Chapter 6: Storm Rising

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

A month later

Mrs Voronin is dead. That such a powerful and well-respected woman would kill herself surprised many, but her workload had increased year on year, and everyone knew she had never been the same since the unfortunate incident with her son Konrad. As the cheap papers say, it all got too much for her.

Or so she was persuaded to believe.

It was regrettable, because Mrs Voronin was my teacher, and I had some affection and a great deal of respect for her. But she was not willing to give up her place as Director of the training facility, and I need access to all of it. Eventually I will move to control Excolo Corp as a whole, but that will take time. For now, I have succeeded to her post, and have taken sabbatical leave from my position at the University - though I am keeping my chair there, for students are a useful body to know, and to control.

Yes, things are moving along. And now I reward my hard work by taking a trip to No 93 Engine for a new outfit. I make sure to wear protective outerwear and a breathing mask. The Dome remains, as always, mild, but it is the height of summer now and the temperature during the day in the Outer Districts easily reaches 110F. The API is 270. I plan to go to Volt, a brand new club in the Outer Districts. A vast basement warren, its underground location is kept at an ambient 70F. That is until the crowds come, of course.

I arrive long after sundown, the streets busy again now the danger of UV radiation is gone. In the summer, anyone outside the Dome keeps noctural hours if they can, and stays indoors if they can't. The whole city keeps club hours, and that makes me smile. I wear a pair of shorts and gold body paint, hair slicked back with white UV gel, and that will serve. At the cloakroom I leave my respirator and waterproof jumpsuit - you never know when it will rain - and pass through the humming rooms of the club, each one full of different colours and sounds. Four DJs, four bars, each one named for one of the four elements. Fire is red, of course, Water blue, Air purple and Earth green, walls glowing. The whole club throbs, and I want it to pulse harder. So I think that, a gentle sort of persuasion like an embrace all through the club. Dance faster, laugh harder, want more. So many people I cannot yet direct en masse, but I can guide, I can encourage. Oh yes, I can do that to hundreds of people at once now, thanks to Tez.

Smiling, I get a bottle of water. I don't need drugs, not now.