I guided the Xenotis to the LZ spotted on the roof. I pulled my door and let the cold wind rush in, stealing what little warmth I had in my car.

The rooftop was normal, it had the elevated LZ, with a set of stairs to my left and beyond that, a walkway leading inside the building. At this point, I wish I had my pre-imbibe jacket to keep me warm.

The pain in my side returned, but silently. It didn’t feel like a hammer pounding into my side, but a silent song, rising in tone, intermittently. I winced, of course, biting my lips as I went down the staircase, feeling the anaesthetic patches rubbing themselves gruff across my skin.

That aroused my headache, the one I felt after deciding to come here. It was like my brain vibrated against my decision, and left the sounds of beads rattling in my head. At least, I still had my brain intact.

I approached the door, leading to the building and noticed it was open. Weird. I didn’t have the time to think about it, but I acted on it.

I tapped under my shoulder and remembered that I’d placed my Teleari-X in the glove compartment of my car. I lethargically made my way back up the ramp, and pulled it free from the glove compartment, only to find one bullet left. Damn it.

Not having much else, and I didn’t want to bother Shedrick, I slid my pistol back in its makeshift holster and made my way through the door.

The staircase went down three flights before I came to an eventual door. Sliding doors to be precise. It queued me up and slid open easily. “The lack of security leaves much to be desired,” I said out loud, but that wasn’t my business.

The floor was well lit and was numbered 85. The Number 2 grew from the ground, along with the word ‘Life’ beneath it. Second Life Inc?

Interesting, I thought. Lyiez System didn’t own the building, but rented, which meant a few things. They sat around the mid-level table of the financial food chain, within Bridge City; they weren’t wealthy.

That also answered a security question, a building such as this was probably a low-end earner, which usually came with its security force, which probably was old sap, just doing work to get by. If it were a high-end earner, like most ‘wealthy’ companies, they’d have a PMC force, patrolling the building constantly.

The corridor was well lit, with lights beaming a line. The grey tiles matched the ivory accented walls. I saw my reflection as I walked down and made a right. The walls lacked the expressionist art that were usually found in such buildings, but it had ten glass cases filled with Pre-Imbibe memorabilia. They weren’t pristine like some I found in trinket shops, but that was understandable. The dated look gave it a ‘stamp of approval.’

To those, it mattered.

I made my way to the end of the corridor, made a left and saw a fleet of elevators. On the right of the elevators was a list of companies that occupied the building, and there were at least five hundred of them.

I squinted and hunted for Lyiez Systems Inc, and finally came across them around the 30th Floor. I waited for the elevator to reach the 84th Floor and made my way to the 38th Floor. The descent was smooth and cosy, with a floral fragrant scent wafting around the elevator from the air purifier, stapled to the roof.

The elevator opened and the Lyiez Systems logo was the first thing I saw. It was a generic logo, with the L and S, intertwining with each other, with the INC, below it. It wasn’t pretty after I eyed it for a moment, but I guess it got the job done.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

After stepping out of the elevator, I looked left and right, noticing the lack of illumination within the corridor. It meant one thing, no one was here, but why was the top floor unlocked?

I stimulated my SMB, switching to night vision within my cybernetic eye. It hazed for a moment, then I felt it go blank, then populated with emerald highlights brightening the room, in one eye. I should use that contact lens more often, but how regularly do I expect to find myself in these situations? Not much…but that’s about to change.

I went left, then made a right, behind the elevator shaft. Lyiez Systems was partitioned off with semi-circle ‘cubicles’ with white padding around each one. These cubicles were separated into groups of five, and I counted five within each group. Data Cluster?

They had a Holoboard display emitter in each group, which provided the cluster with some form of light. I guess even corporate companies can’t get away from the advertising I mused. I made my way to the centre of the office, amongst the data clusters and noticed a room, barely lit about five meters to my right. The angle made it pretty clear it was a corner office.

I gave myself a better angle to see what was around the corner and then noticed flames erupting from buildings shown on the Holoboard display. It wasn’t an advertisement, but a public service announcement.

The volume was off, so I couldn’t hear what was being said, not that I needed it. A bulletin announcement came across the Holodisplay.

“Welkins Industrial District set ablaze by Radical Workers.”

I shook my head, and ground my teeth. Radical…such a ‘trendy’ word. “The commissioner's hands are full,” I whispered. “This is crazy.”

The shaky camera showed an overview shot of the entire area. First, the entire screen was filled with smoke, and barely able to see anything, but once the smoke cloud dissipated, scorched bodies appeared, lying on the gravel on the ground below.

From the looks of it, it was either a ‘radical’ or a police officer with their arms outstretched, trying to reach for a machine gun that lay between them. It was a haunting sight.

The camera switched to a road barricade of cars, making up a temporary blockade. They’re digging themselves in I thought, but why?

I shook my head, confused by this, why was there a war in the Industrial District? Was this the reason for Protocol B5-10? Did the commissioner raise my status temporarily to allow her enough wiggle room to weather this storm?

So many questions…but I knew full well I wouldn’t get any answers. This is folly. I watched as the flames from one building climbed over to another.

I watched the video for five full minutes, as the ‘Radical’ Workers fired waves of bullets at riot police, who fired back. Where did the guns come from? Who sourced them? I inhaled deeply, feeling my brain pulse from exhaling.

“No. I have to get back to the case I’m being paid for,” I said aloud. I turned from the Holodisplay emitter and stalked my way towards the light that bent around the corner.

I hooked the corner and I saw a white door with a silver knob. I turned it in and then noticed the name on the door ‘Stepson Vizare Chief Executive Officer.

A flood of white light rushed through the door, almost blinding me. That’s one thing I hated about Bridge City, the amount of varying lights that were found in this city. I’m surprised my natural eye still had 20/20 vision.

I took note of the room after my eye re-oriented itself. I stepped inside and noticed the difference between this office and the Commissioner. If I had to guess, I’d say that this office was a third the size of Hexan’s office.

The room had everything a bachelor could want, a minifridge with a grill stacked on top of it to my right. A small coffee table with two small sofas opposing each other next to the desk.

The most fascinating sight of it all was the bookcase that had a brown sheen when the light reflected from it. I could tell it was masterfully varnished, and could only guess what type of wood it was. Mahogany?

The table though, unlike the rest of the office, which was neat, was littered with hundreds…no, thousands of papers. It was polarising to see when I compared it to the rest of the room.

The room smelt green too and based on my observation, that came from the three plants that sat in the open-aired corners of the office. I couldn’t tell what the plants were, but I knew they were genetically modified, based on the zebra-like stripes and the yellow foliage that emanated from all three of them.