The Society Ch. 01

"I'm about to head out, just wanted to say goodbye first."

"I still think you're crazy." Asia replied.

"Yeah and I still think you're a dumbass." Kodi said as she hugged Asia one more time before leaving.

"Please be safe, okay? And don't let your fat ass ruin the mission for you." Asia said with a little snicker.

"Whatever string bean, but thanks. I'll be back soon. Bye."

"Bye."

Kodi quietly walked out of the shelter and headed towards the rendezvous point for the shuttle. She had the drone in her little backpack and made sure a few hours earlier to test it just to make sure that the cloaking function was working properly and there weren't any other issues with it. Everything was okay with the drone, she just had to execute her plan properly. As she started walking outside, she went through every detail of the plan again, just as she had for the past two days. She knew that the rendezvous point was about a 10-minute walk from the shelter, which meant she would arrive at 11:25 to 11:30, give or take five minutes. That was early, she thought, but it made room for either an early arrival or any more preparations that needed to be made before she went on the shuttle.

When her and Asia saw the shuttle before, it landed and sat in one spot and started scanning things before moving on. This lasted about 5 minutes, enough time for Kodi to cloak herself and board the shuttle without it noticing her with its scanners. Once aboard the shuttle, she wouldn't have to use the cloak again until they arrived at the space station. She figured it would be quick since the shuttles were state of the art tech. Once she was on the space station, she would use the cloaking device to hide, take some supplies, and get back on the shuttle and program it to go back to Earth. Everything was in order, all Kodi had to do was execute her plan.

When Kodi finally arrived at the rendezvous point, she hid behind a bush just to be careful, reached in her backpack and took out the drone. She powered it up but didn't use the cloaking device yet because she didn't want to run into a situation where the cloak went away at the wrong time. She would wait until the shuttle was about to touch down and she saw it before she cloaked herself.

At around 11:55, the shuttle finally made its way down. It was about the size of a regular space shuttle for one or two people to fit into, and all white.

"Okay, time to see what you got Koko." Kodi said to herself as she powered her device up and cloaked herself. She was actually invisible! Kodi couldn't believe it, even though she had practiced it a hundred times. As the shuttle landed and Kodi was cloaked, she put the drone back in her backpack and made sure her stun gun was powered up. She didn't think there would be anyone piloting the shuttle, but she had to bring something to defend herself against any potential human threats.

Just like she thought, once the shuttle landed it almost immediately began scanning the area. During her trials with the drone, she discovered that the amount of time she could be invisible and cloaked was between 4-5 minutes. This wasn't a huge amount of time, but enough to sneak onto the shuttle, re-cloak herself and remain out of sight. She had already been cloaked for a minute, so she needed to hurry and get on the shuttle.

One problem Kodi ran into while drawing her plan was how to open the shuttle doors, since she assumed there would be no human piloting it. She knew she couldn't just walk up to it and have them open automatically, because the cloaking device on the drone would render her invisible and undetectable by the scanners of the shuttle. She decided to add an extra step to her process and program a hacking mechanism into the drone's CPU that would be able to bypass key codes, touch panels, and other security mechanisms. Now, as she looked at the shuttle doors and noticed both a keypad with numbers and letters, and a touch panel designed for a handprint, it was time to put the drone's ability to the test.

Kodi walked up to the shuttle doors, put her backpack down on the ground, and took the drone out and powered it up. Even though it had been two minutes now, she was still amazed that the scanners hadn't picked up on her or the drone. Testing the cloaking and hacking mechanisms by herself was one thing, but putting them to use was another. She didn't know how long the hacking would take, because there was more security on the door than she thought, and the shuttle's security was probably more advanced than the stuff she was testing the drone with. Either way, they had approximately three minutes before the cloaking was deactivated and they were discovered.

Kodi activated the drone's hacking and it began with the keypad, scanning and working its magic. These three minutes were the longest of her life, they felt like three hours. She couldn't do anything to speed it up or bypass it either, she just had to watch and wait, a feeling Kodi wasn't used to.

"Yes! Just one more, please hurry up Koko!" Kodi thought as she heard a beep when the drone cracked the code for the key pad and saw it light up in green. Now, the drone had to bypass the touch panel, which may have proven to be more difficult and they only had one minute left. Kodi was still invisible, but she was sweating bullets anticipating the moment when she would become visible again and the plan would be ruined. She had butterflies in her stomach and her hands were shaking, praying that she saw a green light and heard a beep.

Finally, she heard it! It was music to her ears, and this time in addition to a beep, she heard the doors begin to open to the shuttle. With seconds to spare, Kodi grabbed the drone and stepped inside the shuttle. She was already beginning to become de-cloaked, so she hurried and re-cloaked herself just in time. When she stepped inside, a strange feeling came over her. She was still running on adrenaline and anxious from the potential of being caught, but this was also her first glimpse into the innovative technology the Society had to offer and it was amazing.

There were touch panels for the controls in place of buttons, virtual reality devices, and sleeping chambers and storage devices that made it as comfortable as possible in a small shuttle. This type of technology used to be possible on Earth as well and available for almost everyone, but since the war and its aftermath the Earth had been pushed years back in technological advancements. Meanwhile, the Society had been maintaining this technological level and even pushing farther, Kodi realized.

The shuttle took another minute to scan the area, and then stopped and prepared to head back to the loading dock of the space station. There was a screen on the control panel that showed everything that the shuttle's eyes saw, and Kodi was able to get a glimpse into how this process worked. The shuttle simultaneously scanned and recorded data at once. But once the screen went dark, she knew it was time for it to head back.

Her heart began beating harder in her chest, the anticipation of reaching the Society's space station growing with every second. She was nervous, excited, and afraid at the same time. Am I really doing this? Part of her still felt like it was a dream, like she was in a surreal version of her life where things actually worked out for the better. As the shuttle powered up its engines and took off for the space station, things became very real for her.

The shuttle's engines were very powerful and operated differently than a normal shuttle or plane, so the trip wasn't long, only a minute at the most. During the short ride, Kodi was amazed at the view of the stars and the simplicity of the darkness in space. Even though this was an experience that she should have treasured and appreciated, she didn't have any time for that, because she had to focus and get ready for the toughest part of the mission: what to do once she arrived at the space station.

As she suspected, they landed on a loading area where all of the shuttles docked, maintenance was done, and the data was extracted and taken to the scientists to be analyzed. Even the loading dock looked amazing, and as innovative as the little shuttle she just sat in for the past minute or so. However, Kodi also noticed just how many people there were and how many she would have to sneak past. There were workers everywhere, and at least 5 or 6 other shuttles that they were repairing. The only thing that she saw that could work to her advantage were the storage crates that were stacked everywhere. Kodi could hide behind some of these while she re-cloaked herself, since it would take more than 5 minutes for her to find some parts and tools and put it on the shuttle.

Kodi re-cloaked herself one more time before they landed inside the loading dock, just to be sure that it didn't wear off at the wrong damn time. As the doors opened, she was just closing her backpack with the drone inside and rushed out, stepping foot inside the Society's space station for the first time. She couldn't believe she actually made it this far without anyone detecting her!

But there was no time for celebration, and she scanned the area for parts that might be useful. As soon as she walked out, workers wearing all white uniforms stepped inside and began extracting the data. She noticed the difference between the workers in white uniforms, who were doing the computing and data analyzing, and other workers in blue uniforms, who work on the repairs and the dirty work. Kodi had to make sure to avoid both of them, while also searching for materials to take back to Earth.

She scurried and found a stack of storage crates to hide behind while she looked, just to make sure no one bumped into her and discovered her. As she scanned the area, she noticed there were tables and rooms where the mechanics were operating with lasers and other high-tech tools that she could definitely use. Jackpot! Now, she just had to wait for an opportunity to grab some and put them in her backpack. Kodi noticed a mechanics room had just been vacated, and decided to rush towards it to grab some items. She re-cloaked herself and dashed across the room, taking her time though to make sure she didn't run into someone and blow her cover.

Luckily for Kodi, when the mechanic left the room, he left the door open so she didn't have to move it and alarm anyone with a ghastly door moving by itself. The tools she grabbed were incredible, much better than the tools she was forced to use down on Earth. She took two lasers, three small CPUs, a touch panel, a drill, and even a small bot. With this she could analyze data faster, build smarter drones, have a bot as an assistant, and generally reduce the time it took to build her inventions.

Her backpack was getting heavy, but no one had discovered her yet, and as she re-cloaked herself again, she couldn't shake the curiosity about what else was in the main areas of the Society's space station. She decided she would go a little further and see what else they had.

As she snuck out of the room and headed towards the door, one of the white uniform workers walked through the door, which also had a security panel. Kodi quickly snuck behind them and into the main section of the space station, just before the door closed on her.

What she saw when she walked in was much different than the loading dock. It was a pristine, almost angelic white, squeaky clean, and perfectly organized. There were holograms made to look like a tropical oasis, waterfalls, the Grand Canyon, and snowy mountains of Colorado. Kodi saw people using teleportation panels, something that was only in the prototype phase when she was a kid. Now everyone up here had them.

Shit it looks like heaven up here. She carefully walked around, avoiding more agents. As she looked down and around to see what other technology the Society had, she noticed something odd that immediately made her heart race. Her brown hands were going in and out of visibility! Somehow the cloaking was wearing off faster than before and she needed to find a place to hide fast. There were people everywhere in here, and she would be caught in seconds. Before she could look around to find a place to hide, she felt a shocking sensation and pain coarse through her body. She began shaking violently before she fell over.

The last thing she heard was, "General, she's been knocked out. We got her."

***

"So what do you think he's gonna do with her?"

"I dunno, but I know what I'm thinking about doing with her. I mean look at the body on her, damn."

"I hear ya, she's got a fucking rack on her. I got to cop a feel when we brought her down here. And that ass? A chocolate piece of fucking heaven."

"Exactly. I'm not usually into black girls, but man oh man."

"Look she's starting to wake up."

Kodi woke up with a throbbing headache. Her whole body hurt and hearing the end of the two agents' conversation, she couldn't be in a good position. She noticed her hands were tied in cuffs with electrical currents, and as she opened her dark brown eyes, she realized she was in a cell, a dirty one at that, with blood everywhere. She only had her t-shirt and ripped denim jeans on, her backpack and jacket were gone.

As she slowly regained consciousness, the amount of blood stains around her registered in her mind and she realized that this wasn't any ordinary cell, but a place where prisoners were tortured. It was the complete opposite of the space station's main commons. There were knives, guns, and chairs with straps everywhere. And without her drone or stun gun, Kodi was terrified. She knew she would die here.

"Ah, so you're finally awake. Look, while you take the time to get adjusted, which one of us would you rather fuck huh?"

Kodi looked up at the two agents. Unlike the other workers she saw in the commons and the loading dock, these two men were wearing all black uniforms with a red emblem on the front. They were both white males, medium height, but one had a light stubble and dark eyes, while the other was clean shaven with blue eyes. Either way, they were her captors, and the last thing she wanted to think about was them ravaging her.

"Neither of you, I'm good thanks." Kodi said, struggling and coughing.

"Oh really, well we got a smart ass here don't we?" the one with the stubble said.

"Mm hm sure do. We should go in there and show you who's in charge, but we've been ordered not to put our hands on you. So consider this your lucky day, at least until he comes for you."

What? Who is he and what does he want with me? The uncertainty of this mystery person scared her even more.

"Don't worry, I know you're confused, sweetheart. You'll find out in a little while." The clean-shaven agent pressed a button on a remote and another electrical charge shocked Kodi, knocking her out again.

***

The next thing she heard was a voice that was a little intimidating, but only because she was restrained and at the mercy of this person at this point. But the voice was calm, deep, and even a bit soothing despite the frightening position she was in.

"Hello Kodi."

It was Ethan.