1:57pm, Thursday

Two claws suddenly sprang up in front of a tall, blond haired youngling as he walked down the street. They encircled a holographic advertisement as he walked through it. Unaware. These advertisements were everywhere. Popping up on store fronts, on the sides of the skyscrapers to show new products, and on the pedestrian walkways to proclaim special deals or new products coming soon.

This was the Triga Lake City.

Different languages clanged off the walls of the buildings. Different smells filled the air. The motorway was silent as usual, filled only with the hum of the BubbleME’s cruising through the streets. But the pedestrian walkways, they were as loud and bustling as ever.

Ten feet down the walkway, a second hologram sprang upwards at him. The clawed hand came reaching for his face from behind a sign: DiMech Inc. FEEL Movie. Coming soon!

Another ten feet and a face came snarling out at him from behind the sign. Someone sidestepped into him to avoid the hologram.

“Hey!” He pushed back. “Watch it. I’m walking here.”

The person fell at his feet making several of the crowed stop and turn, stunned.

“You…you pushed me?” A woman was on the ground looking up at him with wide eyes. “You pushed me?” Her voice becoming more shrill.

“No, I—”

“H-he pushed me.” The woman pointed at him accusingly. “He pushed me!”

“PC Youngling…?”

“Violent..?”

The youngling looked around nervously at the questioning crowd.

“…Did you see that?”

“Pushed that woman…?”

“Here, let me help…” He bent to help the woman up but she burst into tears the moment he touched her.

“Violent…” The crowd whispered definitively. Their eyes turning from questioning onlookers to accusing stares.

“Punishment…”

“Violent…”

“…Collar.”

“Violent…”

“Youngling…”

“Violent…”

“Murrderrerr…” That one whisper snaked through the crowed alone. But it was the one that made Dryden turn pale. He hunched his shoulders and sped through the growing crowd. Not caring who he pushed or muscled out of the way.

He got ten feet when a fourth hologram appeared. The same snarling face came out at him. Just as he passed through it, he heard that whisper again. “Murrderrerr…”

His eyes went wide and he bolted into a side alley. Sprinting as if he were being chased for his life.

“Having fun?” A man’s low whisper cut through sound of the youngling’s heavy breathing as he passed camera after camera that lined the streets of the city

“Perhaps.” Gary snickered in the pale light of the shifting holographic images. The blue light reflecting onto the older man seemed to accentuate his harsh cheekbones and stretched skin. In his hand was the microphone he had just used.

Someone snorted in the darkness as Gary switched the image from the youngling hurrying through the city to a girl in a rather unremarkable bathroom scrubbing her neck furiously. In the mirror, tears streamed down her face. She angrily yanked off her shirt exposing a fluttering, twirling, and dancing iridescent woman on the small of Tash’s back

“Take note boy. This is Tash Mirra’av, the first Misstress-in-training to every attend the Akademy. She—”

“What happened?” Garett’s strained voice suddenly filled the room.

Tash whirled around startled. “I-I don’t know. The EPC just went weird during lunch.”

“I saw. In fact, the whole school saw…This wouldn’t have happened if you had waited for me to make an appointment with a real artist when you wanted the EPC—”

Suddenly the sound cut off.

“What happened? What did you do?” Gary whispered harshly.

“I didn’t do anything.” Keystroke sounds filled the air. “It should be working...”

On the screen, Garett picked up Tash shirt and thrust it towards her. His nose was wrinkled as if he had smelled something rotten. She looked at it for a moment than back at Garett, her eyes wide. Her lips moved, but still no sound came through.

“Well it’s not working.” Gary snapped. “Fix it.”

“I’m trying…” Suddenly the image cut out and a sharp rap sounded through the darkness.

“Don’t you dare break that boy!” Gary voice came crawling through the darkness like a swarm of insects. He tried to grab the darkness again, but he got only air.

“Do you want sound or not?” A click sounded in the darkness, and the image blinked back on along with the sound of heavy breathing. Garett’s chest was heaving. One hand still held the shirt while the other was curled into a fist. Suddenly, Garett whirled and punched the stall door. It crashed open with a loud BAM.

“See? Fixed.”

Gary’s hand snaked out and grabbed the darkness, shoving it down onto the table with a dull thud. “Do not disrespect me, boy. When I tell you something, you say yes sir…” A chair creaked. “Is that understood?”

“Yeh…” came the muffled response

There was another dull thud and a muffled grunt.

“Yes sir.” The hushed voice was almost drowned out as Garett began to speak: “Don’t you dare ruin this opportunity. This is the only one you will get. Mess this up and even I won’t be able to help you, little cousin.”

“Cousin, cousin, cousin. I’m not—”

The sound cut out again.

“Good. Now figure out what’s wrong with the machine.” Gary turned back to the image. Garett’s left hand was twitching along his sleeve as if he were trying to flick away tiny insects as he watched Tash talk animatedly. Suddenly, his twitching hand grabbed Tash just as she turned back to the sink and yanked her around to face him. She struggled and they both ended up half facing the hidden camera.

The sound crackled and popped as Garett began speaking. “You…mine…I wo..n’t let…get i..nthe way o..fthat.” The sound finally stabilized. “Not even your Qui Duty. Do you understand?”

Tash just glared at Garett.

“Now, have you accepted your position in the top six yet?” Garett continued.

“Yeh, this morning.”

“Good.” Garett released Tash and leaned against the sink, his eyes slowly inspected her. “I need you to get close to Kirosh. Being his partner during the next two years of training will be crucial.”

“But—”

“No buts, Tash.” Garett pushed off from the sink and begin to pace behind her, a slight shade of pink starting to crawl up his neck. “It’s either Kirosh or Arina. Since you don’t like Arina, you take Kirosh. I’ve already got him—”

“What about Dryden or Roshcar? Why does it have to be only Arina or Kirosh?”

“Because they have the best potential for future contacts.”

“Kirosh? He’s from the Middle Bracket, Garett. How does he have potential? Rosh would be better. And why Arina? She—”

“She has connections to the President of Qui.”

Tash pursed her lips. “What about you? Why can’t I be your partner?”

“We can’t be partners. We will get more connections if we split up. And besides—”

The sound cut out again just as Garett turned his back in the image. His left hand once again touching his arm. Massaging it.

Gary’s eyebrow twitched.

“It’s not our machine.” Came a muffled voice from somewhere under the table.

“No…” Gary said slowly. “It isn’t.”

Garett and Tash shifted around in the image. She went to gather more towels and he half turned to follow her.

“D…o..as..yo..u’re told.” Garett’s voice crackled and hissed through the room. Stabilizing as his left hand grabbed Tash’s wrist as she walked in front of him

“I. Have. Been.” She said through clenched teeth.

“Not well enough, obviously.” Garett lightly touched her neck. “You’re little escape from lunch became a gossip tag. A gossip tag, Tash.” His hand suddenly grabbed her cheeks roughly and shook her head. “How many times do I have to tell you not to make a scene?”

She didn’t answer.

“I was the one that had to watch your embarrassing escape over and over again at the table. Instead of doing the things I wanted during lunch, things that would have helped further the plan, I had to sit there and convince Rena not to socially ostracize you—them that you are worth keeping around. I could have ignored your little stunt and just done what I had wanted to do, but I had to change that plan to cover for you…I’m doing this for you.”

Tash yanked her head away angrily. “Is that what you’re going to tell Arina to get her to trust you? That everything you do is for her?”

“…What does Arina have to do with any of this?”

“You like her Garett. I’ve see you watching her.”

“She has valuable—”

“Connections, yeh, I got it…just leave Garett…I don’t…to worry about me.” The sound started crackling again. But Garett wasn’t touching his arm. Instead his back was turned away from the camera. In the mirror, his lips moved.

Gary’s eyes narrowed as he focused the image on the mirror. “I’m doing this for your own good, Tash. Why can’t you understand that?” He whispered in place of Garett’s voice.

Tash looked at Garett through the mirror. Her face contorting into a sneer. “Really? My own good? I though you only brought me so that you could use me for your own benefit—to help your stupid plan. Isn’t that why you had me make friends with Lena, or date Rex, or take Ancient agriculture of all things just to get close to Rena the Queen?—”

“Ishnik!”[1] A muffled Mara’an curse wafted up.

“What?” Gary asked absently, still focused on reading Tash’s lips. “—And now you want me to get close to Kirosh while you can get cozy with Arina? Arina of all…”

Suddenly a scream filled the room, jolting awake a blob of clothes in the far corner of the room.

“…Got the sound back.”

“I couldn’t tell.” Gary said dryly.

“Det’topas`t!”[2] Garett hissed at Tash in Mara’an as he launched toward her and yanked the towels away from her neck. He pulled her sobbing form smoothly into a hug and shifting so she wasn’t looking into the mirror.

“Calm dow…just…nan..otech…” The sound crackled and popped for a moment before it stabilized again. “…I’ll get you an appointment to have it removed. It will be gone by tonight, yeh?” Garett fished out his HOL form his back pocket and quickly punching in a few keys. Gary zoomed in to catch what was appearing on Garett’s HOL.

“What are you guys watching?” The blob of clothes had unfurled itself and wandered over to the table. It had a smooth baritone voice.

“Ah, Arko.” Gary waved for the form to sit. “Nice of you to join us. Perhaps you could help your useless brother get the sound to work properly.”

“What camera are you using for this?” Arko entered the circle of light enough to light up his face and dirty blond hair.

“The R-8” A head materialized out of the darkness on the other side of Gary, the blue light of the image spilling across his dark hair. No longer whispering, his voice also came across the darkness as a baritone. But where Arko’s was smooth this one was husky like he had been shouting for hours.

“Why are you using the R-8?” Arko sighed exasperatedly. “It’s the easiest to hack into.”

“We have firewalls.” Gary sniffed as he focused the image on what Garett was punching into his HOL. Tash still crying on his shoulder.

“Yeh, and a quick search on the HOL database can give you ever spec you could ever imaging on how to get around an R-8 wall. Here Falcon…” Arko threw his HOL to dark haired man. “Plug that in and run the Ex-8 program. It will tell you if another device has been synced with the camera or not.”

The head disappeared back under the table while Gary furiously scribbled down what Garett was typing.

Suddenly a loud beeping noise filled the room. Gary clicked on a second screen, allowing for the image of the tall blond haired boy to re-appear. His hand was on the handle to the front door of the Gavi Quintar Government building.

“He finally made it.” Gary snickered as he pulled up the youngling’s sensory information from his contact with the door handle. “High levels of norepinephrine, fast pulse…perfect.”

“Am I missing something?” Arko asked.

“Just some fun—”

“Ishnik!” Falcon cursed loudly. “Two other devises are using the camera.”

“What?” Gary’s head whipped under the table, his spine showing under his jacket at such an angle. “Who?”

“I don’t—”

“Run the M2F7 program. That should find the other devices.” Arko yawned.

“Sir,” A woman’s voice filled the room. “Dryden Ekbur has arrived downstairs. He said he has an appointment with you.”

A soft thud and a long stream of curses filled the room as Gary banged his head while trying to sit upright again. A smirk twitched on Arko’s face in the pale light.

“Ye-yeh. That is correct.” Gary fumbled with the intercom like a dodgy old man. “Let him though please.”

“Yeh, sir. Right away sir.” The woman clicked off.

“Find out who is listening in.” Gary said as he stood and stuffed his HOL in his pocket. “I want—”

“One is coming from within the Akademy, the other is coming from this building.”

Gary snorted. “One of the Generals, no doubt. But who from the Akademy would know of the camera?...”

“Sir,” the woman’s voice came on again. “I’ve sent the youngling up to your office.”

“Thank you Arline.” Gary took a few quick steps to the door. “Find who was listening in to the conversation, boys. I want to know which general was listening in and who from the Akademy has a curious nose by the time I return.” Then he was gone.

“Sir?” Arline’s voice came over the intercom again. “Sir, are you there? I sent the youngling to your office.”

Arko snorted and reached over to push the speaker button. “He heard you Arline. He’s on his way over.”

[1] Shit

[2] Stop it