Honorable Mention
Thief of Music and Magic
by Hokulani Luna-Kuwamura
Hey, my name is…Wow, you thought I would tell you? Nah. Instead, I will tell you my plan. My friend has a bail of 10,000,000 credits. If I don’t get it, he will be killed in three weeks.There is a law in my city that if you can commit a crime and not get caught for a week, you can be set free, as long as the crime does not hurt anyone. My plan is to sneak into the museum, steal this rare crystal called the melodic stone, wait for a week, then sell it and bail my friend out.
On Friday this is how I pictured it. As I make my way to the museum I look out for the cameras (I can turn invisible thanks to my stealth being the best there is). I pass through the gate right before it closes when a car passes. I am not detected. I wait in an exhibit depicting the greatest crime boss/assassin who ever lived because it is closed for renovations but they won’t be working on the day I do this because it will be a Sunday. I hide and stay unseen by the guards. I go through the vents when they turn on the scanners. (They do it in segments and the vents are that last segment.) Right before they scan the vents, I leave and enter another exhibit about a spacefaring hero whose whole ship was falling apart and the crew was starving. My memory is fuzzy about the layout and this room should have a map. Also this point has some fancy technology that I could take for myself afterwards. Once I get here I will have to improvise.
Saturday, noon, supply run at the market checklist:
#1 a rope for better access and travel in the vents
#2 a knife for cutting the vent door open
#3 milk (unrelated just for my shopping)
#4 12 pack of extra long lasting gum (unrelated and sour lemon flavor)
#5 21 pack of meal kits (for when i am hiding the week after so i can stay hidden)
On Sunday, the plan goes great… until i get to the first exhibit where the hallway is blocked by a pallet of wood for the construction crew’s renovation. I have to take a different route, going to the room of a water breathing sea creature humanoid hero who had water and ice powers. I decided the best plan of action was to hide under the giant aquarium in the crawl space. I am stuck as it was a one way door so I went further. Thankfully for whatever reason, the crawlspace had no scanner. I spent half of the night just trying to find a way out until I fell into another exhibit. At this exhibit, there is a shapeshifting axolotl hero statue. Surprisingly, as luck would have it, this is close to the exhibit with the melodic stone. I run straight to the fastest hero exhibit as it was her property (the hero owned it so it is kept there.) The stone is encased in indigonium. This is a very rare indigo and clear crystal that affects my race. It inverts our eyes so we can see the sun in this world instead of making us turn to stone, however it makes it so our sun turns us into stone instead, and my glasses are made of this crystal type. I decided to take the whole case. Success! I make it out with both the stone and the case made of the crystal. Now for the week-long hiding phase.
Day 1: Monday: nothing much I can do/I am on high alert /I stay well hidden.
Day 2: Tuesday: I realize that I will need to find someone who will buy the melodic stone.
Day 3: Wednesday: could I sell it to a musician?
Day 4: Thursday: I got ambushed by bounty hunters looking for a quick credit. They stole my food/ I have to relocate now.
Day 5: Friday: I found a new place /moved everything. Food is top priority.
Day 6: Saturday: I go to the market to get more food and find a buyer for the stone.
Day 7: Sunday: just hiding but I saw someone who looked like they would buy the stone. I will ask him tomorrow if he is interested.
Monday, I was safe for seven days so I no longer need to hide. I met the potential buyer, he said he wants the stone but he won’t pay, someone sneaks behind me and holds me back as the buyer takes the stone and leaves. No payment, I will need another way to save my friend.
Tuesday, I figure a full prison break is the best option to distract the guards with over the top chaos. I need to contact my friend to inform him about my plan. The best time for this would be yard time for the inmates, but I missed the window today so tomorrow is my chance. I will need to find a way to get to the control room. I will solve this problem by buying a universal lockpick.
Wednesday, 8 days left. I sneak over to the chain link fence, I tell my friend I am going to get him out and to be ready by either Thursday or Friday and that I am getting him out via breakout.
Friend: ”Wait, where do I go?”
Me: ”Don’t worry I will be in the control room for the whole building. It has speakers, I will tell you where you need to go.”
Thursday, 7 days left. I made it in and the breakout began. It started simple with only a few seeing their door locks change. I lead my friend through the halls when there is an announcement of a system glitch. The announcement is “All guards, head over to the cells.” The other inmates are mostly together in one group so that they cannot be taken back to their cells. No violence yet, but after 10 minutes the guards arrive and the inmates scatter. Full riot, no peace or quiet. The guards are none the wiser about my friend, as they are busy with the other inmates. Then I hear the rattling of the door in the control room. I block it by moving the chair. I look back to the cameras and see that a group of guards are surrounding my friend. I alert the guards and lead them away via the speakers and lock them in the cafeteria. I continue leading my friend out, he makes his way to the phone area for visitors. He needs a way to break the glass. He grabs one of the wooden chairs and starts bashing the chair on the floor, breaking off one of the legs, then uses it as a bat to crack the window. It shatters, and he crawls through to make his way to the front.
Now I need to get out but the guard is still waiting by the door. The only door! I am trapped! I look for another way out, but there is none. I have to knock out the guard and run. I spot a rack with some guns and riot shields. I take one of each, and I exit the room. A guard points a taser at me. I cover myself with the riot shield and point my gun, I will not shoot but I threaten him. He lets me leave if I allow him to live. I don’t have anyone to guide me so I have to remember the way out…or take notes of where the exit is from the cameras. I do just that, I make my way to the phone room then crawl through the glass. I make my way to the front to meet my friend and we are now free. For those seven days we will need to hide.
I will not bore you with that. I will tell you we made it. My story is done. You know how I saved my friend and how we made it out so thank you for listening and goodbye! Anyways, how was your month so far?
