The Timeservers

Chapter 18

New York City, New York

Floor 92, Spectre Floor

December 5, 227 P.F.E

0340 hours

Via was babysat for most of the rest of the day. Sophia hovered close to her after Conner left them to their meal and she pestered her with questions about what he had talked about. Via kept the card secret, thinking that Sophia would disapprove of it or take it away. She didn't a chance to look at the card again until the spectres went to bed at 3 a.m.and she was finally left alone in her quarters.
Via lights some candles that she got from Sophia, most of them being lavender but some of them citrusy, and looks at the card carefully. She looks it over from every angle, scratching at it and dripping water on it.
She'd been trying for ten minutes to figure out how to get something to appear and is starting to feel duped when she remembers a story her dad had told her. He'd been talking about the Historians and some of the things they did to hide their messages in plain sight. Via hung on his every word, thrilled by all the secrets that he was telling her about. She'd heard about how they used to use false leads on the enemy- creating an entire person from nowhere to mislead them, items with secret compartments, and invisible ink. Via wonders if her dad might be pleased that she used this information and she smiles as the clue Conner had slipped her clicks in her mind. You have to stand the heat. Via holds the card close to the flames of the candles and words slowly start to materialize. It's an address and a time. Via doesn't know where the address is but the hours given are for late at night.
A sound in the hall frightens Via and she races to put the card with the rest of her secret items. Once the card is safely stashed away she sneaks over to the door and cracks it open slightly. It opens quietly and Via has a hunch that the spectres pressed for it.
Kelly and Sophia are in the hall, walking toward the elevator. They're both dressed in black but not their uniforms. Kelly is skittish, scoping the floor and pulling on his sleeves. Sophia keeps patting him, trying to calm him down as she pulls her hair into a braided bun. They whisper to each other, what Via heard from her room. 
The elevator comes and they step onto it, requesting the lobby. Once the elevator slides out of sight Via sneaks out of her room and creeps to the elevators. She calls another elevator and watches as Sophia and Kelly's slips farther down the building. She understands the impatience they were showing as the elevator seems to take an eternity to arrive. Once the elevator does arrive Via rushes in and asks, repeatedly, that it close the doors and go as fast as possible. The elevator responds and shoots down, practically flattening Via to its floor. She struggles to recover, clinging to the handlebars on the sides and dragging herself up. The elevator stops almost as soon as she stands, throwing her back down.
Via takes a moment to recover and then races outside in pursuit of Kelly and Sophia. She stops briefly to ask the standards on shift where they went and they point her to a spot a little off from the woods. They tell her it's the site of the old dock for the island and that some people use it to store personal crafts. Via doesn't have a personal craft so she approaches the shuttle checkpoint instead. Chambers is on duty and Leo gave her a shining review of the man in one of the brief moments that he spent with her.
"Hey, you must be the newbie, Eva. Welcome to the party. How can I help ya'?" Chambers asks, leaning forward and picking up a screen.
"I've heard great things about you from some of the others. I'm wondering if that's true. I need to borrow a shuttle, get away from things here for a little while," Via supplies, trying not to worry about how far Kelly and Sophia might be getting while she waits for things to be sorted out here.
Chambers nods. "I get it. The first day is a lot. I'm surprised you're still standing. Hound likes to push his trainees till they drop on the first day. I guess Mythos is taking a different approach. I'll sign you out for an hour. They try to keep the use of shuttles for personal stuff to a minimum. Hope it'll be enough. Get some sleep tonight though. I know you guys don't really sleep up there but it takes a bit of time adapt."
"I'll do my best," Via provides with a smile.
"Shuttle 015. You'll be able to find it fast enough. Make sure you turn everything off once you're done. I'll lower the hatch for you though and boot her up."
"Thanks." Via waves to Chambers as she walks down the abandoned dock and he gives a wave back. It's almost haunting, all the emptiness and the ghostly white shapes of the shuttles. Via may have been sneaking out at night but she stuck to bright spots, friendly places with cafes that stay open late, and the occasional park. She never liked the dark or the creepiness of night without lights to make it better.
Via finds the shuttle, marked by big block numbers on the side. She steps into it and approaches the already glowing control panel. She'd never piloted on her own, they didn't give candidates much autonomy, but she knows how to fly. Via lifts the hatch and undocks the shuttle, making the shuttle rise. She flies it up a few hundred feet and spots the personal craft dock. There's a bright red light and a flood light lighting up the water in front of the craft both are mounted on that's turning away from the dock. A surge of hope rushes through Via, maybe the pursuit of Sophia and Kelly isn't lost.
Via realizes that following them is ridiculous, they're probably on a mission or something, but that's more reason for her to follow. She wants to prove herself. There's also a thrill to it all. There's a difference between playing spy and being a spy and the difference makes the excitement, the pleasure of the pursuit, better.
Sophia and Kelly's craft shoots through the waves below quickly. It slows as it approaches land, a run-down section of town where a large population of Historians and high strikers live. It used to be a Navy yard, 300 years ago, but it's taken on many lives since then.
Sophia breathes in the salty air and closes her eyes against drops of frigid water that make it over the edge of the boat. She sits at the bow while her brother drives the boat. They don't speak.
The boat's engine is cut and they go into the dock on momentum. Sophia reaches over the edge, grappling for the dock waiting there. She hooks onto it and jumps out of the craft with a rope to tie off the boat. Kelly jumps out with her, tying off the back end of the boat before they both walk into the largely abandoned street. They melt into the shadows as only spectres can, disappearing and making no noise.
Once the two spectres disappear into the neighborhood, Via lands the shuttle. She lowers the hatch and does her best to follow where she thinks the siblings went, cutting down on time by not sticking to shadows as they had.
She thought the docks were bad, this is a nightmare. Via quickly catches them, her fear making her faster, and sees them sneak into a building covered in antennas in various stages of decay.
Via follows them in. They go into a room off the main hall and Via crouches outside of it, looking through the crack between the door and the frame.
Sophia rushes to some old equipment on a table in the corner, connecting various wires to a strange device in her hand. Power goes to the equipment on the table and Sophia adjusts it carefully as it squawks at her. She gets what she wants eventually and starts speaking into a microphone. "'A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.'"
"'Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling as the brain empties.' It's good to hear from you. Is Kelly with you tonight?" a voice from the equipment asks.
"Yep. Here," Kelly cuts in.
"Nice to hear from you too. It's been a while."
"Can we just cut to the chase? Don't like being here for long," Kelly asks, looking out the window.
"Relax, it's not like someone followed," Sophia consoles.
"Doesn't make it better. This place always gives me the creeps. You know what happens here."
"We picked it for that reason. It will be fine. Still, I'd like to get some sleep tonight. You got any marching orders for us?"
"Same old mission as usual, information and asset acquisition," the voice says, it's a young voice, but deeply clouded by static.
"How much longer are we going to do this? You agreed that this would be short term and then we're out," Kelly demands, tapping his foot and biting his lip.
"I get it. You're getting antsy. There's still a lot of intel to get a hold of though. You've both gotten deeper than we ever thought, what you're providing is saving countless lives."
"And risking everything for it. My family can't take much more of this. We need a timeline. Ready to get out."
The voice sighs. "I'm sure you are and I'm sorry. It will take time to get things set up and you know that. All this unrest on the border isn't doing anyone favors."
"Fine, but we need something solid by next meeting. Nothing new in the north, but they're looking closely at the organizations there," Kelly provides, momentarily consoled.
"I heard you got a new spectre to, exciting. Are you thinking of them as an asset?"
Kelly bristles at this and Sophia rolls her eyes at him.
"Maybe, it will take time. She's really green and I don't know how good she is at keeping secrets or seeing through other people," Sophia cuts in. Sophia smirks as Kelly ducks his head away.
"Keep an eye on her just in case. The more spectres the merrier, you guys are great at this sort of thing. Have you kept an eye on the Peccadillo Circus?"
"They've gotten more careful, someone spooked them. They're still inviting people. They're just being a bit stingier about it. They won't invite either of us though. Unfortunately, we've been too good of agents for that," Sophia gripes, kicking at the ground. "They've moved the entrance to. We haven't figured out where."
"It's not too much of a concern, just look out for any Guardians that might be attending. I know you want to keep things brief and that's pretty much all I've got. Do you have anything to add?"
Via moves to back away from the door so she can get away before someone exits. Her foot scrapes against something metal on the ground and it makes a scratching noise against the concrete floor. The noise is enough to alert Sophia and Kelly and Via freezes in place, eyes wide. She definitely wasn't supposed to be hearing anything in that room and the horror stories of what spectres can do race through her head. If only she'd been trained a bit more, or just ignored the noise in the hall and went to bed.
Kelly creeps to the door, drawing his weapon from his belt.
Via holds her breath as she waits for him to come, like that will somehow make things better. She picks up the thing she stepped on then presses herself against the wall as quietly as possible. She tucks her legs against her chest and makes herself as small as she can. Her heart beats like crazy and she's shocked that Kelly can't hear it.
Kelly looks through the glass of the door and is about to open it when another skittering comes from the hall. A rat, skinny and black-eyed, makes its way across the floor. Via bites on her sleeve to keep from screaming at the thing as it creeps closer to her. "It's just some dumb rat. Told you, didn't like this place," Kelly calls, holstering his weapon and going back to Sophia. Via waits a moment before breathing again and tries to creep further down the hall, her welcome well overstayed.