I woke up to the noise of a beeping alarm, groggy as ever and quite flustered. I wasn't drunk, but I felt that way. In truth, I was tired as hell from working late, but hell...I couldn't complain…a job was literally on the ground.

After dishing some expletives at my lights, I eventually rolled over in my bed, feeling its emptiness. I squeezed the sheets on the opposite side, feeling the cotton ruffle between my fingertips. Melancholy hit me right in the chest and my anxiety took over. The loneliness I hated at times such as this. I wished what I yearned for to be there right next to me…in an instant.

I caught myself from that momentarily depressed state and finally pushed myself up. "Alarm off," I told my House Assistant. The beeps ceased immediately, and I turned to my right to watch the city as it came alive as it usually did around this time.

"Tint off," I grumbled hoarsely.

The dark tint faded from the windows into obscurity. Bridge City came alive, with sunlight and floating advertising boards to suit. The Skylanes were packed with cars, SUVs, Trailers…you name it—all hurtling through the skies to take whoever needed to get home or work, to and from.

I tapped the intercom behind my ear, initialising Nova and stretched a bit whilst I yawned like a baby like a cub rising from a long slumber.

A few tight clenches of my fist would fix the jolts of pain that shot up the right side of my body.

"How may I assist, Sir?" the A.A. asked, voice unnecessarily bright.

"Any updates on Adrianna Smith?" I grunted.

"Checking……nothing as yet, sir."

“I see.”

Still no case officer…ugh.

"Alright, perform a Diagnostic Check and send all the data to my cybernetic eye. I don't need to hear your voice so early this morning."

Nova didn't respond.

I pushed myself from the bed, letting my frustration wither away as I made my way towards the kitchen.

I tapped the display screen on my kitchen counter, and two options came up. ‘Synthetic’ pulsed into existence in the colour Red whilst Organic came up in Green.

"Like it mattered," I said to myself, selecting the organic option. A long list popped up offering corn flakes, rice, eggs, sausages, bacon, salt bread, meat rolls and a list of other mouth-watering options.

The cold smooth exterior Display-Table sent a soothing sensation across my palm, as I scrolled past my favourited choices, which were at the top of the list.

The system would automate the list, based on how regular I ate specific choices, it was handy at times, but also made me feel a bit plain…based on my choices.

Once I scrolled all the way to the bottom and eventually found myself scrolling right back up to that top, selecting a favourite.

Who was I even kidding? I thought, then selected Salt bread, Bacon, Sausages and Eggs. Plain as ever I thought to myself. The Timer popped up after I selected my dishes, advising me that I had a fifteen-minute wait.

“Perfect,” I said irritated, then slid one of my cups from the cup holder, throwing it under my tea maker, stretching my arm once more before turning towards the dining room and living room area.

I sidestepped the Display-Table, bumping into one of my two chairs, then bypassed my fridge which stood in the corner, to my left. I ducked under the arch that led to the living room.

The living room was dark, but once I stepped down, the lights dinged on. A surging cold sensation shot up my legs in the form of sombre smoothness. Thankfully, I had tile warmers activated, which activated once the sensors read the temperature on my feet and adjusted to my needs accordingly.

My living room had a three-piece sitting set, with a glass table set in the middle. In front of them were a 62" flat screen panel stapled to the wall. At least that didn't have ads running 24/7.

I pushed past those, catching sight of retro souvenirs I bought from OLD GOODS. A few cassette tapes and CDS below the flat-screen panel, grungy and old, but good enough to make my room feel personalised.

Once I reached the edge of the room, I tapped the tint button on the wall and waited a few seconds for it to fade away. Thousands of Skyscrapers littered across the city exploded into view, looking like grey grass on an open field. As usual, multicoloured neon signs were tucked in here and there. Advertising boards of all shapes, sizes and even in different languages floated above the grey blades of grass like fireflies.

I guided my hand across the window and felt its contrast with the skyline. No matter how many times I peered through this window, I still felt a breathlessness, seeing Bridge City in its full beauty.

"We've come far for a society that almost died during The Imbibe," I said aloud before heading behind the room divider to make myself busy.

Light exercise.

I started off with push-ups, slowly transitioning into burpees. Not the most strenuous of workouts, but it did fill the void of fifteen minutes until my breakfast was ready. I did a few jumping jacks and finished off with three sets of squats.

Upon returning to the kitchen, I yanked off the plastic sealing, ignored the receipt, wolfed down everything, and finally felt fulfilled after finishing my meal.

"Nova, diagnostic check percentage?" I asked the A.A.

Nova sent an enlarged number to my cybernetic eye displaying 88%. I sat there, watching all forms of advertising, waiting till the percentage bar finally hit 100%. Done.

Stancer Cybernetic Eye V3.8 Functioning at 88% Capacity — Software Update Pending. (Firmware Update)

Stancer Cybernetic Arm V5.97 Functioning at 94% Capacity — Software Patch Pending.

“88% and 94%? Interesting…”

Two Outstanding Payments notifications popped up on the HUD for my cybernetic eye. "Spunky today, aren't you, Nova." Noting Nova's warning. I have to give it to her at times. Despite just being an artificial assistant, she sure did display some independent thinking that I liked.

"Alright," I said aloud, "I'll bear that in mind, dial him up for me. I have a job that needs his expertise."

I tapped the telephone option at the bottom right-hand corner of the Tele-Table. The T-20 announcement for the next game fizzled out of existence, and the avatar representing Rex popped up in the form of a hologram.

The phone rang off. Twice.

Asshole.

I called him a third time, and the bastard finally picked up. "What…Cypher?" Rex growled, clearly agitated.

"What's up, bud?" I countered, trying to play it cool as ever.

“I’m busy…working.”

"No doubt, no doubt. I need your help wi—" I tried to say, but he cut me off, not having it.

"All credits owed are due to be paid in full before I do any more jobs for you…Cypher.”

"Humph…come on, Rex. You know I'm good for it. Hell, I gave you that advance that one time, remember?"

"Cypher…That was eight months ago. Crimon, you only did it to prove you were worth the credits!”

“And didn’t I prove that?”

Silence echoed across the line, and Rex's hologram head, simply shook as if knowing full well he knew where I was steering the conversation.

"Yes, Cypher… you're a man of your word, but I'm a businessman, see? I need to feed myself and pay these atrocious bills, so I need to continue to make money. So it's either you pay me now. Or forget my number."

Rex’s fizzled out of existence, making me grind my teeth into a laugh.

"Alright," I said to myself bitterly. I called back Rex after a twenty-minute wait. In times such as these, you couldn't seem desperate, and I was far from that.

"Check your account," I told Rex, not giving him the time to respond. I watched as the purple light which imitated his eyes jumped open, surprised from my very own surprise.

"That's fifteen thousand, ten for the last two jobs and this job paid in full. It's not that I didn't want to pay you, but those larceny cases are still pending."

I let silence separate us for a moment and waited for Rex to respond, and when he did. He had that shrewd business smile of his flashed across his face.

"What do you need, Cypher?" He said.

"You game?" I asked, ensuring he was fully on board.

"Always. Credits do have a way to sway a man like me."

“I’m sure they do. To business. I need the recent updates for my cybernetic arm and eye to be scrubbed.”

"Stancer Dynamic, right?

"Yeah. I'll need a few days for that. The inside man for the core code went missing a few days ago."

“Tragic.”

"Your sarcasm is noted, Cypher, don't worry. I'll get it done for you, just need some time."

"Good, surveillance to check some surveillance footage. Theme."

“Another larceny case?”

“No. Homicide.”

"Homicide? Aren't you an EXiCON? I swore you only handled misdemeanour offences."

“Apparently…I have Major Crimes to deal with, under some special protocol.”

“Special protocol?

"Yeah…B5-10. Have you ever heard of it before?"

“Never…but I’ll look into it. Do you want me to verify when it was made and when the last time it was initiated?”

"That'd be great, Rex."

"No prob, bud. Send on over the surveillance footage I'll go through it.

"Thanks, Bud," I said, trying my best not to roll my eyes.

I close waved my hand across the holographic beam ending the call and watched as Rex fizzled out of existence one last time.

"Alright…now that video analysis can take place… let's see about this bullshit regarding a case officer."

"Dial up Gonzada for me, Nova."

"Personal or Office Extension?"

"Dispatch has extensions? In fact, no…personal."

Nova dialled up Gonzada, who picked up on the third ring; no holographic interface this time, meaning he didn't have access to the camera. "Haven't heard anything regarding those larceny cases as yet, Cypher. I know I told you I'd look into it, but I haven't heard anything as yet."

"Well…Good morning to you too, Zade." I said, biting his name as I said it slowly.