I think of this sooner? Too distracted by the Q-net. Guess I’ll have to ask my parents for supplies.
Except my parents are too busy to join us for dinner. However, when Niall arrives, he’s carrying a large black backpack.
Radcliff takes it from him and sets it on the table. He unzips it. “This is your field ruck, Lawrence.” Taking out various objects he shows them to me. “Your tent, sunscreen, cap, sunglasses, communicator, binoculars, uniforms, and a jumpsuit.” He hands that last one to me.
The stretchy material slides through my fingers with a familiar smoothness. Yet the color is a dark gray and there’s a bit of a silver shine to it.
“It’s a special material,” Niall says when he notices me squinting at the fabric. “The threads are more resistant to sharp edges.”
“Wear it under your uniform at all times,” Radcliff orders.
Which means going to the washroom will require some gymnastics. I scrunch my nose.
Niall laughs. “It’ll keep you warm at night.”
“And during the day?”
“Hot as hell, but you’ll be in the pit. Much cooler down there.” And then his good humor drops and he peers at me in concern.
No doubt thinking about how I’ll be down there without backup. His opinion of the usefulness of the techs during a crisis is rather low. I’m a bit more optimistic. They’ve been in training—not as intense as mine—but like Elese said, it gives you a boost of confidence.
The uniforms are the same as the ones I already have, except the shirt is a light tan color and the tactical pants are a few shades darker—almost brown.
“It’s to blend in with the sand,” Radcliff says. “You’ll need to wear your khaki boots as well.”
Oh, so that’s what they’re for. Radcliff gave me a bunch of stuff that I’d just shoved under my bed. Should have known he has a reason for everything.
“And the communicators are for emergencies only,” Radcliff adds. “Even though they don’t connect to the Q-net, I don’t want Jarren discovering the frequency and listening in, but if HoLFs or the looters attack, use them.”
Niall takes off after dinner to get his ruck ready. And Radcliff appears to take a particular pleasure in informing me that in order not to be seen in the base, I’ll have to leave for the port much earlier than everyone else.
“When?” I ask.
“Oh-five-thirty.”
I don’t groan, which I think is a sign I’m maturing. Carrying the backpack to my room, I stuff all my extra uniforms into the ruck along with my pulse kit. No need for pajamas, but I do add in soap, shampoo, and a few personal items. I wonder if Niall’s bringing his shampoo, but realize if one of us isn’t sleeping, we’ll be on duty. Boo.
With nothing left to do, I go to bed early. My dreams start with Niall and his shampoo in a hot steamy shower. The fog obscures his lower half, but I’ve a nice view of his bare chest. Then the ceiling retracts—like the one in the port—and there’s Jarren staring down at us. He fills the sky.
Trying to have a normal life, Little Worm? Dream Jarren asks in my mind. Don’t you know I’m always watching?
But the satellite—
Is mine along with the camera feeds. Do you really think your security measures are better than mine? I’ve been doing this for years. And you’ve been…dead. He holds his hands out to me. Come see what I’ve done, Little Worm.
A part of my mind knows I’m having another nightmare and should slap myself awake. Yet my dream self is too curious for her own damn good. I take Dream Jarren’s hands and we soar up to the satellite, flying through the Q-net on invisible wings.
With my new…sight, I spot his fingerprints all over the programming. Just like he boasted, he’s in deep. My measures are not enough to keep him out since I missed most of his tricky little convoluted worm tracks. Pah!
I shoo him away. Dream Jarren smirks, takes a bow, and disappears. I study the complex programming. It’s like a map. If I can find a way to reroute it so he’d go in circles, seeing only the empty desert that I recorded before, that would be super cool. I’ll also need to include a shortcut just for me to see the real feed. I trace Jarren’s intricate codes and the solution forms in my mind.
It’ll be a tedious process and I’d rather be dreaming of Niall in the shower. But I see this as a