Thursday, April 28, 2005

"Zach, you know you aren't going to start your 102 work." "Dobbs, I don't know what you're talking about." "You've been here for half an hour, talking about how you're going to get so much done tonight, but to tell you the truth, you have yet to leave the CSC." After another few minutes, Zach left the CSC, determined to make some notes for the open-note exam on Wednesday. Zach had been putting it off for some time now, what with the world-saving and all. Maybe he'd start it tonight, maybe he wouldn't. He really wasn't sure yet. Starcraft was looking pretty good, tonight...

Monday, April 25, 2005

Zach was falling toward the rocks below. He removed the guard's uniform he was wearing and fashioned a whip from the belt. He put the suit against his face and began blindly whipping to the right of the falls. As luck would have it, he caught a lone branch with the belt. Holding on tightly, he was slammed into the cliff face. With the suit protecting him, he quickly got a good grip on the branch. He managed to get a hand free and got out his comm device. He called for pick-up. "We'll be there in a second, Zach. Just hold on tight." "Don't worry; I'm not going anywhere." Minutes later, the copter arrived. The falls made it difficult to stay in one place, but they eventually got a rope out to Zach. "Fell off Niagara Falls and still managed to get the chip. Zach, you are amazing." "It was nothing, Renaldo. All in a days work, I guess."

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Teaser

Zach swam with all his might, trying to avoid going off the falls, but the current was too strong. Zach was pulled off the cliff, towards the rocks below...

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Zach ran through the forest, leaping over fallen trees and rocks. "With all these obstacles, I doubt they'll be able to drive after me..." Zach continued running for several minutes, wondering if they were even after him. Then, behind him, Zach heard footsteps. A lot of footsteps. "Oh no... Mounties..." Zach began running even faster. He sped through the forest, occasionally looking back. Then he saw them. The guards were after him on horses. Zach tried changing directions, but they were able to keep up easily. Zach heard water ahead. "Maybe I can out-swim 'em," he thought. Finally, Zach saw a river ahead. He decided he could ride the current to stay faster than them. As soon as he saw the water, he leaped as far as he could and began swimming with the current. He looked back and saw that the guards weren't even following him anymore. They were just standing on the river bank, staring at him blankly. Zach thought nothing of it and got back to swimming. He then realized his mistake. Looking ahead, he realized he swimming straight towards rapids! "Wait a second, those aren't rapids, it's a waterfall!"

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Zach started walking through the halls of the base. Being able to freely roam the base changed his plans a bit, but he decided he could change it up a bit. He walked in the direction where he was fairly sure the chip was being held. With the unconscious guard's key card, Zach had access to about any room. It was easy to find his way to the chip, but getting into the room would be difficult. There were two guards at the door. "Hi, there. I'm just gonna go in here and check on the chip, eh?" Zach said, doing his best Canadian accent. "Oh, 'fraid not, there. This room's off limits to everybody. Why would you want to go in here, eh?" said one of the guards. Zach thought for a moment. "I'm here for maintenance. We had a vent fall down earlier today. I'm checking all the others. It's been a while since they've been checked, eh?" "Oh, right then. Go right in. Wouldn't want to be smashed, eh?" Zach walked in. He saw the chip on a table, unguarded. No cameras or lasers. It seemed too easy, and it was. Zach picked up the chip and put it in his pocket. "Right, I'm gonna go out for some fresh air," Zach said to the guards. As soon as he rounded the corner, he ran into the nearest door. He climbed into the vents and got back to the surface. "Piece of cake," he thought. He signaled for the copter and made sure he had everything. As he waited for the copter, he heard noises beneath him. It was the alarm. "Of course. Always with the alarms." Zach decided to get moving if he were to outrun the guards.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Zach leaped from the copter, wind against his face. He stared down, looking for the base he was supposed to be infiltrating. Spotting a possible ait vent, Zach deployed his parachute. He knew it would be a difficult landing due to the trees. His chute could easily catch a treetop, so he decided to try something new. As soon as he was at the trees elevation, he cut off his parachute while swinging in the direction of a tree. Catching a tree branch, he watched his chute get hung on a limb. Happy with his decision, Zach climbed down the tree to the air vent. He got out a small device to band the bars open. Before entering the vent, he used his comm device to set the area as a pick-up zone. With one foot in, he stepped back out for a moment and secured his glass cutter. He then slowly climbed down into the base. He eventually reached the ventilation of the base. Crawling through it, he saw two guards below him. "This one's going to be tricky," he thought. As he was thinking of a plan of attack, he began to hear the vents creaking. "Uh oh..." He felt the metal begin to bend beneath him. He slowly began to crawl backwards in the vent. "What was that, eh?" The guards heard the noises, too. Zach continued backing out, until the entire vent system fell beneath him. Zach fell on top of the guards. Thinking quickly, Zach took a guards uniform and put the guards in a nearby closet. He got into the clothes as quickly as he could. As soon as the last button was fastened, he heard guards coming down the hall. "What happened here, eh?" one guard asked. "Well," Zach said, "the vent here had a loose screw in it, so I decided I'd tighten it. The whole thing nearly fell on me when I touched it. Good thing no one was hurt, huh?" The guards stared at him blankly. "I mean 'eh'." "Oh, OK," said the guards. "We'll get someone from maintainance to clean up this mess. You just get back to work, eh?" "Of course," said Zach as he walked down the hall.

Monday, April 18, 2005

While on the helicopter, Zach got out his Comm device for his mission briefing. He checked out the facility plans and began thinking through a good plan of attack. As he passed over the great lakes, Zach began checking his gadgets. "So," said the pilot, "off saving the world again, I presume?" "Yeah..." Zach replied. "Not a whole lot else going on..." Zach went back to reloading his grappling hook. "This is probably the fifth time this month I've had to take one of you guys somewhere. Always flying to Canada or Itlay." "Oh really? Who'd you take to Italy?" Zach asked. "Last week I took the A-Team Angels up there. Disarming a warhead or something. I don't care to get involved in anything besides the trip there." Zach began suiting up to jump. "Yeah, we're about to be passing the drop point. I'd say about five minutes or so." With his gadgets in place, Zach suited up and prepared to jump.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

With Eric heading off to lunch, Zach went back up to the architecture building roof. He got out his communicator to contact HQ to find out why the crisis alarm went off. Upon opening the video screen, he was greeted by a man from headquarters. "Ah, Zach. Good to see you made it through the lecture in one piece." "Oh, hey Marke," said Zach. "So what's the emergency?" "It seems the chip you retreived from Arizona was intercepted on its way here. We're going to need your help getting it back. Our sources indicate the chip is moving north. We can have a jet pick you up as soon as you're ready." "Well, I'm ready right now. How long should it take for the jet?" Zach asked. As he was still speaking, he heard engines above. Looking up, he saw a ladder being lowered from a sky blue jet. "Off you go, then. Best of luck, Zach."

Thursday, April 14, 2005

"Good work, Zach," said one of the men in the helicopters. "We couldn't have done it without you." "Not a problem, Renaldo. Piece of cake," Zach said. "But what exactly does the chip do?" "We believe that the chip was to be exchanged from this small desert base to the Leopard Organization for a large sum of money," replied Renaldo. "That's great and all, but you didn't tell me exactly what it does..." "We aren't exactly sure, but we believe that this chip is the key to some sort of massive weapon." "Aren't they all," said Zach with a sigh. "So am I needed for anymore infiltrations anytime soon, or can I take the afternoon off?" "Well, that's your last bit of spy work for now, but you do have an architecture lecture coming up soon," he answered. "Well get this copter into top gear. I'll be getting a quick nap in the back. Holler at me if we're getting shot down or something." A few hours later, Zach was awakened from his sleep. "Alright, Zach," said another of the helicopter passengers. "We've got two minutes until we're over campus. Suit up." Zach prepared himself for the dive down to the architecture building. Putting all his gadgets away, he got his parachute on and got his books together. "Prepare to jump!" said a man in the copter. Zach did a few strcthes and headed for the door. "Three, two, one! Happy landings!" Zach leaped into the air, far above Knoxville. He passed through clouds along the way down, and nearly killed a bird. He activated his parachute and began his slow descent. The sky blue color kept him from being noticed as he aimed for the top of Humanities. He folded up his parachute and got ready to head down to the architecture building. "Oh, five minutes until class; better take the short cut..." Zach jumped off the McClung tower, riding the zip line to the roof of the architecture building. He jumped of the roof into the third floor shrubs. From there, he jumped down to the reading court trees and climbed on to the sidewalk. He headed into the lecture hall and sat down by Eric. "Almost late, there Zach," said Eric. "Yeah, well, you know," he replied. As Zach was preparing his notebook, he felt his crisis-alarm going off. "Um, I won't be able to meet you and Jason for lunch today. I've got some killer statics homework to take care of," he said. "Always with the statics, Zach. Sometimes I wonder..."

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

The chip seemed unguarded, but Zach new better. Upon activating his infrared goggles, he saw an immense web of laser trips. Without hesitation, he fired his grappling hook across the room. He attached the other end to the wall behind him and tested its strength. Upon assuring its durability, he locked his legs above it and slowly made his way to a glass case resting on a large pedestal. He reached for his glass cutters, but found them missing. "I must have lost them while shimmying through the vents," he thought. "Guess that means I get to do this my way." Zach smashed his fist through the glass, his gloves protecting his hands. Immediately, the alarm beagn sounding. He put the chip in his pouch. He stood on the pedestal and retracted the far end of his grappling hook and fired it much higher. Holding the rope firmly, he slid down the incline to the door. Upon opening the door, he was confronted with five guards running toward him. He slammed the door shut. Using the doorknob as a foothold, he wedged a spike in the wall about 10 feet up. Holding on tightly, he pulled himself up above the door. As soon as he made it up, the guards entered the room. They looked around, searching for the intruder, their fingers on the triggers. As soon as they were all just inside the door, Zach leaped from his perch, landing on the guards. Within a few swift blows, the guards were out cold. Zach ran down the hall, trying to construct the building layout from what he had seen from the vents. Hearing swift footsteps, he made a leap of faith by going in the nearest door. He entered a storage room, to his luck. He saw a vent at the top of one wall and began scaling the shelves. He broke off the cover and climbed in. As he climbed in, he realized his mistake. He heard a loud clang behind him caused by the vent cover hitting the floor. He crawled as fast as he could, trying to find a vent he had been through. He soon heard the storage room door opening. "In here," he heard a guard say. Zach hurried down the vents, looking for anything familiar. The noises behind him led him to believe the guards had climbed in after him. He heard them gaining. "How can I tell one vent from another?" he thought. With another stroke of luck, Zach stumbled upon his glass cutters. "Aha!" he thought. Zach began to pick up the pace, having a good idea of where he was going. As he had hoped, there was the air vent leading to the surface. Zach scaled the vent up toward his point of entry. He felt the air begin to dry as he neared the surface. He went through the broken vent cover and ran across the desert sand. He grabbed his comm device. After he pressed the button, he heard distant cars behind him. He then saw a pair of vehicles quickly closing in on him. They began firing at him. Not a minute too soon, a helicopter appeared over the horizon. Zach made sure his tools were securely attached. He grabbed the passing rope ladder and quickly ascended. His adventure wasn't over yet, though. The guards continued firing. One side of the ladder was shot through. Zach grabbed the next rung just as the other half was shot down. He watched the bottom of the ladder slowly fall back down to the desert plains as he made his way into the copter. "Got it," Zach said. "Another mission finished? You're amazing!" said a man in the helicpoter. "Who do you think you're talking to? Of couse I am."