- What is this? - I asked, showing the note to the others. On the note, there were weird vertical lines of various lengths.
- Looks like an audio visualisation to me - Arika gazed upon the note.
- What's going on down there? - Sebastian asked from above.
- We found a note with strange lines, probably a cipher of some kind - Claudius looked at him.
- Does anybody have an audio visualiser on a phone? - Arika turned to us. My smartphone was stolen by Vlad and Bruise, but that's when I remembered that the commandos captured them.
I emerged from the tank and explained the situation to the commandos. One of them dug through Bruise's pockets and other hiding spots and eventually handed me my phone. Amber was watching the surrounding area. Half of the commando squadron was busy fighting robots and trying to track down Dawn, who was, apparently, briefly seen by Amber and Sebastian. The two remaining commandos handcuffed Vlad and Bruise. Bruise looked furious when the commando found stolen items under his shirt. He was watching me with rage as I came back down.
- I got my phone back, not sure if that will help - I told the others.
- May I see it? - Arika asked. I gave her my phone and watched as she installed an audio visualiser, as I didn't have one by now. Claudius grabbed his phone and did the same thing. However, Claudius didn't really know how to use such a program, as his expertise was mechanics, not music. Arika quickly got to work. I myself was confused by Arika's actions, but they soon payed off. A minute later, we heard the beautiful sound of unintelligeble noise and gibberish.
- Uh, this isn't an audio visualiser! - Arika sighed - Here's your phone. I deleted a few apps, because I needed space for the visualiser.
- No problem... - I replied, but wasn't too sure, as I don't know which apps Arika had given the boot.
I looked through my phone and happily noticed that the only apps that were deleted were old games I wasn't even playing anymore. Arika grabbed her phone out of her utility belt. The phone relied on the agency's intranet, which made it significantly harder to track by enemy agents, but also limited the device's functionality. Apps and mobile games were out of the question.
- I'll look through the cipher database and see if anything matches this - Arika explained. I saw her frown, which meant that there was no match.
- This cipher is different from anything the agency has seen and it sounds like an alien language - Arika sighed again.
- Let's call it the Star Cipher, because of that - Claudius suggested.
- Maybe the length of the lines is important? - I thought.
- Maybe, but there is something I noticed... - Arika showed us her phone. On it were similar lines to the ones from the note.
- What's this? - Claudius didn't get it, nor did I.
- It's the background noise from the Hyperspace computers, or what I thought was background noise. It's the same code - she explained.
- That's quite genius. It looks like background noise, so that we overlook it and the Perseids can freely exchange messages - I noted.
- Yes. Now let's see if your theory has some merit too it - Arika opened a special program on her phone. It was a virtual measuring tape. She looked at the note and wrote down the lengths of the lines.
- The first line is 10 milimeters long. What does that give us? - Arika muttered.
- How's the cipher? - Amber peeked through the hatch.
- We have a clue, but it may not be relevant - Claudius replied - Oh, and we're calling it the Star Cipher.
- Okay! - Amber came back to the observe the surroundings.
- Maybe ten milimeters mean the tenth letter? - I proposed. This was the simplest approach, but sometimes, the simplest solution is the best.
- I, T, S... This might acctually work! - I heard new hope in Arika's voice - T again, I again, M, E...
- It's time - Claudius summarised.
- It's time to initiate the Sunset Protocol. Open the hatches on floor seventee... - Arika started deciphering, but was suddenly interrupted by a loud thud from the outside.
- What was that? - Claudius asked with concern.
- Rill's here! - Amber screamed. We instinctively jumped out of the tank to see what was happening. Rill Gomana caught the two commandos by surprise and his crushing strategy finally worked. The two commandos were crawling beneath him while Rill was trying his best to hold them back. Amber and Sebastian joined the fight, hoping to help the commandos.
We arrived in time and dropped out of the cockpit. However, I heard something sinister behind us. As I turned around, I saw Dawn with a flamethrower. Not a toy one.
- Hi! - Dawn welcomed us warmly. From our point of view, the welcoming wasn't just warm. It was painfully hot as Dawn used her flamethrower. While Claudius and I jumped away, Arika squeled in pain and ran off as the note caught on fire. We managed to put the fire out when it already conumed half the note. This meant that we still didn't know the details of the evil plot.
Moreover, Arika got a burn from the flamethrower whilst attemtping to punch Dawn. The latter was now chasing us, blowing flames menacingly. To make the situation even worse, Vlad and Bruise managed to escape the commando's grasp and quickly joined Dawn, with Rill also coming through.
The other two commandos noticed the skirmish and soon arrived to the scene. They managed to prevnt Dawn from burning us, as they knocked the flamethrower out of her hands. Vlad, Bruise and Rill were still chasing us while Dawn backed up and hid behind the remnants of a building. I think it was a pharmacy before being blown up.
- Ouch, this really hurts - Arika yelped.
- We need to find cold water or get to the Hospital... - I replied, panting. Despite my exhaustion, I couldn't stop. The others were in similar condition.
- Yeah, that's not happening... The bots are blocking everything - Sebastian pointed to a group of rogue robots.
Luckily, one of the commandos managed to unlock an elevator for us. We ran into it and the glass door closed behind us. We started descending, which meant that we weren't heading towards the Hospital. By the time we reached the beach, which is floor 7, Rill Gomana dropped onto the lift, shattering the glass. The lift gave in and soon broke off the shaft. As we fell, Rill was yelling in Russian through a walkie-talkie. We soon crashed on the sand.
The good news was that the cold water helped to alleviate Arika's horrible burn and she was slowly recovering. The bad news was that the commandos were several floors above us and our enemies have regrouped and now arrived. Leonid, Rill, Alia, Vlad, Bruise... they were all here, ready to bring us down.
This wasn't the ideal situation in a place that was meant to resemble a holiday excursion.
ns216.73.216.33da2
and then Add to home screen.