Alpha Squad - Vecto: Voyage

Episode 1.2

(Previously: Vecto escapes from confinement inside Azmech's bulky robot and sucks in carbon to power his shields.)

"Next," one of the many guards said as he scanned passengers on the Corona ship. Long lines formed in every row, waiting to be granted a Travel Access Card, or TAC. It was a larger than usual crowd today, one of the guards noticed, perhaps due to fear of the A.S., he thought.

Vecto's orb peeked around the corner. There was no way he could get by without being noticed. Even if he rolled across the floor, he'd be suspicious. Well, here goes, Vecto thought. It would've been nice if he could've just slipped from the storage bay into the ship but the only door he'd found out of that place led to the dock. Vecto had no choice but to board with the other passengers. He formed his outer shield into the shape of a human. The shield contoured to a desirable size as a flush of colors rolled across his shield. It formed the design of a full-body powersuit, red in color with a stripe down each side. He had modeled it after one familiar to him--a techsuit hanging up in his creator's lab.

Confident his disguise would work, Vecto walked away from the wall and casually passed behind the guards dealing with boarding passengers. So far, so good.

"Hey, you!" one of the Corona guards said in his direction.

Vecto stopped and calmly looked his way.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were somebody I knew."

Vecto nodded and continued to walk, relieved it was just a close call.

"Wait a minute," the guard said again. "Did we give you a TAC?"

Vecto paused but didn't answer.

"Let me see your card, just in case."

Vecto was caught red-handed. "I didn't get one," he said, focusing the sound of his voice to only emit from his mouth instead of all around. "You see, I had to go to the restroom and--" Vecto fibbed.

"Oh, well, come on over, then," the guard said and waved.

Vecto hesitated as he slowly walked over. He scanned the vast loading bay and tried to pick out a guy from the crowd. Several lines away, a middle-aged man with a goatee caught Vecto's attention.

"I'm sorry, I forgot some important documents ..." the man said. He was wearing a shirt with palm tree illusion designed on it, signaling with his hand that he would come back later.

It was Vecto's only chance.

"Hey, we ain't got all day," the heavily armored guard said impatient.

Vecto squeezed in the front of the line as angry passengers bit their lips.

"I need to see your face and take your fingerprint," the guard ordered.

Vecto complied. Like retreating insects, his helmet appeared as if it was decomposing, revealing the image of a face--the one of the palm tree guy.

The guard raised a pin to scan his pupil so Vecto quickly adjusted his eyes to that of the man he saw. It checked out, so the guard asked for Vecto's hand. Fortunately, Vecto had a glimpse of that as well. The suit over his hand retreated and Vecto placed his thumb on a card, creating the exact grooves from the zoomed image he had of the palm tree man.

"Hey, what gives?" a heavy-set woman blurted, scratching her arm and neck. "We shouldn't have to let this guy jump us!"

"Now calm down," the masked guard said and looked at Vecto. "OK, Mr. ... Robert Newman, now would you please stand still as I do an X-ray." He pulled out a device that fanned out to do the scan. Vecto froze as he stared at it. This was something Vecto couldn't mimic.

"Come on! We ain't got all day!" the woman yelled, shoving Vecto. His body singed her hand and Vecto exaggerated a lean forward, knocking the scanner from the guard's grasp.

"Hey! Would you calm it down!" the guard snapped at the woman, assuming she had pushed him over.

"That guy just burnt my hand!" she shrieked.

"I'm sorry, I--" Vecto falsely apologized to both.

"Here, here, just move along," the guard said and handed him his TAC.

Vecto stuck the device to his suit as directed and smirked, walking off, amused the distraction actually worked, appreciative of the woman's indirect assistance. He glanced back to see the woman wobble to the guard, wheezing. He had to be careful though. With the fine details he had to do to disguise flesh and hair, it was using more carbons, and he could tell that it had irritated the woman's skin.

(Vecto's disguise worked and he is now free to roam the Corona ship. While finding Zendora is his top priority, will he discover any new leads? Find out more in the next installment of Vecto: Voyage!)