Previous Story: 77. The Omicron Protocol - Part 3

Goddess hadn’t seen Ryder for a while, but locked her office door anyway for the holo-call to Lady Rose. After a short delay, the leader of the Red Dragons appeared, projected onto the pale office wall. She was dressed in a smart green pantsuit, hands on hips.

"Good morning. What can I do for you?"

"You know what," replied Goddess. "Have you reached a decision about collaborating with me and my team?"

"I’m still considering your offer. Honestly, I have other priorities at the moment."

Goddess crossed her arms. "Is one of those priorities finding Dr. Altmann? From what I hear, you didn’t get anywhere near him. Sounds like your guys got their butts kicked by a bunch of geeks."

For once, Lady Rose was speechless. Goddess thought it best to press her advantage: "You may be interested to hear that one of my operatives was able to plant a tracker on the good doctor."

Now the Red Dragon leader looked interested. "You have his location?"

"We do. If you agree to work together, perhaps we can turn the situation around." 

"The geeks still have him?"

"They call themselves the Creators — rather pretentious, if you ask me. But yes, Dr. Altmann is at their headquarters."

Lady Rose paced around for a while, before finally answering. "Maybe cooperation is the way forward."

"Excellent. I also have a gift to offer you as a sign of good faith. I think you’ll find it useful."

"My thanks," said Rose. "I must admit that I perhaps underestimated you, Goddess. You are certainly more than a beautiful face. I’ll be in touch shortly."

With that, Rose’s hologram faded out.

Just as Goddess unlocked her door, Crimson arrived.

"Tell me you got it done," said Goddess, relieved when she looked around and saw no sign of Ryder.

Crimson removed her shades and handed over a small metal box. "It wasn’t easy without Winner. But I tracked down half his old team and got them to work on it all night. Paid them off with a big box of goodies — rations, flashlights and power cells."

"Excellent. And it will work?"

"They could only run simulations. I hope so."

Goddess looked down at the box. "So do I." 

Next Story: 79. The Betrayal