The Flames Of The Phoenix

Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Riley returned to his quarters at the end of his duty shift. He had begun to feel restless at Astral-One. The initial curiosity that had drawn him to the place had faded.

It had been quite a while since Riley had taken a job even remotely close to mercenary work. Boredom and curiosity were about the only things that drove him anymore. That was what had prompted him to take this job.

Time to see about moving on, he thought. His new bosses would not be very happy about that, though. That was one of the rules; once you hired on, you were in for the duration. Security. Paranoia. Whatever.

None of the other mercenaries hired by Astral-One were experienced professionals. The professionals would not touch this job. After the pre-hiring briefing, they all avoided the “crazies” at Astral-One. Riley only stuck around to see what would happen when they actually tried to take him to “another world.”

That part had not been so crazy after all. He spent most of his off-duty time on the computers. He had managed to hack into restricted files and was learning everything he could about the theories and mechanics that made this place possible. At this point, Riley could work the equipment as competently as any of the technicians and could probably assemble one of the machines that created the portals if he had the parts, but he only grasped the basics of the actual theory.

Due to his previous experience, what little he had seen fit to share with them, they had made him a captain with promises of a promotion once he had been on board with the “team” for a while. The only benefits to this so far had been personal quarters with a private shower. The room was nothing fancy, but definitely better than bunking in the barracks with the rank and file.

Riley took off his uniform and turned on the tap for the shower. He would have liked to be able to follow up the shower with a hot bath. He had grown fond of the custom while in Japan.

I’ll find a way out of here, he thought. Watch and wait. I’ll have to be ready when an opportunity shows itself.

He stepped into the shower as the steam started to rise.