"What are we going to do with Schrotanic?" I asked Montwik. Montwik, Reneesh, Emanta , Souvik and I were sitting inside my cabin in the ship. It was quite a spacious one, considering the number of personnel present on this ship. Between all the preparations till today, I almost had forgotten about Schrotanic. "Our scientists are very close. They are going to complete it by tomorrow. Tomorrow, we will be ready to hack into the system and get more information." Montwik replied. "That's good." I said. "How many days till the rescue team joins the Alpha team cluster?"Reneesh asked, joining the conversation. "As I've told you countless times, we have five days of travel time. We have a few small jets way ahead of us to serve as the first line of defense in case something unexpected happens. We will be reaching the outer marker of their solar system in four days time, and you will be breaking off from this ship on day three. It is going to be done so that none of the kenjah's people would have a clue on what is about to happen." Emanta replied, apparently aware of what is going on in the mission. "Good that." Reneesh replied. "I'll go down to the cafeteria and grab some coffee." Reneesh said, getting up and walking towards the door. "I'll tag you along." Montwik said, as he got up to follow Reneesh. Souvik followed suit and soon it was just Emanta and me in the room, all alone. 

"Well, it's nice to see you after a long time." I said to Emanta. "Yeah, I've been pretty busy with all the preparations." She replied, blushing. "How's stuff with you?" I asked, trying to start a conversation. "Well, I've been busy lately. Well, obviously." She replied. There was an awkward silence in the room. "I've liked you from the day we've met, Rithvik." she said, breaking the silence. "What do you mean?" I asked her, confused at what she just said. She got up from her chair and I did the same. She walked over to me and kissed me. I was dumbstruck. She finally pulled herself away and I just stood there, not able to comprehend what had just happened. "What the hell was that?" I asked her. "I'm sorry, Rithvik. I just couldn't stop myself." She said, walking towards the door. "Please don't tell anyone this happened." she said as she opened the door and walked away. 

**

I was sleeping on the couch, thinking about what had happened a few hours ago, just as I heard a knock on the door. The door creaked open and I saw Bolius peeping in from the crack of the door. "Hey Bolius. It's been a long time, man." I said, getting up. "Yeah, Rithvik. It sure has been. I've been assigned to Alpha One and I'm here to attend the meeting called in by Montwik. He sent me here, actually. The hack into Schrotanic's brain apparently is ready. They're waiting for you down in the holding cells." Bolius said. "Let's go." I replied, grabbing my watch from the nearby desk. 

***

"C'mon in." Montwik said, as we appeared at the entrance.  Reneesh, Souvik and Emanta were standing right behind him. I looked around to find rows and rows of holding cells which obviously were meant to put people in at times like this. Some cells had metal grills, just like the ones on Earth but most of them had full metal doors which looked almost impossible to penetrate. I looked at the  cell nearest to Montwik to find Schrotanic inside, sleeping on a bed with all sorts of tubes and wires pierced into his body. I saw Gofr, the scientist whom I had seen during our meeting back on the base with Montwik, standing right beside Montwik staring at Schrotanic's motionless body. I could see five computers and some machines which I never have seen before placed outside the cell whose grilled door had a bunch of wires running through it into the cell. "The guys controlling him can't see what we're doing?" Souvik asked Montwik. "We've figured out a way to stop the communication between them and Schrotanic's body. They probably would think he's dead. The communication would be opened only after we manage to hack into the chip. And by that time, it would be too late for them. They would not have any time to prepare for this." He replied. "Is it ready, then?" I asked Montwik. "Yes it is." He replied. He looked tensed, probably fearing what he would find on the other side. "Now tell me, Gofr, what all would we be able to find via this set up?" Montwik asked him. "We will get to know after me make the connection, but we're expecting the position of the control room, and access to their computer files alongside which we are expecting a way to hack into their camera and surveillance feeds." He replied, looking pleased with himself. But the same couldn't be said about Montwik. He looked as if he'd expected more of this, and honestly speaking, so did I. "Let's do it then." Reneesh said, impatiently. "Fire it up, Gofr." Montwik said, stepping aside to let the personnel take their respective positions. About a dozen people took their positions alongside the computers, the machines and four of them were standing beside Schrotanic, two of them armed with deadly looking guns. "You may not like what you are about to see." Gofr warned us, and then signaled a person sitting near the computer to start it. 

"Injecting the serum into his body, in three...two..one... The serum is in." the person with whom Gofr spoke with earlier said. He looked as if he was the head of the team leading this. Suddenly, Schrotanic's body lurched into the air, and he started swaying his hands. His body was shaking violently, as the personnel inside the cell tried hard to keep all the tubes and the wires connected. "I need someone to help me out!" a person inside the cell screamed, and Montwik rushed into the cell, holding the legs of Schrotanic, trying to keep his body still. Suddenly, Schrotanic's body went limp and the personnel inside the cell loosened their grip on him. "The serum seems to be working, sir." a guy said to Gofr. "Prepare for sending the electric impulses." Gofr ordered, keeping his eyes on Schrotanic the whole time.

 "Sending in the electric impulses, in three..two..one.."

Schrotanic's body again started moving violently as his body surged with electricity. "We're getting some pings back from the chip, and... yes, we're getting bits and pieces of the code. Computer team, get ready to hack into it." Gofr said, as he looked intently at the screens. "Sir, we're getting more and more code from the chip." A person informed Gofr. "We have all the pieces of the code we need to hack into his system." He replied. Gofr suppressed a smile, and ordered his team to start the hacking process. Montwik and the rest of us were mere spectators. We had no role in this, and honestly, I had no idea what was happening. The personnel on the computers were furiously typing stuff and I guess were trying to change the direction of the flow of information so that we could see what they were doing, instead of the other way round. "YES!" a guy shouted in excitement as he threw his fist into the air. "We have successfully hacked into the chip." Gofr announced as the large screens, which remained blank till now, lit up. A long string of a mixture of numbers and alphabets appeared on the screen before disappearing. "Sir, we have the location of the control room. It is on Level Minus Thirty Nine under the kenjah's palace." a person said. "That's below level minus thirty. That's restricted zone." Montwik said to Gofr. "Why is it restricted? What's in there?" I asked Montwik. "Below level minus thirty, everything which happens there is related to us, garnering the ability to control the fourth dimension. It's where everything magical happens." Montwik replied. He then tunred to Gofr. "Are we getting anything else? Video feeds? Anything?" Montwik asked him. "We're working on it, Montwik. Hold on." He replied. Suddenly, one of the screens showed a group of people scrambling around and typing something into their computers. There were people with guards with heavy arms talking into their headsets. It was a scene of total chaos. "That's the livefeed from the control room." Gofr said. "Try gaining access into the dungeon cameras." Montwik ordered. Just as he spoke, another camera showed Konrad and Anna sitting inside a dimly lit cell. The both of them were visibly sleeping with their heads down. There were two guards outside the cell. "Our guess was correct, they're being held in the dungeons. Gofr, note down the location of this cell and bring up the schematics of the dungeons. And try hacking into the military area of the palace." Montwik said. "I'm sorry, Montwik, but the cameras in the military area are completely running on a different set of systems. The two systems are completely isolated." He replied.

"There." I said, pointing to the camera feed from the control room. "That is the kenjah, isn't it?" I asked. "He's not on one of the ships after all." Montwik muttered. "Quick, hack into their files, especially the ones dealing with the chip and the technology behind it. They have researched a lot and made a lot of discoveries since I was kicked out of the committee." Gofr ordered. "Why are we stealing the files relating to the chip? Don't we have better things to steal from them?" I asked, looking at Montwik. "Unfortunately, these are the only files we could hack into. We will try hacking into the rest of the files once we finish this." Gofr replied. A few moments later, one of the computer guys announced that the files had been completely transferred into our systems. "Now, try hacking into other security files." Gofr ordered. Just as Gofr completed his sentence, all the main screens went blank and showed LOS. "Loss of singal, sir." A person from the computer guys said. "They must have cut the hardlines." Gofr said, as he walked towards the cell were Schrotanic was being held. "This is all we could do, Montwik." Gofr said as he knelt down beside Schrotanic, who was now back to his motionless state. "His sedate must run out soon." He said. Just then, Schrotanic's eyes spluttered open and he made sounds as if he were grasping for breath. "Quick! Call the docs!" Montwik ordered, as Schrotanic struggled. "He's going into cardiac arrest!" Grof yelled, as he held Schrotanic by the hand. Suddenly, Schrotanic's hand fell limp. "Check for his pulse." Montwik yelled at Gofr, who followed his instruction. "He's gone!" Gofr replied, getting up. 

***

Thanks for reading this chapter! hope you like it!

-Rithvik/LPS21