Brian Saves the World, Maybe

Chapter 43 - Sneakery

Brian waited until his aunt had gone. When he heard the door at the end of the hallway close, he left his room and knocked on Jessica's door.

She opened it immediately, and let Brian in. "What do you think she is going to do?" Jessica said.

Brian shook his head. "I don't know, but it doesn't sound good." He dug around in his pocket and pulled out the invisibility device. "Want to see if you can find out? I need to get back to the Gateway."

"Absolutely," she said, taking it.

Brian smiled. "I'll get you started. Don't want anyone noticing a door opening and closing on its own."

Jessica gave a single nod and then disappeared.

Brian could hear Jessica following behind, as he walked to the door at the end of the hallway. The door opened, and Brian sighed. He had been worried it might be locked. He walked a few paces, then stopped, gesturing as if he had forgotten something. He whispered, "Good luck" as Jessica passed by. As he turned to walk back to his room, he heard a quiet "Thanks," in response.

When Brian returned to his room, he sat down in a big chair next to the bed. TV, take me to the Gateway.

Making the call.

* * *

Jessica crept down the hallway, keeping her footsteps as silent as possible. She was headed for the conference room where classified meetings were held, suspecting that was where Carol would be.

Jessica had only been there once but was pretty sure she would be able to find it. Getting inside would be tougher though. She didn't have a key card with access. Still, she was invisible, so that gave her some options.

As she walked, she began thinking about the last time she had been invisible and giggled to herself. That guy thought I was his conscience. What a nut. If I can pull that off, sneaking into a room should be a piece of cake.

She grinned, quickening her pace a little. At that moment, a thin, bearded man burst out of a doorway just ahead, humming loudly. He turned toward her. She tried to stop her forward motion, but there was too much momentum. Time seemed to slow down as she awkwardly sidestepped, missing the man by mere inches. She teetered on one foot and could smell his deodorant as he passed by. Arms flailing, she tried to regain her balance and stumbled. The sound of it seemed to echo through the halls. The man stopped walking, and his humming cut off. He turned in Jessica's direction, opening his mouth and narrowing his eyes.

Jessica froze, conscious of every heartbeat, as the man stared at her. No, as he stared through her. Come on, Jess, she thought with a nervous smile, this guy isn't even that cute. Calm down.

As she tried to remember the man's name, he took a step toward her, his foot nearly stepping on her's. She held back a gasp and attempted to calm herself by guessing the type of deodorant he was wearing. Old Spice? No, probably one of those exotic-themed ones. He scrunched his face, baring his teeth a little as he glared at the wall. Saber Tooth, maybe. He pressed his ear to the wall, sticking his tongue out in an apparent form of concentration, his breath hitting her full force. She tried not to inhale, cringing. Brutal Mist. He raised his hand high in the air and knocked on the wall three times, his eyes shifting back and forth. Caveman Musk.

A moment later, the door he had come out of opened, and a red-haired woman poked her head out. Jessica recognized her as Jo, Carol's non-nonsense administrative assistant.

"Now what are you doing?" Jo said, looking at the man.

"I heard a noise," the man said, scratching his head.

Jo frowned. "Yeah. You knocked on the wall. Cause. Effect. Understand?"

Jessica smirked. Yeah, so get lost, Lamb Chops. 

The man shook his head. "No, before that. It was like—"

"I don't have time for more of your games, Ricky," she said, cutting him off. "Now, can you please go get those printouts?"

Ricky. That's right, Jessica thought. Think I like Lamb Chops better.

Ricky looked at Jo for a moment and shrugged, before turning and walking away, muttering.

Jo rolled her eyes. "Men." The door shut.

Jessica let out a deep breath. That was a close one, she thought. Literally.

She continued walking, now giving each door a wide berth, and made it to the conference room entrance without further trouble. Now I just wait for the door to open, she thought. Someone would need to enter or exit eventually.

After a few minutes, no one had come or gone. Jessica sighed. Then she began to hear some faint humming. She turned in the direction of the sound, just in time to see someone rounding a corner, carrying a stack of paper. Lamb Chops! He must have been told to bring the printouts here.

As Ricky approached, Jessica stood tight against the wall, beside the door. Ricky walked up to the door and unlocked it with his key card. As he entered, Jessica followed closely behind.

Carol was sitting, stone-faced, at the head of a conference table, with several others seated around it. Jessica could hear a female voice talking over a speaker. "We now believe they have received orders to prepare for the launch sequence. Are you ready to execute?"

Jessica's head swam. Launch sequence? That didn't sound good.

"We are ready," Carol replied to the voice. She nodded to Ricky as he delivered the papers. When he had exited the room, she continued. "How much time do we have, in your estimation?"

"We anticipate they will be prepared in approximately 10 minutes. Launch authorization could come at any time thereafter," the voice responded.

"Frank, are you ready?" Carol said.

A man with a laptop, seated at the opposite end of the table, nodded.

"Once we transmit, how long before it takes effect?"

The man paused, swallowing before replying. "There will be a brief delay, due to distance, but no more than a few seconds."

"Less than 10 minutes to prevent World War 3," Carol muttered.

Jessica held back a gasp.

Frank stared at the tabletop. "Is it clear our plan is better?"

There was some murmuring around the table.

Carol stood up, leaning on the table with both hands. "We have all been over this," she said, as the clamor silenced itself. "We have no alternative. This is the only way to prevent a nuclear Armageddon."

Frank glared at her. "Instantly killing nearly 10 million people is its own Armageddon," he said in a low voice. "Heaven knows the total number of casualties will be far greater, due to the chain of events it will trigger."

"People, Frank?" Carol said, meeting his gaze, "They are not simply people, Frank." She circled the table in slow, deliberate strides. "They are Observers."