Chrysalis

30

The man waited for the hotel valet to leave, then closed the hallway door and walked across the carpeting to the bank of windows. He had asked for a room on a high floor, and was glad he had: the view of the wild escarpment of the mountain and surrounding valley, with the gleaming bulk of the Torus curving around its base far below, provided a most interesting study in contrast in the evening light.

Turning from the view, he took off his jacket, hung it over a chair, then placed his suitcase on the rack at the foot of his bed. He had completed the security check-in, registered, and was just riding the escalator to this room when the announcement of a temporary lockdown came.

His timing, as usual, was excellent. Fifteen minutes later, and he would have needed to make other arrangements far less convenient — or comfortable.

Opening his suitcase a crack, he removed what appeared to be a leather toilet kit, pulled a chair into the middle of the room, and placed the kit on the seat. He reached in and snapped on a device. There was a faint humming. After fifteen seconds — once he was confident all monitoring equipment in and around the room was disabled — he telescoped the surveillance baffle up out of the leather case to its full height.

He had registered as Reginald Bryant, architectural engineer and planner, here to finalize a proposal for modifying points along the main concourse to accept cantilevered stained glass. The real Reginald Bryant was at this moment stuffed inside a metal drum, his molecular bonds loosening in a cocktail of lye and sulfuric acid. In any case, the man’s work was low priority and low security; in the unlikely chance a surveillance camera were to examine his room, it would find an anomaly with the wireless video link, which would require addressing from a central data hub… in due time, of course.

Potential prying eyes dealt with, he now opened his suitcase wide. Inside was a beautiful suit of blue silk, a close-fitting tactical outfit in black, and a few Chrysalis uniforms in various hues. There were several accessories, as well: an all-access badge with seals; a 9x19 Parabellum with silencer; several coils of piano wire; a 100 mV taser; and other more exotic devices. Beside all these was an Omega Sentinel, registration-free, with all clearances and channels unlocked. Now that he was inside the Torus, he fixed the Sentinel above his ear, allowing it to run its bootstrap loader. As it finished, he heard three beeps in rapid succession: it seemed Wing was already trying to contact him.

He responded with a “go” signal, then closed the suitcase again and — returning to the windows — allowed his gaze to settle once more over the remarkable view.