Daughter of Zeus ✔

7

Flickering street lights overhead woke Ada, but she kept her eyes closed for a few seconds more. The car drifted along on automatic, the better for her and Kressick to doze the rest of the trip away. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

Orange shafts of illumination glowed and faded on his sleeping form. A dark sky, and darkly empty highway, surrounded them. The highway looked especially empty, being seven lanes wide on either side. Ada identified with the vast stretch of nothingness stretching on for miles.

Lighted skyscrapers loomed in the distance. Intricate street ads painted on the pavement beckoned her to stop for food and drink, though they also signified what lanes were ending and which exits were next. A quiet chaos beckoned among the blinking lights and interface billboards. Yawning overpasses wound about glass monoliths, inviting new adventures. Despite herself, Ada was taken in by the allure of the city.

The car droned, "You are approaching the heart of Atlanta. Where would you like to go next?"

Kressick's registration papers sat on the middle console. She scanned them until she found the address to his condo, which she spoke to the car's interface.

Once off the highway, the streets transitioned to cobble stones. They passed lit retail outlets, high-end restaurants, and the many stands and stores selling firearms like hotdogs. Whereas Aurora seemed like gun country, she realized she had never truly been in gun country until they passed over the Georgia state line. Every person strolling the streets had a gun tucked into their pants.

Twenty minutes later, the car self-parked in a lot underground. "You have reached your destination."

Kressick woke with a big show of stretching and yawning. "Where are we?"

She chewed the inside of her cheek. His feigned ignorance was patronizing, and she didn't want to deal with it.

"We're at your condo."

"Decided to stay with me, eh?" A casual grin curled his mouth.

She let him keep his assumptions as he stepped out of the car. Kressick retrieved his luggage from the trunk, whistling as he went. He walked to the elevators.

"C'mon then," he called.

Per her instructions, the car reversed and left the parking lot. She didn't give him a backward glance in the rearview mirror.

Not a wave goodbye or flip of the bird either, though she considered both.

~ * ~

Shylar entered the downtown area around dusk.

Even with the familiar purple sky overhead, Atlanta was unlike other cities he knew. The tracking system on his wristlet alerted him to the numerous o-planes in the air, but looking up, he couldn't see them. They were either up very high or had cloaking tech.

Many of the buildings were painted white, with rooftops covered in sprawling gardens. For every white rooftop, solar panels stood in adornment. The city was environmentally conscious, and through the veil of his mission instructions, he was astonished. He had heard of green cities before, but mostly up North. New York was home to the most prominent green city, but here in the South, they were rare.
He passed a rally downtown, with gun-toting citizens of every age. In the sea of white faces, only a handful were as dark as Shylar. Only a few blocks later, and the black population increased, though they lacked the standard adornment of a Nolecet.

They love the environment as much as they love their guns. He left his idle thoughts behind.

Mission. Onward.

An address buzzed in his head. He'd never been to Atlanta, but he knew the way around. Using his new mission parameters and knowledge, he expertly navigated the city streets.

After taking numerous short cuts, he pulled into an underground parking lot. Shylar got out of the car and walked to the elevator. No stopping and no second-guessing. He pressed the "7" button on the elevator with surety. On the ascent, he whistled along with the muzak.
The elevator stopped at the seventh floor. He smiled at the woman stepping in as he stepped out.

Nearly a resident. Confidence sang through him, pushing him along. One, two, three doors down from the elevators, he stopped. Under the straw welcome mat, he would find the code to enter into his interface. He programmed the numbers and lined up the optical output with the
keypad on the door. The keypad lit up green; the door film dissipated a second later.

No one greeted him, which was what he expected. The one bag he brought he put down at the door. He would put his things away later. First, he needed to shower. Then, a proper meal. No more smoothies, thank you. When he was clean and full of good processed food, he would search for the woman. He knew the city better than most. How he knew escaped him.

"Hello, Shylar." A lilting male voice from the living room startled him.

At the same time, the voice relaxed him. An older man emerged from the living room.

"Our plan of approach has changed." The lilting tone held a light edge.

Shylar stood up all the straighter. "What are the new mission parameters, sir?"

~ * ~