130.

  Dressed in a cheap polo shirt and brown slacks, with my hair freshly combed, I hurried through the streets of London’s Core. I wore a pair of fake glasses that apparently allowed Hex to see what I saw and an earbud casually in my ear to listen and communicate with him. I still felt naked. I had a few bits of gear stashed in my messenger bag, but otherwise I was just vanilla old Alex, exposed and weak.

  To make matters worse, I never liked being in the Core. The people were too fashionably dressed and cold. The streets were so busy yet fastidiously ordered. It felt like there was a way to dress, a way to walk, a way to be, that was just entirely foreign to me. The streets were too clean for a gutter rat like me. But I wasn’t Alex from the Mulberry right now. My name was Terrence, and I was an IT contractor just going about my business.

  Fortunately, people in the Core were too busy to care about anyone else. I was dressed just well enough that I didn’t draw any attention, but every time I heard the whirr of a surveillance drone my heart raced.

  The Core was so alien. There were nothing but monolithic skyscrapers everywhere. They shot out of the ground like mushrooms at the base of a dying tree. I had always felt insignificant, but now I felt like an ant. But the Core was frigid. A sterile pretence of a city. No one here spoke to each other. There were no shops and nothing to see other than the brutal reality of commerce and business. And the whole place was heavily monitored. There were cameras absolutely everywhere, with drones buzzing about and droids rolling through the streets beeping gently. Nowhere in the world was as heavily surveilled as New London’s Core.

  “There it is,” Hex said in my ear.

  I looked up and saw the towering Cobalt Holdings skyscraper. It was a huge glass and metal monstrosity that punctured the clouds.

  “Nice and calm,” Hex said. “Remember, you’re just here for work. Just a normal day.”

  I took a breath, checked the badge clipped to my belt, and smoothed down my hair, before stepping through the enormous glass doors. The lobby was busy. There was an enormous desk with four immaculately dressed, and weirdly homogenous, receptionists sat behind it. Behind them were two guards in dark suits with earpieces, and an automatic barrier with key card access and a metal detector next to the reception desk.

  One of the receptionists barely looked up at my arrival but still flashed me a bright if robotic smile.

  “She’s gorgeous,” Hex said and I felt heat crossing my face. Hex wasn’t wrong, the receptionist was definitely ‘gorgeous’.

  “Go straight to the barrier, you don’t need to check in.” Hex said.

  I made my way to the barrier and fumbled with the badge on my belt. The imposing guard next to the metal detector peered down at me. My palms suddenly began sweating. I fiddled with the clip and yanked it off my belt before slapping it down on the card reader. I stared down at the card reader, determined not to look up at the guard who was watching me with mild curiosity. Suddenly the reader flashed red and the gate remained shut.

  My eyes widened and I looked sharply up at the guard. He took a step towards me and looked down at the reader.

  “May I?” he grunted, taking my badge from my hand.

  I froze, remembering what Hex had said about the badge not holding up to deeper scrutiny. He looked at the card and turned it over.

  “Contractor?” he asked.

  “Yeah, updating the firmware on your antiplasticity detection software,” I replied rapidly, spitting out the drivel that Hex had taught me.

  “Oh right.” the guard said, clearly not understanding a thing I had said. He reached up to the radio on his lapel. “We have any IT contractors on the books tonight?”

  I didn’t hear the response as it went straight to the guard's earpiece but I knew Hex had already fiddled with their systems enough to get me on there. The guard nodded, peered at my badge for another second, and then rubbed it against the card reader. It flashed green and the barriers opened.

  “It’s a bit temperamental,” he said. “You should start with upgrading this.”

  I was sure he was making a joke, but his face remained in its permanently fixed scowl of suspicion.

  “Haha,” I said weakly before thanking him and hurrying through the barrier.

  I walked through a set of double doors and was swallowed by the building’s pristine sterility. A wall of cool air greeted me and the scent of artificial lemon and something clinical like freshly cleaned metal filled my nose.

  “Good job.” Hex said in my ear. “Take the elevators up to the 18th floor.”

  The lobby was wide and airy. Bright polished floors reflected rows of sleek desks and busy employees tapping away at keyboards. None of them acknowledged my existence, I was just another IT guy, another body among hundreds. My fake badge scanned green and I stepped into the elevator.

  Pleasant music played as the massive mirror walled box descended smoothly upwards.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Don’t look so nervous,” Hex said.

  “You can see me?” I said.

  “Reflection, duhh,” Hex replied sarcastically.

  “Oh right,” I said, feeling foolish. “Sorry, last time I was in an elevator three guys busted through the ceiling and tried to kill me.”

  “What an interesting life you’ve led,” Hex said drolly. “You scrub up well though.”

  “Do I?”

  “Sort of. I wouldn’t kick you out of bed.”

  And now I did blush, trying to hide it with an awkward cough.

  The elevator pinged open and I walked out onto an empty floor.

  “This is the service floor,” Hex said. “There’s no offices here, so it should be quiet.”

  The hallway was less aesthetically innovative. It had white walls, white ceilings, and soft blue light humming from recessed panels. I walked down the corridor trying to act as if I belonged, which was difficult because that wasn’t a feeling I was really familiar with in any aspect of my life.

  “You need to access the server room,” Hex said. “There’s two security doors but the badge will get you through there. But the door on the other side is biometric protected.”

  “Okay,” I said. “So how do I get through that?”

  “I’ll walk you through it,” Hex said. “You’ll need to gain access to the backside of the panel and… shit!”

  “What?”

  “Ermm…”

  I badged through the first two doors and I realised what Hex had seen: security.

  Two men in navy uniforms were standing on either side of the server entrance chatting but alert. They stood with the bored stiffness of men who didn’t expect trouble but were prepared for it anyway.

  “There aren’t supposed to be any guards up here on the night shift,” Hex said. “You’re not going to be able to gain access with them two there. Walk past them!”

  I walked right past the two guards and they barely acknowledged my presence with little more than a few glances at me before they resumed their conversation.

  “There’s a break room further down the hall, keep walking.” Hex hissed.

  I glanced back over my shoulder but the guards were paying me no attention. I walked down the hall and saw the empty kitchenette with a few plastic chairs and a rickety table.

  “Well?” I said.

  “Hold on,” Hex snapped. “I’m checking through the roster, maybe they're just working a bit of overtime. Wait there.”

  “Yep,” I muttered. “I’ll just hang out here.”

  “Grab a coffee or something! You look weird just standing around! There’s a camera up there!” Hex said, and I could hear the furious clicking of keys in the background.

  My eyes flicked upwards to the corner of the room and I saw a black globe nestled in the top right corner of the room like a giant spider. I wandered over to the kettle and began mechanically putting together a cup of coffee, sweat trickling down my spine.

  “Any luck?” I muttered, trying not to move my lips too much.

  “If I had I would have said, now be quiet!” Hex snapped.

  The door opened behind me and I almost spilled my coffee.

  “This is total BS, man! This is my third night shift this week!” I heard a well spoken but youthful voice behind me.

  I looked into the reflection on the glass wall next to me and saw two figures had entered the breakroom. Both looked like they were only a few years older than me. They each had floppy curly hair, jumpers that were too large, and accents that marked them as from somewhere leafy with expensive schools.

  “Right? Totally unfair! I was supposed to go out for Jemma’s 23rd and instead I’m stuck here!” the other one replied, he had brown hair and a green oversized jumper.

  “I bet it’s to do with that bloody breach Jeremy was screeching about last week,” the blonde haired one said, crossing the break room to stand beside me while he poured a cup of coffee from the kettle I boiled.

  “You alright mate?” he said to me with a good natured nod.

  “Contractor?” the other said, nodding to his friend knowingly.

  “What?” I replied dumbly.

  “You’re a contractor, aren’t you?” the blonde one said.

  “Oh… yeah right sorry. I am.” I said.

  “Bloomin’ heck they're even dragging in extra hands because of this,” the blonde haired one said. “I’m James, that’s Tommy.”

  “I’m Terry,” I said, returning their nods, thankful I hadn’t blurted out my real name out of habit.

  “What’ve they got you in for?” Tommy, the one with brown hair asked.

  “Oh… the usual crap,” I replied, rolling my eyes for effect and thankfully that seemed to be the right answer.

  Tommy and James both snorted and rolled their eyes too as if we had all just shared some secret joke.

  “Typical,” James, the blonde one said. “On a Friday night too!”

  “Probably because of that breach,” I replied, watching his response.

  Confidentiality, apparently, wasn’t one of James’ strong points.

  “Oh you heard about that too? Some crackpot got into some miscellaneous folders for a few seconds and now we’re all having to work over time!”

  “What files did they get into?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

  “Apparently, they were prowling around some company financial accounts, probably just some scammer trying to make a quick quid.” James said.

  “The scuttlebutt is that it was a former employee.” Tommy chimed in.

  “Really?” I said.

  “Probably didn’t get their bloody overtime sheet stamped,” James chortled and we all joined in, although I still wasn't quite sure what the joke was.

  “But I heard the brass has scrubbed any trace of it from the system already,” Tommy said. “We’re just here to fix the flaw that let them get in.”

  “Joke that,” James said. “How can we fix a flaw we’re not allowed to see?”

  “Above my paygrade, that one,” Tommy said.

  “And mine,” James replied. “We’d better get back to it if we want to leave before sunrise. Terry was it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well good luck and keep your head down and you might actually manage to leave this place!”

  They both laughed and walked out with their coffees.

  I stood and watched them go.

  Someone had already broken into the server a week ago? And they were looking at bank accounts?

  Was it Hex? I was starting to get the feeling I was being led by the nose here and I didn’t like where we were going. My earbud crackled back to life.

  “You're not afraid of small spaces, are you?”