Penumbrials Ch. 00: First Contact

'That looks and smells great.' she said as he handed her one plate.

'I hope that will be the same for the taste.' he said while he sat down next to her. 'It's one of my usual meals since it's reasonably simple and has everything in it.'

She nodded and hummed her approval when her tastebuds were pleased, which in turn made him smile and enjoy her looking like a happy teenager. They talked about food and cooking and when they were both full and satisfied he took the plates to wash them.

Adalet saw his laptop leaning against the edge of the low table. 'Can I use your laptop for a second? Maybe I can find something on the grid on how to unlock this thing.'

'Sure, go ahead.' he called out and started cleaning the kitchen.

She opened his laptop, it came to life and she started to search for specialised hardware. Another windows came alive on the portable and text scrolled along it.

Dormin returned to the couch when he was done. 'Any luck?'

She shook her head. 'Nothing I came across on Gazer was remotely like this thing. It's like it's not of this world if even the biggest search engine can't find it.'

'Maybe it's from one of the other worlds?'

'I thought of that and did a broad search, but it doesn't seem to come from any of the known worlds.'

'I wonder wha-' he said when his mobile interrupted him. He picked it up quickly and opened a screen with the map of his neighbourhood. A couple of red dots moved along the lines of the streets and he tapped on the screen to produce a video feed. 'Hang on. There are two cars coming this way and they look like the one I saw yesterday at the station.' He showed the screen to Adalet. 'Could they have heard I have this thing? Maybe heard our conversation?'

'Not unless they heard our talk yesterday, but then I'd expect them to have come sooner. Or they followed me but then it took too long for them to react.'

He switched over to the feed from his street and watched as the cars dimmed their lights, stopped at some distance, and several figures clad completely in black and carrying machine guns got out and marched further along the side of the street.

'That does not look friendly.' she said and grabbed her mobile. 'Shit! No signal! They must be using jammers so I can't call in for help.' She pulled her gun out of her holster. 'Looks like we're on our own and outgunned.'

He put his hand on her gun. 'Wait. Do you have experience with heavier firepower?'

She nodded. 'Was one of the best at the academy.'

'Good.' he said and hurried to the corner of the wooden platform, knelt and pulled open a concealed hatch. He returned with a couple of tricked out submachine guns and two small shoulder bags filled with ammo and stun grenades.

'That's some nice toys you got there.' she said while she examined the gun he gave her.

'Souvenirs from my earlier years. Kept them but never really thought I'd need them other than for occasional target practice.'

'Looks like we might get some practice today.'

A man in dark grey suit sat in one of the two cars and read the results of the last message he had received. 'Confirmed, sir. The residency belongs to Dormin Oarion, the same man that encountered the fox yesterday.' he said to Davies.

Davies watched his team move swift and silently towards the warehouse. 'Seems he found something after all then. Make sure he can't tell anything to anyone.'

'Yes, sir.'

Dormin stuffed the portable in his shoulder bag. 'We might be able to fight them off now, but we can be sure they're going to come after us.'

Adalet took the safety off her submachine gun. 'So we need to go after the source. But we still need to get out of here.'

'Yes, and I have an extra way out.' he said and she followed him outside to his car just when the enemy team arrived at the back.

Their fire forced Dormin and Adalet to duck behind her car. 'One shot, one kill!' he said to her and she nodded. They couldn't afford to waste ammo.

They laid down on the ground and fired at the exposed feet of the team members in front from underneath the car. The men fell down screaming in pain. Dormin tapped Adalet on her shoulder and gestured back at his car. He stooped low while he opened the backdoor before getting behind the wheel. Adalet fired one extra shot at the team who stayed behind the corner for cover. She heard the car start and jumped into the backseat. Ground flew up underneath the spinning tires as Dormin hit the gas and steered his car towards a section of the wire mesh fence at the back of the lot. Adalet looked up just in time to see it and braced for the impact.

With a sound of hundreds of metallic snaps the car broke through the fence, followed by several thuds of bullets hitting the back. The tires squealed turning onto the street and accelerated along it.

Adalet took a quick glance back, then leaned forward. 'I didn't think you could get through that fence!'

Dormin grinned. 'I wouldn't. Unless I had cut the wire far enough to have it hang on by thin threads.'

She chuckled. 'Now what? I don't think we'll be safe going to the station. That Davies guy seems to know my boss.'

He nodded. 'They now know you're involved and when they send an assault team for this I don't think they'll stop at seeing a badge. I know another place where we can hide so dump your mobile. We don't want to get traced.'

Adalet crawled into the front, disabled hers and the mobile he gave her, threw them out the window and watched while he drove the long way around the city.

***

Dormin steered the car into a backstreet at one of the rougher neighbourhoods of the city. Adalet knew it and looked around at the old buildings with graffiti and posters, boarded up windows and the occasional store that somehow survived on what little the people could spend. She had been here several times before. It was usually in connection to a case from one of her colleagues from homicide. The people here struggled with poverty and unemployment thanks to bad education.

Dormin stopped at one of the roll up doors covered in graffiti. 'A buddy of mine used to live at this place. I still have the key.' he said, got out to unlock the door and pushed it up. He returned to the car, drove it inside and they both got out.

Adalet watched the piles of dusty junk stashed into the garage lit by the light coming in through a broken window while Dormin closed the door. 'So where is he now?'

Dormin took his bag out of the car and headed for the metal staircase going up. 'In ashes. Karl shot himself a year ago.'

Upstairs was the brick wall apartment with a few pieces of cheap and used furniture. A low wooden table stood in the living area, surrounded by four dark wood chairs with cracked brown leather seats and back. Dormin dropped his bag in a chair causing a cloud of dust to puff up. Adalet dropped her bag on the wooden floor next to the chair, ignoring the stale air for now.

'It doesn't look like it but his savings are enough to keep this place. He just didn't care for luxuries.'

A collection of photos on the wall caught Adalet's attention. She looked closely at each of them. Only one face appeared in all of them, but they were still mostly from the same group. Two pictures featured a younger and older family portrait. 'Most of these are from his years of service?'

Dormin opened the faucet in the kitchen to let the water run for a minute. 'Yes. He only had his parents and a sister who lives at the other side of the planet. He hadn't spoken to them since he joined. Something happened but he never talked about it.'

Adalet nodded as she looked once more at the group photos of cheerful men in uniform, thinking that might have been the only time they were happy. Dormin was in several of them. His eyes looked like his age back then.

He opened a small window at the back and at the front to let some fresher air in. 'So, plan of attack?'

She leaned back against the wall while he went back to the kitchen to splash some cold water in his face. 'We know Elecore and a fox are involved. I don't think we'll be able to get much useful information on Elecore so our best bet is finding the fox.'

He came back and sat down in one of the empty chairs after dusting them off with a damp cloth. 'But your informants didn't know a thing.'

'They didn't, but they're not everywhere. There are some places we can go to and check for ourselves.'

He nodded and looked at the daylight outside. 'I suggest we take a rest first and wait until later in the evening. I've got some extra license plates in the car so I'm going to switch those and I need to cover the bullet holes with some masking tape. I'm glad they didn't hit the rear window.'

She nodded. 'Does the shower work? I'd like to freshen up after that bit of excitement.'

'I think it does. You'll have to try.' he said and gestured at the short corridor to the side.

She went to the small bathroom with toilet and shower, turned on the hot water and steam appeared after a while. Glad to see the heater still worked she turned on the cold and undressed, checked the temperature and stepped under the shower to enjoy the warmth flowing along her body.

Dormin checked and reloaded their weapons and went to the open kitchen at the back to see if he could make any coffee or tea. He was glad to see there were still several good mini packs of coffee and turned on the coffee maker. Looking down at himself he noticed the dirt and a tear in the front of his shirt. 'Of course.' he muttered and walked over to the bedroom. His friend's clothing was still there and since they'd been the same size they should fit him well.

Adalet turned off the water and wiped her face. She reached out to grab a towel and chided herself for not making sure there was one before stepping under the shower. With her mind constantly going over the shooting she forgot where she was. She'd have to check the bedroom which was luckily across from the bathroom. She shook her arms and legs to shed some of the water clinging to her and stepped out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.

His bare chested presence startled her when she almost bumped into him. 'Ah! Sorry!' she said in her worry that she might get him wet but the large burn mark covering half his abdomen and left side made her forget it all.

Her sudden and especially naked appearance startled him just as much. Her tanned body looked fit with enough curvature to please any man's eyes and her breasts with dark nipples were big enough without breaking their smooth lines. Even her black pubic hair followed the smooth lines of the Y formed by her thighs. This image of her would never leave his memories again.

'What happened to you?' she asked, reaching out to his abdomen.

The question awoke him from his momentary lapse of reason. He quickly held out the shirt he was holding to her and looked away. 'You might want to cover yourself.'

Her face turned red when she remembered she stood there wet and naked. Taking the shirt she quickly covered her front. 'I was looking for a towel! I forgot to get one first!'

He picked one out of the closet and handed it to her. 'Thanks.' she said and hurried back to the bathroom. The glance he gave her told him her posterior was as fine as the rest. Scolding himself for thoughts inappropriate during factual battle time he grabbed another shirt and dressed himself.

Adalet came out of the bathroom still blushing from the accident. Dormin glanced at her and gestured at the kitchen. 'There's coffee if you want some.'

'Thanks.' she said, poured herself a cup and sat down in a chair. She didn't dare to do more than glance at him for fear of her face turning completely red. Despite her age she hadn't shown any man her naked body before because no man had attracted her enough to get intimate. And now this man had seen it. She sipped her hot coffee and let the smell and warmth calm her down. She glanced at him and the possibility of being attracted to him flashed before her mind. She shut her eyes and took another sip to take her thoughts away from that subject. There were other matters at hand. 'I can think of a place or two where our fox might appear.'

'I've been thinking about that too. What do you have in mind?'

***

Dormin watched the crowd busy with checking out and discussing the games, books, and media at the large open basement store. Unlike a lot of stores he frequented, the amount of otherspecies was higher here. A bird species, boar, and human were playing a game together in one corner with several others cheering them on. 'I guess having to survive the zombie apocalypse brings everyone together.'

Adalet chuckled. 'Over here everyone can forget about the outside world and just have fun. It's one of the few places where no one notices what species you are and can relax while buying the latest thing, groceries, or just hang around and get a bite to eat. It's a perfect place for our fox to blend in and the most likely. The other places I have in mind are smaller and would get her noticed sooner.'

'Let's hope she's thinking the same thing. I'll roam around the left side, you take right.'

They strolled around, looking casually at some of the merchandise and asking a question on occasion about it to make it look legit. Adalet thought it was lucky they didn't have to wait long when she spotted the fox at the convenience section buying sandwiches and snacks. She moved to a more open space to find Dormin. He was browsing books when he glanced at her. She gave a nod in the direction of the fox and he put back the book to move in her direction. The fox looked left and right quickly and headed for the exit at the back. Adalet followed her just out of sight with Dormin close behind her.

The fox went into an alley close to the store. Dormin caught up to Adalet and they hurried after the fox. At an intersection with another alley they lost her.

Adalet gestured in one direction. 'You take that one, I'll take this.' They split up and hurried down the alleys.

The fox kept her ears open for any suspicious sound and glanced back frequently to see if she might be followed. She expected to see police at any moment since she'd been seen by that night guard. She still cursed herself for being too curious about that new generation of hardware she heard about. Turning the next corner brought her eye to eye with a man and a canine in dark grey suits.

Adalet started to think the fox had taken the other alley when she heard a ruckus and loud voices. She ran towards the source and found the fox trying to pull away from the two men grabbing her. The fox bit the human in his arm. He screamed and let go of her but the canine held on tight.

'Let go of her!' shouted Adalet. The canine pulled the fox back with one arm, pulled out his gun and fired at her. She ducked behind a container and fired back once in the air.

The fox took the opportunity to stomp on the canine's foot and swing back an elbow to the side of his head. He let go of her and she scrambled to get away. Adalet ran toward the canine who fired at her again. The bullet barely missed her but she was a better shot and hit him in the abdomen. The human took a shot at her but was too late. She peeked out from behind another container and shot him in the leg. He went down with a scream and she ran in the direction the fox went past the groaning canine and human.

The fox's heart raced as she ran down the alley and desperately tried to think of where to go. She took a left turn at the street and kept running just to get away. She had almost reached the next street when a man grabbed her from the side. She thrust out her elbow to hit him.

'Wait!' shouted Dormin. 'I'm not going to harm you!'

She growled and pulled on his arm, biting hard. He didn't let go of her. She bit even harder but he still refused to let go, pushing his arm further into her mouth. 'I said I'm not going to harm you!' hissed Dormin through his clenched teeth.

His arm almost choked her and she let go, gasping for breath. He turned her around and pinned her against the wall. 'Now will you please listen to me!? You are targeted because you stole something very important from certain people! And we're here to try to stop them!'

The fox panted and glared at him. Her green eyes shot to the right when Adalet came running. She struggled again to get free but he had her pinned down firmly. Adalet breathed hard when she arrived. 'Good, you got her.'

'Who are you!?' growled the fox.

'We're actually the good guys.' Adalet said. 'I'm detective Adalet Saliman. Dormin here found your backpack with the portable, and the company you stole it from wants it back really bad. We can't stop them unless you tell us all you know.'

The fox watched Adalet and Dormin, then relaxed a little. Dormin let go of her. 'We have to go. Someone will have heard something and called the police by now. Will you please come with us?' The fox looked into their eyes and her guts told her it was better to trust them. She nodded and the three hurried away.

***

'Do you want some coffee?' asked Adalet when she walked ahead of the fox up the stairs at Karl's place.

'Sure.' the fox said and scanned the room when they walked in. She watched Adalet turn on the coffee maker. 'Are you really what you say you are?'

'At least until we got shot at my home yesterday.' Dormin said, grabbed a first aid kit from a cupboard, ran the water in the sink, and took off his shirt.

The fox saw his bloody sleeve. 'Sorry about that.' she said looking down.

He held his arm under the water and washed away the blood. 'Don't worry. I've experienced worse.'

She moved closer. 'I thought you wanted to kill me, like those other men.'

Adalet poured the coffee in a mug and handed it to the fox. 'They're from Elecore security. I had a visit from the head at the police station after your break-in at Heismann Research. He said you might have been the same one who stole several laptops with company data.'

Dormin dabbed his arm with paper towels to dry it and clear the blood from the bite wound. 'But that's not all you took, right?'

The fox shook her head. 'No.'

Dormin took a roll of bandage and tried to wrap it around his arm. 'Let me.' said Adalet and the fox at the same time. He chuckled when they looked at each other. 'Thanks.'

The fox dabbed away the blood while Adalet wrapped his arm with the bandage. 'So, tell us your story.' Adalet said.

The fox attached a clip to the end of the bandage that Adalet held in place. 'My name is Therizo Vidya, but everyone calls me Terry. I grew up in a foster home and found out I was good with computers during school. I learned everything that had to do with those and entered the hacker scene where I started making money through odd jobs. Some legit, some not so much.'

The three moved to the living area and sat down. 'I also learned how to pick locks, disable and circumvent electronics security, falsify documents. A week ago I was asked to retrieve documents on new products in development by Elecore. The anonymous client claimed they had stolen research and wanted the documents as proof to press charges. So I staked the place, learned about their security setup and found a hole in it that I could use. I broke in and found laptops with engineering data. And a stack of hardware I hadn't seen before.'

Dormin reached to the back of a small table next to his chair and pulled out the portable from a hidden compartment. 'Like this.'

Terry nodded. 'I took a quick look and knew it was something out of this world. Before I knew it I stashed it with the laptops thinking there were enough of those portables that they wouldn't miss one soon. I dropped off the laptops the same night at the prearranged spot, got my money there and left for home. I tried getting it to work but the interface was locked. When I tried to scan it for any signals coming from it I saw it tried to scan and take control of my machine. Its attacks were too fast for my machine to handle and I shut everything down. I needed something more powerful, which is why I broke into Heismann and tested the prototype workstations. I had heard about those a few weeks ago.'