lazilygrinningcat5-6 minutes 04.10.2021
After a short wait at the platform of the Loop line station, a four-car train arrived.
After waiting for more than a dozen people in suits and work clothes to get off the train, Louise boarded the train with Nitta leading the way.
The train car was short and all the seats were facing forward, probably because of the tracks’ continuous curves.
[Please take a seat here. The inspection team is in a special experimental area six stops away.]
[Thank you for everything.]
When Louise looked into his eyes and thanked him, Nitta, who wasn’t immune to beautiful women, became flustered.
Just as the two of them were about to take their seats, the Loop-line train started smoothly accelerating.
[This thing runs very quietly, doesn’t it?]
When Louise tried to fish for information, as if a dam had burst, the stunned Nitta began to talk.
[T- That’s right! The train runs with rubber tires, the same system as the Yurikamome line that runs in Odaiba. Therefore, the rail is smooth and there are no tracks, right? Also, you may be wondering why there was no one in the driver’s seat. However, don’t worry. In fact, all the facilities are operated unmanned with ATO. The power supply is taken from the rails on the side of the ground by a power collector. So, there are no pantographs or power lines, right? Not only passengers, but also waste containers and liquid waste tank trucks are towed with ATO-controlled unmanned locomotives. Ahh, even when I say they were unmanned, you don’t have to worry about safety. The trains are equipped with ATC, and there are also ATC extensions that will stop the train immediately if something goes wrong. Also, if there’s someone with an employee ID card or a visitor’s card on the tracks, the train can be alerted and stopped. We have never had a single accident!]
After saying all that in one breath, Nitta started to panic.
[I- I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself……]
Nitta always ends up talking too much when he’s in front of an attractive woman.
It’s a pity that he went from a boy’s school without a single girl in it to a graduate school of science.
Thanks to this, he has never had a girlfriend.
[You know a lot about trains, don’t you?]
But this beautiful woman, Louise, doesn’t show any disgust at his disgraceful behavior and even smiled at him affirmatively, making him completely excited.
It was because he was in such a state of mind……
[I’m sorry. I’m feeling a little sick, so may we get off at the next station?]
———that the beautiful woman sitting next to him said, a handkerchief held to her mouth……
[A- Are you alright? I- I understand!]
———and the security clause that was supposed to have been instructed at the morning meeting, where “visitors aren’t allowed to enter places other than the tour route” was interpreted in Nitta’s mind in a convenient way as “As long as she doesn’t leave the station”, so Louise was allowed to get off at a station that wasn’t part of the schedule prepared for the inspection team.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The platform at the station where Lousie and Nitta got off along the way was empty.
It was not by chance.
It was a gap in the scheduled work hours and a result of personnel being allocated for the inspection, which was also part of the plan.
It’s better to have few witnesses after all.
[I’m sorry. Please let me freshen up a bit.]
After getting off the train as scheduled on her plan, Louise entered the second private stall from the back of the women’s restroom at the station.
“As far as it goes, it seems like the backups are doing their job.”
Inside the plastic wrapping bag of sanitary products placed at the back of the room is a small paper bag, which contains several tools that looked too dangerous to be sanitary products.
When Louise confirmed that a small pistol and a fake ID were inside, she twisted a small metal fitting in the inside pocket of her suit’s outer coat to start it up.
“This should fool the camera and its facial recognition function…… I don’t really feel anything change though.”
According to the people who prepared her suit, it functions as a kind of electronic disguise, and when turned on, for several hours, the energized fibers sewn into her suit would emit light at a wavelength that is almost invisible to humans. The pattern created by the glowing fibers disrupts the facial recognition of surveillance, making it impossible to tell if there’s someone over there, and even if they could vaguely see the existence of this person, they won’t be able to see her face.
In other words, for a while, Louise would be electronically invisible to the surveillance cameras.
“Now then. The time for being nice to the nerd is over.”
Making sure that the small pistol is loaded with .22 caliber rounds, Louise softly coaxed the dumb guy standing restlessly outside the women’s restroom to come inside and help her out.