"Soul's Bonds" Chapter 24
This is going to be a very exciting one! I intended to post it earlier today, I did, but I got caught up in transcribing SPD episodes for RangerWiki. It's a tedious process but I do enjoy it on some odd masochistic level the way I secretly enjoy slaving over papers on obscure-ass history topics. Anyway. Yes. Action-packed.
Chapter 24 (Sky)
"Are you guys alright?" I asked Bridge and Z as we listened to the others over the communications network as they drove to investigate the computer's supposed location. Z was looking sour, Bridge deeply hurt, and I knew it was because of the Commander's ordering them to stay behind.
"Now you guys know how I've felt," Tessie said cheerfully. "Let's have a pity party while the others have the glory, eh?" I glared at her. "Oooh. OK. Uhm, I'll just stop bein' completely tactless and mosey on over here and keep watchin' the freaky transmission, then, shall I?" I got up out of my chair and moved closer to Bridge, taking one of his hands in mine and asking him,
"Why are you so upset about this? And don't tell me you aren't."
"It's nothing," Bridge said, shaking his head. "Cruger's right. I'd probably... just have gotten hurt... if I'd have... gone with them, anyway. Or if we'd gotten... into a fight... had a panic attack. I feel so... useless."
"Come on, Cruger doesn't think like that," I said.
"Yeah," Z agreed. "Stop being so hard on yourself, Bridge. I'm not happy that he ordered me to stay behind, either, but I can deal with it."
"...I can't fight," Bridge said simply. "I AM useless."
"Tessie and I can't fight, either! But we're not sitting here, pitying ourselves for something we can't help!" I exclaimed, looking helplessly at the girls. Kat came over and put a hand on Bridge's shoulder.
"You know Doggie doesn't think that way," she told him. "He didn't hold you back for no reason, or because he thinks you're weak or useless. He's just trying to protect you guys, especially you, Bridge, so don't take it so personally. He knows you've been having trouble with stress and lingering trauma from everything you've been through, so he's not about to send you into a situation that could potentially aggravate it, especially now because we have extra help." Bridge sniffled in response. "Doggie never shows it and will probably never say it, but he cares about each and every one of you deeply," she continued. "All of you have been through a lot together, and the last thing he wants is to put you in unnecessary danger. He already lost most of his people, and he's afraid of losing all of you now, so that's why he held you back. OK?" Bridge and Z both nodded. "If it helps you feel better, Bridge, I've known him since before you were born... and the night you came back from the hospital is the only time I've seen him cry like a little puppy. That's the reason he didn't come to meet you when you and Sky came back from your date- he saw all of you together, laughing and joking for the first time in over a month, and it made him that happy." All of us raised our eyebrows, surprised. "Of course, now that I've told you that, you realize I have to kill you," Kat joked as she went back to work, making all of us laugh.
"See? What did I tell you?" I asked Bridge, kissing the top of his head, then I turned and mouthed 'I owe you one' to Kat. "Let's listen, it sounds like Charlie's going to be giving us a running commentary." All of us gathered around one workstation, even though we had no video yet.
"How in the blazes could they hide for this long in a public place like this?" I heard David ask incredulously. "That program can't have been right, sir, this is an office building."
"It's a long shot, but we cannot let a lead like this slip. We have to investigate," said Cruger. "Kat, can you give us some information about it?" He told her the address, and Kat quickly brought it up on her console.
"It is an office building, but it's largely empty," she told them. "The first three floors have been empty and for sale for months without a buyer. The top two floors are listed as currently occupied by a company named Sinneslöschen, Incorporated. I'm not turning up much information on them, however, except that they're a small business that does computer repair, had a lot of improvements done to the property ever since moving in, and promptly pays their bills every month. No even slightly suspicious activities on their record; indeed, it seems like their customers always leave satisfied. The first three floors have very light security on them in order for customers to access the top two, so it should be easy to enter the building from there."
"Thanks, Kat," said Cruger. "Let's go." We heard some clattering, presumably as they entered the building.
"OK, seems like your typical empty office building down here, if there is such a thing," Charlie informed us. "Shouldn't take us that long to search these floors, just in case, before we pay a visit to our friends at Sinne-whatsis. Oh, bother, forgot the visuals..." We soon had a picture through a camera Charlie carried. "Nothin' so far," he told us as he looked into various dusty cubicles, offices, and even closets. "David brought along a laptop, so he's going to try and latch on to the computer network here, maybe bring up some schematics or more information on this building. It's a long shot, but it's worth a try. Hmm, what's this?" We watched, anxious, as he came upon a door tucked away in a corner of the building with a name plate on reading "Sinneslöschen, Incorporated - Computer Parts & Service". Charlie fiddled with his camera a little, and suddenly we could see through the door to a staircase beyond. He turned the knob and, finding the door unlocked, mounted the stairs and emerged onto another floor that did look for all the world like a normal computer repair service office. However, it was empty and the lights were dim, a sign on the counter informing us that the company was closed for the day. "Hmm," said Charlie, leaping easily over the counter and searching the back hallways and rooms, finding nothing but offices and computer equipment. "There's no way to get up to the next floor, seems like. Not suspicious at all- oh, hullo!" He'd opened the door to what looked like a broom closet, except his camera filter barely showed a hidden staircase behind the back wall of it. "Rie, ma'am, found something- the old staircase-hidden-in-a-broom-closet trick."
"Are you kidding me?!" Rie asked, unable to suppress a laugh. "You'd think they'd learn that never works. Good job, Chuck. Wait for me and Doggie to get there before you check it out, though; even though it may be nothing, we should be careful and go together. If it IS them, no doubt the parts of the building where they conduct the kidnapping, torture and attempted murder business are well-guarded. David, have you had any luck yet?"
"Getting a pretty strong wireless signal here," said David. "There are two networks, too- what would a tiny computer repair business need with two, eh? I could only connect to one, though, the other is heavily-encrypted. I'm bringing up a building plan right now."
"Keep at it, then," said Cruger as he and Rie joined Charlie inside the broom closet, examining the hidden entrance. Charlie changed filters on his camera several times, trying to see if there was a hidden way to open it.
"Ah-hah, a number pad," he said, prying off part of the back wall to reveal it. "Now what do we do?"
"Hmm, this is very strange," said Cruger. "There are 12 buttons on the pad, and the numbers appear to be random. Here, let the others get a good look at it and see if it makes any sense to them." Charlie zoomed in, and we all stared at it, baffled. 31, 12, 41, 55, 34, 54, 33, 15, 43, 45, 24, and 35...
"Those numbers don't mean anything to me," said Kat. "I'm running them through the database right now, but it could take hours to find the correct sequence, and by then..."
"Why don't we just bust it?" Charlie asked.
"Because if we destroy it, it may seal itself shut... or alert whoever's at the other end to our presence," said Rie. "We're trying to keep SOME element of surprise, Chuck."
"Wait!" Bridge suddenly spoke up, opening a channel to the others. "Sir, try 35-34-31-54-12-24-45-43. Trust me." The Commander did as he was told, and... Charlie gave a whoop as the door slid sideways into the wall.
"Wow! You're a genius, Mister Bridge!" he said. "How'd you know that?"
"Polybius," Bridge answered. "When... I was doing research earlier... I saw... that number sequence. It stuck... in my mind... for some reason. Those numbers spell... the name... on a standard... Polybius square. P-O-L-Y-B-I-U-S. The Greek Polybius... invented it... for cryptography."
"Great job, Cadet," said Cruger proudly. "We may have been stuck here for hours without you." Bridge went red, looking pleased with himself. "So, this means your hunch about Polybius appears to be true... let's keep going, Vulcans. David, come join us as soon as you can." The Commander, Charlie and Rie, weapons drawn, went up the staircase, only to be stopped by another door with a similar keypad. "AGH. There aren't the correct numbers to spell Polybius again this time. Bridge, any ideas?"
"On it," said Bridge, dashing over to another console and bringing up an image of a square with letters and numbers on it. "How about... we try... 34-42-35-23-15-45-43. Orpheus." Much to everyone's surprise, the second door opened.
"So it IS Polybius and Orpheus after all," I said, my heart thumping so hard it felt as though it was going to burst from my chest. All of us leaned in closer to the monitor as the four emerged onto another floor. They were now standing in a carpeted hallway, and on either side were several of the same 12-square number pads in addition to normal doors. The walls were completely bare, with no furnishings of any sort. Cruger went to the first pad, tried the code for "Polybius", and the wall slid smoothly aside to reveal a room, again empty of any decorations or furnishings except a window- but the carpet was bloodstained in a few spots. I heard Bridge draw in his breath sharply next to me and looked over at him to see that he'd gone pale and was sweating.
"That was the cell... Ka'ladra held me in," he choked out to Cruger and the Vulcans, before he started breathing fast and shallowly, signaling an impending panic attack. I stood behind him and held him to me, wishing I could do something to ease his fears...
"Fight it," I murmured in his ear. "Be courageous, Bridge. You're stronger than your attacks. Don't give into them." He seemed to relax in my arms; though he shook violently a few times, a full attack didn't come on.
"Nothing else behind door number one," said Charlie. "Let's check behind door number-" The foursome stopped, and we heard a laser blast before we abruptly lost the visual signal.
"Oh, no..." Cruger gasped out, and the audio signal went dead as well. The alarm began to blare; Z and Tessie were halfway out the door before Bridge ran after them and grabbed their arms to halt them, looking back at Kat, who was trying to re-establish contact with the others.
"Rie, do you copy? David? Charlie?" she cried, frantically typing at the keyboard. "Doggie? DOGGIE!"
"Let GO OF ME, Bridge," said Z, but Bridge shook his head as I limped over to them.
"You are both staying," I ordered. "Tessie, you are not going out into battle in any case."
"Try and stop me," she said fiercely.
"Sky, you are absolutely FUCKING NUTS if you think I'm not going after them!" Z snarled. "Bridge. Let. Go. NOW."
"YOU are nuts if you think I'm going to let you walk right into our enemies' hands," I snapped back. "Stay here until Kat can re-establish contact. They may not even need our help." She tugged her arm out of Bridge's and began walking away anyway. "Stay PUT, Z. I'M RED RANGER, AND THAT'S AN ORDER." She started raising her arm, looking very much like she wanted to hit me, then stamped past me back into the control room without another word. Tessie relented as well, so Bridge let go of her as we all gathered behind Kat again.
"It's no use," she said, shaking her head. "Whoever cut our signal off launched a denial-of-service attack against our communications satellite, making it unable to respond to any of my commands."
"Great. Great. NOW what?" Z demanded.
"It's your decision, Sky," Kat told me. "You're in charge in Doggie's absence. You have few options here- you can send Bridge and Z to check the situation out, or you all can wait here and see if communications come back online."
"I..." I said, then trailed off, uncertain. My brain felt sluggish as I struggled with what to do. I couldn't send Bridge and Z into a potential trap... but Tessie and I couldn't go with them, because we were both incapacitated... yet, even as we stood here, something awful could be happening to our comrades...
"Whatever you want us to do," Z said, breaking through my indecisiveness, "I'll respect it."
"... We'll all four of us go," I said finally, and before anybody else could reply, I held up my hands. "Tessie and I are injured. I know. But I cannot in good conscience send Bridge and Z out by themselves, and besides, we'd have to go after them anyway if something happens to them. We're all in this together, so we'll go together. We can take the S.W.A.T. truck. I know it's risky, but if we ignore what happened, and something happens to Cruger and the Vulcans..." The others nodded, though Kat was looking worried.
"Be CAREFUL," she told us. "I want you all to come back in one piece, alright?"
"We will," I promised her.
Chapter 24 (Sky)
"Are you guys alright?" I asked Bridge and Z as we listened to the others over the communications network as they drove to investigate the computer's supposed location. Z was looking sour, Bridge deeply hurt, and I knew it was because of the Commander's ordering them to stay behind.
"Now you guys know how I've felt," Tessie said cheerfully. "Let's have a pity party while the others have the glory, eh?" I glared at her. "Oooh. OK. Uhm, I'll just stop bein' completely tactless and mosey on over here and keep watchin' the freaky transmission, then, shall I?" I got up out of my chair and moved closer to Bridge, taking one of his hands in mine and asking him,
"Why are you so upset about this? And don't tell me you aren't."
"It's nothing," Bridge said, shaking his head. "Cruger's right. I'd probably... just have gotten hurt... if I'd have... gone with them, anyway. Or if we'd gotten... into a fight... had a panic attack. I feel so... useless."
"Come on, Cruger doesn't think like that," I said.
"Yeah," Z agreed. "Stop being so hard on yourself, Bridge. I'm not happy that he ordered me to stay behind, either, but I can deal with it."
"...I can't fight," Bridge said simply. "I AM useless."
"Tessie and I can't fight, either! But we're not sitting here, pitying ourselves for something we can't help!" I exclaimed, looking helplessly at the girls. Kat came over and put a hand on Bridge's shoulder.
"You know Doggie doesn't think that way," she told him. "He didn't hold you back for no reason, or because he thinks you're weak or useless. He's just trying to protect you guys, especially you, Bridge, so don't take it so personally. He knows you've been having trouble with stress and lingering trauma from everything you've been through, so he's not about to send you into a situation that could potentially aggravate it, especially now because we have extra help." Bridge sniffled in response. "Doggie never shows it and will probably never say it, but he cares about each and every one of you deeply," she continued. "All of you have been through a lot together, and the last thing he wants is to put you in unnecessary danger. He already lost most of his people, and he's afraid of losing all of you now, so that's why he held you back. OK?" Bridge and Z both nodded. "If it helps you feel better, Bridge, I've known him since before you were born... and the night you came back from the hospital is the only time I've seen him cry like a little puppy. That's the reason he didn't come to meet you when you and Sky came back from your date- he saw all of you together, laughing and joking for the first time in over a month, and it made him that happy." All of us raised our eyebrows, surprised. "Of course, now that I've told you that, you realize I have to kill you," Kat joked as she went back to work, making all of us laugh.
"See? What did I tell you?" I asked Bridge, kissing the top of his head, then I turned and mouthed 'I owe you one' to Kat. "Let's listen, it sounds like Charlie's going to be giving us a running commentary." All of us gathered around one workstation, even though we had no video yet.
"How in the blazes could they hide for this long in a public place like this?" I heard David ask incredulously. "That program can't have been right, sir, this is an office building."
"It's a long shot, but we cannot let a lead like this slip. We have to investigate," said Cruger. "Kat, can you give us some information about it?" He told her the address, and Kat quickly brought it up on her console.
"It is an office building, but it's largely empty," she told them. "The first three floors have been empty and for sale for months without a buyer. The top two floors are listed as currently occupied by a company named Sinneslöschen, Incorporated. I'm not turning up much information on them, however, except that they're a small business that does computer repair, had a lot of improvements done to the property ever since moving in, and promptly pays their bills every month. No even slightly suspicious activities on their record; indeed, it seems like their customers always leave satisfied. The first three floors have very light security on them in order for customers to access the top two, so it should be easy to enter the building from there."
"Thanks, Kat," said Cruger. "Let's go." We heard some clattering, presumably as they entered the building.
"OK, seems like your typical empty office building down here, if there is such a thing," Charlie informed us. "Shouldn't take us that long to search these floors, just in case, before we pay a visit to our friends at Sinne-whatsis. Oh, bother, forgot the visuals..." We soon had a picture through a camera Charlie carried. "Nothin' so far," he told us as he looked into various dusty cubicles, offices, and even closets. "David brought along a laptop, so he's going to try and latch on to the computer network here, maybe bring up some schematics or more information on this building. It's a long shot, but it's worth a try. Hmm, what's this?" We watched, anxious, as he came upon a door tucked away in a corner of the building with a name plate on reading "Sinneslöschen, Incorporated - Computer Parts & Service". Charlie fiddled with his camera a little, and suddenly we could see through the door to a staircase beyond. He turned the knob and, finding the door unlocked, mounted the stairs and emerged onto another floor that did look for all the world like a normal computer repair service office. However, it was empty and the lights were dim, a sign on the counter informing us that the company was closed for the day. "Hmm," said Charlie, leaping easily over the counter and searching the back hallways and rooms, finding nothing but offices and computer equipment. "There's no way to get up to the next floor, seems like. Not suspicious at all- oh, hullo!" He'd opened the door to what looked like a broom closet, except his camera filter barely showed a hidden staircase behind the back wall of it. "Rie, ma'am, found something- the old staircase-hidden-in-a-broom-closet trick."
"Are you kidding me?!" Rie asked, unable to suppress a laugh. "You'd think they'd learn that never works. Good job, Chuck. Wait for me and Doggie to get there before you check it out, though; even though it may be nothing, we should be careful and go together. If it IS them, no doubt the parts of the building where they conduct the kidnapping, torture and attempted murder business are well-guarded. David, have you had any luck yet?"
"Getting a pretty strong wireless signal here," said David. "There are two networks, too- what would a tiny computer repair business need with two, eh? I could only connect to one, though, the other is heavily-encrypted. I'm bringing up a building plan right now."
"Keep at it, then," said Cruger as he and Rie joined Charlie inside the broom closet, examining the hidden entrance. Charlie changed filters on his camera several times, trying to see if there was a hidden way to open it.
"Ah-hah, a number pad," he said, prying off part of the back wall to reveal it. "Now what do we do?"
"Hmm, this is very strange," said Cruger. "There are 12 buttons on the pad, and the numbers appear to be random. Here, let the others get a good look at it and see if it makes any sense to them." Charlie zoomed in, and we all stared at it, baffled. 31, 12, 41, 55, 34, 54, 33, 15, 43, 45, 24, and 35...
"Those numbers don't mean anything to me," said Kat. "I'm running them through the database right now, but it could take hours to find the correct sequence, and by then..."
"Why don't we just bust it?" Charlie asked.
"Because if we destroy it, it may seal itself shut... or alert whoever's at the other end to our presence," said Rie. "We're trying to keep SOME element of surprise, Chuck."
"Wait!" Bridge suddenly spoke up, opening a channel to the others. "Sir, try 35-34-31-54-12-24-45-43. Trust me." The Commander did as he was told, and... Charlie gave a whoop as the door slid sideways into the wall.
"Wow! You're a genius, Mister Bridge!" he said. "How'd you know that?"
"Polybius," Bridge answered. "When... I was doing research earlier... I saw... that number sequence. It stuck... in my mind... for some reason. Those numbers spell... the name... on a standard... Polybius square. P-O-L-Y-B-I-U-S. The Greek Polybius... invented it... for cryptography."
"Great job, Cadet," said Cruger proudly. "We may have been stuck here for hours without you." Bridge went red, looking pleased with himself. "So, this means your hunch about Polybius appears to be true... let's keep going, Vulcans. David, come join us as soon as you can." The Commander, Charlie and Rie, weapons drawn, went up the staircase, only to be stopped by another door with a similar keypad. "AGH. There aren't the correct numbers to spell Polybius again this time. Bridge, any ideas?"
"On it," said Bridge, dashing over to another console and bringing up an image of a square with letters and numbers on it. "How about... we try... 34-42-35-23-15-45-43. Orpheus." Much to everyone's surprise, the second door opened.
"So it IS Polybius and Orpheus after all," I said, my heart thumping so hard it felt as though it was going to burst from my chest. All of us leaned in closer to the monitor as the four emerged onto another floor. They were now standing in a carpeted hallway, and on either side were several of the same 12-square number pads in addition to normal doors. The walls were completely bare, with no furnishings of any sort. Cruger went to the first pad, tried the code for "Polybius", and the wall slid smoothly aside to reveal a room, again empty of any decorations or furnishings except a window- but the carpet was bloodstained in a few spots. I heard Bridge draw in his breath sharply next to me and looked over at him to see that he'd gone pale and was sweating.
"That was the cell... Ka'ladra held me in," he choked out to Cruger and the Vulcans, before he started breathing fast and shallowly, signaling an impending panic attack. I stood behind him and held him to me, wishing I could do something to ease his fears...
"Fight it," I murmured in his ear. "Be courageous, Bridge. You're stronger than your attacks. Don't give into them." He seemed to relax in my arms; though he shook violently a few times, a full attack didn't come on.
"Nothing else behind door number one," said Charlie. "Let's check behind door number-" The foursome stopped, and we heard a laser blast before we abruptly lost the visual signal.
"Oh, no..." Cruger gasped out, and the audio signal went dead as well. The alarm began to blare; Z and Tessie were halfway out the door before Bridge ran after them and grabbed their arms to halt them, looking back at Kat, who was trying to re-establish contact with the others.
"Rie, do you copy? David? Charlie?" she cried, frantically typing at the keyboard. "Doggie? DOGGIE!"
"Let GO OF ME, Bridge," said Z, but Bridge shook his head as I limped over to them.
"You are both staying," I ordered. "Tessie, you are not going out into battle in any case."
"Try and stop me," she said fiercely.
"Sky, you are absolutely FUCKING NUTS if you think I'm not going after them!" Z snarled. "Bridge. Let. Go. NOW."
"YOU are nuts if you think I'm going to let you walk right into our enemies' hands," I snapped back. "Stay here until Kat can re-establish contact. They may not even need our help." She tugged her arm out of Bridge's and began walking away anyway. "Stay PUT, Z. I'M RED RANGER, AND THAT'S AN ORDER." She started raising her arm, looking very much like she wanted to hit me, then stamped past me back into the control room without another word. Tessie relented as well, so Bridge let go of her as we all gathered behind Kat again.
"It's no use," she said, shaking her head. "Whoever cut our signal off launched a denial-of-service attack against our communications satellite, making it unable to respond to any of my commands."
"Great. Great. NOW what?" Z demanded.
"It's your decision, Sky," Kat told me. "You're in charge in Doggie's absence. You have few options here- you can send Bridge and Z to check the situation out, or you all can wait here and see if communications come back online."
"I..." I said, then trailed off, uncertain. My brain felt sluggish as I struggled with what to do. I couldn't send Bridge and Z into a potential trap... but Tessie and I couldn't go with them, because we were both incapacitated... yet, even as we stood here, something awful could be happening to our comrades...
"Whatever you want us to do," Z said, breaking through my indecisiveness, "I'll respect it."
"... We'll all four of us go," I said finally, and before anybody else could reply, I held up my hands. "Tessie and I are injured. I know. But I cannot in good conscience send Bridge and Z out by themselves, and besides, we'd have to go after them anyway if something happens to them. We're all in this together, so we'll go together. We can take the S.W.A.T. truck. I know it's risky, but if we ignore what happened, and something happens to Cruger and the Vulcans..." The others nodded, though Kat was looking worried.
"Be CAREFUL," she told us. "I want you all to come back in one piece, alright?"
"We will," I promised her.