Irritium - Prologue
„Give her a dose of about twenty and that should do the trick. Once her firewall is down, plant the file and the bug will do the rest of the work for you. Nothing unwanted will remain, she’ll be good as new. Not even a space monkey like you can screw up this one.”
„So, you are here to apply for a position as a caretaker, Miss… Bradford?”
Lynette tore her eyes away from the window and the sight of the city of Whiteford during sunrise. She looked up at the man standing in front of her. His hair was a dark shade of brown, almost black. He wore a black suit and had his eyes fixed on a clipboard. There was a name tag placed just above his heart. Leonard Dorian, Head Assistant. Lynette got up and nodded, careful to not move to quickly, lest her own red hair would break free of the tight knot she had put it up in.. “Yes.” Head Assistant Dorian still didn’t so much as look at her, but she could make out the displeasure in his voice well enough. “We usually don’t take in new caretakes during third quarters of a cycle.” Lynette nodded. “So I’ve been told. However, I specialise in memory recalibration deficit fragmentations, and as far as I know your facility has had an incident about these recently. Mr. Gladstone of the Keyes-Sanatorium recommended me to apply.” A pause followed, though the guy had visibly tensed up at her words. And then he clicked with his tongue. “You are exceptionally lucky that Miss Scrivens concedes to see you. Follow me, please.” Lynette wasn’t sure that the Head Assistant ever tore his gaze off the notes on his clipboard while he turned around and entered a long, light-blue hallway. They passed a couple of doors, before they stopped in front of one. Now, finally, the guy looked up, but just long enough for the retina scan to happen that let him enter. Behind the door another hallway awaited them, though this one seemed less blue and more grey. It was hard to be sure, though, seeing that the light emitted from the walls, the ceiling and the floor was almost blinding. That sure was one way to keep people from looking to closely at anything here.
“What about the other one?” “What do you mean?” “The one with the same face as you.” “Oh, the copy. Leave it be. We can’t be sure that it isn’t just coincidence that it is in the same facility. This face was a popular one in the last decade. Whoever commissioned that one, they had good taste, didn’t they?” “…you’re so full of yourself.” “Oh, come on, little space monkey. You can’t deny that I’m a particularly handsome stud.”
The hallway led them around a corner and then towards an open, wide, but empty room. The only feature of the room was a wall that was completely made out of glass, just like one in the waiting room Lynette had sat in before. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the silhouette of the city, for just a brief second. Then Leonard Dorian paused again and turned around. He had taken out a pen and was now scribbling down something on his board. “Wait here, please. Someone will pick you up as soon as Miss Scrivens can squeeze you in between one of her appointments. It shouldn’t bee too long.” Lynette nodded. Before Dorian could move past her and head for where they came from, she made a step into his way, holding out her hand towards him, in front of his clip board. He blinked, and looked at up. Their eyes met for the first time, and Lynette smiled. The shade of green in his irises probably had cost a whole lot of money. “Thank you.” He seemed puzzled, almost taken aback, but his reflexes kicked in and he took her hand to shake it.
“Let’s agree to disagree on that and instead get back to what this really is about, shall we?” “As you wish. When the bug is done, it will erase itself. Nothing will point towards you, so don’t get nervouse over nothing. No one will be the wiser that you were involved in anything. Just stay cool until I can come and pick you up.” “That is exactly what we should talk about. I don’t think that we will have that much time.” “Now what is that supposed to mean again?” ”There’s something I need to do, and that will absolutely lead them to me.”
As he took her hand, Lynette could see the recognition flash through his eyes. It was marvellous to see the emotions erupt on his face. Confusion, shock, anger, despair, acceptance. As Lynette opened her hand again, he reciprocated the smile. “I have to thank you.” Lynette folded her hands in front of her body. “You’re welcome.” The guy turned around now, and left the room through a door at the other side of the room. Lynette turned towards the window again. Whiteford had never looked as nice as now, coloured in a deep red that vaguely reminded her of rasperyjuice.
“…you bloody fool. You damn bloody fool. Lynette?” “At your service.” “…damn you. Bloody asshat. Do you even have a clue what you’re risking? Of cause you don’t, or you wouldn’t do this. I knew from the beginning that it was stupid to get you and your kind involved.” “My kind?” “You think you’re a bloody hero, don’t you? You think you can save them all. You and your do-gooder-organisation. But you’re no hero. This is reality, so wake the fuck up, airhead. Your not saving them, you're killing them. You're killing everyone. If you go through with this, you’re on your own, you understand?” “I do. I was on my own from the beginning, in case you don’t remember the Companion-Incident.” “Oh, so that was you as well? Fuck it all. Does anyone in this stupid organisation do a background check anymore? Screw you. Screw this. Screw them." "Is there anything else you would like to get off your chest before I break the connection now?" "I mean it, Lynette. Screw it all and stop this while you still can. What do you mean to accomplish? This won’t lead to a better world or a new future. I don’t know what they promised you, but believe me - it won’t come true. This is no fucking fairytale. You don’t know jack about what is happening.” “Really? Because I think you still don’t understand what this is about.” “I damn well understand. Better than you. What you’re doing will lead to a mass murder. Blood bath. Genocide. Call it what you will. What you’re initiation is…”
“Irritium. I know. I’d say ‘See you in the void’, but I expect you won’t be their either, … will you, Sinclair.”
(Words: 1,059)