Memories Stirred - Book One of the Advent Rebellion

Chapter 2 - Message

Message

Morgan’s hand hesitated. On her arm, underneath her palm, the canopy release button continued to flash.

The dulcet blue throbbed away, irrelevant of her conflicting thoughts, against her skin as well as her eyes. She’d always engaged the physical notifications on her interface, she liked the feel of substance they leant to her constant tapping of commands. So normally she’d have responded to it’s incessant attention-seeking rhythm. At this moment though several distracting thoughts were tumbling through her typically ordered mind.

Not wanting to leave the comfort of the sledskipper had been her first thought. Inside was cool, familiar and comfortable. Outside was not.

When she had left Head Office she had not realised how far into the Unclaimed Region her destination was. If she had, she would have worn different clothes. The creases on her cherished burgundy business suit had provided her second reflection.

After that she had descended into worrying about how long this errand was going to take. How long it would keep her away from her daily designation of activities. What she could have accomplished by now if this unexpected job had not been given to her.

But you didn’t say no to Executive directives.

She frowned. She was procrastinating. That was not like her. The unfamiliarity of this place was getting to her. She just needed to conclude this task and return home.

She looked outside to where a dejected-looking squat shack rested.

The view did nothing to fuel her enthusiasm

Her always-occupied mind tried to figure out what type of person would call this place home. She quickly admitted defeat. Executives would never be found in such a location. Farm details did not come this far out into the wilderness. Claimants had more than enough land on the edge of Head Office to expand into.

No, this was further from civilisation than any person had a right to be.

She brushed an irritating stray lock of her red tinted, chin length hair behind an ear. The interface display folded in on itself as her hand moved. She sighed. Voice control would be so much easier, but this far from Head Office it didn’t work. A restriction she had been unaware of until an hour or so into the Unclaimed Regions.

She brought her hand to her brow and stared outside.

The hut was made from four large pieces of pitted metal that leant precariously outwards, seemingly propped up by the collection of shelves and cabinets that encircled the building. Amongst the sand covered boxes, buckets, pans and recognisable tools littered about, sat pieces so obscured their purpose was indeterminable.

Eyes screwed into thin slits of grey, Morgan was becoming convinced that this place was deserted.

One thing was for certain: she would never find out sat in the sledskipper. She swallowed the feeling of guilt her delaying kept pushing up. Taking a deep breath she set her mind on the task ahead. A little discomfort was not going to allow her to introduce unprofessionalism into her successful career. No matter how unusual the errand.

With a firm nod she flicked brought up her interface again and opened the canopy. Delaying was achieving nothing. She just needed to treat this like any other designated task. Complete it to the utmost of her abilities and then move on to the next one. 

Something more suitable for an Executive level assistant in a cooler environment perhaps.

The canopy rolled back silently, merging with the skip’s fuselage. She braced herself as the heat assaulted her then drew herself up and stepped down the ramp that formed beneath her feet. The click of her heels on the metallic surface quickly turned to the crunch of sand and stone. Striding forward she tugged at the bottom of her jacket in an attempt to get it to settle right on her curves. She had spent an entire contracts perk allowance on it and it had never sat comfortably.