We had some discussion about following the rules today. Neither of us has been great about keeping to the sentence limit that Mary Robinette Kowal recommends in her video. But we decided to wait until another day to pay attention to that aspect. It’s funny how it seems like you need more time to write less.
The prompt this week was
- Character: Programmer
- Object: Coat
- Genre/Tone: Action
I feel like say this almost every week, but this is a genre that I’m not super familar with. I should look into composing a reading list that will help me fill in the gaps in my knowlege. If you have any favorite books in the action genre, let me know in the comments!
And, as always, let us know if you felt inspired to try out the prompt this week (or from any other week!). Happy reading, and happy writing!
It was 2 am. Nelin’s shoulders felt squished in the non-descript lab coat they’d used to sneak into Atlas Inc.’s buildings. The ID badge clipped to the front was flipped around to hid that it wasn’t her face printed on it. The server room felt too cold, but it was needed to counteract the heat generated by the rows and rows of machines.
Her sister, Liss’ voice whispered and crackled in the ear piece:
“Are you there?”
“Nearly!” She hissed back.
She approached the main terminal station, and stuck the memory stick into the port. She logged in, using the ‘borrowed’ name and password, and started downloading her program.
“Payload delivered.” She whispered.
“Roger, distraction commenced.” Liss whispered back.
The hum of the air conditioner died, the room was going to heat up quickly. She had less than 2 minutes to leave before the alarms went off.
“Who is that down there?” someone shouted. Ivette, the security guard – Nelin had observed her for the week headed up to this job, Ivette was too good for this job. She knew everyone and noticed everything.
“It’s just me,”- glancing down to remind herself of her borrowed identity, realized too late to lower her voice, she gotten a man’s ID, these stupid, half-planned shenanigans – “Jackson.” She kept walking, toward the other exit. “Just finishing up some diagnostics.”
“You don’t sound like Jacky.”
“No one calls me that.” She guessed. Laughter answered.
“Alright, Jackson. Have a good night. I’m going to finish my rounds.”
Nelin waited for one more precious second and then ran out the door, and into Ivette.
“I know EVERYONE who works in this building, by looks and by voice. Who are you, and why are you here?” She had Nelin’s elbow crushed tightly in a powerful grip. There was no getting away. She blurted out the truth.
“Fine. I’m here to get revenge on Atlas. They stole my sister’s artwork to use all over their systems, and they never paid her a dime. They refuse to.”
Ivette frowned. “Well, what are you doing?”
“I’m making sure they get the message to never do this again.”
The alarms went off and Ivette loosened her hold ever so slightly. Nelin twisted out of the lab coat and ran to the nearest exit, Liss speeding toward her in the get-away van from the other side of the vast parking lot.
The next morning, as the employees of Atlas began to log in they all got one message, and one message alone. An animated gif of their CEO and the executive team, standing in a cartoonish rain, with the words, “Exposure’s a bitch” blinking in neon yellow above their heads like lightning.