Machines, Jason M. Green [best non fiction books to read .TXT] 📗

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hitting a flashing red switch on the black box. He was forced to clench his teeth as
information blasted into his brain at amazing speeds, but it allowed him to disconnect from the database before the timer even reached ten seconds. He then pulled the cords from the back of his head, wrapped them around the black box, and began disconnecting everything hooked up to his small computer.
From beneath the cot, Jobe pulled out a pair of large black bags designed for carrying heavy loads, and he carefully stuffed all of his various bits of computer equipment into one of the bags, except for the timer, and then folded the screen down on the computer and shoved it inside that bag as well. He then opened up the other bag and removed a new set of clothes, these ones as unremarkable as what he was already wearing. Then he removed all of his clothes and neatly folded them. He glanced at the spot where a bullet had grazed him and noticed that there wasn’t even a mark, and then he glanced at his arm, and found that there were just a couple of discolored patches of skin to show where the spikes had pierced his flesh. After checking for any additional wounds, he put on the new clothes, and stuffed the old ones into the bag along with the wig. Then to complete the change, he put on a pair of glasses with lens that were just made of regular hard plastic, a few pieces of fake facial hair that would give him the appearance of having a goatee, and a wig designed to resemble curly brown hair.
Now looking like a slightly different person, he opened the second drawer in the desk and pulled out a pistol that looked almost identical to the ZERO-2 he stole from the police officer. He then took the HPD out of his jacket and put it on the desk before sliding the pistol into his jacket and pulling six spare clips of 9mm police-issue rounds out of the drawer. Next, he opened another drawer and removed a portable disc drive and a power cord that he then set on the desk. After that, he pulled out a pair of small speakers that belonged to the computer he already stuffed in his bag. The last thing he took out of the drawer was a small box made of some shiny black metal. The knowledge of what was inside the box made a memory flash through Jobe’s mind, but he ignored it because he knew he didn't have time to think of things other than the task at hand.
Jobe placed the metal box on the desk next to the timer, HPD, and the disc drive. From a small drawer in the middle of the desk, Jobe pulled out a miniature receiver, a cobbled together transmitter, and a cheap motion sensor. First, he hooked the timer and receiver to the HPD so that when the timer reached zero it would automatically activate the HPD. Next, he plugged the speakers into the HPD and turned the volume up to maximum. Then he hooked the portable disc drive to the HPD.
After he had everything hooked up to the HPD, he walked over to the corner of the room and uncovered a small device with little red lights flashing along its length attached to a small brick of something gray that resembled sculpting clay. He flipped a switch to activate the device, and then went to the other three corners of the room and repeated this action with similar devices that were also attached to similar gray bricks. Once all of the devices had been activated, he returned to the desk and opened the small metal box he had removed from one of the drawers. Inside there was a shiny disc with a label that read harmonics, which he gently removed and inserted into the disc drive. Then he copied two audio files off the disc onto the HPD.
Once the chosen files were saved on the HPD, he returned the disc to its case and unhooked the portable drive. Then he put both items into the bag with the rest of the computer equipment and opened up the directory on the HPD that contained the pair of audio files.
“Now to see if the harmonics are correct,” he muttered to himself, as he activated one of the audio files, and listened to a few seconds of the strange, almost musical sounds. As the sounds poured out through the speakers, he glanced at the devices in the corners of the room and saw the red lights beginning to flash wildly at an ever-increasing rate of speed. When he stopped the media player, the lights slowed down until they returned to their normal, slow flashing. “Let’s hope this all works properly," he said to himself as he set the timer for twelve seconds and made sure the receiver was lined up with the makeshift transmitter he had attached to the top of the door with some thick gray tape. Then he spliced some wires together so the motion sensor would send a signal to the transmitter when it was triggered by whichever law-enforcement agency decided to enter the building first. Pleased that everything seemed to be hooked up properly, he reprogrammed the HPD so that when it was turned on the media program would immediately start. Then he set it to play a specific audio file, and shut down the HPD.
Satisfied that his trap would be sufficient to temporarily throw off his pursuers, Jobe lifted the pair of bags and left the room, making sure to close the door tightly behind him after flipping the power switch on the side of the motion sensor. He quickly smashed the keypad on the inner door to make it harder for the GSD to gain entrance, before securely closing the rusty outer door. He heard the barely audible beep of the motion sensor activating, and mentally activated the experimental cloaking program he procured from the military database.
As he gradually shimmered out of sight, he felt a cold chill move through his body, because of the program adapting itself to his physiology. His vision blurred as his body was blended into its surroundings and he closed his eyes to block out the distorted shapes around him. Then once the feeling had finally passed, Jobe slowly opened his eyes. His surroundings were no longer distorted, but everything was now in black, white, and numerous shades of gray. Dismissing the lack of color as a mere side effect of the cloaking process, he quietly walked down the dark alley past an officer wearing standard GSD-issue body armor, who was crouching down behind a garbage bin with his heavy assault weapon aimed down the alley.

Within five minutes of leaving his former safe house, Jobe heard a series of small explosions followed by the sounds of the entire building collapsing straight down, as he had planned it to do when he hid explosives in each corner of the room after first taking possession of it. He allowed himself a little smile of satisfaction at knowing the GSD wouldn't bother him until they had finished the massive amounts of paperwork regarding the explosion. Then he allowed himself another little smile as he heard some stumbling drunks swearing loudly as they saw splashes in puddles, but didn’t see anyone actually stepping into the puddles.
Once he was about a block away, he ducked down an alley and shimmered back into visibility. After making certain that he was unobserved, he adjusted his clothes and his glasses, before stepping into the street and joining a group of curious people who were heading towards the sound of the explosion. Then after moving among them for a few minutes, he made his way to the other end of the street and turned a corner onto the street that would take him where he needed to go.


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Publication Date: 05-25-2009

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