★Memorable Author: [El_Roy_1999] And Tomorrow...The World! •22pp•

[El_Roy_1999]

A few days later, the Captain summoned the entire unit to the briefing room on the base. All in all, there were two dozen men and Gladys. The troops had been recruited from various units, some of them even from allied countries. Apparently, the Colonel had pulled some strings to get the other allies involved. For the Captain, this showed how serious the top brass took this "Master" character.
The show he had given on Cuba had been proof of his skills. He had quickly destroyed the American ships and had secured the population's support with quick reforms that actually improved their lot, while at the same time avoiding to cause too much of a stir in the traditional structures. Also, his troops had eliminated the Kosher Nostra's enforcers and forced them to regroup.
All in all, these people were grimly competent and it was necessary to stop them. The fact that the Bureau had lost most of its archive and thus was unable to pinpoint how vast the organization was made the whole situation even worse.
The Captain walked to the lectern and put down his notes. He looked around and looked into familiar faces. This was a good team. Elite and efficient. They would bring this enemy down.
"Good morning. Now that the paper soldiers have finally done their job, we're ready to get ours done. The mission is simple. Step one: Find out what this 'Master' wants. Step two: Find his weak spot. Step three: Stop him."
There were a few nods. He continued:
"The first order is to infiltrate his structures and collect information. You will be split into teams of six and parachuted into the areas. There, you will find out how many troops he has, what their training is and what equipment they have. The government doesn't want to get involved since they don't want to risk a civil war. They might move in once everything is clear, but don't expect much backup. You're pretty much on your own, so act on your own accord. You have two weeks. Don't get caught, we will deny any connection to you. Any questions?"
The crowd was silent.
"Excellent. Good hunting, everybody."

[El_Roy_1999]

"So you're the woman everybody is talking about?"
The young man with curly hair smiled. He was quite nice to look at, but had a large scar that started on his chin and went down to his chest. Gladys nodded:
"That's me. Gladys van Rothe. Nice to meet you. And you are?"
"Sergeant Grant Washington. It's funny to see how the Captain desegregated the unit all at once, don't you think?"
He pulled out a cigarette and offered her one. She refused.
"Thank you, but I'm not supposed to."
"No problem. It's just a habit you pick up against the stink. Also, I hope you don't mind serving with a negro like me."
"If you don't mind serving with a woman like me."
"Miss van Rothe, if all the women were like you, we would have to be desegregated the other way round."
One of the other soldiers walked up to them and said:
"Washington, what the hell are you doing? You can't just start sweet-talking this woman."
"I ain't sweet-talking no one, O'Hara."
The huge Irishman looked down on them and said to Gladys:
"Be careful with this one, Miss. He's an intellectual. He was a student before he joined the outfit. He'll talk your head off and then your clothes."
Washington gave the big man a scowl as Gladys blushed. The huge redhead laughed and said:
"Don't worry, he'll behave himself, won't he?"
Before he could reply, the other three members of their team arrived. The first one was a blond athlete with an eye-patch, the second was a slightly thickset balding man and the last one was a rather wiry white-blond man with watery eyes.
The thickset man said:
"Okay, everyone, I got our assignment." He wanted to start when he realized he hadn't introduced himself. "By the way, I'm Lieutenant Oswald, this is Corporal Yorkow", he pointed at the pale man, "and Corporal Hamilton." The introductions now complete, he opened the file.

[El_Roy_1999]

"We are to parachute at the headquarters of the enemy organization, acquire local clothes and infiltrate it. Our goal is to assess their economic and military power. You will all receive a fake identity which you can use to enter the ranks and a small communications system which will allow us to stay in contact. You will memorize all the facts and only note the absolutely necessary information. After ten days, you leave. Our meeting point is here."
He handed them a map each.
"Those who aren't there then are assumed to be dead. You will also get a cyanide capsule to be used in the event of your capture. It is your responsibility to do the right thing. Everything clear?"
There were shouts of affirmation. Gladys suddenly felt afraid. All the training she had gone through, all the preparation she had done had never led her to think of being captured and tortured, maybe even forced to take her life. She had to struggle to control the sudden panic. What had she gotten herself into?
The other members of the troop seemed to be confident about this. On the other hand, she had realized that they were all veterans and had probably killed quite a few people by now and survived the horrors of war. Keeping up with them would be hard.
She swallowed and forced herself to keep a calm face. This was the life she had chosen, so she had to keep up with it.

[El_Roy_1999]

Hours later, the ground was fast approaching. Gladys was hanging in her harness, her submachine gun strapped to her uniform. She wore the dark gray fatigues they had given her and the soft leather boots she had brought herself. Her butler had recommended her to use them.
She counted to three and pulled the ripcord. The parachute unfurled, stopping her descent abruptly. She could feel the pain hit her body as it filled with air. She slowly floated to the ground now. The area they had aimed for was completely dark. There was no sign of human life, no house, nothing. She looked out for her squad-mates and thought she had spotted one of them in the moonless night.
She suddenly realized that the ground was now quite close and prepared for the impact. She landed, ran off to avoid getting trapped in the parachute and went to the ground. There was no reaction. She looked around.
Gladys had touched down in the middle of a field and was clearly undiscovered. She grabbed the parachute and folded it, soon having a huge bundle in front of her.
As she concentrated, she heard the Russian next to her:
"You alright?"
She nodded before realizing there was no point and whispered:
"I'm okay. You?"
"Perfect. Excellent landing. You did well for the first time."
"I jumped twice during training."
"Training is good, operation is better. Let's collect the others."
He led the way, sneaking through the field. After a few minutes, they had found everybody. The Lieutenant checked on the map using a small lamp, then said:
"We're in position. We split up. The main compound is north of here, so you'll advance in pairs. O'Hara and van Rothe, you go to the factory complex and infiltrate it. Take photographs and find out any data about their production facilities. Yorkow, Hamilton, you take a look at the barracks. Washington, you're coming with me and we'll take a look at the HQ. Tune in at noon."
There was general affirmation and they went on their way after hiding the parachutes.

[solitariodude]

Thanks for keeping up with this one and really fleshing it out. I enjoy your attention to detail and and the way you keep it progressing

[El_Roy_1999]

Thank you. It's a bit of an experiment, but I have a plan for the entire plot and I hope I'll be able to follow this through.

[El_Roy_1999]

O'Hara loaded up his backpack and asked:
"Do you want me to carry some of your equipment?"
She gave him an irritated look:
"No. Why should you?"
He wanted to say something, then just shook his head and said:
"I guess you're right. Old habits die hard."
"I appreciate you being a gentleman, but that's really not necessary now."
"Got it. Anyway, we should move quickly. The sun will be up soon and I don't want to be caught in the open."
She agreed and they marched on as quickly as they could. Geoffrey had forced her to train long marches fully loaded, but she was still astonished by the difficulty. After all, they had to be quick and discreet.
The pair left the field, then walked along a dusty road, careful to stay out of sight. At one point, a car approached noisily and Gladys instantly dove into the ditch next to the road. O'Hara was impressed by her quickness. He had half expected her to fall into a shock, but she stayed down, then came back out.
At dawn, they reached the main factory compound. O'Hara found a small cabin that was clearly abandoned and hid their equipment there. He said:
"We'll leave this here. We've got to get some local clothes soon. I guess there'll be some kind of uniform, there usually is."
Gladys nodded and took out the dress and shirt the Captain had ordered her to take along.
"Let's look around. We'll meet here in half an hour, best with fitting clothes."
She then stripped out of her uniform, causing O'Hara to turn around with a blush. He asked:
"Couldn't you at least have said something?"
"I'm sorry. I just thought ..."
Minutes later, they were both astonished by each other's look. In her simple dress, Gladys actually looked like a normal young woman. The wide shirt hit her arms and her demurely arranged hair made her look like a country girl. O'Hara had his difficulties camouflaging the fact that he was a huge Irish shepherd at heart. Anybody who saw him would instantly think of soft green pastures braying sheep and baying dogs. She had to hide her smile.
He asked:
"What is it?"
"It's just that you, well, look veeery Irish."
"Well, I am. What about it?"
She grinned and shook her head:
"It's fine. We should get going."
"We should."
"That's exactly what I was talking about."

[El_Roy_1999]

The pair advanced carefully through the morning mists. They hid amongst the groups of workers that went to the factory complex. She was surprised that they were clearly happy and eager to work, even though it was still very early. There was a lot of chatting and one of them asked:
"Are you new around here?"
Gladys hesitated, but O'Hara just said:
"Nah. We just transfered. Other shift."
The man took that as an answer and replied:
"Well, morning shift is hard, but there's worse. I heard we're getting new machines this week. I wonder what they'll do."
The Irishman nodded and said:
"So do I."
They reached the gates talking about the weather and the man bade them good bye, disappearing into the depths of the building.
Gladys turned to O'Hara and whispered:
"That was extremely risky. How did you know he wouldn't recognize that we're not from here?"
"I didn't. But my dad was a worker just like that and he used to tell me that the other shift was always a good place to be from."
She nodded slowly. Still, she was skeptical.
Eventually, they found a cloak room for the workers and switched their civilian clothes for boiler suits. Gladys hid her hair under a cap and stowed the camera in one of the large pockets, then they entered one of the large buildings. 

[El_Roy_1999]

Gladys was instantly amazed. Somehow, she had expected the factory to be a dark and crowded place, full of steam and noise. She had to admit that her perception of factories came from books about social causes she had read, which mostly told the situation at the turn of the century, but she never would have thought of this.
The factory floor was open and clear, electric light giving everything a clean and bright look. The machines in there were fully automatic and quietly buzzed along, assembling whatever this factory was producing. She was surprised by how little people were actually in there. She had expected hordes of workers toiling, but no. There were a few of them, but they were clearly only checking whether the machines were working correctly. O'Hara was obviously just as confused as she was. He whispered:
"What is this place? I thought this would be some kind of evil lair from a pulp novel, but it looks more like something out of a science-fiction story."
"I know. What is this place even making?"
As they stood around, one of the workers called out on them from a cupola above the factory floor.
"Hey! You there, are you looking for someone?"
O'Hara turned to her and replied:
"We're new around here and we've been assigned around here. Care to show us around?"
"New? I haven't requested anyone. Well, come up anyway."
The pair climbed up the stairs to reach the cupola. Gladys was surprised by the fact that the woman was the floor's boss and seemed to be very comfortable with it. O'Hara seemed to be slightly confused. He couldn't help staring at both women that were clearly independent and trying to act like men. She could see he wasn't comfortable with the idea.
The other woman held the door open for them and said:
"I'm Margret. I'm in charge of automaton production."
Her two guests nodded vaguely, doing their best not to reveal that they had no idea what she was talking about.

[solitariodude]

"...something out of a science-fiction story..."

[El_Roy_1999]

Once again, there's a slight hiatus.
I hope you don't mind, I'll try to write some more soon.
Real life is quite busy right now.

[solitariodude]

 

[El_Roy_1999]

After a bit of speechless staring, Gladys finally managed:
"What do you mean, in charge?"
Margret looked at her benignly:
"You're new, aren't you?"
The young woman nodded.
"It's no problem. When I came here four years ago, I was quite confused too. The Master has been taking matters in hands and my work has progressed nicely, but I can understand it is a little overwhelming. What specialty have you been hired for?"
More confused blinking followed, until O'Hara said:
"We work in textiles. I guess we must have come to the wrong factory."
The woman wasn't convinced. She said:
"Indeed. As I said, this plant makes automata."
Neither of them had any idea what these were supposed to be, but O'Hara played the situation by ear:
"We were thinking of maybe combining the two. Use automata in textile technology. That would be more efficient."
Margret hesitated:
"It does increase the flexibility, but is this really needed in a branch that is actually meant to produce on a large scale?"
By now, the two intruders had lost her completely. Gladys interrupted the musing and said:
"Whatever may come of it, we're in the wrong place, so we're going to leave now. We'd be glad to see you again soon!"
Marget nodded slowly and bade the farewell. Had she actually been given their names?

[El_Roy_1999]

"Oh my God, I was certain she would sound the alarm!"
Gladys was struggling to catch her breath. She had managed to stay calm while they left the factory, but as soon as they were outside, she had begun to shiver all over. The pair had found a private spot to talk. She could see that O'Hara was equally shaken. He waited for a few moments to calm down, then said:
"I almost got us caught. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I had no idea of what the whole discussion was about. I'm so glad you at least managed to say something."
"Maybe the Captain has been too confident in our infiltration skills."
"I guess that was fine, but getting into a debate with an expert industry technician? I'm happy we even kept up."
As they recovered, O'Hara said:
"From what I understood, this Master seems to be very clever. Think of it: This woman seemed to know what she was talking about. Either he must have trained her himself," he gave Gladys a conspiratorial look which he immediately regretted, "or she is indeed an expert."
Gladys was clearly oblivious to his innuendo and said:
"She probably is an expert. I think I understand how this works. The Master recruits people who are interested in something and are willing to work, but are blocked by society. He gives them a home and a workbench and they do what they do best." She nodded to herself: "Have you seen all the black and Latino people here? The Chinamen? The women? That's what this is about."
"Do go on."
"I'm only glad I managed to convince the Captain. I would have been the ideal person to join this if I had known."
The Irishman looked down on her. It made sense. He had talked to Washington before and this had been is position. He had been willing to join anyone who would let him do his duty.
He said:
"I get it. We'll have to report this as soon as possible. For now, we should be very careful and try to document as many of the inventions around here as possible. If this is a conspiracy of geniuses, we're going to need everything we can."

[El_Roy_1999]

Noon came and found the two infiltrators sitting on the roof of a warehouse. They had retreated up there to get a good view of the place and had spent the morning taking photographs of the various things that were being produced in the factories. Gladys had impressed her partner by swiftly working herself up the building's side, using the minimal handholds it offered. She had then dropped a silk rope from her equipment and he had climbed up. He was surprised to see that there had been no way to fix the rope and that she had propped herself against the edge to support his weight. After apologizing profusely for his roughness, she had told him to just calm down and prepare the food.
At 12 o'clock, they turned on the miniature radio they had carried with them and waited for the other groups to tune in. The first to respond was the Captain. He said:
"Hello lovebird, president, this is headpiece. Radio check. Over."
Gladys looked at O'Hara in confusion, but he just said:
"Headpiece, this is lovebird. All clear. Over."
Seconds later, they heard Hamilton's voice.
"Headpiece, this is president. All clear. Over."
Then followed a bizarrely garbled exchange of abbreviations and specialist terms, at the end of which O'Hara said:
"All clear, over and out."
He took off the headpiece and nodded to himself. Gladys asked:
"I'm sorry, I'm not that used to this radio-speak. What was all that about?"
He smiled and said:
"So far, everything is fine. They haven't been spotted. However, their experience matches ours. This isn't some kind of backwater militia, this is an actual state within a state and it seems to be very efficient at what it does. The Captain has ordered us to go deeper and find actual plans and blueprints of their technology. This is going to be risky."
She grinned.
"I'm in!"
"I thought as much. Let's have a nap and wait for nightfall. This is going to be a break-in, so we should be discreet."