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Elevator jazz.
A cramped cabin packed with people, their muttering blending into a single, irritating hum while she opened her eyes.
So annoying!
She thought, the whole space felt hot from their combined presence, the atmosphere tense in the same way their bodies were. Sienna was practically pressed flat, squeezed into a pancake while she held her wrist up, the edges of the screen warped like damaged film.
The overhead lights were dimmer than before, barely offering enough illumination to see.
No matter how she scrolled or pressed, nothing would load—leaving her irritated. A moment later, the speakers crackled to life.
「Annou—ent....slig...e...or. W...keep y...up..ated.」
A loud voice, obnoxiously loud to the point it sounded like it was breaking apart.
Just as quickly, it disappeared, leaving them all questioning. A few of them grumbled and she wracked her head to try and decipher what the announcement was.
Okay…'announcement', obviously. Something about a…slight delay? What's 'e' supposed to mean, or—no—error? 'We'll keep you updated', maybe. Yeah, that part sounded familiar…probably...
The elevator slowed, a short ding chimed before the doors slid open halfway—the lights flickered while the doors paused for a second, then continued the rest of the way.
Sienna stepped out with a few others, no longer eager to be pressed flat any longer. She let out a relieved sigh, taking in the dimly lit lobby.
The other elevators nearby were either packed tight or losing passengers, the people left behind wore all kinds of expressions.
She speed walked through the river of bodies, ducking into a corridor to put some distance between herself and the crowd. Leaning against the wall, she pulled up her bracelet, logged in, and flicked through until the map appeared, tapping the air a few times.
Let's see…a few turns, then up a couple flights of stairs. Walk through some places, then down a floor—and my room there, right? Just a twenty-minute walk. Yeah. Just twenty minutes. It's not like I'm in a hurry or anything.
She huffed under her breath, selecting the shortest route. The screen blinked, then returned back to the home screen.
A simple white house icon took center in her sight before sliding off to the right. Sienna followed it with her eyes until a number popped up beside it—only a couple hundred meters away, highlighted in red.
"You...thi...k we were attacked?"
Her ears perked up at those words, playing pretend with her bracelet when simple white arrows appeared on the ground before her.
"I mean, it's not impossible…but the ship would've still been shaking."
The voice slowly dissipated while they walked away, swallowed by foot traffic and overlapping conversations that padded their words. Their words lingered anyway, sticking and mixing with her thoughts while people brushed past her.
Attacked…
She glanced down at the slim arrows again, watching them subtly alter to the shifting crowd.
I'll grab some cash, just in case.
Sienna decisively though, pulling the map back into focus and adding a stop along the route. Another icon blinked into view at the edge of her sight, some distance away, pointing to the nearest banking kiosk.
Straightening up from the wall, Sienna walked to her right with purpose, following the guiding light—a few glanced around too like the walls would collapse on them. Others kept their hands close to their bodies, like they were afraid to lose something.
Nervous could be their embodiment.
She took a turn. Then another. Walking straight, only to take a turn, turning and turning every corner the arrow pointed to.
Sienna climbed a short flight of stairs, the sound of her footsteps echoing louder than she expected. At the top, the arrows pointed to a left, guiding her down a narrower corridor.
A banking kiosk sat there, several half hidden by metal pillars and poor lighting. One of the overhead beams were visible from the long neglect. The machines themselves looked functional, but the poor lightly made it look worse.
Yeah…this looks sketchy.
Sienna slowed down at the entrance of the recessed wall, casting a look a the very shady spot—the camera in the far corner barely doing anything to alleviate the mood.
She veered toward another kiosk instead—and in the blink of an eye, she found herself in front of an ATM, set in a well lit recess. Voices overlapped one another, the uneven chatter of people filled the space.
Quickly, Sienna pulled out her card and pushed it in the slot ringed by a blinking green light. Punching in her pin, the screen changed to display her generously filled account.
I really just blew through everything I got paid—and then some. Why?! Dummy. It's way more than I thought.
With a sigh, she selected an amount—enough to last a couple of weeks, hopefully.
A few taps later, her card popped back out alongside a printed slip, which she quickly tucked into her purse. The machine whirred, counting the bills inside itself before a thick envelope slid out from a lower slot.
She grabbed it and stuffed it away, throwing her eyes up to the mirrors mounted above the ATM, making sure to check her surroundings.
Five grand should be fine right?
With that, she turned and picked up her pace, following the spaced out arrows glowing faintly along the floor—
The closer she got to the center of the vessel, the more people appeared, their faces carrying a wider range of expressions. Every other corner, no, every third or fifth—held some form guard. With each step forward, the corridors regained their color.
By the time she reached a main staircase, she slowed to catch her breath. The steps were wide—wider than the her garage back home. Muttering under her breath, she climbed up up, wrapping her fingers around the railing for support.
One flight, then another.
Twice, thrice, and once more until she reached her floor.
Here, she eased her pace. Only a few more turns separated her from Ikade.
With every step, the scene shifted like a movie—the crowds thinned out, their voices fading to background noise, with the air growing into a soft hum.
She stopped in front of her room and pulled out the access card, unlocking the door.
"Hello? You in here? Hello? Kaede?"
Sienna asked, closing the door behind her.
Looking down, she noticed the floor had been recently cleaned—her shoes squeaked lightly with each step. Up ahead, sunlight poured through the large open space, the glare harsher than usual—she could practically feel the heat radiating off the metal.
"Was something spilled?"
The answer came from the sound of running water. She took a few steps farther inside, heading toward their room. Stopping in front of the bathroom, she confirmed it was in use. Hearing Ikade hum softly inside, the ache in her shoulders finally eased.
With a small shake of her head, Sienna turned toward the bedroom. She walked up to the bedrest and quickly unzipped her bag.
I should probably put these on, just in case.
She pulled out her shorts, followed by her shoes sealed inside a plastic bag.
Turning around, she opened the short closet and rummaged through a cabinet for some underwear, tossing them onto the bed. She added a yellowish rain jacket on top after a though. The edge of the hood carried some brand lettering stitched in cursive, written in a language she couldn't read, atop the white rim.
Sienna kicked off her shoes while she was at it, shrugging out of the jacket she'd been wearing and reaching back for her pistol. She placed it into the bag now resting on the bed, then quickly made herself scarce of the rest of her clothes.
By the next moment, she was already dressed—top and bottom on, zipping the jacket halfway up.
Chrrrrrk—
Her head snapped toward the door.
Ikade stood there, towel in hand, drying her face and hair. She froze when their eyes met, taking a small step back in surprise. The feline opened her mouth, only for the words to collapse into a single sound.
Her face flushed red and she gave up entirely, refusing to speak.
"What'd they say—about the announcement?"
Sienna asked, straightening up after tying her shoes. She sifted through her bag again, pulling out her belt and looping it through her shorts.
"Someone had a 'little lapse' in judgment and crashed into something—that was pretty much it."
Ikade responded while pulling on her clothes, briefly lifting her fingers to make air quotes mid sentence.
Sienna, on the other hand, reached back into her bag and pulled out part of her setup—only to pause and stow her medical pouch away instead.
She clipped the panel—the only piece left outside the bag, onto her belt and let it hang loose before grabbing her pistol and closing her backpack.
Her feline friends threw a long, worried glance at her pistol, lingering on it before flicking back up to her face.
"You don't actually need it...do you?"
Sienna froze, stiff as a board. Her gaze slid to her covered backside, the bandages peeked out beneath the fabric. She opened her mouth like a dying fiskaz, then hesitantly spoke.
"For…self-defense. I mean—to keep you safe."
"A-anyway." She said suddenly.
"What about you? You didn't get hurt, did you? It was a pretty strong hit."
She curved the conversation elsewhere, sliding her firearm under the jacket and letting go, leaving it to rest there while she waited for an answer.
Ikade was by now, dressed down with a simple tee and jeans.
"No, just juice." She lightly shook her head. "It spilled on me, so I cleaned it up and picked up the stuff that fell."
They moved into the living room and sank down onto the couch, the cushions giving under their weight. Sierra reached forward and turned on the screen bolted to the wall.
Sound filled the room almost immediately.
"We're just going to wait, then?"
Ikade asked, watching the screen change with every button press.
"Yep."
Sienna eventually settled on something random, letting the movie play—drowning them in something other than the awkwardness between them. They sat back against the couch, the glow from the screen was overpowered by the glare outside, the hotness washing them only mitigated by the air conditioning.
It was a movie about a man who could kill with a pencil.
On-screen, he stood still, calm to the point of being unsettling.
「I'm thinking… yeah.」 He said, letting go of the corpse slumped over a table. 「I'm back.」
The body hit the floor with a pencil lodged deep in one eye.
Not long after, a smaller screen slid into view beside the main display, hovering slightly off to the side.
The movie continued playing another fight breaking out, but the new screen stole her attention. Centered on it was the vessel's logo, beneath it sat a frozen timer.
00:00
No matter how long she stared at it, the timer refused to budge.
Sienna watched the movie with Ikade, only occasionally flicking her eyes toward the frozen numbers. At some point, a thought crossed her mind. Sipping her pistol out from beneath her jacket with the muzzle angled toward the floor, then leaned to the side and setting it gently on the ground beside the couch.
Its muzzle pointing away from either of them.
With that done, she let her shoulders drop.
She leaned back and closed her eyes, the sounds from the movie dissolving into soft white noise. Their voices, thumps, bashes, and the music faded into an afterthought.
Taking a deep breath, her chest heaved with every inhale, resting her mind.
'00:00'
░█░
'59:58'
'59:57'
'59:56'
'59:55'
'59:54'
'59:53'
"Are you really just going to stare at it?" Ikade said, throwing a quizzical look at her.
Sienna didn't peel her eyes off, just letting the movie play as background noise.
'59:44'
'59:43'
'59:42'
"Yep."
Sienna said, the counter more interesting than the movie itself.