Lim Yazhu told us to get back to work, but we had no intent of doing so. Instead, after distancing ourselves from Harold, we decided to try something very hasty: get the blueprints.
Obviously, we couldn't just come back into the office and take the blueprints, because Lim was still there. It seemed like we were in luck, because he went out to oversee the investigation personally. The bad news was that he locked his office with a key that we can't possibly get.
We made sure that Lim was far away before we started our operation. He actually went all the way to our wrecked cable car and ordered his men to search the area and surround the nearby rails in hope of stopping the Perseids.
With the hallway leading to the office empty, Claudius tried to pick the lock with his mechanical arm, but he didn't have the tools, as busting through the door was out completely of the question. Anthony helped him out and we were on the lookout, hoping that nobody will arrive. After dealing with the lock, the door slowly creaked open and we entered the CEO's office.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8tlVCTQFd
Instantly, I walked over to the desk, but saw nothing under the notebook. Lim must have hidden the blueprints before leaving the room. This meant that whatever the egg was, it was important.
- Paper's gone - I informed the others.
- Take these - dad gave me a pair of gloves so that we won't leave any fingerprints behind. He also kept another pair for himself. Because of this, Amber, Claudius and Sebastian couldn't touch anything, only look around.
I was in charge of inspecting the desk, while the others checked the windows and a previously unnoticed drawer. The drawer, emptied by Anthony, contained nothing of relevance. I found nothing underneath the desk, except for some dust. The piece of furniture itself remained unchanged since our last visit, excluding the missing blueprints.
Moving on from the desk, I knocked on the walls, hoping to find a secret compartment of some kind. To my shock, a knock on a small part of the wall to the right of the desk sounded differently from the rest, indicating that it was hollow inside.
- I found something! - I exclaimed and the others ran over to me.
Dad checked the part of the wall highlighted by me and concluded that it was an actual compartment. The problem was that we had no way of opening it. We thought that knocking on it a few times may activate something and it did, just that it wasn't the compartment. Instead, a retina scanner emerged to the left of the compartment. It would only open if Lim looked at it. We were in a dead end.
Amber sat down in front of the computer and booted it up. This was met with irritation from Anthony, as Amber's fingerprints would remain on the keyboard.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtU2iuRune
- What are you doing? - he asked.
- I'm trying to find a photo - she quickly replied before looking through some files.
- What photo? - Sebastian added.
- A photo of Lim - Amber sighed in response. After looking through several folders, she finally found one. In the foreground was Lim shaking hands with a Chinese guy we didn't recognise, but Anthony did.
- That's one of the most famous Chinese generals! - his eyes flashed with surprise and concern simultaneously.
- That doesn't sound good - Claudius noted - Is that from where our agency deduced a connection between BIORBITAL and the Chinese military?112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJyFj6XEEo
- Probably - Anthony replied.
- Chris, can you grab the laptop? - Amber asked me.
- Yes. Where do I take it? - I carefully picked up the device.
- To the retina scanner - she escorted me to it. I understood her plan: she wanted the scanner to pick up Lim's retina from the picture. Surprisingly, it worked.
I thought that Lim would have equiped himself with more sophisticated technology that would have detected the picture, but alas, he didn't. As the compartment popped open, we finally got a better glimpse of the blueprints... and remembered that we can't read Chinese.
Without Harold, all of the notes describing the egg-shaped structure were useless. Dad apparently had some residual knowledge of the language and tried to translate some of the text. However, his accuracy was questionable.
- Pod for the paint fur... - Anthony started - Oh wait, that says coloured spores. Or neon forests...
- I guess that "spores" is the correct word - I noted.
- Hellfire controller... - Anthony looked at another note.
- I think that this is supposed to be "heat controller" - Claudius remarked.
- Probably... I forgot so much of this language... - Anthony sighed.
- Are they trying to grow spores in a giant egg? - Amber suggested.
- They could be raising a glowing forest - Sebastian added.
- What would be the point of that? - Amber hissed.
- Collecting solar power? - Sebastian proposed.
- Maybe - Anthony interrupted - This one says "frying pan" or "igniter"...
- Burning plants for science? Perhaps they want to create fireproof trees? - I was getting more and more confused. So were the others.
- Oh no... - Anthony suddenly stopped and we all looked at him with fear.
- What's the matter? - I broke the silence.
- This one says "gunpowder". I'm one hundred percent sure - my dad replied slowly.
- A bomb? - Sebastian guessed.
- Wo.. worse - Anthony stammered.
- A nuclear bomb? - Amber thought.
- Even worse - Anthony was clearly scared by what the egg really was - A bioweapon.
- How can a bioweapon we worse than a nuke? - Amber was frustrated - Isn't obliterating and irradiating a large area the most destructive thing mankind invented so far?
- Thanks for the "so far" - Anthony started explaining - A bioweapon can be created for very specific types of destruction. Such a weapon can decimate ecosystems, cause epidemics, poison food and kill thousands, if not more... The true potential of bioweapons is that as our knowledge of biology increases, so does our ability to create more powerful and deadlier bioweapons. This dome's whole purpose is learning more about biology and controlling it. It's the perfect place to forge doom...
- Isn't that a bunch of sci-fi? - Sebastian was oddly skeptical - We can't create such things, right? Right...?
- There have been some experiments with it, but most governments and agencies don't have the tools. This company, however, has them and it works with the Chinese military - Anthony tried to calm down, but struggled. So did we.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HRZMkJcQ6
- We've seen what BIORBITAL is capable of. Just look out the window - I added, mentioning the artificial jungle outside - If this company can create life, it can definitely destroy it too.
- You're right - Anthony nodded. Meanwhile, Sebastian stood in place, observing the foliage outside. It seems that my speech made him realize the seriousness of the situation.
Anthony swiftly examined the rest of the paper, which only fueled our concerns. One note mentioned how the egg was planned to be small enough to fit inside a bomber, another one brought up the fact that it can be delivered in secret and ignited in the destination, which nobody would notice until casualties start piling up.
Most importantly, we found a map on the other side of the paper. Beneath what we could only assume meant "CONFIDENTIAL" was a map highlighting a certain room in red. It must be the area where the egg is kept.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaFySdRmJYX
- Should we go find this place? - Claudius asked.
- Yes, we must! There's no time to waste! - Anthony got up and put the blueprints back in the compartment, so that nobody would notice our presence. Amber closed the laptop while dad and I cleaned up the mess created by the inspection of the drawer.
Suddenly, we heard distant footsteps getting louder. Someone was approaching the office. Running through the door would result in a close encounter with whoever was coming. We had no other choice but to jump through the windows.
Fortunately for us, the drop wasn't that high and ended with bioengineered blue grass. One by one, we jumped out of the windows, with me being the last. I hesitated a bit, but as the footsteps grew too loud to ignore, I had to make my move.
Even though I fell for a very short time, it felt like an eternity violently interrputed by my landing. I didn't hurt myself, at least not seriously, so we could proceed with the next step of our mission: finding the red room.
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and then Add to home screen.