A wallpad ORANGE

Chapter 3. The wallpad All-Seeing Eye

JULIE AND SALLY eventually untangled themselves from each other's welcoming, needy arms.

"Quick!" said Sally, warningly. "Let's get into the bomb-proof control room. There's still a small chance that a direct hit by a laser bomb on the safety elevator might yet deprive you of your claim to be having a 'lucky day'."

"What? How'd you know about that?"

"You'll soon see. Come on, now."

Sally attempted to lead Julie by the hand quickly away from the elevator. But ...

"Hey, hold on a minute," said Julie, pulling her hand free and causing Sally to lurch forwards clumsily. "I've got some goodies to bring."

"Oh, yeah, of course. Your canister of tofu-cabbage soup and half-a-dozen loaves of sliced wholemeal bread."

Julie gave Sally a quizzical look before rushing back into the elevator cab. She levered back the hand truck into a comfortable pushing position and trundled out of the elevator cab to join Sally.

"Come on, follow me!" said Sally.

"What's all this about a control room?"

"You'll soon see. All will be revealed."

And so, Sally led Julie—and her loaded hand truck—along a long corridor that led to the control room.

The double doors of the control room swished open the moment Sally reached within a foot of them.

"Oh my gawd!" exclaimed Julie as she swept into the huge circular control room behind Sally. There were monitors wall-to-wall, and desks full of complicated looking surveillance slates, but there was no-one except herself and Sally in the room.

"This control room is the central hub of the wallpad ORANGE East Ender surveillance system," announced Sally proudly. "This is a not so common Surveillance and Security Unit."

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Nope. This is the real McCoy."

"But there's no Orange Shirts here to control everything."

"Ah, but there is."

"Where?" Julie looked around, her eyes full of fear.

Sally smiled, almost sickly.

"No, there's no Orange Shirts here," whispered Julie. Then in a more confident tone she added, "Oh Sally, you are a one. You're just joshing me, mate."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Jules babe. But there is an Orange Shirt in here."

"Where?" Julie looked at Sally in a perfect state of befuddlement.

"You're looking at one."

Julie gasped. Her eyes bulged and her eyebrows arched high.

Sally slowly nodded her head. Her almost sickly smile melted into a definite sickly grimace.

"No, it can't be! Sally, this is madness. A sixty-six-year-old woman, an Orange Shirt?"

Sally backed away from Julie, walking backwards, not for one second taking her eyes off her.

She reached the nearest desk, and without even turning around to face it, she put her hands behind her back, and swiped and pressed on the surface of the desk's main built-in slate.

In response to her finger presses and swipes, a circular section of the reinforced steel ceiling opened up, and down lowered a polished titanium ball.

Terrified, Julie was mesmerised by the lowering ball. She knew the power of the technology of the wallpad ORANGE security systems.