"Let's try to cast as little light as possible." Alyx dimmed her eyes as she spoke. Cole nodded, and the duo carefully walked down a dark hallway. There was a curfew for new members, and it appeared that all the lights were turned off, outside of the rooms. Likely, Harbor thought that most members would use the time to go into the virtual.
At the very least, the hallway was empty, and they made it to the stairs without issue. After making the trek down the stairs, in the dark, Cole and Alyx were presented with their first challenge. The ground floor had a couple of bored looking guards, slowly walking around it. The guards had no visible weaponry, but Cole did not put much stock in the observation.
Cole looked at Alyx, feeling reassured when he saw the silver cuff on her wrist, glinting in the darkness. He did not have the gun he had picked up, because he doubted that Harbor wanted its new members to bring in weapons. Luckily, they had not been able to tell that Alyx's bracelet could transform into a gun.
The guards walked past the darkened stairwell, without noticing Cole and Alyx, who quickly pressed themselves against one of the walls. Once the guards were past the entrance, Cole followed Alyx out into the open. The lights on the ground floor were on, meaning that they no longer had the aid of shadows.
Trying to lighten his footfalls, Cole trailed behind Alyx, aware that once again Alyx was leading him in an entirely novel experience. They made it to the cafeteria easily, avoiding the rounds of the patrol, by ducking under one of the many tables in the room.
Cole turned towards Alyx, wanting to see her next move. Because they were close together, under the table, Cole's head bumped into Alyx's. Cole froze as he realized their closeness, Alyx's teeth shone in the low light as she smiled. There was no annoyance in her expression, and Cole couldn't look away.
Cole wanted to freeze time in that moment, as his mind raced, trying to figure out what he was feeling. However, Alyx slid out from under the table.
The pair continued on their mission. Once past the cafeteria, they entered unfamiliar territory, but Cole was once again glad that most of Harbor spent their free time in virtual reality.
It did not take a long time to find the receptionist desk that promised the entrance to a new layer of the building. There were no near misses with guards, but it caused Cole to wonder about the hours of operation. When he and Alyx had first entered the building, it had taken them a long time to make it to their room. In fact it had taken so long that he had gone to sleep quickly.
That fact meant that the process had likely gone into the night, so why was the building so empty? Cole did not have time to focus on the question, and instead began searching every inch of the desk. It did not take long.
The surface of the desk was clear. The desk had one drawer, on each side, both were empty. Cole sighed, it seemed security wasn't necessary if there was nothing to guard. It was obvious to him at that moment that there would be nothing. Of course the receptionists used their own screen, why would they need any other device?
They just needed to connect to the building's system. Cole did not know why he had hoped they were using an archaic system. He must have been in Harbor for too long. Alyx beckoned him over.
"There is one more place to check." She pulled him down, whispering into his ear. Feeling the tickle of her breath against his ear, helped Cole to relax, and he listened with new attentiveness.
"There should be a room that they use to tattoo members. It has to be somewhere nearby or new members would never be able to get into the next layer."
Cole stood still, and he had to stop himself from slapping himself. Why had he found himself hoping that Alyx would have something else to say? Cole turned away from Alyx, desperately searching for a room, to hide the warmth that was rushing to his face.
Fortunately, the receptionists desk had a good view of the room, and it did not take long to narrow down their goal to a few rooms. There were only a couple of doors in the room, and most of them led back towards the cafeteria.
Only one of the doors was locked, and after checking the other two, Cole was certain that the locked room was their goal. Alyx tapped on the door, and a keypad appeared, cast onto the clean gray door.
Alyx pursed her lips. A second later she typed something into the door. It slid open. Alyx pulled Cole into the room before she spoke. "I am ready to hear your adoration. Yes I am a super genius who just hacked into the door."
Cole, who had been impressed, narrowed his eyes. "You knew the password." Alyx feigned shock. "What? How would I ever know a top secret password?"
"Just tell me." Cole responded. "It was H4rbor. I overheard some members talking about whether they should update their passwords to be more secure, and it was my second guess."
Cole was still impressed, but he did his best not to show any signs to Alyx. He wouldn't feed into her narcissism. Instead, he looked around the room.
It was small with two chairs, and a single shelf against the back wall. The shelf was attached to the wall, high enough for Cole to smirk at Alyx as he reached up. It was too tall for her to comfortably reach the supplies. On the shelf there were some sharp needles, and a gun-like device that Cole imagined was used to give the tattoos. Next to the device were two clear containers that had different colors of ink.
Cole reached for the ink, accidently brushing a piece of paper that had been laying flat on the shelf, on to the floor. Alyx picked up the paper. It was old and crumpled, showing a design schematic for the tattoo that represented Harbor.
The diagram had a marking that Cole was sure was not part of the tattoo. In the center of the sun, there was a small emerald dot. Cole grabbed one of the needles, off of the shelf. He had a hunch and the needle confirmed it. The needle was too large to be useful for tattooing, and he was certain that it was used to implant the green dot into the tattoo.
"This must be what they used to confirm their members." Alyx had figured it out as well, and the duo began searching the room for the green dots. The room was small without much furniture, so it did not take long for them to find a little case under one of the chairs.
The case had an old fashioned lock that needed a key, but Alyx easily opened it using a couple of the extra needles. Cole smirked as he realized that there was a reason that no one really used those kinds of locks anymore.
The inside of the case was full of different objects, betraying the fact that it was someone's crafts box, filled with tools. There were also little pieces of metal, necklace chains, thread, beads, clips, jewels, and a small clear bag full of green spheres.
Alyx grabbed the little bag, and carefully poured two of the tiny spheres into her hand. "Hopefully we don't have to do anything to activate them." Alyx muttered as she placed the spheres onto a chair, returning the bag to its place, before grabbing some supplies from the box.
She chose two charms that looked like little boxes, with a mechanism that allowed them to open. Inside the mini boxes she put the two green orbs, clicking the boxes shut. Next she ran some wiring through the charms hook, creating rudimentary rings. Cole thought that she was done, but she picked up a small tool and a thin strip of metal.
Using the tool, she molded the strip into shape, and attached it to the wires, creating a silver ring, with a small box where a gem might be attached. Once she finished the second ring, she handed it to Cole. "This is much better than implanting them in our arms."
Cole examined the ring, surprised at how quickly Alyx had made something that looked like a real piece of jewelry. He could still see the wires wrapping around the band, but they felt intentional, adding a hint of complexity to the ring.
Cole slid the ring over his pinky finger. It was too small for his other fingers, but it fit snugly on his smallest digit. "Let's go test them out." Alyx said, twisting the ring, so that it fit snugly, on her middle finger.
After cleaning up the box, and returning it to its spot, Cole and Alyx left the room, walking up to the entrance behind the receptionists' desk. Cole took off the bracelet, he had been given on his first day, and raised his hand towards the reader.
He took a deep breath, hoping he was not about to set off an alarm. The door slid open before him, and he quickly stepped in. Once Alyx followed after him, the two walked down the hall, and stepped into a brightly lit room. The first thing Cole noticed was all of the people that were out and about.
They were milling around, talking to each other as if they were friends, meeting at a restaurant to eat breakfast.