4a: To the Cloud

The doors close to the elevator. Amanda takes off with Daria down hallways dimly lit by low power fluorescents that speak to being in the building after hours. The air is cold and stale. Maybe as a result of the weather outside or maybe as a result of housing the heat producing servers. Occasionally the lights dim slightly, seeming to change in intensity. As they move, Amanda mentally maps their passage along the layout she found on Rich's computer. The women come to the final turn that will taken them down the hallway that has the access door to the server room. Amanda pokes her head out and ducks back as she spots a security guard walking down the hallway toward the pair.

The women find the few doors near at hand locked. They can hear the echo of the guards footsteps approaching.

The guard moves up to the hallway. He whistles to himself and crosses the hallway to a door the women had tried. He fumbles with some keys and then opens the door moving inside, apparently oblivious to Daria squatting down the hallway.

The women make their way back up the hallway and around the corner to the long hallway with the server room door. As they move, there is distinct flashing of the fluorescents overhead. A flickering in and out. The women get to the door. They can see through the window the mass of networking cables terminated in neat rows and highlighted red and green twinkling lights signaling the data transmissions throughout the building and to the remote servers. Amanda tries the door and finds it locked.

Daria moves back down the long hallway to the turn, where the guard entered an office. As she turns into the hallway, she can just make out the guards muffled voice through the door to her right. …weird shit has been happening since the courier left, Frank. I… I swear someone’s in here… Just then, the lights flicker and go out, blanketing the hall in darkness.

Daria and Amanda brace in the darkness. Both women feel an odd breeze in the hallway that brings a faint smell of ozone. Daria hears the muffled voice of the guard. Shit! Frank?! What the hell... Daria hears the door open and turns on her phone flashlight. What the.... Ahhh! as the spray coats his face he blinks and begins wiping his eyes frantically. As the man struggles, Daria sees a woman walking up behind him entering the illuminance of Daria's phone. She is barefoot and as she walks she places her feet in an odd side stepping gait towards the man. Her dress is black as night with pinprick lights twinkling amidst its folds. Daria recognizes Yvette Somers from the Basalt Cliffs of the Space Between. Her eyes empty and... hungry.