The pale light of the City's nightlife filtered through the thin white curtain, illuminating the foot of the bed.

Mariko sat up, pulling the sheet around her naked shoulders.

She leaned back, taking the cigarette from her lover’s mouth. With a slow drag, she gazed at the window, contemplating the source of its light. There was no moon. The City made its own light at night. Inescapable, really. There was no true darkness out there in the City. Only inside, shut off from the outside, with no exterior illumination, was there any chance of true, deep darkness. Peaceful darkness.

She glanced behind her, slowly exhaling. Alexander Wolfe sat against the headboard, face illuminated by the mobile device he was scanning intently.

“Always working, aren’t you,” she said.

“No rest for the weary,” he replied absentmindedly.

She flicked ashes into an ashtray on the nightstand. Wolfe frowned at the screen, and hastily punched out a message before continuing to scroll through his message feeds.

“You seem particularly distracted tonight,” she said.

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“Mmmm,” he replied. “There are system outages popping up all over the globe. Apparently a bogus software update. Long and short of it is that EnOps will have to pick up the slack this quarter.” He shook his head and tossed the mobile away. “It’s going to be a busy summer.”

“So… what about me?” she said, passing the cigarette and leaning in. Her long dark hair fell around shoulders, framing her face in the faint light.

He took a quick pull on the cigarette. “I don’t think it should impact your plans. Your transition to a full-time role in Facilities becomes official next week, right?”

She nodded, listening. He continued.

“Honestly, the timing couldn’t be better for you. It sucks for me. I’m going to have to wrap up the internship program very soon. It’s becoming a drain, and the results just aren’t there. They’re all a disappointment really. Present company excluded, of course.”

“So when you say wrap up the program… Do you mean to send everyone home?”

Wolfe frowned. “No, not exactly. There’s a small chance some talent might actually emerge… so I’ll probably give the pot one final stir. See what rises to the top.”

“What will happen to those that don’t rise to the top? Just curious.” She reached back for the cigarette.

He handed it over and shrugged, confused by the question. “I don’t care. Neither should you. Survive or not, their time at the Company is over.”

She took one final drag on the cigarette and snuffed it out in the ashtray.