Flash Fiction Friday: Unauthorized Call

Today's flash fiction takes us back to the AI Universe a few months after "Adventures in Childproofing." While you might recognize the characters if you have read a few of the other stories, you don't have to have read any of them to understand the story.

Unauthorized Call
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“Why are you hiding behind me?” Adelaide asked, twisting around to narrow her eyes at her and Shawn. “What did you do?”

“Can’t I just want to hug my sister?” Madeline asked. She smiled up at her big sister with the most guileless expression she could manage.

“If it were a usual occurrence, I might just believe that,” Adelaide muttered. She gestured back down the hall with her head. “Or if Lieutenant Sullivan wasn’t coming this way looking put out.”

Shawn flushed and looked away. Madeline winced.

“That’s what I thought.”

“Marsters! Hendrix!” Lieutenant Sullivan hissed as she caught up to the three, which Madeline thought wasn’t that hard to do considering they’d been standing still.

They’d hoped having an audience would prevent Sullivan from confronting them. The usually mousey woman had a reputation for conflict avoidance, so the fact she was showing her ire at them in front of someone else spoke volumes. 

“What have they done this time?” Adelaide asked with a resigned air.

Lieutenant Sullivan glanced around. The corridor was empty, but it wasn’t exactly one that was rarely used, Madeline knew. Maybe they’d get away yet if Sullivan was afraid enough of getting caught talking about it. She’d no more thought of that hope than it was dashed be Sullivan telling them to follow her. 

Madeline looked to Adelaide and found her sister glaring down at her. Adelaide gestured for her and Shawn to go ahead of her. She wasn’t about to argue with as mad as her older sister looked. Memories of past arguments and scuffles had her arm twinging with the phantom sensation of remembered pinches. Even Shawn, who didn’t have the extra motivation of experiencing Adelaide’s unfiltered anger, hurried ahead without argument.

They followed the communications officer to the maintenance room where the whole thing had started. It was more than a little cramped with four people crammed into the space, but Sullivan closed the access door nonetheless before locking it for good measure.

“You’re scaring me, Lieutenant,” Adelaide said. “What have these two done?”

“They sent an unauthorized message is what,” Lieutenant Sullivan said. Her posture was rigid, and her jaw was clenched so hard Madeline feared for her teeth.

“I didn’t know calling after lights out was a punishable offence.” Adeline’s tone was confused, amused, and a bit defensive all at once, and Madeline felt the burn of a blush zing down her neck at the knowing look her sister gave her.

Sullivan rolled her eyes and huffed. “If that’s all it was, no.” 

The Lieutenant pointed towards the bit of rewiring she and Shawn had done to make the send possible, and Madeline had to bite her lip to keep from snickering. Adelaide might know her way around the docks and storage rooms, but she’d never bothered cross studying. There was no way she’d see anything more than a bunch of wires.

“What am I looking at?” Adelaide asked, and Madeline pressed her teeth harder into her lip.

“Someone patched into the outer communications array,” Sullivan answered. She turned her attention to Shawn. “I recognize Marsters’ work in it, and where he is, Maddie isn’t far behind.”

“They patched into the outer array?” Adelaide asked, and Madeline’s heart sank at the way she emphasized the word outer.

Sullivan nodded.

Adelaide rounded on them as best as she could in the overcrowded space. Madeline had never seen her sister look quite so pale, or as angry or scared.

“Do you two ever pay attention in any of your classes not focused on tech?” she asked.

Madeline felt a wave of defensive anger wash over her, and Shawn shifted uneasily beside her. Madeline tried to speak up in their defense, but all that came out was a bit of flustered sputtering.

Sullivan shook her head and took pity on them. “I shut it down almost immediately,” she said. “I don’t want to start a panic over what might amount to nothing, but you two’d better pray you didn’t attract unwanted attention from the neighborhood we’re sneaking through!”

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Each story in this series is 700 words or less and is prompted by a first line taken either from a random first prompt like this one or reader suggestions like "Don't Forget Me" and "Culture Shock." I much prefer working from reader suggestions over generators, but to do that, I need to hear from you.

If you have a prompt you'd like to see done, comment below or tweet it at me. I'll screen shot it, write it, and post it for you.