“I can’t believe I missed that,” Emerald said as she raced the station wagon through the streets of Idaho Falls.
“You searched while time was stopped, right?” Dyna said, keeping her eyes closed while she pinched the bridge of her nose. Sorting through foreign memories to try to figure out what was relevant to the current situation and what wasn’t hurt her brain. She had probably only gotten a small taste of what it might be like to be Sapphire and she hated it. It was no wonder he was such a strange person.
“I still should have found it,” Emerald said with a pout.
But in those memories, she did think she had found something useful. November could read and write as any human could, but text in the tulpa memories came out just as jumbled and unreadable as everything in the noosphere. However, all the tulpa had fairly distinct memories of a white-walled building with blue text and the logo of a mountain on its side. Describing that to Beatrice got her a few pictures of likely sites, which Dyna had narrowed down.
A meat processing facility.
“Maybe I’m getting sloppy in my old age.”
“You’re only a year older than me.”
“When you’re my age, you’ll wish you were your age.”
Squinting, Dyna turned to shoot Emerald a frown. She quickly checked her mirror then closed her eyes again. “No need for jokes. I’m fine, honestly. I was a bit shaken by the…” Dyna’s hand rubbed against the center of her chest while she searched for the right word. “By the ambush. But the little stint over in the noosphere wasn’t terrible. It was quite strange, admittedly. The whole place feels transient. Like if you turn your head, whatever you aren’t looking at just isn’t there. Except when you look back, it is.”
“Can’t say I like the idea of meeting myself. Doubt we’d get along.”
Dyna looked over again, checking her mirror as she did so. “But it is just you?”
“Yeah… Unless it is one of those alternate mes that pop into my head on occasion. I mean, I really only get glimpses, but what if, you know? I imagine I would be wary of some evil twin popping out of nowhere and trying to kill me, so I would kill it first. But because I know I would try to kill it first, it would try to kill me before that.”
“I see. Sounds complicated. But I don’t think you have to worry about that? Ruby never witnessed one of her thoughts taking form and mine only did after I specifically thought about trying to do that.”
“That is a small relief,” Emerald said, turning down a fairly deserted street far to the north of the city proper. “The meat packing plant is up ahead,” she said, slowing the car somewhat. “That’s their secret base?”
“Staging ground would probably be a more accurate name. It’s hard to say for sure. Having the memories of six tulpa, who are already jumbled messes of noncontiguous thoughts, shoved in my head didn’t exactly give me a clear picture of everything going on.”
“We expecting them to be alerted already?”
“Not sure. None of the tulpa who saw me escaped to warn their superiors. Harold did, but he didn’t see me eat the tulpa. They were going to take him here, but I don’t know if my appearance changed that. Unfortunately, protocol dictates that they completely abandon a compromised area.”
“You know their protocols but still don’t know their leader?”
“They receive orders through radio. Strange radio. I think it has psionic components built into it to control them more directly. It is a feminine voice, but that only eliminates half the world population.”
“Id?”
Dyna shook her head. She wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about that. It would certainly make future interactions with Id, assuming she ever returned Dyna’s text message, less hostile. At the same time, perhaps it would be nice if it was Id. At least they knew roughly what Id looked like, who some of her associates were, and had ways of contacting her—and perhaps tracking her if she slipped up. Some complete unknown lacked those advantages.
But they were minor advantages at best. If the Carroll Institute could simply locate Id on a whim, they would likely have done so already.
“No one I recognize,” Dyna said.
“Unfortunate,” Emerald said, pulling the car off to the side of the road. “Shall I head in and see what a cursory look over the place gleans?”
Dyna started to nod, only to wonder why Emerald, a more experienced artificer, combatant, and infiltrator, was looking to her. It hit Dyna a moment after. Emerald was still worried about her. Rather than say that she was doing fine again, Dyna simply finished her nod.
“I’ll text you anything I notice, and I’ll pay special attention to any spatial anomalies.”
“They aren’t always in the same spots, so I can’t help point them out. Ignotus has a way of opening them from the other side, but they aren’t stable and it seems to be harder to open them in places already used once. I can say that they generally try to put them out of the way, where people aren’t likely to simply stumble into them.”
“Check corners, out-of-the-way areas, areas closed down for construction, refurbishment, or other suspicious reasons… Got it. See you there.”
Opening her door, Emerald vanished.
After rubbing the bridge of her nose once more, Dyna shifted over to the driver seat and took the wheel. She didn’t even get to start moving before her phone buzzed with a text message. Emerald, saying that the meat packing plant was occupied by about two hundred personnel. All appeared to be regular workers doing regular meat-packing work. Nothing suspicious stood out but she had only finished a light pass-over and was about to delve into a more thorough search of the area.
With that message received, Dyna didn’t set off immediately. Emerald might be able to lurk about the place without being spotted, but Dyna couldn’t say the same for herself. Rushing into a building armed, armored, and sporting obvious weapons would probably turn out poorly. At best, she could hope for everyone running away and alerting Ignotus to her presence. At worst, they would attack her thinking that she was there to start trouble, also alerting Ignotus to her presence.
The best course of action then was to let Emerald finish her search on her own.
It didn’t sit right with Dyna. She felt she should be doing something to help out. But what could she do? If only she still had that magnifying glass artifact…
Idea popping into her head, Dyna got out of the car, moved back to the trunk, and popped open the door, swinging it open to the side. For the moment, she ignored the weapon cases. Her pistol and APC9K were enough for her at the moment. Instead, she focused on everything else Emerald had stashed away. All her protective gear, preparatory equipment, and spare changes of clothing.
It was the latter that most interested Dyna. At the airport while chasing Grafton and the Aztec artifact, she had simply put on a uniform and had been able to waltz through several places that she wouldn’t have otherwise been allowed near, let alone inside. While she didn’t believe for a moment that Emerald would carry around whatever uniform a meat packing plant had—apron, gloves, goggles, and a face mask, she presumed—Dyna did find what she was looking for.
Dyna then continued down the road. Emerald sent a few more texts in the short time it took to reach the meat packing plant. Mostly reports of finding nothing unusual. She did mention that there was a closed door she was unable to open because too many people were around.
This time, Dyna sent back a response.
She could take care of that. All Emerald had to do was sit tight for a few moments.
Laboratory coat trailing behind her in the light breeze, hiding her body armor and weapons, Dyna approached the front doors like she belonged there. Unlike at the airport, she wasn’t nervous in the slightest. Ruby was something of a master at instant improvisation. Dyna wasn’t that good, but she had watched Ruby in a number of different situations. As long as she had a few minutes in advance to think about what she would say when accosted, she felt confident that she could get through most situations.
And if she couldn’t, Emerald’s presence nearby was reassuring as well.
Right inside the main doors, there was a rack of hardhats, all with clear plastic face shields attached. Dyna took one, assuming everyone on the premises had to wear one. There were no reception areas or visible secretaries, which suited Dyna just fine. Stairs up to a few office rooms that overlooked the main meat processing area must have been for managers. Below the offices, right off the entry way, were clearly areas for employees. A break room, restrooms, and a locker room.
The rest of the meat packing plant was effectively just a large, open warehouse filled with conveyor belts running up and down in long rows, overhead racks with hooks and hanging carcasses, and people working at tables to cut up said carcasses into end products. The noise in the area was quite loud, filled with clanking machinery, buzzing saws, and the scraping of metal against metal.
The less said about the smell, the better.
The door Emerald wanted open wasn’t one of the offices. Dyna wasn’t sure how she had gotten into them given how the doors were on a grated catwalk in view of much of the working floor, but she had and hadn’t found anything interesting. The door she wanted to get through was a rather large door at the far end of the processing area. One right near a large table of workers slicing into carcasses.
Apparently, in situations like this, she normally waited around out of sight until someone opened the door, then slipped through it. Given that time could be of the essence here, Emerald wasn’t too keen on standing around until someone came by.
With only a brief glance around the main room, Dyna started moving. She wasn’t sure if she should simply walk with purpose straight to the door, or stop and act as if she were inspecting things along the way. Ruby probably would have known instinctively. As it was, Dyna opted for the former. The sooner everything was done with, the better.
“Hey, you!”
Dyna barely got a quarter of the way to her destination before someone shouted at her. She had expected at least halfway, but…
It was a man wearing an apron that looked far more temporary than the rest of the workers. Something he put on while down on the floor to keep his clothes clean, but was probably not what he usually wore around this place. Given that he hadn’t been standing over the conveyor belts working, he was probably a manager of some sort.
He was also on the other side of a long conveyor belt, having to run alongside it for a short distance before he reached a point where it raised up, allowing passage beneath. Dyna considered using that time to rush straight for the door, but couldn’t be sure that someone else would stop her. Not to mention, it would create even more of a commotion; a commotion might frighten away any Ignotus agents that might be in the area.
“What are you doing here?” the foreman said, jogging up to her.
“Safety inspector,” Dyna said, tapping the badge hanging off the laboratory coat. She had found it in a large box filled with such things. Identification badges and identity cards. Emerald had a wide variety, from overly specific badges for certain buildings to vague credentials such as this one. Dyna had actually been hoping for a food inspector, feeling that would better go with the laboratory coat, but unfortunately, Emerald had apparently never had to pose as a food inspector.
“Safety inspector?” the foreman said, stiffening slightly. Then he narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t hear about any—”
“And let you hide all your safety violations before I arrived?” Dyna shook her head, trying to inject as much derision into her voice as possible. She pulled a clipboard out from under her arm and started waving it. “I’ve been here twenty minutes and have found twenty-four things amiss.”
“But—”
“Twenty-five, actually,” she said, clicking the pen. “Running on the factory floor.” She had no idea if that was an actual violation that a safety inspector would point out, but it seemed like it should be.
“It was more of a hurried walk…”
“And you ducked under the low-point of a moving conveyor belt,” she added, scribbling onto the clipboard. Knowing more doctors than she could count, Dyna was quite familiar with what doctor-style handwriting looked like. Quick, unreadable, but convincing nonetheless. “Where are the railings preventing people from doing what you just did?”
“This facility has been in operation for thirteen years. No inspector has mentioned—”
“Bribed, I’m sure,” Dyna said, scribbling more. She turned away, projecting disinterest. Looking around the room, she acted as if she were looking for more flaws.
In the process, she spotted Emerald. Somehow, the woman got up into the crossbeams that were holding up the roof. Dyna had no clue how she would have gotten up there without teleporting, but she managed. She must have climbed up somewhere.
Dyna turned away quickly, making sure to avoid drawing unnecessary attention toward the time stopper.
The foreman, a full head taller than Dyna, took a hesitant step backward. “The head manager is here today,” he started, clearly intending to say more.
“Good. Bring him down. I’d love to hear his excuses.” She started walking along again, heading toward the door at the end of the plant.
Rather than head up to get his boss, the foreman kept hot on Dyna’s heels. “You can’t just walk around alone here,” he said, but made no immediate move to stop Dyna.
“Yes,” Dyna said, “I know. That was among the first infractions I marked down.”
“But you’re the one walking—”
“What’s behind that door?” Dyna asked, pointing with her pen. Her question was more to distract him from continuing to question her rather than any desire to know—she would find out soon enough—but his answer had her quirking an eyebrow in surprise.
“I… don’t know?”
“You don’t know?”
He didn’t say anything, staring at the door in confusion for a long moment as they continued walking. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in there.”
“How long have you worked here?”
“Thirteen years.”
“And you never went through a large door in the back of the warehouse?”
The foreman hesitated again, scrunching up his brow behind his face mask. “I don’t remember a door here. I wonder when it got put in.”
If Dyna needed any more confirmation that Ignotus was operating out of this packing plant, she just got it. Mysterious doors appearing out of nowhere? It wasn’t something that had appeared in reports thus far, but given the nature of Ignotus and their methodology, it certainly made sense.
Metal and painted blue, the door was firmly shut. The handle didn’t turn, but there was a keypad on the door.
“We should talk to the boss,” the foreman said. “He’ll want to—”
Dyna didn’t want to spend more time here. Talking to the boss was more time for this door to mysteriously disappear. Besides…
Fishing through her pockets, Dyna pulled out the bobby pin. The door didn’t have a traditional lock, but that hadn’t stopped her in the past. She had made a door out of a fence before. Turning a locked door into an open door was as simple as pressing the bobby pin to the keypad and turning the handle.
Dyna wasn’t quite sure what she expected on the other side. It didn’t look like much, that was for sure. A moderately sized safe room, not too different from the place Emerald and Ruby had at that abandoned arcade. There were a few cots, a kitchen area, and a few monitors displaying security feed.
More interesting than the area itself were the people.
A quartet of tulpa stood around the one strangely technological device in the room. A large and circular gateway pressed up against the wall, covered in wires and glowing lights. Down at the array of monitors, a fifth tulpa stood, looking straight toward the door. Behind him, looking like he just stood up from one of the cots…
“Harold!”
With alarm in his face, he started to run toward the gateway.
The laboratory coat interfered with Dyna’s ability to draw her gun, unfortunately, but it turned out to be entirely unnecessary.
Emerald appeared in front of Harold. A fist flew out, striking him in the cheek and knocking his head to the side. A second hand slammed into his solar plexus, sending him flying upward and backward. Before he could hit the ground, five gunshots rang out in fast enough succession that it sounded like one slightly longer gunshot. The tulpa dropped like puppets and Emerald reappeared over Harold, flipping him over just as he hit the ground. She then zip-tied his hands behind his back, his feet together, and then his hands and feet together. As soon as he was down, she planted one foot on his back—though clearly didn’t put all her weight onto him—and aimed her gun toward the gateway.
There wasn’t much of a panic in the main warehouse. Almost every employee had large over-ear ear protection on. That combined with the noise of the machinery and saw blades probably muffled the gunshots enough that nobody worried too much. The same couldn’t be said for the foreman. He not only heard with his ear protection down around his neck, but, standing just behind Dyna, saw as well.
Dyna grabbed him by the apron. In his shock, he didn’t put up much resistance as she pulled him into the room. He stumbled a bit at the unexpected drag, but didn’t fall. Dyna slammed the door shut behind them.
“He’s in on this?” Emerald called over, pistol never wavering from the gateway.
“Don’t think so. Just didn’t want him complicating things by calling the police.”
“White will take care of that. Just get him on the phone.” Emerald spared a split second to glance down at the groaning man under her foot. “Good work, Onyx. We got him.”