Solaris Legacy

The assassin sat motionless in her assigned location, at Row G Seat 14. She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing, trying to calm her heartbeat.

Then, with catlike quickness, she suddenly pulled the razor-edge hair clip out of her hair and slit open the top of the fabric on the back of the seat in front of her. She retrieved the two halves of the strengthened fiberglass rifling-barrel that had been specifically engineered and inserted there. She threaded one end into the other. Then, in one motion, she placed one end of the barrel on her right shoulder, located the trigger button, and aimed. When her aim was perfect, she squeezed the trigger button.

A deafening explosion filled the room as the bullet exited the barrel and screamed towards the Level 8 bullet-resistant glass made with polycarbonate glazing. After traveling exactly 32.7 meters, the bullet smashed through the glass with aloud crack and continued onward in its deadly path.

Livia walked out of Row G and down towards the elevated speaker’s stage. She first examined the entrance hole on her side of the protective glass, then went around to the other side of the stage to examine the exit hole. She called out measurements to her assistant.

Then she approached her target for this test, the mannequin now flopped in a tangled mass behind the center chair. Shelet out a slight sigh. With her right foot, she kicked the mannequin over onto a supine position, and then she bent down tostudy the mangled right shoulder for a moment.

Livia called out to her assistant. “In the report, say that we are making steady progress, but I still need another threeweeks or so to re-engineer a few components.” After a pause she added, “Then we will be ready.”

Livia gazed into the mannequin’s lifeless green eyes, which were staring up at the ceiling. She leaned over andwhispered softly into its right ear, “Nothing personal.”

Written across the mannequin’s forehead was a single word. It simply read “Solaris.”