Tixi materialized inside the garage. The chrono on her wrist automatically began the count down 12.00 minutes. She automatically scanned the surroundings and her chrono and her vitals, mentally checking off the 1st Priority list drilled into her at the academy. The countdown on the chrono read 11.35 minutes. Her Grandmother should be in her attic room asleep. Tixi let her self out through the side door into the backyard, always checking both visually and through the scanner. It was vital that she interact as little as possible with anything, timeline was a fragile and unpredictable bitch.
Though this was not her first voyage (it was her third) this was her first assignment. But it had been absolutely necessary. The mutated Flu virus was too aggressive - in the time it took to manufacture a cure and distribute it, the virus would infect more than a billion people and kill thousands. And this was the least invasive way- Inoculating 40- 50 selected people around the globe to slow the spread of the virus but also help "evolve immunity". With the amount of power needed to breach the Barrier small candidates were chosen. Bright, exceptional and thin children 10-13 years.
Tixi froze, someone was in the yard. The chrono read 9.55. She crouched down and very slowly crawled in the direction of Gramme's attic window. Rounding the corner she could see her silhouetted by the light in the room talking in fierce whispers to the boy hanging on to the pipe by the window. The chrono read 8.40. She had to either inject Gramme or spray the solution into her room- so she could breathe in a sufficient amount.
Tixi took half a minute to decide, then hurreid back to the garage and grabbed the flare she had seen stuffed into a carton along with what-not, she jumped the fence to the lane behind and in a fast crouch crossed the lane. She wedged the flare into a crack in the pavement, lit it and hurried back to the back yard. As she had hoped- the boy was shimmying down peering toward the red light of the flare. Tixi waited tense as the boy came back and called "Goddamm Whacky prank- a flare. See you tomorrow?" Gramme just smiled and closed the window.
The chrono read 4.55. Tixi waited for the boy to leave with baited breath. As soon as the yard was empty she dart across and started climbing the pipe. The chrono read 3.00. She carefully attached the thin metal tube to the nozzle. Tixi had to try twice before she bent it just right so she could push it through the small gap between the sill and the window pane. She plunged the nozzle which emptied out the gas in just 2 seconds.
Tixi climbed half the way down and glanced at the chrono 0.32. She risked a tumble and let go; getting up from the fall at a run she reached the garage and slipped inside. The next moment a nimbus of light appeared just above her, Tixi had made it back.