The remaining hours of the morning seemed to drag on once the new day officially started. Adam and Lance met up in the NAU Café after their first classes of the day when both of them had a free hour. Lance had arrived first and was sitting at a table, groggily reading from his phone as Adam walked up, two large cups of coffee in his hands.
“Triple espresso with a shot of cream and a dash of cinnamon,” he said as he passed the cup in his right hand to Lance.
“Gladly…” sighed Lance.
“I've had like… three of these already today… I think…” Adam smirked weakly as he sat across from Lance. “It’s far from the quality of what we get at my family’s Café, but it's still caffeine!”
“Cheers to that,” agreed Lance in a feigned toast with his paper cup.
“We’re in for many rough nights ahead: we’ll need all the caffeine we can get,” he stated before drinking from the hot beverage.
“Speaking of rough nights…” said Adam. “As soon as I got back home last night, I couldn’t sleep from all the excitement. So, I decided to analyze those darts that almost killed us last night and you’re not going to believe what I found out.”
“What’d you find?”
To emphasize his point, Adam reached into his backpack and gingerly pulled out one of the dart samples and showed it to Lance. It was a small, steel dart with a short tip and an oversized barrel that contained a translucent liquid. “My primary analysis of the dart revealed almost nothing on the darts except for a few burnt fibers on a couple of the tips. However, I didn’t have adequate equipment to run any thorough tests to figure out what the dart consisted of, especially that liquid. Since the school wouldn’t be open for a few more hours, I had to use the only lab I had on hand: the BioBots. I sprayed them on the dart, let them run for about an hour or so...” he trailed off to pull out his tablet and showed Lance the results of the BioBots analysis, “... and discovered that the liquid is actually snake venom.”
Taken aback, Lance looked at the readings on the tablet as Adam continued.
“The snake venom is from the genus Agkistrodon, or more commonly, the copperhead. I did some research on this particular strain and found out that when copperhead venom is heated to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, it still retains some of its hemorrhagic proteins. Thus, my theory is that the Ouroboros are experimenting with a new kind of heated poison dart that could quickly kill somebody via burning their skin.”
“Well, on the plus side the heat signature of the weapons will be a dead giveaway,” said Lance. “No pun intended.”
“So what's next, chief?” asked Adam after a long sip from his own cup. “We still have to find Fleck, don't we?”
“Correct, and hopefully, in turn, find their base of operations,” said Lance. “Hopefully none of this will conflict with our other schedules otherwise, or we’ll have to start making up reasons why we're gone all the time.”
“Well if it isn't two of my most-favorite nerds on New Atlantis!” they heard the all too familiar voice of Noel call beside them.
They both turned in her direction to see her toting a canvas bag almost as big as she was. Her small stature was usually the point of a joke at times, but the two were too exhausted to think about it.
“Woah, you guys look like someone threw you into the canal and dragged you back in a few times!” stated Noel with a chuckle. “Up late with studying or something?”
“You could say that…” yawned Adam. “What brings you here?”
“Well, I was looking for someone else, but spotted you and decided to see if you and Charlie wanted some help doing the decorating for the Christmas party next Saturday?” she said.
“Saturday… party…” repeated Adam. “Oh, yeah! Sure, that would be good! We’ll start Friday evening sometime, I’ll get back to you about what time.”
“Alrighty!” Said Noel. “I’ll see you guys later!”
She turned and started to walk away.
“Don't burn the midnight candle on both ends too quickly now!” she called over her shoulder. “Get some sleep!”
Adam and Lance turned back to each other and Adam slumped back in his chair.
“Shoot! I completely forgot about the party!” he exclaimed. “We’ve been so busy with you-know-what that it slipped my mind! I still have to actually get the decorations!”
“Calm down, dude, we can handle both,” assured Lance. “We have New Atlantis’ best resources for online shopping at our fingertips, and in-city deliveries are usually pretty quick.”
“True,” said Adam as he relaxed. “I’ll have to get with Charlie about it too still, but I think we can manage.”
“Meet me at my place this evening and we'll make a plan to search for the Ouroboros before we go out,” said Lance. “I’ll likely be there the majority of the afternoon working on some more gear, so you can come whenever.”
Lance slowly rose from his seat.
“I think I might crash for a good hour or so after my last class though…” he stated as he glanced at his watch.
“Which is in ten minutes. I’ll see you later.”
“See ya,” returned Adam with a wave.
Later that afternoon, Adam trudged up the flight of stairs in the apartment building where Lance lived. Normally he would skip steps and reach the top without a problem, but he was still worn out from the previous night’s events. He finally reached the floor Lance’s apartment was on and walked down the hall to the fifth door on the right. Right before he rang the doorbell, the door unlocked and opened itself.
“Lance?” called Adam.
“Welcome, Adam,” said L.A.S.S.I.’s voice from a series of speakers near the doorway. “Lance is at his workbench and asked me to let you in when you arrived.”
“Oh, okay, thanks,” said Adam as he walked inside. He turned around to see a small mechanical assembly close and latch the door behind him.
“That's new,” he said to himself as he turned back towards Lance's work area.
He walked around the makeshift divider to find Lance asleep at his table, a large, metallic disc being used as a pillow. Adam chuckled as he shook Lance's shoulder.
“Wakey, wakey!” he said. “Nap time is over, dude!”
Lance shot up, a screwdriver in his right hand.
“Wha---? I was awake” he said. “I was just resting my eyes….”
He rubbed his eyes with his left hand.
“What time is it?”
“Six o’clock, p.m.,” noted L.A.S.S.I. “You’ve been asleep for the last two hours, twenty minutes, and forty-seven seconds.”
“Oh… maybe I was asleep…” he said as he glanced over his shoulder. “Hi, Adam.”
“Do I need to get another triple shot espresso for you?” asked Adam with a chuckle.
Lance glanced across his workbench and grabbed a covered mug that was near the right side edge.
“Got my coffee right here,” he said as he raised the mug.
He opened the lid and a small waft of steam rose from inside. He took a sip, then set it back down.
“Now, on to business,” he stated as he stood up and stretched.
“When are we going out?” asked Adam. “Are we going to wait until it's dark out or are we operating at all times of the day?”
Lance shrugged.
“As much as this mission we have put ourselves is of high priority, we still have other things to take care of,” he said. “We will just have to work around our other routines as we are able, but for now it may be best to at least wait until around sunset to go out.”
He gestured to the other side of the divider, to where a large flat screen and computer were set up. He sat at the keyboard and keyed off the animated nebula on the screen and a series of windows and dialog boxes appeared.
“I had L.A.S.S.I. keep tabs on Fleck's movements since last night,” he said. “Around the time we got back from GenTek, he had moved from the tunnel we left him in. It is likely that Mamba either recovered him or called in someone else to.”
Lance typed in a string of commands and a street map of New Atlantis appeared on the screen, then zoomed in to an area between Sector One and Sector Four where the GenTek facility resided. A red blip appeared where Adam suspected the location of the tunnel hatch was. The two watched as the dot moved towards the city center, blinking all the while it was in motion, then towards Sector Five. It paused, then moved to Sector Six, then back to the location it had stopped at in Five.
“His location kept leaving then returning to that spot in Sector Five,” said Lance as he zoomed in on the map, then pushed back from the desk.
“It might be where the Ouroboros’ main base is. He didn't stay long for the first few times, so it may be that they wouldn't let him in with what happened last night.”
“Well there is one way to find out,” stated Adam. “Sounds like it's time for a little recon.”
Lance nodded, then pointed to a closet at the back of his apartment.
“Your gear is locked up back there,” he informed. “The passcode for yours is the eight digits of your birth date: month, day, and year in reverse order. I just need to finish up on something and then I’ll be gearing up as well.”
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