If I had been late, there was nothing they could do after all, I ran the show. Nobody could tell me where or what to do, the orders came from me. I shouted, they ran. I was the conductor. I never wore a fancy hat, nor did I make a train whistle, though nobody dared stand in my way. That's the world of ruthless business. I called the shots,  actually, my money did.

          Business was booming. Supply and demand, plenty of supplies, plenty of demand. After the uncountable economic crashes, the world plagued with numerous wars, crime was abundant, people needed an escape, and we were it.

         We were the 30th century saviors to decades of lost refugees. By now, euthanasia had become the most lucrative enterprise to have ever existed, all thanks to the pandemonium created by the greedy leaders who came before. Money nor territory would suffice, they wanted more. This lust for power ended it all, tyranny on a massive scale, fascism out of the ball park. Though like every dynasty, empire, or ruler, it crumbled. Though it brought the rest of the world with it.

        I could feel the sun piercing through the curtains, as it slowly crept its way toward me. Eyes closed, but the warmth started to rise, from my toes till it finally hit my chin. I slowly opened my eyes, my alarm had rang out its desperate call hours prior. I lifted my head and took a glance toward the window. The blankets had been scattered around the room, the cleaner had obviously not arrived quite yet.

          Turning to my side, I slowly got up from bed. My leg had still been fast asleep, so it wasn't a charismatic leap, but I straggled my way across the room to watch the sun rise. I slid the door open and walked out onto the balcony. A beautiful view, horizon flashing purples, orange, and red. I held the railing and took a look down, you could see the the dots of people strolling along the side walks, early birds. 

        The greatest city in the entire world, eden, the only city. Way out there, in the distance, beyond these eyes could glimpse, was the security barrier. Greater than the wall of china, which lay in ruins by now, an archaic reminder of a lost age. This wall separated us from the Neanderthal savages  who lurked the forgotten world. It was a desolate place, hell on earth, a haven for degenerate perverts and the closest reincarnate of demons alike.

              I hadn't been born yet, but from what I learned in school, nuclear assaults had left the forgotten world, lifeless, penetrated by a thick layer of radiation killing everything. Those that ventured beyond there, were never seen again, and those that arrived at the gates were beyond repair.

      I was responsible for their farewell party. As I said, lucrative business. Nobody protested, not even patients. At times melancholy set in, but for the most part, all parties were in complete agreement with what would come. They invited it. Living on the outside ensured this.

The sun rose steady, I had been sitting their reminiscing for sometime. My tranquil daze was interrupted by the soft voice of Ivette, the cleaner. She poked her head out the door and in her softest voice began to speak.

"Hello Daniel, did you have yourself a lovely evening last night, I  hope your morning was as pleasant. If you wouldn't mind, I will start now, if that's fine with you. I don't mean to intrude. If you'd like, I can come back later"  

She came as a shock, I barely grasped what she had said.

" Darling, you're welcome at anytime you'd like, feel free to do as you please, there's no rush at all, if you'd like we could share a coffee on the veranda, I'll tell you all about my night. Do you mind? "

" Of course we can Sir. I'll get some Joe prepared immediately"

She disappeared as quick as she came into the condo, and as fast as she had gone, she appeared again, coffee in hand, taking a seat in the woven wooden chair to my side.

"Hope the coffee isn't to hot, I set the machine to warm, but as you can see, seems to be on the fritz again."

I smiled and laughed, with the steam rising past my nose.

" So Ivette, how have you been, I'm not working you too hard, am I?. We wouldn't want that." I had a large grin on my face while speaking.

"You're very generous Daniel. If anything I'm indebted to you for this, with the current economy, people are lucky to even get a meal these days" Which was true.

                        Her eyes glowed with anguish as she said this,  she never struggled to regain her strong demeanor. She was a very independent and beautiful young woman, early twenty's and hard working.Charming in every sense. 

                  When we first met, her father had been very sick, the pain had been overwhelming, he chose to leave us. He had been a friend of family. She was younger and had no place to go. When she mentioned she worked at a local hotel. In a disgusting and transient part of town, with no place to call home. I offered her the job. I never needed a cleaner nor a maid, but I had an endless amount of disposable income, so she got a small portion. The job was only a rouse, I knew her stubborn pride would never except blatant charity, so my intentions had to be disguised.We both knew what was taking place, but for the sake of being professional adults, this was the only way. 

"You're right and were fortunate. Let's cut the formalities friend. How have you been?"

"Dan, I've heard you're having a party? When were you going to tell me?" She winked with a devious smirk, the coffee began to kick in.

                I couldn't answer her question, because I never heard of this bash, it stroked me as an obscure question. I wasn't following, nor was I fully awake yet. Then it dawned on me. My birthday was coming up.

             I started to speak when she jumped in mid sentence. " Where and when did thi....."

"You're awfully monotone this morning, are you in there? You're birthday silly, you do have a birthday coming up in a few days don't you, sooner actually. As a matter of fact, tomorrow. We should celebrate, do you not agree?"

She was right, nothing was really connecting today, so I ignored the topic jumping into a pretentiously detailed account of last night and what had happened, the reason why I had been avoiding the daily commute and work in general.

"Ivette beautiful,  let's not go there, what's another year, twenty seven. Who gives a damn. Let's get it over with already. Did I tell you about last night?'

"No!  So work ran late into the night. We had been testing out new equipment. The new arrival of these strange contraptions, technological marvels the scientists tried to explain. Engineers rigged them alongside with a multitude of helpers alike , scientists, you know the  sort. It was all beyond our heads, me and my associates were just spectators."

"Dan, spit it out, your boring me."

"Would you like to clean my sheets then?" I could tell that made her furious. So to avoid her debilitated womanly wrath, I jumped back to the story.

" You see things didn't go right, the machine nearly exploded, it felt as if the whole building shook, we all dove to the floor to shield our selves from what we all thought would be our end."

She jumped into the conversation, her maternal instinct on full throttle. " Are you ok, you aren't hurt?"

" No, no, but something remarkable, yet clearly impossible occurred, for those moments, everything felt light, there was no weight, we all began to float. It was like nothing any of us had ever seen. Mr Oko, our lead scientist, was screaming god save me,  grasping the leg of a table that was floating to. I was speechless, and where his beloved contraption used to be, there was this large blue ball of what looked like electricity hovering."

    She smiled and I could see the disbelief that didn't hide itself, her face lit up in laughter. " So what was the machine for?' she said sarcastically and barely coherent though the laughter.

"Good god, the hell If I know, I just funded the project. They said it was important so I believed them, I throw my money at anything with a pulse you know me"

So you're telling me you defied gravity or something, along those lines, where's this going, maybe I should get to the sheets"

"I don't even know what I'm trying to tell you, Ivette, I don't even understand what happened. I'll show you, it's still there, what ever it is. Hovering. I don't even think the scientists or anybody expected results like this, they created something totally unexpected, unknown."

" What about the sheets?" Came a tiny murmur from her barely moving lips.

 She was frightened, and confused. Her disgruntled yet beautiful facial features made this clearly apparent.

          The nonchalance and apathetic relaxed demeanor of this conversation, had shifted to something serious.

"Forget the sheets, you just throw them in the laundry shoot anyways, that's nothing we can't do together quickly?" My smirk was huge, hit the apex of excitement at this moment, nothing could stop me from showing her.

It was contagious, her eyes wide as can be, disbelief, excitement and confusion all mixed into one.

"Is it safe?" she whispered , she was no longer sitting but right in front of me staring into my face.

"As far as we could tell, yes, we watched it all night just hovering. The whole building is locked down, quarantined off, surrounded by researchers and a variety of scientists of all fields. I'm the only one with access, what I say goes. Let's go, get ready, I'll call the limousine."

          She didn't have time to agree, I grabbed her hand and yanked her inside. She was startled, but complying with my impulsive whims. I jumped into a suit as fast as I could possibly manage in my dilapidated condition. She stood there laughing as I rolled in shambles trying to get dressed. Though all this took minutes. Light was pouring in from all directions, the modern decor was atrocious in the daylight which only prompted our departure at magnificent speeds.

         I ran down the hallway doing my best to put on my suit jacket, she held my hand being dragged along behind. We were sliding room from room, then through the kitchen, everything was a frantic blur. We busted out the front door and straight to the elevator.

            The elevator door couldn't have closed fast enough. I swung open the elevator phone, dialed the lobby and ordered them to get security to lock my room door, cause in our adrenaline stricken rush. It slipped my mind. 

      Pressing the lobby button impatiently, taking one last glance at Ivette. Her hair was a curly black mess, but nothing could hide her gleaming smile. We were on our way, and the tension had reached it's boiling point.

 

 

 

 

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