Messages (original story)

Okay. I'm putting one of my stories up here on the forum for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy! Or don't!

CHAPTER ONE

I awake to a loud ringing in my ears. Blasted alarm clock. Moaning, I roll over and slam my hand down, silencing the piercing shriek of the machine. Blissful quiet ensues. I really should be getting up, but right now all I want to do is turn over and go back to my dreamless sleep. Unfortunately, I have a job to do today. I lie there for a minute more, before sighing deeply and getting up. I stretch and look about for my clothes from the day before. Picking them up, I walk over to the hamper, half full with other articles of dirty clothing. I toss them in and turn to head towards the door leading to the bathroom adjoining my room.
The rest of the flat is silent. All of my roommates are still in their own fantasy dreams, oblivious to the true world. I turn the water on; let it run while I stare at myself in the mirror opposite me. “I look like shit,” I say, before feeling the temperature and pulling the knob.
The scalding hot water wakes me fully up. I lather all over my body, making sure I’m soaped from ear to tail. The wash I’m using has no scent; there’s no need for smelling good in my true line of work. Soon enough I’m back out and toweling down, making sure none of my fur is sticking up. I hear an alarm ring from somewhere else in the large building. “Sounds like I’m not the only one with plans this morning,” I mutter as I pull on a black t-shirt and a pair of shorts. No need to get all formal for breakfast.
Stepping out of my sanctum, I am greeted by the empty hallway. The alarm is still going off in one of the rooms to my right. I, however, turn left and head into the living room, headed for the kitchen. Our home isn’t too decorated; we have all the furnishings and that’s about it. You know, a television or two, wall computers in some of the rooms, a dock for our headsets to charge. That sort of thing.
I’m in the kitchen, starting to make some scrambled eggs when the snow leopard walks in. “Morning,” he says, moving over to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of beer. “This early?” I question, raising an eyebrow. “Must be a busy day today, huh?” “You have no idea mate,” he says, sitting at the table and clicking the remote to turn the TV on. “Humph,” I say, adding two more eggs to the three I already had cooking. “Well, it isn’t my place to say. But Willion, don’t make this a habit, or else you’ll end up living in the slums someday.”
“Yes, mom,” he says, grinning and taking a big drink of the liquid. I shrug and keep an eye on the eggs in the pan as I watch the news with him. Of course, the news show is pre-recorded. No live events are shown on TV; the government wouldn’t be able to control what we see and don’t see. That’s their main goal in life-to control the flow of information about the planet. No message, no recording, no show, NOTHING, can legally be sent without it going to the Tower for examination.
Of course, you don’t have to do things the legal way. That’s what keeps people like me in the business. But I’ll explain what I mean later. “Huh. That’s interesting.” Willion’s sitting there enchanted by the article the news woman is reading. Something about a new invention that can translate what you say into a different language before it’s heard from your mouth. I shrug and dish the cooked breakfast onto two relatively clean plates. I hand him his as I sit in another of the chairs, spooning into the meal without any pause.
When I am done, I place my plate in the sink and nod at the feline before heading back to my room to get dressed for the day. Faint snoring can be heard from the room opposite mine. “Heh, sounds like Lag’s not going to be up for any time soon,” I chuckle, closing the door and muting the sounds. I pull on a black overcoat with straps, and slip into a pair of charcoal cargo pants. I then put on a random pair of socks and sit back on my bed, undoing the buckles on my boots and pulling them onto my feet.
I grab my messenger bag and sling it over my shoulder. I then head back out of my room, almost ready for the day. Only thing missing is my headset/eyemask. Back in the living room, I grab it off the charger and slip it on. Someone once said they looked similar to the protective headwear snowboarders wore back when there was snow, or mountains for that matter. I lean my head into the kitchen. “I’m off,” I say to Willion, who is just now starting to eat. “Okay,” he says, nodding with a mouth full of egg. “Oh, Amadeo, don’t forget that tonight there’s that massive event that Lana wanted us to go to,” he reminds me as I walk out the door. “Will do,” I call back, before stepping down the stairs leading away from the head to the Statue of Liberty.
Yeah, you heard right: the Statue of Liberty. It was bombed back in World War IV, before there was one official government ruling us all. Instead of wasting time and effort to pick up the pieces, they built around it. Turned it into what looks like ruins, but is actually a large home… our home. Considering most people were traumatized by the accident, the people before us got it cheap… and then we took over when they died.
I head out down the sidewalk, hovercars speeding silently next to or above me. With the ability to fly, our traffic problems stopped being so much of a hassle. I ping a taxi on my headset and soon enough, it’s hovering in front of me. I get inside and let him scan my ID from my set so he can send the charge to my account. My account that’s not a true account, per se; having no known identity kind of puts a damper on your ability to identify yourself.
Ten seconds later, we are airborn and I’m watching the towering buildings and the odd assortment of colors that is other traffic speeding past. Taxis have their own special driving section thanks to a bill passed a year ago; personally, I think it’s one of the few things the government did right. Soon enough, I’m jumping out of the car onto the roof two feet beneath me, a silent nod all I say to the driver, who doesn’t notice, acknowledge, or probably even care.
I reach into my bag and finger a small device resting underneath some papers and other odd objects. Pressing the larger of the three buttons, I hear a soft pinging noise arise from inside. I sigh then, and relax against the low stone wall that was built to keep viewers from walking right off. Nothing to do but wait. I don’t want to start any music over my headset, or else I might miss the ride coming to collect me.
Ten minutes later, I hear a whining noise coming from below and I look down to see a large bright yellow hovercraft shooting up rapidly. “Heh... that would be Chronos...” I chuckle, pulling my bag up and stepping onto the small wall. Soon enough the whining vehicle is in front of me. I push a button on the side and the door slides open to reveal three rows of seats. None, of course, are taken.
“Morning,” I say, stepping inside and sitting where the driver can see me. “Any other stops before we get to headquarters?” The large bird sitting at the wheel shook its head. “Nope, none that I know anyway... but in times like these, you need to be prepared for surprises, eh?” I laugh and buckle my seatbelt, placing my bag on the seat next to me. “In our line of work, surprises are commonplace,” I say, as he pulls a lever and the craft shoots forward. I sigh and relax in my seat.
However, that wasn’t to last. A pair of arms wrapped around me and pulled as I yelped in shock, “W-What the he-“A voice seemed to come from behind me.“Hehe, surprise.” A large lizard seemed to appear from out of nowhere, seated in the row behind me but leaning forward. “And you seemed so prepared, too,” said the chameleon, giggling as she leaned back in her seat. I rolled my eyes at her. “Don’t do that, Osa... you’re going to give this poor husky a heart attack sometime.”
She barked out a dry laugh. “Maybe you need to learn to not get so surprised.” I ignored this and turned around again. “Five minutes,” the albatross said, reading the question I had about to ask like it was written on my face. I smile and try to relax again, the lizard behind me still chuckling slightly.
Five minutes later, the hovercar lands on a metal plateau that is situated next to a gigantic tower. It pales in comparison, of course, to the tower where the main government is located-that thing is estimated to go almost a thousand stories tall-but it is still rather tall. Our HQ looks, from the outside, to be a simple temple for the few people still clinging to religion to worship their various “gods”. If anyone came they would see the first floor, which actually IS a temple, and assume that the rest was just a towering monolith- the destroyed staircases add a nice touch- that was dangerously close to collapsing underfoot were anyone to set foot up there.
How wrong the outside can be. In reality, there is stuff in our HQ that would boggle the minds of most normal people. Several floors of research and development to come up with new gadgets, gizmos, and goodies to help us runners on our assignments. Millions, easily, of terminals for the operators to keep track of us. A huge twenty something floor underground academy for the new recruits. Housing for the people who have no homes. What the outside shows is a falling apart temple. What the inside holds is easily the most illegal organization on the planet.
Osa and I nod at each other and part ways, as we have different jobs in this business. She steps into a hidden hovertube that will take her to her lab while I wave a goodbye to Chronos, who waves back and starts up his huge transport again. I step around a large mound of fallen “debris” to come to what looks like a dead end. I step on what would seem to be a broken piece of tile, but what actually makes a beeping noise and lowers into the ground.
The tiles and stones on the ground shift to reveal a small stairset leading into the ground. I go down it, the ceiling reforming behind me. I come to what looks like another dead end, this time stopping and waiting. Soon enough an intercom buzzes. “Name and Operator.” “Amadeo, Natch.” “Approved. Welcome back, Amadeo.” And just like that, the wall swings to reveal a large metallic atrium in which large amounts of people are moving around, some heading to go perform their jobs while others are coming from entrances like the one I just came from, just in different places in the city.
I pull the same device I had used earlier out of my bag and press the second of the three buttons on the top. I then hold it up to my mouth and say “Natch, meet me at the breakroom nearest our terminal. I’m on my way.” “Whatever you say,” was the heavily accented voice that came from the other end. Putting the strange gadget into my pocket, I turn and head towards an elevator, oblivious to what the next mission would have in store for me...