice." She tried to
look somewhat suspicious without revealing her own intentions.

"Excellent. The arrangements will be made. I will
return for you at five thirty."

He smiled, quite pleased with her decision. He strode confidently
from the room, door shutting behind him.

She had two hours left before he would return. That was
more than enough time to hide whatever evidence was left, place it through the
hole in the wall and make some "progress" on the hovercraft project. 

***

She was seated, facing the door when Eric returned for her.

Alice didn't trouble herself with her appearance. She
probably could have asked to return to her room to change into something at
least a little less wrinkled, but she didn’t bother.

Even if she thought she could use her "feminine wiles"
to sway him into letting her go, she could not bring herself to stoop to that
level. She was not that desperate…yet.

When the door opened, he stood there, impassive and still,
dressed impeccably, as usual. Alice briefly wondered what good could possibly come
of the evening, but it was no use now. 

There could be no escaping until she found a way to remove
the bracelet, but that did not mean she could not learn as much as possible
about her captor until then.

He stood aside to let her pass, sweeping his arm out
dramatically to give the appearance of a gentleman. Once in the hallway, she
smiled wryly as she saw four armed guards waiting there.  No matter how much
Eric acted as if he was giving her a chance, he still did not trust her. She
assumed that having the four man escort was supposed to deter her from trying
anything, although it was probably more for appearance. She knew very well that
if she stepped beyond the programmed route for the evening, her bracelet would
be activated and all her plans would be in vain. It would do no good to attempt
to escape as long as the unyielding chunk of metal tethered her to this prison.