Page 53 of Anarchy Missing

He waves a transparent hand in the direction of a bank of elevators and I start walking. He walks next to me, stride for stride, and his shoes even make a soft tapping sound on the black polished floors.

The elevator doors start opening before we even get there and then Steve disappears and reappears inside the elevator.

“That was a cool trick,” I say, joining him inside.

“I’m not seamless,” he says, frowning. “I can only appear where there are sensors.” He points to the ceiling of the tall elevator.

“Gotcha,” I say.

There are no buttons on the inside of the elevator, but nonetheless, the doors close and we start ascending.

“What’s Case working on?” I ask, just trying to fill the awkward silence.

“Apparently,” Steve says, “the city is having a crisis right now. He’s trying to figure out what’s happening. We sent all the other employees home. Which pleases me, since I was the one ordered to greet you.”

“Yeah,” I say, remembering all the shit that’s happening outside. “How do you guys have power?”

“Backup generators,” he says as the elevator comes to a stop. “And I sure do hope he figures out how to fix the city. Because if not”—he drags a finger across his throat—“it’s the ax for me, right?” He smiles, like this is a joke. But just as abruptly, he frowns. “I have complete faith in him.” He waves me forward and as soon as I take a step, he’s flickering to life in front of me again.

Not seamless.

I’m having a conversation with a computer and a few beams of light. It makes me shudder.

“Right through here,” Steve says, pointing to a pair of double doors and a large office with a view of the entire city beyond. We walk in together and I can’t help it, I go all the way over to the windows and look around.

“Wow,” I say. “This is quite nice.”

“Yes,” Steve says. “Watch this.” He produces a snapping sound with his flickering fingers and little red dots with small labels attached to them appear on the glass in front of me. I back away, startled, but then catch my breath and take a step forward, curious as to what I’m looking at.

“Anything you want to know about the city can be found by touching the glass. It will even talk to you. Like an interactive history lesson. Go ahead, give it a try.”

I look around, then choose an area in the distance and press my finger to the glass. There’s an electric shock and when I pull my finger back, there’s a small speck of blood on the glass. When I reach up to touch it, it… disappears. Like it was drawn into the glass somehow.

“The hell?” I ask, confused.

“Sorry about that,” Steve says, tone still jovial. “Must’ve been a power surge when we turned on the generators and caused a buildup of static.”

“But…” I stammer, searching for the right words. “Where did my blood just go? It’s like… it got sucked inside the glass.”

“Oh, it won’t damage the machine. See those tiny lines?”

I squint my eyes to the thin wires embedded into the glass in a mesh pattern.

“That’s the computer. I’m sure that tiny speck of blood was just absorbed into the plate and didn’t bother it at all.”

“Sure,” I say, annoyed.

“Go, on. Give it another try. It’s fun, you’ll see.”

I give Steve the stink-eye.

“I promise,” he says. “One more tap. Anywhere you want.”

I look more carefully at the city this time, wondering which part of it to choose. I finally decide on a tiny area, near the entrance to the Merchant District.

The window bleeps to life with quick red flashes, and then calms down and begins to speak.

“Cathedral Seven was built by the corrupt Head Merchant, Theodore Sayer, after the Second War. It was believed to be a place of worship, although which God or demon he was praying to is still up for debate. Shortly after the cathedral was finished someone had the good sense to blow it up and Head Merchant Sayer was arrested six months later for tax evasion, drug running, and ordering the deaths of four people in Wolf Valley. He spent the rest of his life in prison and was killed by fellow inmates less than three months after sentencing. The cathedral was never rebuilt and now stands in ruin to remind the people of the Merchant District that the city delivers its own justice.”