Genesis Read Online Free PDF Page B

surrounded on all sides by earth, rocks, mud, or whatever the hell made up the underside of Raccoon City. Lisa had no idea, nor did she care to. She just tried, like everyone else did, to pretend that the view out the window was real, that the sounds she heard were genuine.
    Sometimes she even believed it.
    She often wondered how anyone stood this for five years, and was grateful that—one way or another—she was not going to find out for herself.
    Even as she found the error in her patch—which was a simple typographical error, one she would have caught five minutes ago if the Red Queen hadn’t insisted on getting huffy about it—the phone rang.
    Wanting to keep her hands free to type, she plugged the headset into the appropriate jack in the phone, hooked it around her ear, adjusting the mic so it was near her mouth, then hit the SPEAKER button. The phone routed the sound, which would normally go out on the phone’s speaker, to the headset. “Broward.”
    â€œLisa, it’s Alice.”
    Smiling at the familiar voice, Lisa said, “How’s life among the rich and famous?”
    Dryly, Alice said, “Oh, thrill-a-minute, like usual.”
    Unlike One, who was at HQ in Raccoon City proper, Alice—currently in charge of security for the Hive, stationed along with Spence Parks at the lavish mansion that served as one of the main entry points into the Hive—was approachable and easy to work with. Like One, she didn’t take any shit. Unlike One, she didn’t give any, either. As long as there wasn’t a crisis, she could actually talk to you like a real person.
    Although Lisa’s desk was in the same general area as the other Tech folks, they viewed her with disdain, as she wasn’t really one of them. Unfortunately, she didn’t really have much in common with the gaggle of ex-copsand ex-cons that made up the Security Division, either.
    Alice, though, was different. She didn’t treat Lisa like some kind of weird other being who didn’t belong in the club because she couldn’t field-strip an M16, or whatever kind of fancy weapon the thugs in Security hauled around.
    Not that it mattered all that much whether or not Lisa made friends. Not given her long-term goal.
    Still, in the short term, it was nice to have someone to talk to.
    Especially when that someone also had the potential to help out with the long-term plans.
    â€œSo what’s the problem?” Lisa asked.
    â€œI can’t get into my account.”
    Again, Lisa sighed. “I know, I know, there’s a problem with the protocols. I should have it fixed in a few minutes, assuming Her Royal Highness doesn’t throw a fit.”
    â€œI heard that.”
    Making a face at her monitor, Lisa said, “You were meant to.”
    Lisa heard Alice Abernathy laugh.
    After rewriting a few more lines of code, Lisa said, “Okay, try it now.”
    There was a pause, though Lisa could hear the clickity-clack of Alice’s fingers moving quickly over her keyboard.
    â€œFuck! I still can’t get in.”
    Lisa frowned. “You sure?”
    â€œYes, I’m sure. It says ’access denied’ in big letters on top of my monitor.”
    â€œThat’s a pretty good indicator, yeah. Hold on a sec.” She entered a few more commands. All the computers in the Hive—including the two in the mansion—were hardwired to the overall Red Queen network, and it was a simple matter for her to provide a more direct link between her and Alice. When she was finished, it was as if they were a single workstation that just happened to have two keyboards.
    Her monitor lit up with a window taking up the right-hand side of her flatscreen display. It showed her what Alice was seeing on her monitor, complete with ACCESS DENIED in big letters along the top. In the center of the screen were two fields, currently empty, asking for username and password.
    Lisa hit F11, then entered