Chapter Thirty-Four – Welcome to the Broom Closet

Chapter Thirty-Four – Welcome to the Broom Closet

“THIS SPRING! Come to… The SADDEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME! Turned into the FUNNIEST!

Schindler’s List TWO!

–Cancelled advertisement campaign, 2029

***

“Nice little… closet you’ve got here,” I said. “Is this really all the space you have to work with?” I gestured at the room past the student who was looking between me and Nya, obviously not sure of what to do yet. I was mostly trying to get him to talk.

That was often a good way to get people to chill out; complaining about something they wanted to complain about. Bitching was a time-honoured way to make friends and bond with folk, and I was hoping that this dude would calm down fast because he looked ready to bolt.

“Yeah, it’s what we have,” he said. “Uh, did you need directions or something?”

So, he wanted to run, but didn’t want to be rude to the two heavily armed samurai. Which, yeah that was fair. I’d want the same in his shoes. “Nope, this is where we wanna be,” I said. “Look, what’s your name?” I had his ID already, but I wanted to get him talking.

“Me?” he asked.

“No, the wall,” I said. I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, you.”

“I’m Kortas. Angelo Kortas,” he said before licking his lips. “Did I do something?”

“No, no. Look… okay, usually I’d ask to sit down or something, but I don’t know if we can fit that many chairs in there.” The office they had really was a closet. It was maybe three metres deep, but only one wide. A single bulb in the ceiling lit it up, and while there were a few desks crammed in with computers on them and loose papers around, it looked like they didn’t even have a power plug in there. Instead there was a long cord bundled up next to the entrance. I suspected that they ran it across the corridor to steal power from another outlet.

“There’s a lounge over there,” he said with a gesture back the way we’d come.

“Cool. Come on,” I said as I turned. I expected him to follow, and after a long moment of hesitation, he did. Nya seemed content to just smile and look around, as if the inside of some school corridor was interesting.

The lounge was a small space with one of those very square-angled couches that didn’t look comfortable and a pair of armchairs, both bolted to the floor. A large window at the back was opened up to the front of the building, giving a surprisingly decent view of the campus, and there was the obligatory plastic plant and a pair of vending machines.

I blinked at one of them. Six hundred credits for a can? I could buy a gun with that much. “Want anything?” I asked.

“Uh, sure,” he said.

I kicked the machine, then glared at it. I had no idea how any of the hacking programs in my Augs actually worked, but I think the machine felt appropriately threatened by my presence that when I poked at the selection buttons it started spilling its entire contents out.

I picked a can off the floor, then underhanded it to Angelo who caught it awkwardly. I grabbed another for myself, then waded through the cans to one of the seats and popped the tab. “Alright. So, I’m concerned about New Montreal right now,” I said.

I watched as Nya climbed up and sat on the backrest of the couch, her tail twitching behind her.

“The city’s actually doing alright, all things considered. We avoided having every citizen turn into alien chow, twice, which is nice. Reconstruction’s going, the sewers are getting fixed, and people are returning to something like normalcy.”

“Okay,” Angeloi said. “Uh, I mean… thanks?”

I snorted. “Sure. Anyway, I read your article. Well, the one you and your friends put out.”

“You did?” he asked.

“I skimmed. Anyway, I want things to go back to normal, to stay nice and safe. That way I can focus on what’s important; making sure Lucy is happy and not trying to take over the city. So, when I hear about gangs being uppity, I get a little concerned, you know?”