They stopped on the third floor, and went through another rickety door, which swung on its hinges after them.  Four doors down on their left, and the man stopped, his key already in hand.  The lock took a little work, and then would let go of his key.  Finally, with a quiet grunt, the man wrestled it out, and opened the door wide for Trivan to enter.  There was a small smirk on the man’s face, and a tone of dramatic flare in the way he held the door open.  It was bordering on annoying, but also on humorous.

“I’m kind of short on the furniture thing.”  The man explained as he shut the door and locked it.

“No shit.”  Trivan muttered to himself, taking in the fact that other than an old fold up table and a couple of chairs. The only other thing close to furniture was the sleeping bag and pile of blankets along one of the walls.  “Does everyone in this building have the same…conditions?”

The man laughed, the first sign of wrinkles appearing in the corners of his eyes.  “Nope.  Just wanders like me.  Most people can actually afford a bed.  It’s not quite as nice as where you live, I’m afraid.”

“Pryor’s apartment was kind of like this.”  Trivan commented thoughtfully, thinking about how he would probably prefer to live like this than with his parents.  Truthfully, Pryor’s apartment had been a little nicer since he was able to rent student dorming, but the sparseness of the room reminded him of the way Pryor lived.  No clutter, just the things that were needed.  It was a little depressing, when one looked at it from a certain angle, but it also felt nice at other times.  Rooms always felt bigger when there was nothing in them.

“Take a seat.”  The man said with a little wave towards the spidery old table and chairs.

Trivan walked over slowly, his eyes still taking in the room.  The walls were plaster, and worn away in spots.  The floor had been made of wood, which was now gray with either age or dust.  They creaked under him, and with a kind of adolescent curiosity, he rocked back and forth slightly as he walked, feeling the wood bend under his weight.

The foreigner was bolting the door.  It was pointless since the hinges on the door were so old Trivan doubted they’d hold under a good shove.  That was if they broke before the frame came off.  At least there wasn’t anything worth stealing.

The foreigner turned back to him and smiled nervously.  “It gets cold here quick.”  He commented ruefully.  “Heat’s not to great in this building.  I have blankets if you want one.  They’re clean, I swear.”  He joked, holding his hand over his heart but grinning mischievously.

“I’m fine.”  Trivan murmured.  He could ignore the cold.

The man shrugged and moved to grab one for himself.  “It won’t be getting cold back home for at least another month or two.  I don’t know how you guys can stand this weather.  I hear it’s only going to get worse.”

“The rain will be moving in eventually.  We get cold storms from the north.”  Trivan replied neutrally, thinking about what he knew about Kaloncien.  It was west of Nystan, he knew that, and somewhat south, but he didn’t think it was far enough to make that big of a difference in the weather.

“It’s the mountain.”  The man answered, eyes trained on Trivan as if he could see what Trivan was thinking.  “The mountains block all that stuff out for us.  Nice natural barrier, but hell to get around when you need to.”

“I wasn’t aware that the Kalonciens were advancing.”  Trivan replied, sitting up now, and leaning over the table as the other man sat down.  “How far have you made it in?”  He asked.

The man laughed.  “Not that far.  Not at all.”  He chuckled to himself.

Trivan gapped for a moment, his enthusiasm destroyed almost as quickly as it came.  He pulled back immediately, feeling foolish and certain he showed it.  “I figured we’d never know if you had.”  He tried to cover without losing too much dignity.

“Oh, it makes sense.”  The man replied reassuringly.  “They wouldn’t tell you, even if we were sitting outside of this city.  Assuming they thought they could cover something like that up.  The sad fact is however, that we’re not ready yet for any kind of invasion.  Those mountains do present a rather large complication.  When we cross them, we’ll be committed with no ability to pull back.”

“So you want to be absolutely certain you can win.”  Trivan surmised.

“Exactly.”  The man replied, seeming glad that Trivan had gotten the point.  “So, at the moment, we aren’t doing much other than some small operations and intelligence gathering.”

“And that’s why you’re here.”

The man grinned.  “Yep.  We can get most of the news we want, like troop movements, out of Hinlar.  But the more sensitive stuff, ah, that we can only get here in the capital.”

Trivan nodded.  “So what do you want?”  He asked, hoping that he could deliver whatever it was.  This wasn’t exactly as fast as he wanted to go, but first steps had to be made before they could do anything else.  Knowing he was actually doing something, something that mattered, would make it okay if it was slow.

The man’s grin faded slightly as he stared at Trivan.  Trivan stared back, undaunted.  It had all been small talk until now.  Now he was directly committing himself, and this guy wanted to make sure he was up to the task.  He was, and he knew he was, and he wasn’t afraid that this stranger wouldn’t see it.  He had been able to see it in Dakar and Pryor before he had even talked to him, and he knew that they had seen the same thing in him.  That was how they had managed to move as quickly as they did.  They knew they were in the same boat.  It was just a miracle no one else was able to see it as clearly.  Every time Trivan had seen Ghent before, he had always been terrified that one day Ghent would look him in the eyes and see the lies.  He knew it was only a matter of time before Ghent noticed something.  He might not be the best at picking up on that kind of thing, but Ghent had always been a risk.

And I have to try to convince him to believe me in a few days.  How much will he be able to see then?

“My name’s Kadmus Lysander.”  The foreigner said suddenly, pulling Trivan back to the empty little room.  “I’m twenty-eight and have been in the Kalconien special service for three years now.”

Trivan stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he was talking about.  Then it hit him that this was an introduction and a sign of faith.  He smiled slightly and leaned forward, his hand outstretched.  “Trivan.”  He said simply.  “Seventeen, flunked out of the Nyes Upper Advanced Level, and in danger of flunking out of the education system all together.”  He said proudly, his smile growing when Kadmus shook his hand firmly.

“Classes can’t be that hard.”  Kadmus joked with a glint in his eyes.

“No, but I was starting to think that I might become an artist, you know.”  Trivan quipped back easily.

Kadmus arched one eyebrow and smirked.  “I wasn’t aware that infiltration was now considered an art.” 

“Sure it is.  Lock picking is very complicated.”

“What about getting high level security passes?  How complicated is that?”  Kadmus asked, his voice now much more serious, even though he had the same grin on as before.

“That depends.”  Trivan said slowly.  “Which building do you want to get into is the question.  And getting in is always easier than getting out.”

“51st federal.”  Kadmus replied immediately.

Trivan blinked at the enthusiasm.  There most be something that they really want in there.  “It’s the head science department building for the Upper Advanced classes.”

“I know.”

Trivan stared at the man for a moment, wondering if he was aware that Ghent took most of his night-classes there.  All of the top science classes were conducted there.  Lots of different kinds of scientific experiments were conducted there.  Trivan was certain that Kadmus was aware of that fact.  And the fact that of all of the academic buildings, it was probably the most heavily guarded.  Well, I wanted to do something big…

“It might be doable.”  Trivan replied carefully.  “It would be complicated.”  He explained when Kadmus didn’t say anything.  “You’re taking about a lot of different security devices to go through.  I mean, I might be able to get through some on my own –“

“Seeing as you used to have classes there.”  Kadmus interrupted.

“Yeah, because of that.  But I wouldn’t get too far just on that, and I have a feeling you want to go all the way in.”

“Sixth floor, on the east wing.”  Kadmus inserted.

“The Developmental Hall.”  Trivan corrected, remembering the one time he had been down that hall.  One of his professors had escorted him.  It had been for a project.  He had had to get special clearing, and had to always be escorted.  His parents had thought it was wonderful that he was getting to much attention.  Ghent had been envious that he couldn’t go too, and had had a million questions each time he went.  He had personally considered the project a failure, since he hadn’t gotten the results he had wanted, but his professors had kept all of his notes and data, and he had received top marks.

“Do you think you could still get in?”  Kadmus asked him after a moment of thought.

“It’s possible.”  Trivan answered slowly, trying to remember all of the different security features he’d have to get through just to get into the hall.  “I’d need help, of course.  I’d need security codes, and a couple of overrides most likely.”

“Computer work?”

“Dakar could do it, I think.  He’s gotten pretty good at getting into the main academic mainframe, and it should be the same one they’re using for all of the academic buildings.”

Kadmus leaned back, slouching in his chair, and snuggling deeper into his blanket.  “What kind of problems are we looking at?”  He asked.

Trivan sighed and leaned over the table, staring at it.  “Time, mostly.  I’d only have a small window to work in, you understand.  And I couldn’t take Dakar directly in with me.  It would have to be just me who went in.”

“I was afraid of that.”  Kadmus replied with a sigh.  “I’d feel more confident if there was more than one for you in there.”

Trivan shook his head.  “Too complicated.  It’ll be much easier to get just one in instead of two or three.  Anyways, less people to watch swing when things go bad.”  Trivan quipped with a humorless grin.

Kadmus furrowed his brow.  “You guys aren’t still hanging people are you?” 

“Only traitors.”

“Lovely.”

Trivan shrugged.  “Everyone else just gets a bullet to the head.  Not quite as public.”  Kadmus snorted, and Trivan smiled slightly.  “I’d need help getting out, too.” He continued, bringing them back to what they had been talking about.

“How difficult?”

Trivan sighed.  “See, that’s where it depends on what you’re after.  Is this data, or something physical?”

“A bit of both.”  Kadmus answered.  “It’s a CPU we need.  I know that sounds kind of funny, but it could be very important.  It’s developmental, you see, and if nothing else, we want it in our hands.”

“Which would mean destroying all data on the piece.”  Trivan concluded.

“Exactly.”  Kadmus grinned.  “That’s how it’s a little of both.”

Trivan didn’t smile back.  “How vital is it that you have the actual experimental model?”  He asked, guessing that that was what this CPU was.

“That’s the mission.”  Kadmus replied dead-level.

Trivan grimaced.  “Well, that’s where things get complicated.”  He paused just long enough to get a questioning look before plowing on ahead.  “You see, there’s the chance that with just information or data, that Dakar could show me how to get it out without causing an alarm to be triggered.  But anything physical is tagged, and the alarm will go off if I even leave it’s lab.”

Kadmus sat forward, his arms still holding the blanket around him, and leaning on his chest against the table.  “You can’t take the tag off?”  He asked anxiously.

“Not without destroying it, no.”

Kadmus slumped.  “What about deactivating the tag, or something like that?”  He tried, with only a little hope.

Trivan shook his head.  “Wouldn’t work.  Takes special equipment, and I’m sure they have the system watched.  They’d notice if a tag stopped working.  You see, the tags don’t just send a signal when they leave their designated room; they’re always sending position signals no matter what.  If they lose the signal, the alarm gets sound.”

“Wonderful.”  Kadmus sighed and rubbed at his forehead.  “Any suggestions?”

“Now, I didn’t say this was impossible to do.”  Trivan corrected, holding one hand.  “It’ll just be very complicated.”

Kadmus stared at him.  “What’s the risk factor?  We would like to continue to have an insider now that we managed to get one.”  He explained with a brief smirk.

“I’ll have to run with it.”  Trivan replied solemnly.  “What we’ll have to do, is make a bigger alarm than what I’m doing, something even more distracting.”

“Like what?”  Kadmus asked hesitantly.

Trivan smiled grimly.  “I was thinking something along the lines of an explosion.”

Kadmus stared at him in shock.  “You’re going to detonate something in one of these buildings?  Adrien was right about you.  You are a little gun happy.”

“Not gun happy, just desperate to actually do something.  I’ve been in this city too long.”

Kadmus leaned back in his chair and stared at Trivan some more.  It occurred to Trivan that he did that a lot, but this was important.  It needed to be done by somebody that was going to see it though, and not mess it up.

“Tell me what you’ll need from me,” Kadmus finally said slowly.  “And I’ll do as much as I can to help.”