Lock Down (5)

The elevator doors open as the Mayor arrives on the 26th floor of the Tempest. He is accompanied by Liam and his bodyguard the Champion. They walk through the corridor into a meeting room where they are greeted by Bison.
“It is good to see you again Mr Mayor,” Bison says as the Mayor takes a seat.

***

Down on the 3rd level of the building Alia enters a control room where she can watch video surveillance of the building on a large computer. She looks through files to find the footage of two nights ago, when the black figure broke in and stole the Core. She stops what she’s doing as she smells something oddly familiar. She sniffs and turns around. She walks to the door and opens it to the hallway. She peers left then to the right then sniffs once again. She quickly rushes back to her computer and enters a code.
Suddenly metal curtains come down cover every window in the 72 levels of the building. An alarm begins to beep.
“LOCK DOWN! Intruder in the building,” says an announcement on the PA system, the announcement can be heard in every room.

***

Back on the 26th floor the meeting is interrupted by the alarm. Bison makes a phone call and a hologram of Alia appears.
“What is going on Alia?” Bison asks.
“We have an intruder in the building, it’s the black figure that stole the Core the other night,” she explains.
“Did you see him?” Bison asks.
“I smelt him,” Alia replies as she hangs up the call.
The deafening alarm continues as everyone in the room stands.
“Take the Mayor into the panic room down the hall,” Liam commands the Champion. “After the assassination attempt yesterday we cannot take any risks with this intruder.”
The Champion nods and leads the Mayor out of the room to a secure room where once in, can only open from the inside.
“Call your troops, we have an Intruder to catch,” Liam says to Bison.

Lock Down (4)

Rieken Waters walks through the hallway of the Arraign Asylum, he has visited his brother many times, but this is the first time that he has walked down this corridor. He follows a robot that leads him to a door. The robot opens it and Reiken walks into a padded cell. In the cell are a toilet and a tap in one corner and single bed in the centre of the room. Trey sits on the bed staring at the ground.
“Why did I have to see you in your room?” Reiken asks his brother. “Why aren’t you in the visitors lounge?” Trey slowly turns his head to look at his brother. His skin is pale and has bags under his eyes. His whole body quivers as if the room is freezing cold, but his cell is warm. Reiken examines his brother. Trey’s wrist is wrapped up in a bandage. “What happened to your wrist?”
“I was attacked last night at dinner,” Trey replies slowly. “I don’t want to go near the other patients… so they are letting me stay in my room.”
Reiken is speechless.
“Did you talk to Alia?” Trey asks staring into his brother’s eyes with hope.
“I did… she…” Reiken pauses, seeing his brother hurts in the state he is in is agonising. “Don’t worry Trey… I’ll get you out of here. I promise you.” He walks up to his brother and hugs him. “I promise…”

Lock Down (3)

On the 27th floor of the Tempest is a level devoted to the eight government psychics. Half the floor is taken up by a large machine that only the psychics can use, the other half is a lab. It is an hour before midday as Maddy Chambers wanders through the lab. One of the eight psychics is researching at a table and sees him, he approaches Maddy.
“What are you doing in here little one?” the man asks. Although he can read the boys mind he does not. All government psychics are not allowed to probe other people’s minds without consent. “Are you lost?”
The entrance to the lab opens as Eve walks in. Maddy and the Psychic turn to her.
“There you are Maddy,” she says walking up to the boy and takes his hand. “I do apologise, he just wandered off.”
“Not a problem,” the Psychic says smiling at her. Eve returns the smile and skips out of the room with her son. As the door slides shut, Maddy pears back into the lab staring at the psychic. His eyes are focused on him. Eve leans down and whispers in his ear as the door shuts and the two are no longer in the psychic’s sight.

Lock Down (2)

The Vincent building is hosts many events and meetings. After the Phaser building and the Tempest, the Vincent building is the third largest sky scraper in the city. On the 34th floors a press conference is being held for the Mayor. He stands behind a podium with eight microphones in front of his face. Standing before him are dozens of reporters, humans and aliens of all kinds asking him questions.
“Humans as a species have a lot to learn,” the Mayor states. “In this day and age we are fortunate enough to have such close contact with so many other non human life forms that we can learn from them and improve ourselves as a species.”
“What exactly do you mean by that Mr. Mayor?” a reporter asks.
“Well take for example the Martians. Seventy years ago we came into contact with them and they taught a select few humans how to tap into a part of their brains to read other peoples minds. They also taught them telekinesis, without this we wouldn’t have psychics we know them today,” the Mayor answers.
“Mr. Mayor,” a human report from the crowd draws the Mayors attention. “What do you say to the allegations that you favour other alien species more than humans?”
“I say I do not discriminate any species,” he rebuts. “As you can see I am married to Valliant, not a human. It’s not that I prefer other species more than humans, I simply believe that everyone deserves equal respect, whether they are from this planet or another.” Standing on the side of the stage is the Mayors wife. Her skin is bright blue, her entire body including her head is completley hairless. The colour of her eyes is like crystal, they change at each angle the light shone on them. Beside her is her daughter, half human and half Valliant, she is also blue skin but had long brown hair flowing from her head.
Liam is standing behind the Mayor while he addresses the press. He walks towards him and whispers in his ear. The Mayor turns to his audience.
“Thank you for all your time today but I am afraid that is all the questions I will be able to answer for now. I appreciate you all coming out. Good day,” he says as he walks off the stage.
“You handled the questions very well Sir,” Liam compliments.
“Thank you Liam, what is on the schedule now?”
“We are heading back to the Tempest, you have a meeting with Lieutenant Bison Thames,” Liam advises. Liam and the Mayor head to the roof to a helicopter to take them to their next appointment.

Episode 2 - Lock Down (1)

Lying naked under her bed sheet, Lexie Skye sleeps. She rolls from one end of the king size bed to the other as she slowly opens her eyes. The room is dim as the sun is yet to rise. She sits up holding the sheet to her chest, she looks at the other side of the bed; it is empty. She scans her large bedroom. There are clothes scattered around on the floor from the night before.
A door opens on the side of the room where the ensuite is. The light from the bathroom is on and a silhouette of a man stands there. He walks into the room sits at the end of the bed and puts his shoes on. Lexie comes over to the man and wraps her arms around him.
“It’s so early… come back to bed Liam,” she says sultrily. Liam starts tying his shoe lace and does not turn around.
“The mayor has a press conference in two hours. I have to make sure he’s prepared,” he says.
Lexie starts to nibble on his ear. “You shouldn’t worry about what these stupid people think of the mayor… They will all be dead soon enough,” she whispers.
Liam finishes tying his shoelace, stands up ad faces Lexie. She stares at him admiringly with passion in her eyes. She leans black arching her smooth slender body still covering her chest.
“Yes, but it’s my job,” he replies. He leans forwards and strokes her cheek. Her smooth soft olive skin is warm. He pulls back and picks up his jacket from the floor. He puts it on and walks out of the room.

Ties (10)

Sitting in the passenger seat driving through the heart of the city, Cecilia peers out her window. Sky scrapers are lined up one after another. The reflection of the sun set sparkles off the windows of the buildings. As the sun fades, lights shine brightly from neon billboards, signs and street lights illuminating the large sky scrapers. Even at dusk the city glows. The bright concrete jungle is nothing to what she is used to growing up.
The hover car arrives at the Tempest. Cecilia steps out of the car and opens the back door. Virge gets out and together walk to the foyer. The pair is greeted by an athletic woman in army attire.
“Virgil Dylan?” the woman shakes Virge’s hand. “I’m Charlie Jordan, second in command in Lt. Thames unit.” Charlie turns to Cecilia. “And you must be Cecilia. I want thank you both for coming today.”
Charlie leads the two into the Tempest building and head towards an elevator. As they walk Cecilia examines the interior and the layout, she is amazed how large it is. They enter the elevator head down to the second lowest floors, nine levels underground.
“Above ground is mostly offices and where the mayor resides, most of the levels underground are for training the government’s soldiers,” Charlie explains. She takes Virge and Cecilia out of the elevator and to a large steal door shaped like a bank safe. “This is where our unit trains. We are the human division, made up of over 5000 human soldiers. They are currently in the middle of a training session, so this door is sealed shut. No one can get in or out while the training is on.”
“So do we wait?” Cecilia asks.
“I have already contacted Lt. Thames on your arrival, so he will be stopping the training at any moment, once I have the okay I can open the door,” Charlie explains. There is a devise in Charlie’s ear that lights up blue. “Speak of the devil.” She turns to the steal door, inserts a key and types in a numeric code. The heavy door unlocks and slides open from the centre. She heads into the room as Virge and Cecilia follow.
Behind the door is a gigantic room with steal walls. Lined up in hundreds of straight rows, 5000 soldiers stand like statues with perfect posture. In front of all of them Lt. Bison Thames greets his visitors.
“Thank you for coming Virge,” Bison says as he shakes his hand. He looks over to Cecilia as she grins from cheek to cheek. Charlie sees how Cecilia looks at Bison admiringly and interrupts.
“So these are our soldiers, each and every one of them is trained to defend and fight for our planet,” Charlie explains as she walks in between Cecilia and Bison.
Bison turns to Virge. “What do you think of them?” he asks.
“Do you mind if I take sit down?” Virge asks. Bison nods as Charlie brings a chair for him.
Virge sits and closes his eyes as his body collapses into the chair. His neck no longer supports his head as it falls to his shoulder. Virge cringes as his spine cracks out of alignment. He can no longer move from his neck down. He breathes and adjusts to the pain before opening his eyes. He looks at the army of soldiers that stand in front of him. None of them make a sound but he hears every single one of them and their intentions. He hears their thoughts and listens out for any indication of betrayal in the division.
Everyone is silent as Virge sits. After a few minutes Virge closes his eyes. His back cracks as all his disks realign. He opens his eyes and stands. He nods to Bison as he walks out of the room, Cecilia and Bison follow him.
“So what did you find out? Do we have a traitor in my team?” Bison inquires.
“No, none of them know about the core or what happened to it,” Virge informs. “You’ll have to search elsewhere for your answers. And Bison, don’t lead Charlie on.”
“Excuse me?” Bison asks confused.
“If you can’t give her affection you should tell her, it will make life a lot easier for the both of you,” Virge says. Bison stares at Virge frustrated. “Thank you for having us Bison.”
Virge and Cecilia get into the elevator and head to the ground floor. As they walk to their hover car Virge turns to his assistant.
“I know fancy Bison, but don’t. Not only is it going to cause confusion to our mission, but it’s also rather pointless” Virge says.
Cecilia nods not questioning him. She opens the back door of the car for him and closes it behind him.
Once Virge is comfortable he presses his watch and uses it to make a phone call, there is no hologram. The call is answered as he begins to speak.
“I just read his mind and Bison has no clue about our plans,” Virge advises. “Excellent,” the voice on the other end of the call says. “Everything is going according to schedule. We will prevail.”
Virge ends the call and stares out the window. Below him on the lowest level in the Tempest building Liam hangs up the phone from his end of the conversation. It is the largest room in the entire building. It could fit a seven story house in the room alone. Liam walks around the floor as dozens of engineers and mechanics are working on a large machine. Liam heads towards the machine to an engraving written on it: E18. He touches it with his hand.
“We will prevail,” He whispers.

Ties (9)

Liam sits at his desk in his office working on a project on a holographic computer. The doors open as Alia enters. He quickly switches off the screen and acknowledges her.
“You wanted to see me?” Alia says her arms folded.
“You’re getting rusty Alia. Someone infiltrated your operation and you let them get away,” Liam states as he gets up from his chair.
“Bison is working on it… we’ll get the core back. Was that all you wanted, to waste our time and criticise or did you have something relevant to tell me?” Alia stands like a tower unintimidated.
“There was an assassination attempt on the mayor today. It was a Stagger.
The mind readers have it but are getting nowhere. I want you to investigate and see if you can find out who sent the assassin,” he explains.
“I really think I would be at better use finding locating the stolen Core.”
“Like you said… Bison’s on it… he’ll find it soon enough,” Liam rebuts. Alia tilts her head at Liam, her eyes glaring at him. She turns around and walks out of his office. She enters the elevator and heads down two floors to her office. Alia’s office is a lot smaller than Liam’s.

Alia opens the door and standing at the desk is a familiar face.
“Reiken,” Alia says surprised. Her tone is warm yet cautious. “What are you doing here?”
Reiken looks at his old friend. “Hello Alia. How have you been?”
Alia walks around Reiken and sits at her desk. She looks up at him. “I’m good… again… what are you doing here?”
“I came to ask for your help,” Reiken admits. “It’s about Trey.” He pauses staring into Alia’s eyes. “He is finding it hard to cope in the asylum. He’s gotten a lot better but they treat him like an animal.”
“He shouldn’t have tried to kill him then.”
“Be that as it may… They shock him if he even gets agitated. He doesn’t deserve being locked in there like a monster… You of all people should understand that. Can you do anything to try and maybe get him on parole or probation?”
Alia does not answer straight away. She puts her head down and gets out of her chair. She walks around to Reiken standing face to face.
“I’m sorry Reiken. I know Trey isn’t a killer. But he tried to kill the Mayor… We can’t let him out,” Alia says. She looks deep into Reiken’s eyes. She can see his desperation. She knows that every moment Trey is in the asylum it is hurting him. “I’m sorry.”
Reiken sighs, then leans over and puts his arms around Alia hugging her. Alia stands there, her arms not leaving her side. Reiken steps back.
“It was nice seeing you,” he says. He turns around and makes his way to the door. He turns back before exiting. Alia is not looking at him; she is looking at her desk. He leaves the room closing the door behind him. Once she hears the door shut she peers up and sighs.