City of Darkness and Desperation ✔

Chapter 2

The next morning, Ami woke up and was startled to find that she wasn't on her bed, in her room, in the city of New Earth. And then she remembered that she wasn't in New Earth, that she was on a mission and she had to gather information.

She slowly rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom, before remembering that all her stuff was in a bag and rushing back out to get it. The rest of her morning was a blur of getting ready and choosing the smartest outfit she could find, taking a shower, eating breakfast, and jumping into the car. She paused, realizing that she didn't know where the interview was being held.

At that moment, a buzz came from Ami's wrist. She tapped it twice, and the holo-phone popped up. A message from Raevenna popped up on the screen. It read: The interview is being held at these coordinates. Don't get lost. Ami snorted to herself. How touching.

Ami entered the keys into the ignition of her hover car. She wasn't quite sure how it got there, but sometimes it was better not to ask. With the press of a black pedal, Ami was speeding through the roads at a speed that wouldn't have been possible on the old planet.

Ami glanced down at the screen of her hover car, and then abruptly turned left, almost missing her turn. She sighed in relief as the directions didn't reroute themselves. And continued on her way.

It was only about five more minutes before Ami arrived at the main office of the Government Officials. She parked her car in the side parking lot of the office and left the car, almost ripping her keys out of the ignition.

The building was very tall -and very ugly in Ami's opinion-, entirely made out of glass and sparkling emerald. It had 17 floors, 16 of them for each of the 16 government leaders, with small offices on the bottom floor for the people who weren't government leaders. Ami walked straight inside and went to the main desk. A bored-looking man sat there, with curly dark brown hair and chocolate-colored skin. His eyes were pale green and flicked up to Ami boredly.

"Name?" He asked tiredly as if he didn't want to have to bother with her.

"Ami. Here for the interview."

"Ah, alright. Last name?" The man said, sitting up suddenly, and looking less dead. Ami squinted at him. This was a test, she realized. She knew full well that citizens in Tasall didn't 'do' last names.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Ami demanded, pretending to be angry. "You're testing me? I've worked for so long to-- You know what? Fine. I'll play your stupid game. Tech flash, NO LAST NAME." The man nodded and quivered backward, afraid of the woman in front of him. In her head, Ami smirked. Her plan was working.

"S-sorry ma'am. Standard protocol. Wouldn't want any spies from someplace like New Earth or an-anything. H-hah-haha." The man stammered, flinching away from her. When she just continued to glare at him, he gulped. "Well, I-I'll take y-you to your office, and on-once you're settl-settled in, I can take you to meet the Government Officials."

The man stood up from the desk and rushed down the hall, and Ami quickly followed him. She took mental notes of all the rooms, trying multiple locks and remembering the ones that were unlocked and the ones that weren't.

At last, the man stopped in front of a dark red door. It was made out of darksatin, a material that was water and fireproof. The material was smooth and cool against Ami's fingers, and the handle was made out of the same thing. There was a door stopper sitting by the door, waiting to be used.

Ami growled when the door didn't budge, and she was tempted to reach for the bobby pin in her hair but decided against it. Only true spies knew how to pick locks.

"The key?" The man hurriedly placed the key in Ami's palm and she pushed it into the lock, opening the door. She walked inside and surveyed the room. The walls were white, except for the far back wall, which was a window. Only one of the suns was visible from here, and Ami found herself missing the other ones.

On the left wall, there was a grand, white couch that had not one spec of grime on it. On the right wall, there was a huge black TV that reflected the suns into Ami's eyes. In the center of the room, there was a desk, with a computer on it. The screen was a hologram, and the keyboard was rectangular. Instead of the keys popping out into the real world, it was on the rectangular object. It was like a computer screen, but smaller and much more advanced.

The floors were white, and so was the chair. With a flash of memory, Ami recalled that the citizens of Tasall liked white things. On either side of the desk were cabinets, and Ami assumed they were for storing files. Next to the holo-computer, there was a chip. When she pressed on it, a holo-phone popped up. When she grabbed it, she saw that it was like an old-fashioned Earth phone, but a hologram. Ami picked up the handle, and it felt like she was holding air, although she could see the holo-phone in her hand.

She turned back around, expecting to see the nervous man, but he was gone. In his place, stuck to the white wall, was a piece of sticky paper. The note read: Go to Floor 17. The Government Official there will give you a quick briefing and your first task. Ami let out a frustrated breath. She didn't know where the stairs were, much less the hyper-elevator. Then again... this could be a good time to look around and see what she could find.

Shoving the key to her room into her pocket, Ami walked out of her office. She headed back the way she came since she had thought she had seen a hyper-elevator there. She walked slower, peeking into the windows and trying more locks. At one point, she encountered a locked room with no windows, so she couldn't look inside.

Glancing around, Ami pulled the hidden bobby pin from her hair and crouched down. Looking into the hold, she gently set the bobby pin into the lock and wiggled around, until it hit something that she assumed was the lock. She set the bobby pin back into her hair and took the true lockpick out of her sleeve.

Ami pushed the lockpick into the lock and wiggled until she heard a faint click. Smiling, she put her lockpick items back into her pocket and threw open the door. She slammed onto the floor just as a red laser came out of nowhere. Standing up quickly as it disappeared, she closed the door once again and brushed herself off.

If she wanted to break into that room, Ami had to have more time. She continued walking back the way she came until she saw the hyper-elevator. Pressing the button for the top level, she waited for the doors to slide open. As she stood in the elevator for the short ride, she was glad it smelled normal instead of like iron and sulfur. She had been so used to the blood and the dark red walls, that it was sort of nice to see a different color. These elevator walls were black and smooth, and the floor was carpeted, but Ami didn't have time to notice anything else before the elevator came to a rumbling stop and she took her first real step into her fake life.