Thomas rushed into the courtyard of the President Spire slightly late for his lesson. The news report hadn't said anything about Valerie, which was what he'd expected, anyway. No one knew about that underground base except for her and that "Oliver" guy she'd told him about, right?
He stepped into line next to Claire. "Right," said Sir Rent. "Today we'll be doing a slightly different form of target practice with the Tech Guns." This caused a small burst of chatter among the apprentices. Slightly different? What could that mean?
Sir Rent set down the Tech Gun box. "We'll be using moving targets."
The apprentices each grabbed a Tech Gun, each of them having no struggle with its weight anymore. "Sir Rent," began Jadie.
"Yes?" asked Sir Rent, setting up the new moving targets, which seemed higher quality than the previous versions.
"The moving targets will be a more accurate way of training, right? Are the targets programmed to move like a criminal would?"
"Ah," said Sir Rent after he finished. "I was just getting to that. Yes, each target moves in a completely different way than each of the others, to provide true variety. There are nine seperate targets-- one for each of you." All nine of the apprentices chose a target. Spheres of energy flew from the guns, only a few reaching their intended targets.
Thomas had been better and better at target shooting with each lesson, as did all of the other eight apprentices. None of them hit a bullseye that often, but a few among them had done it before-- those few being Thomas, Claire, Luke, and Justin. The lesson lasted for another hour or so before they were dismissed for the day, and Thomas returned to his room to relax. Valerie was safe, he was training to be a Guard apprentice, and security had been increased so that no one could hack the robots again.
***
Paul and Ed Nightman still sat in the abandoned alleyway. "To complete my plan," Paul informed him, "I'll need to return to Kresco's old warehouse." He sat against the brick wall and stretched his arms.
"What for?" asked Ed.
"It's obvious, isn't it? Tech Guns, the Chameleon Band-- all of the gear we need to carry out my plan."
"And what exactly is this plan?"
"I've told you this before," snapped Paul irritably. "I can't tell you yet. The fewer people who know the full plan, the fewer the chance of being compromised becomes. For now, we need to find Kresco's old warehouse." The two Nightmans had changed from their prisoner clothes to discarded silvers, and now they walked the streets, looking as inconspicuous as they could; their hoods pulled down. After about half an hour of searching, they finally found it; the entrance to Kresco's old warehouse.
"Finally," muttered Ed, pulling off his hood. "Let's go." Paul opened the brick wall and started descending down the tarnished silver ladder, down into the warehouse.
***
Oliver sat at his workbench putting the finishing touches on the boat, which was coming along very nicely. Valerie had gathered four Tech Guns from the back room to bring with them, just in case.
"And you're sure this boat will stay together? The Ocean can create some pretty strong waves sometimes," warned Valerie, watching him work.
"It's reinforced, Valerie," Oliver replied. "The boat would need some serious force pushing against it to break. It's made mostly out of wood, but reinforced by metal in certain places. I just need to finishing installing this motor and it'll be done."
"Motor?"
"Well, did you think we'd need a sail? President Weatherford controls the weather. If someone spots us leaving and informs Weatherford, we'd be blown back to shore."
YOU ARE READING
Visionary
Science Fiction[CURRENTLY ON HOLD] January 1st every year is the Ability Ceremony. As soon as kids reach the age of thirteen, they are scanned and their Ability is observed by the President of the United States. However, there is only one ability which is potentia...
