'What was that feeling earlier?' Altair asked himself while remembering the sensation when he thought James and the others killed the refugees.
After pondering for a while, he concluded. 'Maybe it's only triggered by anger… but I wonder what are the exact requirements.'
Then he asked. "Now that things are settled, can I leave or will you provide my accommodations?"
"You are not a prisoner, you were always free to leave." David replied.
'Right… and father Christmas is real…' He paused. '… wait, could he be?'
Before he could further explore this thought he heard David continue.
"Besides, are you not waiting for that guy to bring back your files?"
*sluoourdd~*
With a slide of the door, James walked into the room and headed towards Altair. "Your files are here."
"That was fast. Thanks." Altair said as he received the tablet James was extending and soon after started swiping through the pages.
*fwip…*
*fwip…*
*fwip-fwip-fwip*
The first few pages of the information were information that was rather easy to obtain. Picture, name, age, educational parkour and more. These could all be obtained from a person's identification documents or their CV, as long as they had ever registered in any database. For a world class organization, this was only basic stuff so he quickly swiped over these.
Next, he started seeing information that implied he was under surveillance much before obtaining his ability. The training route of the light exercises he did, the shops he went to for purchases, at what time he went to and left work.
"I thought your surveillance started a few weeks ago." He said lifting his head from the tablet.
"Yeah, all of that is just what we received, not what we gathered ourselves." James, now slouched back in his sofa replied.
Altair returned his attention to the tablet.
*fwip…*
Now he saw locations, all places he had been to in the past month, nothing about Karukera or Orua but that didn't mean much. Almost all the other places were mentioned.
Could this person have some kind of foresight ability? If so why did their ability point to him?
*fwip…*
*fwip…*
'Instructions about getting in contact within two weeks of sharp physical improvements? Did their foresight show them something dangerous? But is it dangerous for me or for them?'
As Altair kept pondering, he heard a slightly synthetic voice that said in a smooth but neutral tone.
!SS-190101 has been spotted. Location…!
He looked up and around him and yet even without speakers the voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
"That's SAMAMTHA." James said. "She does most of the computing and networking.
One of the video rectangles on the wall enlarged and took a large portion of the wall.
It showed Denton Black leaving a taxi and walking towards a car dealership.
"He doesn't seem to know you're tracking him." Altair commented seeing how carefree the man was.
David replied. "That is to be expected. As far as he's concerned, he has no reason to be tracked"
Altair then asked. "What do we do now?"
"SAMANTHA, keep two eyes on him, 20 meters." Ronald said.
!Understood.!
As if by zooming, the sizes of things in the video increased, with the focus being on Denton Black. At the same time, a video from another angle started showing and the screen split in two shares.
Ronald then said. "Assign four more eyes to watch the sides of the dealership. I want to see if he takes another exit."
!Right away.!
The two videos reduced in ratio, taking about two thirds of the wall and four more videos showing the sides of the dealership displayed right under.
"Is Samantha the one controlling the drones?"
"SAMANTHA is a very sophisticated assistant with a high-end program for optimal support of the teams on the field. By the way, SAMANTHA is another acronym." James responded.
"Do you guys use acronyms for everything? Is eye also an acronym?" Altair asked.
"Eye is simply eye, they went for simplicity on that one, but many other things like group names and such are usually acronyms."
"What is SAMANTHA short for?" Altair asked.
"SAMANTHA…" David said looking up.
!Pleased to make your acquaintance Mr. Rohan. SAMANTHA stands for Secure Assimilative Matrix for Analysis, Navigation, Tactical Handling, and Automation!
"So, you guys can just talk and she knows when it answers and what the answer is…"
"Yeah, but you must first be registered in the systems for her to even respond to you, and even then, she knows what level of information each member or non-member has." James.
"That's rather convenient. Has she ever been hacked?"
"I've not heard of any such incident during my time with the organization." James.
"I see… So, how long do we observe Denton Black?"
David started. "SAMANTHA will do the observing." Then he turned to Ronald.
Ronald extended a phone to Altair.
"You will receive a call from SAMANTHA if you have to intervene. If that happens you should come here directly."
Altair went to receive the phone and asked. "So, I can really leave?"
Ronald ignored the question and instead said. "Remember Mr. Rohan. You cannot resume your activities."
Altair paused his fingers moving about on the phone and replied. "I'll keep that in mind."
Ronald continued. "Any questions you have, SAMANTHA will answer on a need to know basis. You have a Black permission rank."
Altair examined the phone Ronald gave him for some time and then vanished from the place.
.
Back at home, Altair reappeared in his living room. He leaned on a wall and slumped to the ground with his back still on the wall as he sat down.
When he raised his head, he saw the chandelier missing, the wall to one side broken, the TV crashed, the mat burnt. He wanted to gather his thoughts but even knowing that the files prohibited the monitoring of his house's interior, he now felt insecure here.
He placed the phone Ronald gave him on the floor and silently stared at it.
"What did I get myself into?" He asked aloud but no response came. Whether because SAMANTHA knew he was not asking her or she could not give him a reply to his question, he did not know.
He let out a sigh of exhaustion and drifted to sleep in the position he was.