Flavia’s annoyance flared yet again. She had barely gone past a few floors when the cranky elevator jerked to a halt. Some kind of technical fault in this day and age? A fat elderly man beside her scowled and immediately tried to call someone on his holcom. From the frustration expression on his face, it looked like the call was failing to go through.
When nobody responded for several minutes, she briefly contemplated ripping apart the steel encasing and just leaping up to the roof, but she didn’t want to create a spectacle. Not only was she not alone, hundreds of people were milling about outside in this very building.
There would soon come a day when she would no longer have to worry about these people. When the cosmos would be ready to accept them for what they were, but it was not yet the time. For now, she had to tiptoe around the rules set by the God king. The man beside her was increasingly getting agitated. Something about getting delayed for some pathetic, inconsequential meeting.
They didn’t have to wait long. Soon, a maintenance light lit up in a corner and with a whining sound, the elevator realigned with the floor below.
A young auxilium wearing a receptacle over their left eye, and holding a rollable tablet in right hand, greeted them with a fake smile. Their face was gaunt and pale, with deep-set eyes that betrayed an underlying tension and anxiety. A mop of unkempt, sandy-blonde hair fell haphazardly over their forehead. "Oh, I am so sorry for the inconvenience. We strive for the highest level of amenities for our customers, but once in a while something does happen that slips through our safeguards."
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Flavia did not need a single glance towards the technician to know their sincerity was fake. Their heart rate was normal and her heightened senses did not detect any apocrine secretions. She had barely stepped past him when the young auxilium yelled out behind her in a quivering voice.
“Ms. Flavia Ortimus, Right? Oh, you are such a big inspiration. Could you please share an autograph?”
The elderly manager, who was obviously employed by Emerald Crust, turned towards him with a look of disdain. "Who is your manager?"
"Oh, this will only take a minute." The overenthusiastic technician practically thrust up their device on her face, paying no attention to the other man.
Flavia had intended to simply move on, but then she saw the text that shimmered into existence on the glossy surface of the device. In small letters, the text said: 'WE MAY BE ABLE TO OFFER A BETTER SOLUTION FOR YOUR SHIPMENT PROBLEM'. Behind her, the other man muttered something inaudible and walked away.
Frowning, Flavia looked back at the auxilium, and immediately noticed their demeanor had changed. The childish, frivolous smile was gone, and they now stood straight upright. Their finely arched and dark eyebrows framing their eyes now appeared to add an air of quiet intensity. Their lips, thin and pursed, revealed a hint of a serious thoughtful expression.
"Not here," Eli muttered, pointing towards the launchpad above. "Somewhere discreet."
Below the text, a logo flashed on the tablet, A stylized H circled by a pentagonal star. Helicon.