The holographic projectors were coming in rather useful for such a limited piece of technology. Like so many advances, the original projectors had been designed for warfare, where they displayed false images to trick enemy soldiers and provide camouflage. They were quickly made obsolete once their weakness to EMP weapons and inability to fool electronic scanners became common knowledge, but the technology filtered down to the general populace in the form of advanced computing monitors and HUDs. John found a great deal of wry amusement at using basic picture projectors to emulate the original, bulky projectors, but not as much as he found from fooling Godhand with such an archaic technique.

“Two more coming round the corner any second now,” whispered Andromeda.

John secured the projector to the underside of the stairs and activated it with his laptop. To the hiding trio, it displayed an awkward floating image of the dark space underneath the stairs, but anyone who saw the image from the other side would be fooling into thinking that was what was really there. The only way to break the illusion would be for something to pass through the immaterial image, or for someone to give it a closer look – then they might notice the slight flickering of colour, or how the image looked wrong at certain angles, or the minute distortions caused by the atmosphere. In the case of the two robed cultists who passed down the corridor and ascended the stairs, however, no suspicions were raised. When the corridor was clear, John deactivated the projector and the trio made a break for their next hiding place.

They found themselves in a storage room, its tiny space filled with old cabinets and broken chairs, while the lack of windows gave the air a stuffy feeling as if the room hadn’t see the light of day for decades. John was reminded of the countless cupboards and closets at home, which were also stocked full of archaic goods.

“What’s up, Theseus?” asked Andromeda once the door was locked behind them. John hadn’t noticed his friend’s agitated look, but then he was always lacklustre when it came to social interaction.

“We’ve not heard from Amanda since before we left,” he said, “I sent her a message earlier asking if she was okay, but I’ve not heard a thing,”

Andromeda placed a soothing hand on his arm. “Don’t worry; it’ll be over soon,”

Theseus shrugged her off and ambled over to a set of shelves covered in cobwebs. “We’re stuck in a ruddy closet!” he said, his voice strained as he tried to shout without making any noise, “How the hell’re we supposed to do anything? All we’ve done is sneak around the corridors! We don’t even know where the girls are. We don’t even have any clues!”

“Actually,” began John, “I might have found something,”

When people had emotional problems, John always turned his attention to technology. There was something soothing about circuits and wires, about nanochips and exabytes. He knew how they worked, and he knew how to fix them – quite the contrary to people, who weren’t fixed with a solder here or an extra line of coding there. While Theseus was dealing with his internal problems, John had been scanning the nearby surroundings with every sensor available to him, and the findings were most interesting indeed! Theseus and Andromeda gathered round to await his shocking revelation.

“There’s an electronic signal close by, one of several in the area,” he said, pointing at the blueprints on the laptop’s screen, “It’s not a signal I’d have expected to find around here. It’s, well…” He took off his glasses for ultimate dramatic effect. “It’s a hologram. And no, before you say it, not one of ours.”

Chapter 17
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