Sunny grabbed the suitcases and blew a kiss to the souls whose calling was to work at Wal-Mart. Seemed a bit insignificant, didn't it?
Sunny, before she had come to the caves, had been high up in the corporate of Backbone - Entertainment Division. Her manager still thought she was on a temporary retreat, but she tried to participate somewhat by texting what she could to him. The caves didn't get reception, but when she was at Wal-Marts and things, she texted him. As she stopped to do now, when she was in the safety of her CCX.
After sending him a quick text, which she had scripted in her head long ago, just trembling for an opportunity, she pressed the home button, and then pressed the Phone button on her iPhone. Both movements were unconscious. She knew what she was doing; she knew where the buttons were.
More alert now, she got a conference call with the raiders. "Me," was her greeting. "OOH! WE NEED CODE NAMES!" She screeched, coming to a halt in the turn she was coming to. "I CALL ICE QUEEN!" She knew her name for when any soul asked it during a raid. It often changed. But they definitely needed code names. It added to the fun. And Ice Queen fit: it was so Sunlight Passing Through The Ice plus cave rankings. She instantly loved it.
"Right. Next, let's head to Tuscon. We can stop at a hotel once we're there: Backbone owns it, and so I'll use Sunlight Passing Through the Ice as my name, but I know the owner, and she'll get us
so hooked up!" She squealed with excitement, bordering on the limit the whole way to the place.
When she got to the hotel, she parked her car herself, pretending not to see the valet, and told the others to do the same through the conference call. "Now just follow me," she said in the same low voice, and got out of the car, clicking the remote to lock it. She walked in, and straight up to the receptionist.
"Hello, may I see the owner? She's a friend of mine -- tell her it's Sunlight Passing Through the Ice." She said, adding a smile. The soul wasn't suspicious of her. Which was kind of a 'duh' thing.
A few short minutes later, the receptionist returned with Sunny's friend. "Sunlight Passing Through the Ice!" The small girl with the curly red hair squealed. "Periwinkle!" Sunny squealed. "Actually, I shortened it to Peri recently," Peri added. Sunny laughed. "I shortened mine to Sunny! This planet grows on you, doesn't it?" Sunny chatted excitedly with her old friend. Peri had also been her closest friend on the Mists Planet, but had before that been a Flower. She hadn't liked that, so she moved to the Mists Planet after one life term, and served five life terms there - the same as Sunny. But Peri's fifth life was over before Sunny's, and Peri had moved to Earth, claiming she wanted to experience it while it was still open for settling. She'd heard the wild rumors. They all had. And Peri was the closest thing to adventurous the souls had.
It wasn't Peri alone that had influenced Sunny to come to Earth, but she'd been a factor in the decision.
"Anyway, I'm on a short retreat, and I was wondering if I could stay here?" Sunny asked.
"Sure! Is it just you?"
"Well, I have several friends staying, as well."
"How about I give you the Special Penthouse?" It was the most exclusive place in the hotel, and Peri knew that. Sunny knew that, too.
"Really? That'd be fabulous! Thank you!" Sunny threw her arms around her friend. Peri started to motion for a bellhop to get her luggage, but Sunny hesitated. "Actually, I'd like to carry it myself, if you don't mind. Might take two trips, but I like the exercise."
XxX xXx XxX
After everything was settled, Sunny sat down in the meeting room. She opened up her laptop - spoils from the Wal-Mart, but she was sure it wouldn't be a complete waste - and titled a document called Raid.1 Day.1 Notes, after doing everything she could to protect the computer from being invaded. Now, it was practically impossible for anyone else to get on, to Sunny's delight. She turned to her team.
"Now. There are some designer stores in town, and I could
seriously use some of the perk pleasure-shopping gives me. If we do a quick delivery to the storage truck, we'll have room for some spoils." She paused before adding the next words in a rush, and the room was quiet for a brief moment, no clacking of keys, no talking. "The head of Backbone Entertainment tells me the head of Backbone himself -
himself! - says that there might be a new system. This might cause a bit of a problem. It's not money, but it's not this free stuff, either. It might not go through, but the head of Backbone is... well - oh, wait! You guys don't know about this! Backbone is this really... big company. Pretty much the biggest thing we have to a leader. It... sort of runs things. And so the doubt in my mind that it will go through is... small.
This system is exclusive to Earth, though if we get it, the other planets could possibly think about it. Though that's irrelevant. The point is, raids are going to get harder.
How it works is the system monitors how much you give to the... 'greater good', and it rewards you with points that will work somewhat like money. It's simple, but it will work - and so we've got a problem. On this computer, I'll be able to do work from away, and I'm pretty high up in this one division of Backbone - Entertainment - but I think we should definitely stock up on this raid. Just in case."
Sunny took a deep breath, and then a sip of water. "Okay!" She said in a happier tone. "Monologue over. What do you guys think?"