I plugged the drive into the USB port. “Come on, come on!” I said to myself quietly.
“Begining transfer now,” the metallic computer voice said. This better not take long. I have to get out of here as soon as I have all the files. I know I’m going to get caught if I stay. Who knows what they’ll do to me if they find me.
“I would stop that upload if I were you.”
I spun around to see four heavily armoured assault droids supporting ten armed peacekeepers. The captain leading the massive force aimed his gun at my head as they slowly advanced towards me. “Put your hands up, Smith. It’s all over for you.”
I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t give myself up and surrender. I would be letting everyone down. Our operation’s success and our own survival depended on me getting these files. “Whoa there, Cap, you don’t need your gun! Chill out!” I said, trying to sound cheery.
“Are you trying to be funny?” he yelled as he stepped forward, aiming his pistol at me even more intensely.
“As I just said, take a chill pill,” I replied.
“Take out the flash drive, now!” he commanded.
“Ok, look, I’m taking it out,” I said as I stepped in front of it, shielding it. I rested my hand on it.
The captain pointed the barrel of his pistol up and down a few times, signaling he wanted me to pull the drive out.
“Transfer complete.” The metallic computer voice said.
As soon as the computer said “transfer complete”, I yanked the drive out and shoved it in my pocket. I bolted off to my right, towards my escape.
The Captain was unprepared for what I did, but he quickly yelled, “Open fire!”
I dove behind a table and sheltered there while hundreds of rounds were being fired at me each second. I stayed hidden behind the table until I came up with a plan of action.
I slowly stood up, my hands above my head. “Hold your fire!” the Captain commanded. The firing stopped. “Turn over the USB.”
I pulled it out of my pocket. “Here it is,” I said.
The Captain cautiously walked towards me. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he said. He reached out to take the USB from me.
“Not so fast. I’ll only give it to you if you let me free once you have it.”
“Fine, just give me the drive.” the Captain said.
“A-a-ah, not just yet. Tell your units to stand down. Make them put their weapons on the floor.” I instructed.
He turned to his units and told them to stand down. They did what I had requested.
“Here is the drive.” I dropped it in his hand and dashed away to the exit. I got in my pod and headed back to my squad’s rendezvous point.
“Let’s see what he tried to get.” the Captain said. He plugged the drive into the computer. After waiting for a minute, the computer said, “No information.” in its metallic voice. The Captain screamed as he yanked the USB from the computer and hurled it to the ground and shattered into a million pieces. “Go get him!” he yelled at his soldiers.
“A very special thank you to my handy-dandy backup flash drive,” I said as I plugged the real USB into my ship’s onboard computer. I watched the screen as all of the files in the Archives appeared. “And now, it’s time for a promotion!”
