Chapter 3

“So what do you do, Blaze?” Gene asked. We were walking along one of the civilian bridges, headed towards the Egg. It was about 10 AM, and the roads were full of vehicles going about their business - work, delivery, the usual stuff. The bridge, meanwhile, was also pretty active, people bustling and hustling about for pretty much the same reasons.

“Information security stuff. Nothing big, not in charge of the actual security programs. I usually just make sure that our standards are kept up to par with modern guidelines. What about you?” I pointed to his bulky black bag. “Saw you holding on pretty tight to that when I knocked you down earlier.”

Gene gave a wide smile. “Camera. Zen-G model 3 - nothing impressive compared to the model 5, but it’s been my camera for years. Great quality, built-in mic, two memory expansion slots.”

“That’s actually really cool,” I said, not even bothering to hide how awestruck I was. “I prefer tech like that anyway - long as it can get the job done, it doesn’t matter how old it is, yeah? If it works for several years it’s already worth the price.”

He grinned.

I suddenly stopped and let out a yelp when I felt a pricking sensation on my right hand. A couple of people shot me some concerned looks, but most just walked by in either irritation or apathy. A few bumped into me, causing some spots on my nanobot polo to change into random colors.

Then, as quickly as it happened, the pricking sensation went away. Gene looked a little concerned. “You okay, man?”

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s go.” I took a look at my right hand, but there was nothing there.

We reached one of the Egg’s guarded escalators without any other incident. “Go ahead Gene - I need to recolor my clothes real quick.” He nodded and took an envelope from his camera bag as he approached the guard. Meanwhile, I walked over to the railing and started smoothing out my clothes as best as possible. I took off my tux and made sure that the back didn’t have any discolored spots, put it back on, then felt a stronger pricking on my right hand. No, it wasn’t just a pricking this time - it felt… hot.

I kept my mouth shut this time - bad idea to make the guards of the Egg mistake me for some unauthorized personnel. After about ten seconds, the heat faded away. There was a pinkish spot in the middle of my hand now. It kinda looked like I touched something hot with the top of my hand.

What the hell was going on?

I waited a few more minutes to make sure nothing else happened. I took a deep breath to clear my mind a little. Social gatherings already weren’t my strongest suit, and whatever was happening to my hand has not helped in that regard. I took my ID from my wallet, and walked up to the guard station. “Mornin’, Jig, Ryan.” I nodded to the two guards.

“Morning Blaze,” Jig replied cheerily from the guard desk, her eyes never leaving the computer monitor. Her partner, Ryan, tipped his hat in greeting. “You here for the event?”

“Yep.” I handed over my ID. “Did a guy with a black bag go through already?”

“Yes,” replied Ryan in his usual low, rumbly tone. “He a friend of yours?”

“Uh, kinda, I guess.”

Ryan grunted and said nothing else. He was a beast of a man, his uniform barely able to contain his muscles. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was a bouncer at a club or something.

“Alright, your ID’s been scanned. Please put a finger on the table to record your fingerprint.”

Huh. “Thought they delayed that?”

“Eh. I guess someone up top decided this event was the best way to test it out.”

The table hummed and glowed softly as I pressed a thumb against it. “Aaaand done. Thanks for cooperating!” Jig looked up from the monitor as she gave me back my ID, a friendly smile on her face. “Nice suit, sir.”

“Uh, thanks.”

“You’re welcome!”

Ryan gave me another nod as I stepped through the gate and onto the escalator. To my surprise, Gene was waiting for me at the bottom. “There you are. Thought you had a little problem with your hand again.”

“I did, actually, thanks for asking. It’s all good now though. So how are you liking the Egg? Er, I mean, the City Center.”

The Egg was a giant, opaque dome that dominated the City Center. Actually, it was basically all the City Center was. I’ve been living in New Pines for almost five years now, and it’s always just… been there. Surrounding it was grass, trees, and various other plants. The chirping of birds filled the air, as opposed to the noise of car horns and people.

“It’s a little bigger up close. A little intimidating, I admit.” I started walking towards the event site, with Gene just a little behind me, taking in the sight. Our shoes trampled the grass underneath them. “And it’s so… what’s the word? Eerie? Weird? Maybe I’m just a little shocked there’s so much… nature in the middle of New Pines. But that dome kinda sorta ruins it.” He opened his bag, took out his camera and started taking pictures of the place.

“Hm, yeah, I get what you mean I don’t think anyone has any idea what’s inside there. No light or sound ever comes out of it.”

“Why though? And who’s taking care of these plants?” He sounded a little amazed by it all. “Look at these things! They’re not just surviving - they’re thriving.”

I shrugged. “Believe me, if I knew, I would’ve posted about it online ages ago. Anyway...” I stopped a few meters short of the venue and pointed at a path made from downtrodden grass.. “The venue’s at the end of this path. It was nice meeting you, Gene. I’ll be busy with stuff once the event starts. It’s really easy to get lost around here, so don’t go off randomly - just follow the path.”

“Thanks for the heads up, man - and the shirt. Really appreciate it.” Gene pointed his camera at me suddenly and took a picture. I was so surprised I didn’t even have time to react. “Camera shy, aren’t ya?”

I just rolled my eyes, turned around and headed to the venue.

The venue itself was a large greenhouse, about the size of a large barn. The walls were made from a translucent neosteel/plastic compound while the roof was modified to be fully transparent, allowing light to filter into the building. This also meant that the greenhouse was soundproof, both from the inside and the outside. Unfortunately, this actually led to sensory deprivation for the staff - so to give them eyes and ears, as it were, our company lined the walls with inconspicuous mics and cameras and directly streamed visuals and audio onto the walls themselves. It was pretty new tech, and it was only possible thanks to nanobots.

A few security personnel roamed the grounds, keeping an eye for possible troublemakers. Not that you could access the City Center without proper clearance, of course. I headed to one of the walls to check our devices, and I was surprised to see someone else was already doing the same. The stranger was about my height, covered in… was that body armor? His face was covered by a face-concealing helmet - a familiar one, actually, because it was designed in part by our company also. It had a visor and built in gas mask, and it was attached to the body armor itself via a removable hood.

I approached the stranger carefully. “Uh, hey, excuse me? Sir? Who are you? Are you authorized to do that?” He turned to me, and that was when I realized he was holding a gun - a 7.62mm anti-personnel sniper made by Hans-Vadim. I stopped in my tracks and held up my hand. “Okay, I don’t want any trouble. I’ll be walking away now.”

“Stop.” Ah, shit. The stranger’s voice was muffled and kinda mechanical, like it was being filtered through something. I think the manufacturer added a voice modulator. “Identify yourself.”

“Look, I’m an information security officer under Green Logistics. I was going to check if there were any problems with the wall before going inside.” Where were the guards? Wasn’t this their job? I cursed silently for being so careless in the first place.

The stranger observed me for a few moments. I couldn’t get a read on his face for obvious reasons, and he was also otherwise perfectly still - with a finger near the trigger. I kept my breathing calm and even, like I always did - no use cracking under the pressure. After a tense minute or two, the stranger finally said, “Okay. Relax. We-”

A scream interrupted him. My scream. My right hand was… it felt like it was burning. I dropped to my knees as I clutched my right wrist with my other hand. The pinkish area from earlier had expanded, and now the top of my right hand was a bright red.

It looked like it was freshly burnt.

A shadow fell on me suddenly, covering me from the walls of the greenhouse. “Okay, Blaze. You’re safe. I have the camera covered, but I need you to control your volume - my Brand can’t cover that right now.” I think it was a feminine voice? I was too focused on my hand to care, actually.

The pain had subsided somewhat, but it still hurt. I rolled my right hand into a fist to try and control the shaking. Instead, that same pricking sensation from the first time this morning came back - and it didn’t go away. It felt like I was getting multiple needle pricks on my hand, like it had fallen asleep and had just woken up, except several times worse. Soon the sensation became more focused, almost like a pencil tip dragging itself along my nerves, muscles and skin - like it was drawing something.

My eyes widened - something really was using my hand as a canvas. My skin would darken where the pinpricks were strongest, and slowly but surely all that was left behind was a small flame-shaped mark in the middle of my hand.

My right hand was still shaking, though the pain was gone, as if it was never there in the first place. I soon got it and my breathing under control, and stood up. “Hey, thanks man,” I said, trying to hide the panic in my voice as I rubbed the mark on my right hand. It didn’t hurt at all, and it looked kinda neat - like a small flame tattoo. I turned to the person who covered me from the cameras, and was surprised to see it was the stranger from a few minutes ago. His - no, her - mask was off, and peering from inside the helmet were a pair of brilliant green eyes. I could see a few wisps of lilac hair poking out from under the helmet as well. She was biting her lips, and actually looked unsure about what to do next.

“Is there something on my face?” she suddenly snapped.

“Uh, no, sorry.” I looked away immediately but I still felt blood rushing to my ears. “I really appreciate it though, thank you. Y’know, for not shooting me and also the whole blocking-the-cameras thing.”

She grunted. “You know what that is, right?”

“Uh, a cool tattoo?”

The soldier snorted in derision. “Turns out you’re either a liar or an idiot.”

“Hey!”

She put a finger on the side of her helmet and the mask snapped back into place. “The equipment’s fine, if you’re wondering. I’ll probably see you again in a few days.” Her voice modulator was turned on again, completely hiding her normal voice. “Whether you’ll be alive or dead when I do isn’t exactly my problem.” She started to walk away even as my jaw dropped.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me the first time. Don’t do anything stupid til then.”

“Hold on a fucking minute, man.” I tried to go after her, but she put her sniper on her shoulder in response. “Come on…” I kept my eye on her until she disappeared into a small thicket, away from the Egg. With a deep sigh, I put on the gloves Grant advised me to bring - did he somehow know something like this would happen?

...wait a minute, did I tell that woman my name?

Well, at least she wasn’t lying about the cameras being functional. The nanobots were working perfectly, so at least a few people probably saw that little drama outside. Hopefully no one who knew me saw it.

“Okay, so the bots aren’t under any stress… mic feed seems good, and they seem to be hidden nicely. Well, mostly hidden… that girl still found a couple, I would assume, but at least she didn’t seem to have tampered with them…”

“Man, Blaze, you mutter to yourself a LOT when you work.” I nearly jumped out of my skin. Bertram was wearing a pinstripe suit for the occasion, being part of promotions and all that. He laughed a little as I put my glove back on.

“Not funny, man.”

“Eh, not to you, maybe. The hardware working okay?”

“Yep,” I confirmed, “no hardware faults today, at least none from the outside. Did you, uh, see anything from inside the greenhouse?”

He raised an eyebrow in response. “Why? Should I have?”

Okay, Blaze, no need to panic. “I mean, technically, if you didn’t see anything then something’s busted…”

“Fuck you.”

“Heh. Anything interesting going on inside?”

Bertram shrugged and pulled out a cigarette. He leaned against the wall and took a long drag. “Nah. Not like the guests are here yet anyway. It’s what, half past ten?” My old friend stared at the clouds, looking deep in thought.

“Something on your mind, man?”

He took another drag on his cigarette, held his breath for ten seconds, then exhaled a big puff of smoke. “I took a look into the whole Laura thing earlier.” Bertram’s voice was softer than his usual. “Called her phone, no dice. So I checked her address and called the building itself.”

I rubbed my chin, deep in thought now. “And?” Bertram looked at me, his face deadly serious.

“Her apartment was opened today - for the first time in a week. I…” His voice cracked a little. “I thought they found a body, but… they found nothing instead.”

“...nothing?”

“There was a bowl of half-eaten food on the table. Her laptop was unplugged, the battery critically low. Her clothes were on the chair in front of her meal. But Laura was just… gone.” Tears streamed down his face. After a minute or two, he continued. “‘No sign of a break-in’, the owner had said. The windows were untouched, and the police found no unusual fingerprints… anywhere.”

Holy shit.

My mind started racing. This… wasn’t the first time I’ve heard of these signs, though I’ve never had it happen to someone I knew. “Bert, I think-”

He held up his hand to stop me. “I know what you’re about to say, so for the love of God, don’t say it. It doesn’t matter if it’s true. I just need to process all this first.”

It took all my self-control to not snap back a retort. Instead, I said, “Okay, sorry. So what did the police conclude, then?”

Bertram finished his cigarette, his hands shaking a little. “‘Nothing. They cordoned off the apartment, but they don’t have anyone working on it right now. Blaze, look - as griefed as I am with Laura, she isn’t the only one who’s gone.” He absent-mindedly put out his cig on the greenhouse wall, leaving behind some gray ash, then threw the remains on the ground. “They’ve kept it hush-hush, but they’d had reports of at least twenty people poofing out of existence just today alone.” He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his eyes as he took a shaky breath.

“So what do you need me to do?” I didn’t even hesitate volunteering. I was already deep into this whole Disappearance rabbit hole already anyway, and being able to see the signs for myself instead of just on a computer or phone screen might help further my knowledge along.

In response, Bertram dug out an ID from his coat’s pocket and handed it to me. “It’s Laura’s. The building owner gave that to me, said the police didn’t want it. It should give you access to Laura’s room, at the very least. If the police are still there, you can also use that to prove you’re a relative or something.”

“The building uses nanomachine strips?” I asked as I inspected the card. Laura’s face looked up at me, her brown hair tied in a bun and a smile on her lips. I made a mental note to return it to Bertram as soon as I could.

“Correct. Address is also on there.” Bertram straightened his posture and unwrinkled his clothes. “...thanks for doing this, man.” And without another word, he walked off.

I put Laura’s ID in my wallet and went back to inspecting the rest of the greenhouse, but I was already formulating a plan for later. It was gonna be a busy day.