By R. J. Quisenberry
Sally Strect lay motionless, her dark auburn hair fanned out around her head, in the ergonomic medical recliner. Her breathing was slow and even. The monitors and respirators worked diligently and evenly.
“The chip has been removed, sir. We will now move the patient to recovery.” said the lead doctor in the powder blue operating room. His 8 assistants scurried to close Sally’s eyelids and prepare her to be wheeled away on the recliner. Her eyes could be seen to move back and forth under the lids with quick and constant motion.
As she was wheeled out, the distinguished-looking, mid-sixties, man, in a perfectly cut, dark grey, suit that was wrinkled from a long day, turned to the well-dressed young man on his right with a grim glare. The brown of the younger man’s suit was a shade that did not flatter his pale skin tone. The blush of anger and worry still contrasted sharply with the older man’s elegant grey of hair on his temples and the still vividly dark hair on the rest of his head. “Explain again, how did my only daughter end up assigned to a lab, where she was involved in a dangerous experiment!”
“Sir! She pretended to be one of the volunteers. It seems she paid the other girl off to take her place.” replied the young man who was sweating nervously.
“Andy, have any of our ‘experts’ been able to explain why my daughter chose to insert her into the product testing group? I would also like to know how she managed it! When you have information for me, I will be in the infirmary. I expect regular updates on your investigation. I also want to know how an experiment that should be as simple as testing a new watch hurt my daughter!” With that, he strode away from the smaller man and went after the comatose girl as she was wheeled out of the room.
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Alontheus bypassed the security in the research facility with ease. Once there, the rerouting of the chip from secure storage to the defective chip storage was simple. All of this was handled electronically and did not involve a human, even the physical movement of the chip from point A to point B was automated. The chip he placed in the secure storage was a perfect duplicate. It just did not contain the crucial microgram of crystal that made it special and far less data. It only had to fool them for a short while anyway.
The defective chips would be sold to the discount distributor. That was where the plan would deliver the candidate.