Even at such a vast distance away the cyan supersun looms over with its tremendous size, radiating its infinite energy of heat and light that casts the sky of its neighbors in blue. In a brief period of watching there is little to no observable movement from the sun, and from a glance it appears stationary despite the local environment moving around it. Simply it remains up in the sky over all else, dominating the system of the hundred worlds, watching over still.
Unlike it however is the speeding bolt that races through the sky, the metallic underbelly unlit although little can be observed from a stationary perspective given its speed. Even when more follow by in a line, even several lines, none of them can truly be inspected in their entirety with the most being the general shapes and sizes as some are definitely longer by factors more than others, with some that have huge rectangular underbellies and others with significantly smaller rods in shape.
Those rectangular underbellies are of great long semi truck pods racing along the rod shaped bikes, although those are the extremes in a road majorly occupied by vehicles of more general sizes with many sedans and SUVs in between, all of their engines blaring as while some of them are softer there are handfuls of sleek sporty pods that roar aggressively to a deliberate extent despite their speeds not being much greater than that of their rounder neighbors.
At the height difference of bridges hovering over grounded roads there are bunches of fluffy white clouds gliding in the sky not too high above the traffic, gigantic blankets when so close even though they’re in actuality rather thin.
Further on ahead and well below the road are the silver towers, their appearances ironically short from the perspective being by the clouds, each one small enough that it seems they could be plucked off the ground and held in a hand. At the same time when so high up there is a true comprehension of scale for the city as the towers stretch all the way to the horizon with no visible borders, instead a world of silver fortresses that blend into a whitish backdrop beneath the blue dome.
Most of the pods on the road maintain their altitude yet a batch of them do depress down at an angle in divergence to the rest, a few trucks and commercial pods that form their own branch moving towards the ground, their sizes from the perspective of those still loyal to the highway shrinking swiftly but passed before they could vanish completely on their own.
After the culling of the main road there are now spaces left between pods, spaces that are then immediately filled in by the ones behind the voids, one of those being an SUV with an elegant black coat but one that has a strange emerald glint shown only by the brighter rays streaking across its body.
The pod’s engine is no more different than that of its neighbors, not substantially grandiose nor even distinguishable from the crowd, and while the subtle emerald of the shell does give it an additional flare beyond a simple black it is still a wrap that mostly assimilates in with the rest without anything too astonishing to gawk at. In fact in the right lane to the pod there approaches one after the openings from the last forking, one that has an orange glistening wrap embellishing a far sleeker sports vehicle with a slimmer profile but one that only enlarges its presence more. Perhaps that is not only due to the black stripes along the side but also the roaring engine that drowns out the sedans and trucks.
That distraction is temporary though as only in seconds it races off ahead with a clear path that lets it soar past the emerald pod, vanishing off down the stream just as fast as it made its presence, gone in a flashy streak. It’s departure premises the ordinary traffic hum to take prominence, the river a collection of graytones with the occasional simple dark reds and blues.
Yet in the center of the traffic is the nearly black emerald pod that just follows over the silver city, distant streams visible also high up amongst the clouds with their own forks depressing down towards the surface.
At the altitude the main road is at, the majority of view from the main windshield window screen is just the blue sky and fluffy white clouds, most of the silver skyscrapers visible being the ones far ahead that stretch to the horizon, plentiful but deep below.
None of them being the destination or at least none proximate, the pod remains in its own lane, one busy like any would of this city but one that isn’t too bombastically riveting. In fact the hum is hardly audible from inside, subdued nearly entirely and only perceivable when isolated without any music to compete against.
Music has the tendency of casting its tone as the mood of the environment it reaches such as how upbeat music raises the joy in parties. But without it there are no artificial modifiers to the mood, therefore the environment’s tone is the natural one in that given weather.
Currently that weather is gloomier than the sky at least for the sole passenger of the pod, the pensive expression of the anxious light green eyes above the subtle frown, the driver’s focus not absolutely set on the flying road ahead but rather on intrusive thoughts that follow her as company in the stead of anyone else.
Perhaps it had been that she recently has not taken a trip on a pod alone, as trips with company has her usually taking on a naturally cheery tone at least when appropriate, as like anyone who lives in a leadership position she pushes herself to emulate the best mood to be passed down to her adjacents.
Without any to require such masking though she is just left in her own pure contemplation, a certain unease that wallows on her, a tension that she hasn’t been able to lift all ride across the world.
Silent to herself, her external expression is relegated merely to what passes from her body’s motions, her slight nod down and her glance to the side window out to the traffic beside her, watching as a dark gray sedan pod drives beside her, the shell noticeably rusted not to a problematic extent but one where there is a lack of shine that most other pods have. Not in a state of collapse but a dullness even against the bright sun, a body that remains dark regardless of the light trying to reach it.
That pod passes on ahead with space up its lane until it’s out of sight, and in its place moves up an adjacent solid blue sports pod that catches up to her side for a few moments.
In a moment of daze she just watches the blue pod in silence as it then takes a fork and depresses down below her, out of her sight just as fast as it came to her, leaving nothing else in its place for the few seconds she maintains her watch.
Slowly in disappointment she returns her gaze back ahead to the windshield screen where she notices in the distance a particularly tall tower with a more basic rectangular shape but an interesting wireframe block in the center.
Now long gone are both the gray and blue pods from the area, and it’s not too many seconds later that the black emerald pod takes its departure too from the main road, following the intangible ramp down below the surface basking in the sunlight and into the depths towards the silver floor. Due to a combination of the chosen exit and the angling of said exit, the emerald pod approaches the particular silver building fast without needing to integrate into the blue rivers noticeable further down between the highrises. It may also be in part that the destination is at least, comparatively to all that can be taken in from the surroundings, the tallest of them all with the wireframe chunk being well above the traffic too.
Many magnitudes louder is the current of the stream between the silver blades, the many trucks and buses blaring, the bikes zipping between them rather dangerously. Even only at the highest lane there is such an overpowering sound of the engines passing and going, and even at their highest peak the distant blackish SUV pod soaring towards the wireframe middle block of the tower is little more than a dot in the white and blue sky.
Now mostly alone at the very least in terms of being in a solo lane, the emerald pod roars as it races down the sky at a gentle downward angle, gradually decelerating on its ramp although with an engine that still nonetheless kicks.
Perfectly straight is its path in a trajectory headed to the silver structure that from up close has resemblances to the other towers in that the actual walls of the building is a smooth featureless surface. In differentiation to the neighbors however is the ginormous block that doesn’t follow the same design pattern but instead is constructed as a grid of white beams like pillars along the edge, holding up its own tower of platforms taller than an average parking garage which is what it effectively is, a truth revealed by the distant pods departing from the grid and others passing in to the lower levels.
In an interesting design decision there are no blocking walls other than the pillars which are definitely spread apart more than enough for several pods aligned to pass in together, as the building has the unique attribute of a space more open than most others, almost to a vulnerable extent or at least one that may seem so without consideration of its history.
Regardless, the closer the emerald pod advances to the grid garage, the more apparent its route is towards the top of the grid, the highest of the levels unlike the pods that come in and out only taking the lower ones.
Pulling up to the block is when the pod’s deceleration reaches the extent that it almost seems to come to a full stop, doing so just as it passes between the white pillars of the level, the actual size of the entrance impressive given that its a few stories tall on its own, although the timing of the deceleration comes a bit dangerously as the roar manages to project and echo throughout the floor just before the pod whispers a more delicate hum.
That roar reverberates all the way down to the end of the garage which is surprisingly mostly barren at least in terms of the quantity of pods, but the density isn’t balanced as further down on the opposite end is a pack of parked pods all stationed together of different variety with a few smaller sedans and vans but also a noticeable collection of substantially larger trucks and buses one of which is distinctly greater than all and perhaps more than any pod that has been seen out on the road.
Surrounding the herd of pods is another but of people, although from a distance they aren’t too clear but for the turning of their attention to the source of the roar, many of them seem to have been in conversation with another before the interruption where they all just stare quietly at the incoming entity.
At a crawl with a pacified hum the SUV pod, which without the direct sunlight now appears to have an ordinary black shell, reaches deeper into the garage towards the condensed population, gradually descending while passing the collection of sparse parked pods all over the lot but all aligned in the neat grid with not a single one of them at a perceivably off angle. Most of the pods are more at a casual size, sedans and SUVs, the everyday vehicles of civilians and families given the average age of the employees especially at this level.
Past those scattered vehicles the black SUV dips to just about a foot off the surface where it glides for a few more feet, as now right on ahead are the clusters of people some of whom are dressed in formal suits with blazers and collared shirts but others are dressed in compressed black jumpsuits. Even more oddly there are a handful of men dressed in familiar navy blue uniforms with white shield epaulets on their shoulders, with the silver board firearms hovering over their arm.
A few of the adults take anxious steps back as the black SUV draws scarily close to them, coming to within ten feet before finally halting altogether, although the adults still show some uncertainty towards the vehicle.
However at the same time two of the armed men nod to each other and slowly begin approaching the new pod as though in suspicion.
Behind some of the curious adults approach the navy blue guards, advancing towards the stationary black pod whose engine’s hum softens into pure silence before just sitting still for an additional couple seconds before the driver’s door abruptly vaporizes.
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Just as abruptly the two guards come to a stop and raise their shoulders up, not taking aim but preparing to do so, their skeptical glances that they cast to one another telling of their untrusting of the intruder.
They no longer take any steps forward but they don’t back away unlike some of the suited adults, for they lack any weaponry to allow for such confidence.
That confidence is of no need upon the sudden reveal of the passenger from the vehicle, the adult woman with gleaming green eyes and bright amber bangs dressed in the black blazer, firstly exposing only her head and shoulders to wave her arm out and exclaim, “Wait don’t shoot!”
Both of the armed guards glance at each other with a sigh although one mixing relief and somewhat of disappointment, shaking their heads and lowering their arms at ease as the leader slips out of the pod, her black shoes being placed on the ground and her posture straight as she begins walking towards the mob of about thirty people, all adults by a glance including the guards.
Most of the adults cast uncertain glances at each other from the arrival, some almost seeming regretful of the event, but a few of them from the back shuffle to the side with grunts from another incoming object from behind that makes its way to the other end by the shoving of those facing the leader head on, causing them to stumble forward as out charges a woman in a black blazer whose long black ponytail thrashes from side to side as she lunges straight at the leader in a leap whilst shouting, “DANA!!!!”
Even with the ability to perceive and analyze down to the microseconds, Dana’s caught off guard with expanded eyes as she’s grabbed with such force that she stumbles backwards, nearly losing her footing as she struggles to hold the weight of the additional person whose arms wrap around her.
Matched with her insanity, Dana takes an additional second before wrapping her own arms around the striker and exclaiming back, “CRYSTAL IT’S YOU!”
After maintaining the embrace for a few more moments in delighted silence, her eyes closed with a gentle smile to the physical presence of the friend whom she’s been at the side of for much of her life now, Crystal opens her eyes and recoils back, letting her arms slip off of the leader and for her legs to take a step back.
Still preserving the smile though, Crystal first sneers albeit still in an upbeat tone, “They thought you were just not going to show up, and I thought I canceled a meeting for nothing.”
Shaking her head to the accusation with a smile, Dana assures gleefully: “Well here I am, guess you were all wrong,” before she steps to the side and begins strolling towards the rest of the cluster, gazing at the party she’d now be joining.
That party consists of the crew standing around, although their discussion has ceased to observe the last minute joiner, and behind them is the fleet of pods. Now closer up it’s clear the fleet consists of four SUV pods, two larger bus pods, but in the center is one truck that sits as king above all. Its width and length are considerably scaled up from a commercial vehicle, clearly also not meant to be built for most streets given it’d be consuming several lanes. Its body is smoothly curved and low profile like the other four, all of them in a simple yet elegant black tone lacking any external designs except for the two smaller trucks which both have insignias on the side of the white shield as a warning.
“Woah…,” quietly marvels Dana from the fleet which while not to the scale of an army is still impressive regardless, especially given the covert intentions of the operation. She doesn’t move her gaze but she nudges her head in the direction of Crystal who stands beside her to jest, “Sure you’re not coming along?”
“So about that death waiver part…I’m not as bold as you,” answers back Crystal in a playful tone but to deliver a genuine response. She does follow it up with, “Or as insane,” but in a whisper that Dana only glances towards before then facing forward again with little trigger for defense.
One of the men in black jumpsuits approaches Dana and Crystal, his head exposed to let his brown beard feel the breeze, same with his short but wavy hair, seeming to be around the age of thirties but with a commanding presence even in front of his superior.
He does at least give an honorable nod to Dana first in respect before pointing his hand at one of the black SUVs and sternly briefing, “You will be escorted in one of these, in the event of an interception you will not be the center of focus and the driver has orders to break formation and make an escape.”
Clear and concise was the procedure, yet Dana’s gaze doesn’t waver from the head truck and furthermore she steps to the side to get an unobstructed view of it which she takes a step towards as she inquires riveted, “Wait what’s that for?”
Perplexed at first by the irrelevant response, the man raises one eyebrow and turns around to trace Dana’s gaze to the truck before he then explains still in a straightforward manner, “That’s the drop pod, we boarded the satellite on it last night and the crew tasked with its deployment will be onboard with it. That one is where the main task will be executed, the others are for its protection.”
“I want to go on that one!” mindlessly blurts out Dana with a wide smile and another step in its path.
Immediately all of the adults on the floor just silently glare straight at their top leader in utter bafflement, unable to even put words together in response, that even including Crystal who just seconds ago showed nothing but friendliness.
Blinking twice to double take the absurd request, the man in the jumpsuit shakes his head and indicates, “Huh…no we can’t do that…you’d be in the main target. Either way you’d have no reason to be in there since you aren’t tasked with deployment, so why would we-,”
“Thompson, don't worry about targeting, you’re not in charge of my life,” Dana shallowly assures although her focus has clearly departed from the conversation and is now absorbed into the intriguing large truck.
Raising his hand up in befuddlement to the senseless reasoning, struggling to argue back without anything to even refute, the man in the jumpsuit opens his mouth lagging for any words to come out until words do, but not from his rather from Crystal behind who explains, “Yeah you’re not going to be able to stop her now.”
Thompson drops his hand down same as his head in instant defeat simultaneous to Dana’s increased enthusiasm as she wonders in astonishment, “So this is why the transport fees were so high…huh….”
Still desperate to find any way to pull away from the absurd direction of the current, Thompson contemplates with his gaze to the ground as one of the other adults behind him glances at a small circular hologram cast before his eyes for a few moments before vanishing, providing just the information needed for him to face Thompson and alert, “Sir, departure is scheduled now, we should begin boarding.”
A heavy sigh pushes out of Thompson in defeat before he just murmurs, “I shouldn’t have taken the internship all those years ago…,” before he raises his head up and in a more commanding voice he announces with a panning glance, “Let’s board now. Everyone, to your designated stations. And Dana to…,”
Facing the leader once more whose starry gaze is still gripped tight by the truck, Thompson sighs one more time and more somberly excuses, “To the drop pod.”
Most of the other adults provide a prompt nod before they begin walking towards the different vehicles, partners strolling to the SUVs whose doors dematerialize in their presence and squads taking to the buses whose single side door by the front also opens up with its own whooshes. For each bus there is one armed guard that follows as security, waiting for the rest to board first, although noticeably none of the crewmates in the jumpsuits follow into any of those six pods.
Instead they all congregate with the largest team that makes their way to the truck, the back of which vaporizes into a wider double door and is complemented with an extending metal ramp from the bottom of the door that meets the floor, allowing the remaining group to begin stepping inside the interior which from the outside seems to lead into a wide open compartment with bright white walls but solid tables constraining a more narrow path.
Thompson remains outside and waits patiently to watch the rest of the team take their vehicles while Dana glances back the other way.
Dana’s glance is to Crystal who smiles softly and shakes her head before muttering, “You’re really going to be the death of us all aren’t you?”
“Well how am I going to observe this if I’m off to the side?” Dana brings up an insightful question, leading to Crystal humming in contemplation for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders in understanding a meditation too deep would be beyond the original intent of the inquiry’s existence.
“I guess they should’ve figured you’d do this. Shame that you’re already out, I was hoping to squeeze more out of this little sendoff but I guess you have your little shenanigans to see to,” admits Crystal with another shake of the head and a smile.
“Then I guess you’ll just have to cancel another meeting for when I get back,” playfully suggests Dana with her own shrug.
After a short sigh Crystal confesses, “Yeah I might’ve already done something like that…,” before lowering her head in shame.
“Then I’ll keep my schedule after this free, maybe we could talk somewhere a bit…less chaotic,” follows Dana cheerily to the reveal.
“I mean it’s going to be somewhere with you so I doubt that’s possible,” jests Crystal with a smirk.
“That’s fair,” retorts Dana with a shrug and smirk back to her colleague but also clearly her friend.
Following that brief retort there comes a silence between them, their blissful smiles beginning to round out into more sentimental neutral curves, their fanatic gazes sobering all around into a more sincere expression; both of them.
They just gaze at each other in the understanding that their conversation is nearing its conclusion despite only having just started, an anticipated conversation after such an extended duration of no shared physical presence.
Only three remain standing outside, and the third one turns his attention to Dana to gesture, “Come on Dana, let’s not delay.”
To that command Dana just sighs with the lowering of her head, the words manifested to force a hard shutdown.
To that disappointment Crystal pushes out a reassuring but more subtle smile and earnestly wishes, “Have a safe flight, Dana.”
Successfully the message uplifts Dana as physically represented with her head to meet her gaze before then also pushing out a soft smile in acceptance and nodding her head before inviting, “Talk to you later.”
She then turns around and begins walking towards the last open door in all the vehicles, that of the truck which Thompson also follows from behind, keeping track of the crew put under his command ironically even including his highest superior.
Silently Crystal just watches Dana walk up the ramp and enter in the truck, continuing down the white interior before sight of her is obscured by Thompson who does the same, the two making their way to the head as the opening is met with a nanite cloud that rematerializes the door, closing it shut and concealing any image of either of them.
The ramp also promptly retracts back into the pod as the four SUV pods emit a wakening cry, rising just subtly higher off the ground from their passive levitation, although their whimpering cries are subsequently overshadowed by the roars of the two buses also being raised partially.
Lastly after the calming of the bus ignitions follows the dominant bellow of the beast who ascends up, the engine also dialing back its intensity to allow for the harmony of hums each at their own volumes and octaves, a symphony in front of the audience who stands now alone in the garage.
Due to the initial forward movement of the truck pod which is then followed promptly next by the two buses beside it, a gust of wind strikes the audience such that her long ponytail swings most violently back yet her body does not waver, her sight remaining on the fleet that drive past the white pillars of the gates and out into the open sky where they start to rise up same as the SUVs that start pulling out too.
At the head of the fleet at first is the truck although two of the SUVs take lead in front and the buses slide adjacent, reinforcing the center as they altogether ascend up the sky in an accelerated motion that rapidly shrinks their size when perceived from the garage.
It’s only in the matter of seconds that the large fleet is rendered to a few dots, the growing roars of their engines still being subdued by the distance to the observer, and in not too long they vanish into the white clouds altogether, out of sight into the great heavens above.
For a few extended moments of pause after the observer just watches as her ponytail settles or at least more than before, and once the distant roars taper enough that the passive breeze takes domination in volume, she shakes her head to herself.
Finally the observer turns around away from the fleet and begins her stroll back from the garage’s edge, her face a more neutral sober, not extensively sad or happy but instead aligning back to a professionally composed state that she’ll need to carry for the rest of her workday, as despite the childish side of her emerging upon the interaction with her friend in truth she is an adult with adult responsibilities and an occupation which requires a mature mindset.
Thus for now she has to adopt her still attitude that she masks with almost immediately, needing to sustain it at least until the end of her shift and until reuniting with the friend after her mission where she’d likely have much to say about the work trip.
Even if the remainder of the shift is likely to be mundane as are most days working at a job, especially one of the technical business levels of hers, the promise of a turbulent discussion at its end is more than enough to keep the flame of the spirit burning: something to look forward to.