"John, we have guests."
EDI entered my office, and she was clearly excited by this news.
"Oh... she finally decided?"
"Yes."
EDI said this in a mocking voice.
"She prepared for quite a while, though I must admit that if it weren't for your paranoia and my connection to Bali's systems, she would have had every chance of sneaking in to us. Shall we watch the movie?"
"Of course we will."
I paid no attention to EDI's snide voice.
"Just call all of ours, and for Morinth, if she wants, broadcast it to her cubby."
"Uh-huh."
The android nodded, after which an extremely interesting movie began.
** A View from the Side. **
"Is this a resort or a prison for especially dangerous inmates?"
Kasumi Goto, who considered herself the best thief in the galaxy, stepped carefully across the floor, listening to the world around her and watching the shadows closely. She had been hired to steal a hard drive with data from the office of the head of the New Life corporation. And now she was making her way through the technical rooms, as the others were inaccessible to her.
The thing was, there were too many cameras there, and even if there were blind spots, they were simply impossible to reach. No, she had a cloak, of course, and if she were a bit less experienced, she would have used it, but...
But the problem was that everywhere in the main rooms there were also sensors that saw in the thermal range.
"Okay, and here's the ventilation."
Kasumi Goto deftly climbed onto one of the cabinets and, taking out her tools, quickly removed the ventilation grate to slip inside.
"Fuck..."
As soon as the grate was removed, she saw that the ventilation itself narrowed very quickly, and if she had initially thought she could squeeze through with difficulty, it was now obvious to her that even a robot couldn't get through, all because shortly after the narrowing there was another grate, and this time it was simply impossible to reach the fasteners.
"Damned paranoiacs!"
A quiet but expressive whisper echoed off the ventilation walls, but that didn't stop the girl from putting the grate back in place and screwing it in.
"So, the hard way it is."
The client had leaked the security system data to her; in fact, it was thanks to this data that she was able to sneak onto the fifth floor. But beyond that was a floor so packed with technology that not even a fly could slip through, let alone a girl of, albeit quite modest, but extremely prominent build.
Deciding that there was no other way than the one originally planned, she reached the exit from the technical rooms and used an extremely expensive mini-grenade that literally blinded all cameras and sensors for a second, after which for another five seconds they simply didn't see moving targets, and she slipped into the adjacent room, which was intended for communicating with employees.
Looking around quickly, she reached the window and carefully hacked the sensor—not the whole system, she knew that would be beyond her—she hacked the sensor specifically so it wouldn't react to the window opening. Of course, if someone tried to do it from the outside, they wouldn't be able to, but from the inside... having access to the sensor itself, and also knowing in advance what sensor models were used in this building.
"Easy as pie."
A quiet whisper, and the girl froze, looking at the view of the resort that opened up to her. Sapients of different races scurried along the streets below her, though actually not below her yet, as the maximum height of the buildings here was ten floors, and only this building, which housed the office of the head of the corporation, had twenty. At the same time, the height of the buildings gradually decreased from the center, so the closer to the edge of the platform on which the resort was located, the fewer floors the houses had. It turned out to be a kind of pyramid.
Shaking her head, she brushed away extraneous thoughts and, activating the cloaking system, climbed outside using special suction cups, then climbed up.
At the same time, she didn't cling to the glass itself, but only to the thinnest partitions between them, which added some inconvenience to the ascent.
Having passed several floors in this way, she swore quietly, as the window that was usually open on the eighth floor suddenly slammed shut. And it happened when she was at the level of the seventh floor!
However, another window opened, but it was away from the one she was making her way to. But there was no choice, and she moved carefully in its direction, and having reached the window, she looked inside.
"Men's room?"
She spoke these words extremely quietly, and only after the man who was in the room left it, forgetting to close the window. Apparently, everything that needed to be washed had recently been washed in the room with special agents, which caused a slightly pungent smell inside. And it was to get rid of it that the man had opened the window.
Without thinking too long, Kasumi Goto slipped into the men's room, then locked herself in one of the stalls and, quickly activating her Omni-tool, began to check the building plan, trying to understand exactly what to do next.
Fortunately for her, she had worked out the plan in quite some detail, and a look at the map was now only needed to make sure she was right in her assumptions. That she hadn't forgotten anything or mixed up the floor plans.
"Kno..."
The girl cut herself off as the sound of a door opening was heard.
"Not in here!"
Some girl was clearly not very happy with what was happening, although, judging by the voice, Kasumi Goto could say with certainty that if the girl had been dragged into another room, she wouldn't have refused.
"Oh, come on... everyone knows that..."
The door to her stall was yanked.
"Fuck."
"Oops!"
Judging by the clicking of heels, the girl flew out of the restroom faster than a bullet.
"Well, fuck... you just had to sit in the stall right now..."
Disappointment was heard in the man's voice, after which he, judging by the footsteps, also left, and Kasumi Goto breathed a sigh of relief.
Waiting a couple more minutes for good measure, she climbed out of the stall and, still under the cover of her cloak, went to the door, opening it slightly and throwing out the same grenade. Its whole charm was that this grenade was harmless to people and they didn't even notice its activation, but the technology... and the size of this grenade was such that it could easily be mistaken for a small data carrier that someone had dropped.
Jumping out of the restroom, she picked up the grenade and jumped into the technical room.
"Phew..."
Sighing with relief, she looked around and continued her way through already relatively safe territory.
"Oh, come on... this isn't a restroom..."
"Alex, don't you dare! I've already embarrassed myself enough!"
"Oh, come on! No one ever comes in here! I don't even know why these rooms were built."
Kasumi Goto mentally agreed with the man and grimaced slightly, as the girl's voice sounded like she was generally in agreement, just playing hard to get for the sake of propriety. And she didn't understand that kind of behavior. Well, if you want to, you can give in, and if not, just kick him in the balls. Why act like that?
However, these thoughts didn't stop her from slipping past the couple, then moving on; she had to pass many more obstacles, and it was all relatively simple here, but on the top floor... That's where the biggest problem would be waiting for her...
** End. **
The door to the office opened and, judging by the image from the cameras, no one entered, but my cameras saw in the infrared and many other spectrums, so I could clearly see the girl walking carefully through the half-dark office.
"That's enough."
EDI's voice came from the speakers, making Kasumi Goto jump in place.
"Watching you was very interesting, however, given the level you demonstrated, I doubt the expediency of hiring you."
Kasumi Goto rushed to the door, but it slammed shut in front of her nose, and an energy barrier lit up; similar barriers lit up on all the windows, showing my guest that she had nowhere to run.
"So, are you ready to talk?"
"What do you want?"
Kasumi Goto's voice was tense; she didn't understand what was happening. No, she had heard the recent words, but she couldn't believe that this was all just a test.
"You know, Kasumi Goto, I'm not sure that I'll need a thief in my enterprise, however..."
Now I was speaking, although my chair was still turned with its back to the girl and she couldn't see me.
"...I cannot ignore the fact that such a possibility might still arise."
"Get to the point."
"The point?"
I turned in the chair, and the lights in the office came on, so Kasumi Goto could see me, and then those coming out of the adjacent room, the energy barrier at the entrance to which went out: Jane, Liara T'Soni, Tali'Zorah, Samara, Miranda Lawson, Oriana Lawson, Falere, and Rila.
"Alright, let's speak more frankly. I need a thief. The most professional thief of all those I can find. And all of this..."
Waving my hand in the air, I gave a command to EDI, and she activated multiple holograms on which one could see either Kasumi Goto herself or her thermal trail.
"...was just a test of your skills."
"And I'm supposed to believe that?"
"No, but I'll transfer the second half to you right now..."
With these words, activating my Omni-tool, I transfer the money to her, and in the next second she looks stunned at the notification that came to her. With the same signature.
"You..."
"You can call me 'thou'."
"Are you crazy? Spending that kind of money on just a test?!"
"And am I supposed to take the money to the grave with me?"
"Huh?"
There was so much bewilderment in the girl's gaze and voice that I could only shake my head.
"The big squid that attacked the Citadel, it's not the only one. There are a hell of a lot of them, and they want to destroy life right here..."
Tapping my finger on the tabletop, I smirked.
"...and by 'here' I don't mean Bali, but all the space known to us. So either we win and then I'll earn more money, or we die and I won't be taking it to the grave anyway. All that's left is to hire specialists who in theory can help me defeat these creatures."
"And what can I do?"
Hysterical notes were heard in Kasumi Goto's voice.
"I have no idea what you can or can't do. I'm looking for the most diverse specialists who in theory might be useful to me in this struggle."
"Fuck... why me?"
To this question, I could only shrug my shoulders.
"I felt like it. I could have easily hired a couple or three Asari, one Turian, even two Batarians; in short, specialists of the required level can be found among almost any race, except maybe the Volus and Hanar, and even then, I think someone would be found among them too."
"And? What will be needed from me?"
"Hacking and infiltration."
"And if I refuse?"
"Go right ahead..."
I wave my hand carelessly, and the barrier on the door disappears, and the door itself unlocks.
"You can leave right now, but... are you sure you'll be able to survive?"
When she turned around, I asked this question, and she literally tensed up.
"Oh, I'm not talking about myself or the corporation's security; by the way, how did you like the acting of those two lovebirds?"
Kasumi Goto turned around sharply and looked at me in shock.
"Well, we were bored watching, so we decided to diversify what was happening a bit. They didn't know they were playing this scene for you, they were just following orders."
"Wait, but the girl was sincere!"
"Well, they're a couple, and the girl would probably not be against sleeping with her man, but the situation itself stressed her out a bit."
"Fuck..."
"Exactly... and about my previous words. According to our calculations, the war with the Protheans lasted several centuries. You, of course, won't live that long, but... let's say you hide away on a remote little planet, how long can you live there alone or in a small company? How much food can you grow, considering you've never done anything like that?"
"I can take instructions."
"Oh, I don't doubt it, but then the first hail, the first frost at the wrong time, a predator or just a beast and that's it..."
I shake my head, showing that I sympathize deeply.
"...you have no garden, and then..."
"Good_
sho...
"She doesn't quite believe everything that's been said."
EDI instantly analyzed the girl's facial expressions, as well as her voice. Fortunately, a couple of cameras were positioned so that her face was visible.
"That's fine; the main thing is she agreed. We'll see how things go from there."
"However, I have a condition!"
***
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