THE ZETA PROJECT

SEASON THREE

Disclosure: I don't own The Zeta Project or its characters. And I have no idea why I really have this disclaimer in here… just always have had one since everyone else has one. I imagine it's in the rules somewhere, but I don't remember anymore.

It took me a long time to finish episode 7 after I started, and I don't expect a repeat with episode 8, but you never know what life throws at you. (Or when you get writers block, or just plain out forget what it was you were intending to do with the story, or even forgetting what the past key plot points were.) I think this is my most creatively planned episode yet, so I hope you stick through it, or at least put it on an update memo thing so that if it takes me ages to finish, you get a notification at least that it's done or updated. This might start out as a recap story as it's been so long I think a refresher of what's happening might help out, but I promise there's new insights to come!

And while I might mention some things that may seem "spiritual" in nature in this episode, nothing is meant to be taken as offensive/or credible material. I am not endorsing any form of religious or atheist beliefs or practices of any kind.

"The Augur's Omens" Ep. 8 Season 3

Bennet looked penitent, almost even prayerful from the way his fingers were folded and his head bowed against them as he leaned his elbows on his desk and stared curiously down at the envelope before him. In this day and age, it was a rare occurrence to receive paper mail, and even more so if it was classified and work related. Classified documents were usually sent to him over the network because of the convenience and that computer files could be encrypted and password protected and sent much faster. The courier that had delivered it had made him sign three different documents verifying his identification before releasing it to him. Whatever was in this package had to be especially important so as not to risk someone even inside the network discovering its contents. Carefully he opened the heavy manila envelope and pulled out the documents, and began to read…

...

With only three days left until Dr. Edmund's hearing, now was not the time to be scrounging around with the feds—yet they found themselves in their habitual activity of breaking all or most of the motor vehicle laws in their attempt to evade the agents tailing them.

Nothing too significant had happened since their trip to Las Vegas—at least nothing as weird as Zee taking off after she deliberately told him not to thankfully. They'd mostly just been killing time until Edmund's court hearing and had been keeping all their doings low key. Soon though, they'd find out if the plan they'd had for the last few months would pay off—or if they'd wasted all of this precious time on a whim that Edmund would help them once they finally found him. Their plan to find Edmund at his court hearing and ask for his help in getting access to the Sub Rosa terminal again seemed more far fetched the longer they thought about it, but they didn't really have many other options. They needed to get access to the recovered wreckage of the Noesis in order to see if Selig had had any blue prints for the conscience chip he put in Zee, or if there he had personal files that might suggest he had made one, or even just ANY other clue that would lead them in a direction closer to freedom.

As Dr. Edmund was being tried for treason against the United States and National Security Agency though, it seemed unlikely that even if they did manage to have a moment alone to ask for his help that he'd be willing to get himself in even more trouble… And as so much time had elapsed since the incident, what were the chances any of his security clearances would still work, or that they wouldn't have fixed whatever loopholes he got through the first time? Still, they had to try. Their hunt for the other scientists wasn't going much better. It seemed that every person that had worked on the Zeta Project had gone into hiding or disappeared off the face of the earth. Dr. Anderson had been the last hit they'd had, and that had been a complete setup!

Time was running out. In three days they'd know where their fates would lie--assuming they didn't get caught by the agents before then!

"What do you think did it this time?" Ro asked Zee as she dropped one hand from holding her wind tossed hair out of her face to clutch the door handle while Zee made a sharp left turn through a stale yellow light. Of all the places to be having a high speed pursuit, why did it have to be in city limits and not on the freeway where there weren't stoplights? And why did this usually always happen when they were in a convertible with the top down, and when she didn't have a hair tie?

In the past Zee had suggested that she try rolling up the windows to help divert the airflow. She'd then explained how it was unfashionable to roll the windows up in a convertible if the top was down and that it had to be all or nothing. Zee then saw it necessary to point out the incongruence of how even though she could easily climb in and out of the car by jumping over the side when the top was down, she still used the door. This was one of the few times that Zee had ever changed her opinion on something, and she found herself just jumping into the passenger seat more often, but she still refused to roll up the windows if the top was down, and her hair was becoming a nice mess as a result.

The agents were not so easily deterred by the red light, and took the risk of running through it to follow them. "Could be several things," Zee answered her question, while looking straight ahead so as not to miss a potentially dangerous hazard on the road, or hopefully--an opportunity to ditch the feds. The first thing that came to his mind probably wasn't the reason in this circumstance, but as it has caused them to be discovered in the past he listed it first, "Could be the car again…But I know we got this one from a private party instead of a dealer."

"I hope not, since it really drains our savings having to get a new one in each state we visit, much less each city…"

Zee knew that by savings, she was referring to the creds that they had in as separate account aside from his cred card which they now knew could easily be tracked. They'd opened the account with the earnings he had made in Las Vegas almost a month ago and had made sure to visit the various Indian casinos they passed by in order to replenish what they spent from it. "If not the car, it could easily have been the hotel we stayed in that one night… We did use the government card to pay for that. They might have pulled video surveillance and gotten a glimpse of the license plate and tracked it that way. But that was three days ago so not likely. Or it could have just been that someone recognized us the old fashioned way and called it in…"

"Maybe, 'Mr. Extendo-Arms-have-to-save-every-stranded-cat-from-the-tree-it-got-stuck-in'…"

"But what's the likelihood that girl's mother would believe her if her daughter did say that a man with long arms reached her cat down out of the tree?" Zee started a counter argument, but was interrupted.

"ZEE!" Ro shouted, excitedly, pointing to the top of a all Ferris wheel that was standing out above the building rooflines. "A carnival! We can easily find a place to get lost in there."

It was scarce that Ro ever noticed something before he did, and this was not one of those times. Several blocks behind them he'd seen a poster for the fair, and had photographed the entire contents of the page in his memory in the split second that they'd passed it. With the general directions in mind, he'd been trying to lose the feds while making their way closer to the fairgrounds in case they didn't. In general, whenever they were being followed, Zee made it a point to find their way to a crowded area, as such places were easier to disappear into.

As for the events that he didn't notice first, they were usually odd human quagmires that his mechanical mindset made him indifferent to until Ro identified them something significant that he should be taking notice of. As far as road conditions went though, it was hard to beat his 100 GB processor and 100x magnification eyesight.

"155 North 1000 West," he recited the address.

"Where's that?"

"Up ahead," Zee thought it was obvious.

"You mean the carnival--you sure? We just passed a street that said West 4th North, seems a little far off." Almost as soon as she said that though, they crossed the intersection and the street became West 400 North. "Whoever is in charge of city street planning and labeling should be fired," she contemptuously spat. They'd been driving around for a while now, and even though the locals said it was one of the easiest cities to navigate with its grid layout, she thought it was the hardest. Everything in the city centered around some religious temple in the dead center, and everything was labeled either North, South, East, or West of it. But the problem was, even with a compass, you'd never know if you were heading East or West on East street until you went at least a block and saw that the numbers were getting larger or smaller. And to add to that, not every street was numbered as some were actually named. Salt Lake City was certainly not as navigation-friendly as the people in it wanted outsiders to believe it was.

"You ready to run?" Zee looked to Ro as he began looking for a convenient place to park as they were really close to the fairgrounds. Most likely they'd never see their car again, so while it probably wouldn't hurt to just stop it in the middle of the street and jump out of it, the safer thing would be to move it out of traffic first. Also, on the chance that it might still be there if the feds didn't bother to have it confiscated, he figured they should park it somewhere where the local law enforcement or business owner wouldn't have it towed for being parked in an unauthorized area.

Ro scrambled to grab her bag and make sure that it was fastened shut then slung it over her back. "Just say when," she held onto the door side ready to jump out.

Zee pulled the car off the side of the road, "Go!" he shouted to her as he placed the car in park and turned off the engine. Ro sprang out of the car while Zee stepped over the door with his long legs and took off running.

They ran across the street and down the block toward the state fairgrounds. Amidst old brick buildings and warehouses, the portable event booths and attraction rides had been set up on a large asphalt parking lot with a wide sprawling lawn and dirt field. Along with the booths and rides there were vendors to ensure the masses were well fed and supplied with souvenirs, aluminum grandstands for seating, and the familiar stench of fattened livestock and their excrements.

There hardly was any time to note the finer amenities of the fairground as the NSA vehicle had stopped and let a few agents off to follow them on foot, so they were still well in danger. Most likely the vehicle would go around the block, park, then send the second half of its agents after them. They were always outnumbered, but if they could reach the crowds before the agents caught up, they should have the advantage.

Zee ran in front, as he was most skilled at finding their way around and finding good hiding places or thinking of on the spot clever hologram disguises for both of them. There wasn't any admittance fee, so they were able to run right up to the fairground gates without being delayed in having to buy tickets or pay for parking. They were only stopped momentarily when Ro had to open her purse and show the gate security guard the contents of her bag and prove that she wasn't carrying anything of dubious legality. The agents were delayed a little longer with their equipment and holsters as the security guards verified the legitimacy of their NSA badges. They'd have to be absolutely sure these people weren't imposters as they were well armed and entering into a bustling public area.

"We're going to have to find another way out," Zee began planning their escape, "they're certainly going to have someone watching for us to leave the way we came in."

"What else is new?" Ro wasn't surprised at all. Once they passed the game booths, Zee held his arm out in front of Ro, signaling her to slow her sprint to a quickened brisk walk. It was time to start think about blending in, which would be hard to do if they kept running as no one else around them looked like they were in a marathon.

"Stay close," Zee warned Ro, pulling her to his side, and draping his arm around her shoulder—a usual signal that he was going to put a hologram over the two of them. She looked down at her feet then at her hands, wondering what disguise he'd thought of, and was surprised to see her regular black and white concord sneakers on her feet, and her typical un-manicured fingernails. Zee apparently had other motives to keep her close, besides to use a holographic disguise this time.

They had moved into the vendor section of the fairgrounds where dozens of tents had been erected over hundreds of tables loaded with cheap junk and homemade crafts. Still tightly holding her close to his side, Zee began to weave in and out of the tents, either by passing through the spaces in between each tent, or by slipping through a vent in the fabric in the walls of the tent. Ro thought of how one day it would be fun to actually take time to look at everything for sale and to not just be looking at the tables to see if any of them had a skirt that they could hide under.

As they passed through various tents that were selling things like home made jams and beaded jewelry , Ro soon began to suspect Zee was going in circles as while several of the vendors were selling the same items, what was the chance that two people would be trying to sell a toilet-bowl shaped flower planter? "Did you drop something, or are you actually lost?" Ro asked him.

"There's three possible exits I can see. We're just circling, until a window opens up for one of them."

"What kind of a window?"

"If the 'Whirl and Twirl' ride is going when we're at the north east corner, we'll have some cover from the agent on the grandstands to possibly make it to the livestock trailers without being seen, or if the agent by the hot dog stand moves, we can sneak out by the garbage dumpsters. Our third option is to head for the crafts judging warehouse and hope there's an exit somewhere in there, and that it's not being blocked or guarded."

"I get that there's no quick way out right now. But why don't you just pick one and we'll sit and wait until it's safe to run for it?"

"Because there are agents searching this area for us, and if they see us stopped in one place for too long, they'll figure out what we're watching for."

"So think of a way that we can trick them into thinking that we've already left."

He wished he had an idea of how to do that, but the feds had gotten to the point that they no longer gave up looking once they thought they'd left the area. They continued searching usually after they were gone just to make sure that they didn't pull such a trick. The only way to convince them they were gone, was to actually leave.

By their fourth lap, Zee had finally figured out that the Whirl and Twirl ride took 90 seconds to complete one ride, and about three minutes to load and unload passengers. After the passengers got on and it started up again, they'd have just under a minute to make it across the open walkway, as the ride took 30 seconds to reach its full height that would block them from the view of the agent. A minute was plenty of time, but his worry was that something would change the setup, such as another agent passing through the area, before the ride started again.

Ro pretended to be looking through the assorted bath salts and scented soaps at the table next to them while Zee watched for the ride to start up again. The dizzy and disoriented guests slowly exited the ride, as new riders handed their tickets to the ride operator and hurried on. "Okay, in just a few seconds…" Zee anticipated the window of opportunity.

The riders were strapped onto the machine, but as they were few in number, the operator decided that he was going to wait for a few more people to come on before he started the ride up.

"Looks like he's waiting for a few more people," Zee dismally noticed.

Ro looked up from the cucumber-melon candle she'd been smelling and became aware of an NSA agent not far from them at the end of the row of tents they were in. "Yeah, well we don't have time to wait," she put the candle back down, and pulled Zee further into the tent so he wouldn't be seen by the agent.

She tugged on his arm, leading him to the back of the tent as the agent continued his patrol in their direction. Lifting the back flap of the tent, they crawled under it and escaped. The merchant looked displeased with their method of departure, but if he were in the same position, Ro imagined he'd do the same thing with just as little disregard.

"That was close," Ro sighed as she stood up and began dusting the dirt off her pants, and brushing the gravel out of her palms.

"We're not safe yet, keep moving," Zee took her hand and pulled her behind him. Unfortunately for them, they'd escaped from one bad situation into another. While they'd evaded the agent patrolling the tent area, they were now in open view of the agent standing at the top step of the grandstands, and could easily be identified by her if she looked their way.

Watching the agent over his shoulder, Zee pushed Ro in front of him to hurry and get in the cover of something before she turned around. Zee picked up on the slight shift of weight from one hip to the other, indicating she was turning around. "Quick in there!" Zee, pushed Ro through an opening in the heavy fabric of the booth they were immediately next to.

Ro stumbled forward through a wall of hanging ropes of some sort, then tripped on what she thought was a large stuffed prize for perhaps one of the coin toss games and landed on a pile of objects of a similar palpability. She couldn't tell exactly what had cushioned her fall, but she suspected she'd fallen into one of the game venues. Everything was dark until her eyes adjusted from the bright outdoor sunlight to the soft incandescent lighting. As shadows turned into shapes, she realized she wasn't in the back compartment of a prize bin.

"I had the feeling that I needed to rearrange things in here. Good thing I did," the voice of a woman with a heavy European accent snickered.