Sunlord by Ronan Frost Page A

He had set up a
water flask so that every second a drop accumulated upon a pivot.
Shaun had calculated that it would take about three minutes before
the water finally overbalanced the vessel, making it jolt to the
floor. He had also spread fuel pellets against the wall, and all
the explosives he could lay a hand on. The beauty of nitroglycerine
was that it was self igniting. When that baby blew the whole cell
block would go. This would draw enough attention that Shaun would
be able to slip through his captor's fingers unnoticed and
disappear to the world below.
    Shaun had prepared all this under the watchful and
malevolent eye of security cameras that fed the insatiable Avatar.
He had managed it with quick wit and cunning. His sleeves were
lined with slender pockets that stowed valuable items in every inch
of his person. The knife that he had slipped from the sheath of a
Sunlord mechanist was the same one that he used to slit his guard's
throat.
    Shaun's mind snapped back to the present. He walked
at normal pace over to one of the consoles, not wanting to attract
undue attention to the motion detectors. A large padded seat was
drawn up to the rounded keyboard, upon which the keys were
clustered in two distinct groups suiting the Sunlords hands. Unlike
the one down in his cell, this console was not designed for his
stature. Also unlike his, this console allowed access to the cargo
and shipment bays.
    Shaun sat at the computer, flexing his fingers as he
read the Sunlord keyboard. He had long ago familiarised himself
with their language, but never had become accustomed to the
keyboard layout. He looked at his watch before continuing. One
minute remaining.
    He pressed the active key, which resulted in a
wake-up sequence from the computer. Shaun fitted a pair a eye lens
that would enable him to interface with the console. He had to be
careful here; he was face-to-face with one of the many eyes of
Avatar.
    The computer requested identification. Such ID chips
were surgically implanted in the wrist bone of all members of the
Sunlord at birth, a small face not unlike a watch appearing between
the rectangle of removed skin. It tracked all movements of the
Sunlord aboard the starfleet and recorded them. Every motion, every
deed and every operation could be recalled by the chip and sent to
Avatar. Shaun had had a bit of trouble in obtaining an ID chip. It
could not be taken from a dead Sunlord because as soon as the pulse
ceased the chip went off line. If the Sunlord remained dead for
more than ten seconds it would hotwire itself, sending all
information to the mothercomputer.
    Shaun reached into one of his many small, almost
invisible pockets and withdrew a tiny screwdriver. With quick
economical motions he loosened the face plate of the laser scanner.
After all four of the screws had been laid aside he prised it up
with the end of the screwdriver. Now a maze of solid state
electronics greeted him beneath the tiny panel. He carefully pulled
upon the board, and it at last gave. The small circuit panel slid
out willingly into his dexterous hand. He examined it for a second,
and grunted with satisfaction. With his left hand he produced a
similar panel from a pocket, although its wires were loose and
tangled unlike its counterpart.
    Shaun held his breath as he inserted the new circuit
board into the laser scanner. He let out pent up breath with a sigh
as it clicked into place. His guess had been correct. The computer
hummed into activity, the new circuit instructing it to ignore ID
procedures.
    Now that the tricky bit was over Shaun felt more at
ease. His watch informed him that he had less that a minute left
before the sector would be thrown into chaos.
    Commands came slowly as Shaun tried to use the alien
keyboard. He followed the instructions given to him by the console,
which he read through the eye lens He made his way progressively
through sub directories until he reached the cargo sector control
sector. He moved quickly now. His