The Oasis

Chapter 8

Ch 8 

Jake woke up in a crumpled heap on his own floor. His hands were no longer glued, though they still felt raw. How he had wound up this way would forever remain a mystery, but he suspected that the sentries had left him unconscious on the ground, and then returned to him after they responded to the “breach”. Judging by his unceremonious and less than dignified position on the floor, Jake figured the two sentries had beeped his door open, tossed him in, locked the place up, and left.                   Thankfully they had told the truth. His brief incursion with the law could not technically be counted as an arrest, but Jake was sure that some report had been filed against him the moment the sentries had scanned his COM. As Jake stiffly rose to his feet, he thought about making good on the threat to file a grievance against the two officers, but his heart wasn’t in it. The last thing he wanted to do was deal with Control again.

                  As Jake was rubbing his neck, he noticed his COM was flashing. With a tap, he opened up a text file.

                  “Venus Bistro. 9:00. [sent from Lauren Whitefall]”

                  Jake checked the time. 8:44. Fifteen minutes should be enough time, he hoped. He pulled up a map to Venus Bistro. In a place like this, there was little time allotted for leisure and fancy dining, but the truth of the matter was, those on high pay grades never intended to eat lunch with the working class. The bistro was the place that all the white collar workers from the Spire could sip espresso as they looked down on their empire. Hopefully Jake wouldn’t have a problem getting in. Technically, his shift was to start at 9:00, but given everything that had just gone down recently, Jake didn’t see any point in squabbling over a few hydraulic designs while there was some serious “1984” stuff going on. He made for the Mag-Vac station and took the line towards the Spire.

                  At one of the stops, he thought he saw a team of sentries trying to pursue the train. After a heart attack lasting what felt like several minutes, Jake snapped himself back to reality. Control wasn’t after him. Why would they be? He wasn’t really arrested after all. Besides, if they wanted to take him in, they would probably burst into the tram with swat teams and what not. Of course, he was in a vacuum tube at the moment, but he was sure Control would figure some way to do it.

                  At last, he reached the Spire atrium. His feeling of paranoia took another turn for the worst. Jake wished for a hat and some sunglasses, but he knew it wouldn’t do any good. If people were tracking him, they could follow his COM down to the decimeter. Plus, a disguise amongst the masses of honest work folk would only increase his suspicious appearance. Despite his best efforts, Jake was still jumpy. The ding of the atrium lift nearly made him leap out of his socks. He checked the time. Five minutes till the rendezvous.

                  Jake walked into the lift and saw the button for the 27th floor was already pushed. He situated himself in the back of the lift and waited for the doors to slide closed. The small crowd of people between him and the rest of the atrium eased his nerves slightly, as though he was hiding from monsters from some impenetrable blanket fort. Looking out into the masses beyond the doors, Jake saw another group of Control sentries. The leader was consulting his COM, pointing at Jake’s lift. The others looked up and started pushing through the crowd.

                  The doors slide closed, and Jake pressed himself further into the corner. He suddenly felt as though he was the subject of some international spy movie. The lift rose, and Jake eased with each floor he passed. Finally the 27th floor came into view, and with a forced calm, Jake squeezed through a couple people, making his way along the curving hallway. The large roman columns came into view on either side of the Venus Bistro entrance. Jake was surprised. There were no bouncers. Then again, Control really couldn’t waste man power on checking dinner reservations.