The Arrival by CM Doporto Page B

hours
will arrive faster if you keep busy.” He gave me a manly pat on the back.
    “Exactly.”
    He picked up his digital tablet from his
desk and swiped his fingers across the screen. “I need you to report to the
Delta Computer Lab and continue work on the database extraction. Test the file
on a tracking device before uploading it to the main system. Is that clear?” He
typed some information into his tablet.
    “Sure, no problem.”  I started to walk
off when he stopped me. 
    “Miranda?”
    I held my breath. Slowly, I turned
around. “Yes, Cyrus?”
    “If I do not see you before you depart,
have a restful time with your family.” He inclined his head and then returned
his attention to his tablet.
    “I will. Thanks.” I exhaled in relief
and hurried down the walkway. Fortunately, I had been assigned to one of the
smaller computer labs. The pod workstations had more privacy than some of the
larger labs, which meant it would be easier to snatch a tracker without anyone
noticing.
    I made my way to the back of the room
and sat behind a few girls. I slouched in the black oval chair and typed my
information into the system. The workstations in those pods used flat
stationery touch screens instead of the holographic computer screens. Again,
allowing me to execute my plan. A blue neon beam emanated from the side of the
screen, scanning my eyes, before permitting me full access to the system. I
placed the wireless speaker in my ear and began working.
    I did what Cyrus asked; expunging
females that didn’t meet the donor qualifications from the tracking system. The
information was a Godsend. That confirmed what I had to do. It didn’t take me
long to find the right girls with whom to switch identities for Kate and I. The
question was, would it work, and could we make it out of Nidus before the
upload completed?
    A few hours later, I finished the
assignment. I removed the no-donors and tested the updated file on one of the
body trackers. And that led me to my last task, which was the most difficult
and dangerous. Stealing a tracking device. Even though the unit was the size of
a cell phone, it wouldn’t be easy to sneak out.
    Carefully, I removed the back cover of
the device, exposing the internal electronic components to the humid air. When
the screen went blank, I replaced the cover and turned on the unit. When it
failed, I logged into the system that it needed repairing. I set the
temporarily defective unit on my desk and retrieved another unit.
    “I don’t know what’s going on today.
Several of these trackers aren’t working,” I commented to one of the girls.
    “I’m having the same problem, too. It
has to be the moisture in the air,” she replied. “I guess I should inform the
lead tech to adjust the thermostat.”
    “Good thinking,” I responded.
    When the West Virginia humidity surged,
those devices were known to glitch out at times, so testing a few of them
wasn’t a big deal. That’s what made it easy for me to take it. Initially, no
one would notice, but within time an alert would be broadcast. It had happened
before when several devices went missing. Eventually they found them, either
mixed in with other devices or turned in by Eslite guards. What I didn’t know
was how long it would take before they noticed the one I had was gone.
    I shuffled around the faulty units and
placed a few of them in a padded pouch. The special wrapper protected the
tracking device from damage during transport and from the beams of the scanner.
In order for me to leave the Tech Lab, I’d have to go through the scanner. I
didn’t know if the device would be seen on the screen while in the protective
covering. There was only one way to find out. I grabbed another unit off the
shelf and took a pouch to my pod.
    I slid the faulty tracking device from
my desk and placed it into one of the sleeves. With the device flat in my palm,
I eased my hand along my thigh and dropped the tracker into the pocket of my
pants.  My