Death Drive

Chapter 8

Cool inside air greeted Lucas as he walked through the sliding doors into a large reception hall. His pace slowed down on the white floor tiles, unsure where to go. Instead going directly to the elevator hub at the end of the hall, he made for information screen to his right, passing one of many islands of sofas situated at regular intervals in the sparingly furnished room. The screen lit up as he approached.

"Mr. Beckett," the computer-generated voice said, pronouncing every word clearly. "It has been 103 days since you last visited Ampere Headquarters. How may I assist you?"

"I'm looking for the Security Clearance Office. My clearance is supposed to get upgraded."

"The route has been sent. Please approve the upload." He OK'd the pop-up window and a blue line appeared on his lenses along with a small map of his location marked on a map of the building.

"Is there anything else I may help you with?"

He swallowed, and hesitated a moment before leaning closer towards the info panel and with a lowered voice said:

"In which department does Amber Liu work?" Rummaging through her profile had revealed they were employed by the same company, which was something he wished he had noticed in the first place.

"Miss. Liu's current position is Public relations and Brand Image, acting manager. Would you like to arrange a meeting with her?"

"Yes, I most certainly would."

"No, just checking. That'll be all," he said, turning to follow the line only he could see. Out of curiosity he checked the location of the PR department and saw it was situated one floor above Security. Bringing up a 3D wire model of the building he could see the building expanded both up and down, with floors piled high towards the sky as well as burrowing deep underground. His final goal for the day, the quarters of the AI processor, were on the lowest level, and drawn in dark purple wire to indicate the high security clearance required to get in. He stepped in the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth underground floor, the Security Department. The descent began. Before he could reach the floor, his hand shot out almost involuntarily, stopping the elevator one floor above the correct floor.

"Floor minus 3, Public Relations and Brand Image," a voice announced from hidden speakers as the doors slid open, revealing the offices beyond. He stepped out, trying his best to act naturally. He swept his tongue over his dry lips, but his mouth wasn't moist enough to have much effect. He walked like he had clear goal in mind when he wasn't even sure what he hoped to accomplish with the detour. The walls on both his sides were made of glass so he could see into the small offices beyond where people were tapping on their keyboards or having video conferences. He stopped to peer into a larger room. The office was like a modern take on the ancient Greek amphitheater, with computers set so one row overlooked the one in front of it. The center stage was taken by a large holographic display rendering data from various social media sites and most followed personalities. He examined the gathered information more closely, studying the ways such complicated details had been translated into easily digestible statistics and graphs, trying to find a hint of a solution to his own roadblock.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" the unexpected interruption of his daydreaming once again made him jump. He turned, blinking rapidly. It was Amber.

"We have to stop meeting like this, these kinds of scares are really doing a number on my cardiac well-being," he said, only stammering a bit.

"For once ruminating things just might work out in my favor. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...," he thought. "I imagined what I could have done differently so many times the lines are coming out of my mouth almost automatically."