The Adventures of Navi Vol. 6: Treason
By Zachariah U.
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It must be the sentinel.
Navi’s eyes scoured the room in search of shelter. He knew from experience that his legs would be no match. Shaking uncontrollably, he crawled to the other side of the Zero’s dashboard and slid into a cavity underneath. He then switched his suit to refractive mode, a light reflection inhibitor that would make him practically invisible to the naked eye—at least in the dark.
He was just in time. The second entity in the Zero had finally reached the speaker.
But it was not a sentinel after all. The newcomer was clearly human, with long legs, heavy military boots, a ramrod back, and a laser blaster on his belt. Navi could not make out many details due to the darkness, but the relief of not being hunted by the dreaded mechanoid was sufficient for him. Perhaps I should come out…
A commotion in the vent extinguished the idea. Slowly yet surely, five figures crept out, followed by various tools, weapons, and suspiciously wired barrels of gasoline. After interminable delay, a sixth figure succeeded from the vent, bearing wire coils and computer hardware.
Navi could only watch helplessly as the newcomers formed a semicircle around the original intruder. The latter cleared his throat.
“Before we all get to work, I just want to clarify what we’re here to do. My standing depends on the success of this mission, so it needs to run like clockwork. Understood?”
In unison, “Yes, sir!”
“Our orders are to make the Auto-Zero Permanent. You already know that. To accomplish this, we must set the Zero Entity to below the Threshold, then destroy it. Once that has been done, no one will be able to modify their grade. The sheer number of zeros will guarantee Course Failure. That is our mission. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Some guys should start drilling the foundations. Once that’s done, I want the barrels set up and ready to blow. Cut any power lines, and seize any Wifi you find. And Techy,” jabbing a thumb at the hardware guy, “I want a custom virus ready for download in two hours. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Councilman Isato!”
“Dismissed!”
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Navi felt like exploding. Everything was beginning to make sense. The traitor, the computer’s misnomer,...
The vent clattered once more as a new person crawled in. Navi shuddered. Why was his suit so cold? Or was it?
The councilman clapped his hands together. “At last, you have arrived. How was your trip?”
“Good." The voice was that of a woman.
“You were never one for small talk. Let’s cut to the chase then. Is it safe?”
“Yes, but barely. A sentinel was tracking the target on Planet 69, and nearly ended up killing him.”
“What’s wrong with that? One less…”
“The problem,” interrupted the female voice, “is that the target has a location transponder in his suit. If it were destroyed, his superiors would come after him and our base would be revealed.”
That’s interesting, thought Navi, my suit has the exact same feature.
“Hmm, I see.” The councilman shook his head. “You truly do think of everything. So how’d you prevent that?”
“I went after him using the transponder. Once the target was found, the sentinel was disabled.”
That’s very interesting—I had just that experience a few days ago.
“And do we…”
“...have him? Weirdly enough, that was the easy part. You see, the target has a robotic dog. I downloaded Techy’s Spy-Eye virus onto the creature using my ship’s charging station. It reports his location, like the transponder.”
Oh no.
“Where is he?” The councilman peered into the surrounding gloom.
“Well, by my last check, the robot was hidden in this Entity. It doesn't have any charge, so it couldn’t have hidden itself. The target is probably in refractive mode, but there’s a remedy for that…”
The figure from the vent pulled a specialized camera from her belt. “A reflection sensor,” she explained. She began systematically passing it around the dashboard. “All objects emit light, of course—in fact, that’s how we see them—except…”
The camera beeped loudly. Unhesitatingly, she seized Navi’s helmet and pulled it from his head.
The astronaut’s hand jumped instinctively for protection, but not so much from the pain of her violence as the sheer shock of beholding...
“Stella?”
Columns: 🔗Companion Articles, 🖋️Creative Writing
Zachariah U. lives in the state of Pennsylvania, USA. He has two older siblings, both of whom are in college. A senior, he is in his fourth year of NSA and recently began writing for the Navigator. His favorite activities include interests as far-flung as robotics, The Lord of the Rings, Batman, classical music, European history, and current events.