To Be Human: Volume One

Two

Location: City of Haven

Date: April 27th, 2037

Time: 21:16

  "Do you have it?" The voice had asked.

   Karma didn't even try to hide the groan that escaped his lips as he pulled a flash drive out of a computer that sat before him after it had just finished a ten-minute file transfer. "If I say yes," He started, "will you stop calling me back every five minutes asking, 'do you have it? Do you have the thing yet?'?" He continued in an exaggerated, mocking voice.

   The person on the other end of the phone call said nothing, an unimpressed silence awkwardly filling his ear.

  "Yes, I have the fucking data, now fuck off." He said, hanging up the phone and pocketing it with the flash drive. He reflected on how much he hated this part of the job. He deemed himself above being someone's lacky, especially since there were many people under him. Yet for some reason he was still sent on annoying snatch and grab jobs that he had far too little interest in, and as he stepped out onto the street, he finally took notice of how in the open he was. 

   Though it was well into the evening and dark outside, the streets of Haven were never quiet or empty in the downtown sections, no matter the hour of night. He had no idea how he had not noticed how exposed he was, and that he wasn't likely getting a ride back, just as there was unlikely to be a clean up crew to sort of the mess of blood and bodies he had left behind from the resistance and the pour souls who were involved in the data he had just stolen, the ones who had seen too much, the ones who could not be allowed to live. 

   It was not work he particularly enjoyed, but as long as he was getting paid, life was good. He could finally afford a shower, clothes, a haircut, and though he didn't know how well the shorter hair suited him, he didn't put too much thought into it. It was just hair at the end of the day, it meant nothing. And though his style didn't change, his monotone, colourless outfits were at least not tattered and dirty, except for the blood that ended up on them, but Project Valhalla, his company of employment had surprisingly good laundry, so he was never worried.

   Switching his phone back on and making another call, he soon confirmed that he would not be getting a ride home at all. He was unsure if it was because of how in the opened things were, or if it was his employer's intolerance to his attitude, that prompted that outcome. He assumed it was a little bit of both. He looked out into the night as the many lights of Haven's infrastructure lit up the busy street before him. 

   It was a cool night with a nice breeze, but warm enough that no jackets were required for the majority of people. He could see some stars shining through the major light pollution that Haven gave off at night, but found the many signs, L.E.D lights, light shows and searchlights aimed skyward much more noticeable and visually interesting, not that he cared. It was just that his lights darted around to the many distractions around him, and though he was far from the night life, the lights and the music that often accompanied them street by street hit his ear faintly. 

   He knew his eyes were betraying him and falling to the basic human instincts of distraction and captivation, exploited traits used to draw interest from though inhabiting the streets. People were more likely to go to the clubs with more visual and audible interest, and with so many places, time became irrelevant. 

   People came and went, hopping from establishment to establishment, time warping into a blur of sounds and faint memories that came to a halt when the piercing light of the sun shone through the streets and met the eyes of the now realizing tired victims of the night's grasp.

   None of it ever made any sense to Karma. He didn't understand the appeal, the want to do those things. Perhaps he just liked sleep too much.

   It had taken half an hour for Karma to get back to his headquarters, though it did not come from walking. He had his own methods of moving quickly that often drew lots of eyes but became rather safe to do unseen when wearing all black during the dead of night. He didn't bother staying at the headquarters though, and in fact didn't even enter. He simply passed it, slipping the flash drive into the pocket of a short, Korean girl with long black hair cut into bangs at the front.