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Description
The massive organic shaped silver building that was situated in a lush green area of Miranda, Sydney was designed by the legendary architect Emma Olsen herself. At dawn, the first beams of ginger orange daylight flooded the empty center of the building and radiated the entire structure - awakening it from its nocturnal slumber. Over the great portico was a picture of the daily zodiacal divinity – Hera Amaterasu, holding up today's date, 15:th of May 2089.

Humming along to Godiva's latest hit 'My time is not now', Elvira Stark raced her newly acquired two door Honda up to the building that crisp and sunny morning and maneuvered around the gaudy, late model Teslas and Mercedeses double parked in the semicircle driveway.
"Hello People!" she hummed. Seeing a precious open spot, she parked near the curb and checked her watch. 9:15. "Tartarus," she thought, "late again."

Elvira was almost always late to work. Not that it really mattered, since the partners at her law firm usually made their way in at noon after a morning round of golf. Still, she wanted to keep up appearances and not lose the job that she had slaved three long years at law school to get. Fixing her frizzy, black hair in the rearview mirror, she simultaneously wound up her shade of red lipstick and applied it deftly, then she added some powder to her mocha brown forehead. Regarding herself in the rear view mirror, then she grinned, making sure that not something from her breakfast had gotten stuck between her teeth.

Not completely accustomed to her new car, she opened the small driver’s side door slowly, swung her legs out and touched the ground with her four inch black heels. As she rose to her feet, she felt slightly embarrassed as her ice blue skirt slid up above her slender thighs. Quickly adapting herself, she found herself staring at the valet, who was standing at attention, sporting a boyish wide grin.
"Good morning Miss Stark," he said excitedly.
"Good morning, Airu," she nodded to the young Asian man, around who's cheeks some puppy fat still seemed to linger. Or was it nighttime computer game and junk food fat, she wondered, then decided that she didn't want to know.

****

Across town in Windsor, Achilleas Yamauchi rubbed his bare toned chest, tracing the lines of the tattooed temple dragon and poured his cup of morning coffee. Running his hand through his messy black hair and letting out a yawn, he entered his wood floored penthouse living room overlooking the roof tops of the surrounding buildings. He paused to take an extra long look at the skyline. Today was a precious day, a rare day. One of the last that he could enjoy at home before having to jet off to his next mission as a Gatekeeper Enforcer.

Placing his cup down on the curved glass end table, Achilleas noticed two women by the roof pool of the opposite building. One of them was wearing a goldenpanty set and had a curved, bronzed posterior – a devastating combination. The other one wasn't really visible, she was behind the palm tree, but he could glimpse a mane of blond hair cascading down as she bent down to take something off, a shirt perhaps. Then, he lifted his eyes to look up in the sky, at the glistening hovertown up there. Benathiari. He was going there, within 24 hours he would be up there, in that marvelous, divine place where the sky was deep indigo and star spangled even during daytime and you could see the curvature of the Earth. He was going there to risk his life. And he hoped to the gods that he would be back home again. In one piece.

Then his mind slipped to his lost friend Kelly and he walked over to the altar and watched the rests of yesterday's incense on the black obsidian surface and bit back emotions.
"I'm sorry, Kel," he murmured. "I'm sorry that I didn't make it, that I wasn't able to do my duty and cover your back as promised."

They had said it wasn't his fault, but he knew better.

But before he took off up there again, there was something he had to do. Activating his civilian implant, Achilleas cycled through the endless list of names stored in his contact file, watching it overlaying his left eye as he lifted his gaze to stare into the dully white wall surface. He hated then the virtuals superimposed reality, it always got him nauseas.

Elvira Stark

It sounded demure, professional. Sitting down on his white leather couch, he expanded the information, still staring at the wall.

Elvira Stark – Legal Clerk – Brodsky & Espinosa

He read her brief resume before coming to a small picture. An innocent looking black girl with slightly cherub cheeks and round, long-lashed eyes stared back at him. Achilleas ran highlight reels in his implant to see what more there was, he'd bookmarked her information a few weeks back upon returning Earthside again, but he'd been keeping pushing this duty forward day after day after day. And now it was less than 24 hours before he was up there again, and he knew he couldn't procrastinate anymore. Elvira Stark thus.

***

Elvira’s heels clicked stridently across the marble as she strode through the lobby, past the weirdly snaking, luminescent tubes of modern art, and into the lift. Getting off at the 46:th floor, she walked through the coral colored hallway and arrived in front of the large double doors of her law firm. Swiping her keycard, she stepped into the entrance foyer and was greeting by Maya, the purple haired secretary sitting in her usual position behind the front desk, a cord running from her implant and down somewhere below. Too much information for the Wifi obviously.

"Good morning, Mrs. Stark," Maya greeted her with a flash of perfect, snow white teeth.
"Good morning" Elvira nodded, returning the smile, albeit not as overdone, then began heading straight for her office.

"Oh Elvira, you have some mail here," Maya made her stop short.
"Where 'here'?" Elvira frowned. "In your channel?"
"No," Maya held out something grayish and elongated. "A physical posting."

Stopping short and surprised, Elvira turned around and took the offered envelope.
"Late night?" inquired Maya nosily.
"Oh, no, just got caught up in some traffic this morning."
"Hmm funny, I didn’t notice any when I came in." Maya paused. "One more thing. The partners are out downtown at a deposition this morning until noon. I guess you got lucky," Maya added under her breath.
"Deposition my ass," Elvira murmured under her breath. She knew well that was not the case. As usual.

That girl sure was weird, why else did she make Elvira's coming and going her business, Elvira wondered. Yet she ignored the last comment instead of returning something witty. Don't feed her and perhaps she stops, she though as she headed towards her office. Although she was annoyed by Maya, she was content in knowing she'd have some quiet time until the afternoon.

Reaching her desk and connecting to the channels, Elvira situated herself to start her day. She had tree cases in her channels, two to prepare and one to wrap up, all dealing with malfunctioning nanobots. The latest case dealing with an Indian reality actress who'd came down with thyroid cancer in spite of paying a fortune for anti-cancer nanobots and was now suing Ateran Medicals on more than 6 million Eurasian for presumed loss of life years and income. Elvira opened a folder and placed her head in her hands while taking a long gaze at the medical report.

Her mind began to work the case but she was startled by a gentle bing and buzz from her phone. She half smiled as she expected a sweet message from her fiancé Ottavian, who was an investment banker currently on assignment in Tokyo. But to her surprise, the message was from an unknown number. She shifted her eyes from the medical files and over to an empty slate.

The little green bubble on the screen read Hey .

She didn’t know why, but she felt a jolt of electricity run through her body. Who could have written this message? By the brevity and tone of the one word text, it was certainly from someone with a lot of self-assurance. Someone used to be treated as a noble and obeyed by the iota. But who? And why? It wasn't any of her normal clients, as Elvira was prudent with always storing not only name and addresses but also biometric data of her clients. Sutapa Adju wouldn't call from an anonymous channel, that simply wasn't her style, neither would old Rheza Othello, the client who's case she was wrapping up after a hard won victory in the Final Court, stating that Mr. Othello's lost eyesight had been due to malfunctioning bioware.

Then who? She wondered if she should text back. They were all prompted to haul in new clients, and even though she was overloaded with work as it was, and this didn't come through the normal channels, she knew she'd ought to reply.

Another text buzzed through. I'm Achilleas Yamauchi.

A rush of adrenaline sent her heart pumping. Who was Achilleas Yamauchi? The name was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't recall from where right at the moment, and nothing came up on an immediate reel. Should she answer? Then a new message came in. I'm in need of someone who can remove an implant.

Then you have the wrong number, she rapidly texted back. This is a law firm and I'm specialized in medical mistreatment, dealing with Modern Medicine. You should probably call a doctor.
That's the next step, the reply came swiftly. I need permission to take it out.

Damn! she thought, contract issue. That was probably Wolfgang, Linda or Trevise's desk. Somehow this Yamauchi guy had written a contract in which stipulated that he'd had a business implant installed, and now he wanted out, but was bound by several clauses. This was so not her thing. She was just about to tell him that when there was a new message.
Would you like to meet? I can pay you well.

Her mind went running a million miles an hour as she wondered who this random guy was who'd just contacted her for a contract re-negotiating job. And who was he with, there weren't many who wrote these kind of contracts anymore, not since WWIII. But she could think of a few. But why had he contacted her directly instead of going through the firm's official channels? Something told her that this wasn't entirely legit. Then again, if she could make some extra on the side...

In abhorrence, Elvira shifted her attention from the message area and back to Sutapa Adju's medical file. However, after biting her thumbnail and looking at it for a while, she could not help but be intrigued. The situation was perfect. She was alone in a beautiful office. The partners were away for quite a few hours more. And she needed the money. She returned her attention to the message area once more and noticed that sweat had broken out on her forehead. Yes, her career was off to a good start and she had everything she wanted. But still she yearned for something more, and perhaps that something was spelled excitement as well as money. She could take care of Adju's case tonight.

How much? she typed, she couldn't believe she was doing this.
100 000 came the fast reply, then a second line. Ivory Sterling and a line of exclamation marks after.

Damnation, only gangsters used crypto currencies these days, and even though they were legal in Australia, they were not seen as really kosher. And she knew that if it became common knowledge on the firm that she was burning her midnight oil, or rather her midmorning oil for Ivory Sterling, she might well start looking for another job. Then again....

She dropped an address line in the message area. Come by now! We have until noon.

***

Achilleas could not believe what he was seeing on the virtual slate. He blinked twice and rubbed his eyes but it was still there. Elvira Stark had accepted, and for a bargain price, not even tried to negotiate it upwards. Either she was stupid – or that was not what she wasn't.

I’m on my way he sent back.

Since there was no time to really get dressed, he quickly threw on a pair of simpleshorts and a loose fitting white cotton daycloak, then he set the alarms and dashed into the lift down to the garage, on the way down he entered the address line into his yellow Apple convertible. As he stumbled into the seat, he thought that he usually loved to rather drive himself, however he knew too little of the area he was going to and there was not much time. His implant clock read 10:15 am and he remembered Elvira’s text that read 'We have until noon'.

****

Pacing in her office, Elvira thought nervously as her rational side began to pose questions. Should she just text back and call the whole thing off? Was he really going to show up? What if the partners got back to the office before 12? With the clock ticking however, she decided that the best thing to do was to follow through and make this happen. Knowing herself, she might well stay a good girl for the rest of her life and hope to be made a partner herself one day, either here or somewhere else. As such, this was a rare, perhaps once in a lifetime opportunity to both make some extra money and live a bit on the wild side. Something to tell her grandchildren one day if she got any.

100 000 Ivory Sterling, that was almost the double in Eurasians, she figured as she accessed the exchange rates. Who in Tartarus could have this amount of money. And needed an implant removed so badly that he was wanting to pay them all.

Then she remembered something, and she began diving deep down in the channels, hoping she'd have enough time.

****

The valet looked in bewilderment as the yellow Apple roared into the driveway. Pulling right up to the valet stand, Achilleas hopped out of his car.
"I’ll be about an hour," he said. Simultaneously, he handed him a hundred coin to which the valet smiled and joked.
"I’ll keep it running."

Walking barefoot through the lobby, he slipped into a packed lift as the doors were closing, feeling the stare of the men and women in business outfits. He fidgeted as he noticed 5 floor lights lit up before his. After the doors opened and closed at the 33rd floor, the remaining a man, elegant in his gilded mohawk, tapped Achilles on the shoulder.
"Hey, aren’t you Achilleas Yamauchi?"

Achilleas blinked.
"Sorry?"
"It IS you. Wow, I was at Benathiari beach. I was there with my sons when your platoon busted the terrorists. We wouldn't have been alive now if you guys weren't there."
"We were just doing our duty..."
"One of you died, right?"
"Yes, a guy named Kelly Swartzenblut." Achilleas replied, trying to be both polite and dismissive at the same time.

"Can I get a picture?" the man asked.
"I.. sure," Achilleas replied.

The mohawk adorned man then deployed his handcam, put his arm around Achilleas, and took an awkward picture.

"Achilleas Yamauchi, I can’t believe it!" the man said as he walked off the lift.

Relieved, Achilleas checked the time. It read 11:05 am. Not that much time until noon but still enough.

The lift chimed as it hit the 46:th floor floor. Stepping out, he found a channel of confusing numbers and arrows entering his implant and he hesitated but a brief moment before he headed right. Towards the end of the hall he ended up at a glistening, blast proof iron door. The etched name of the legal firm matched the name Elvira had sent him. This was it. He pressed the doorbell and waited. After a few moments the door opened to reveal a young, black woman standing at attention. So this was Elvira Stark. She looked as good as in the net pictures. Even better in her business suit. She reminded him of a high space flight attendant.

Elvira greeted him with with an outstretched hand, silver-painted nails gleaning in the overhead light, a hand which he clasped nervously, hoping he wasn't sweating.
"Achilleas Yamauchi," she said, the cadence of his name having a quite different and more business like ring than with the mohawk guy.
"Yes, and you must be Mrs. Stark."
"True."

Without another word spoken, Elvira turned around and walked back into her office. Achilleas duly followed.

"Oh Maya, this is Achilleas Yamauchi," Elvira said as Maya peered up, eyes beaded, from her working channels. "He’s one of our new clients," she added.
"Mister Yamauchi. Funny, I don’t have you on my list. Were you scheduled today?" Maya said.
"Uhm-" Achilleas managed.
"He’s not on the schedule," Elvira interjected. "He’s a new client. No need to check him in, I’ll handle it personally."

Before Maya could say another word, abut security and such, Elvira led Achilleas down the hallway towards a large conference room in the opposite end of the office. It was fancy as it was meant to impress clients. Once inside, she shut the doors quickly and leaned her back against it. Achilleas stood uncomfortably in the center of the room. Elvira noticed his tall, lanky yet muscular frame underneath clothes looking as if he'd been asleep in them. And regardless of his sloppy outfit, there was something neat and orderly by his stance. Military.
"So..." she said.

"This is what I need to get rid of," Achilleas said as an icebreaker as he tapped his forehead.
"For 100 000," Elvira she stared directly into Achilleas' gray-blue eyes. "Ivory Sterling," she added as an afterthought.

Achilleas looked around the fancy room, the single large, panoramic window, from which you could see all the way to the Pacific, the conference table in genuine wood and the crisscrossing arrangements of leds in the ceiling. The walls were clad in motion tapestries mimicking a slowly moving ocean under a clear blue sky with fluffy little clouds drifting by the horizon and a flock of seagulls turning in midair to return the way they'd come from. Then two dolphins cleaved the surface, sprayed water in the air then dived down again, and he took that as a good sign. He knew that these tapestries came with about a thousand different shots and he wondered why Elvira had selected the sea. If it was she who'd done that of course.

"Yes," he said. "I can pay you that. To assure you of my honesty, the money has been placed in a Temp-pool at the Hong Kong Hermetic Bank and..."
"Sit down," she cut him off as she took a seat by the conference table and Achilleas slid down diagonally from her. "I knew I remembered your name from somewhere," she added business-like.
"And?" he asked as he felt the chair form fit to his body. Not liking it, it was all he could do to not fidget but relax and concentrate on the woman in front of him.
"I've been doing some research since our conversation. Including about an event up at the flying city of Benathiari. There was a thwarted terrorist attack there in October last year. And a Gatekeeper Enforcer who died. A Kelly Swartzenblut."

"Yes," Achilleas nodded. "He was my mate." He tried not to balk at the memories that were again assaulting his mind. The memories. And the guilt.
"I knew," she said, "I've read in on your file."
"But that is... classified."
"Yes, but one of the guys working here knows how to get round such things." She put a finger to her lips. "But you never heard it from me and we'd deny it the whole way and then some of that would be nessesary. And I bet the military lawyers have no chance against what we've got here."

"Well," he said. "I'm not going to pick up that glove. I just want that implant out."
"And there's no opt-out clause."
"On the very contrary."
"I know." Elvira paused. "But what I also know is the reason why Gatekeeper Enforcer captain Swartzenblut died. And that was because of a malfunctioning implant. The same manufacturing kind as the one that is stuck in your head. Thus the survival clause applies to you, Mr. Yamauchi," she added as she watched him touching his forehead and frowning.

"Which means?"
"That I might claim in court that your implant is a death trap. If your employer wants to take it that far. But I believe that they'll settle for my offer to let you remove it, together with some damage claim compensation. After all, we cannot have the Gatekeeper Enforcers parading in the court, not to mention in the news."

"So what you're saying is all I need is the proof that Kelly was killed because of..."
"I already have that proof for you, captain."
"Please, call me Achilleas," he paused. "What if they ask where you got this information about the implants?"
"Pledge of silence," once again a dark brown finger against two ruby red lips. He couldn't help but he found that very – sexy...

"I've sent the proof to your channel together with a written advice that they remove your implant or they get to hear from us."
"Us? But you're not officially representing me, right?"
"Yes, you know that, and I know that. But your supervisors do not know that."
"Then I guess you'll have your Ivory Sterling," he murmured.
"Yes, a win-win deal. If you get the recommended claim for not taking this forward, you'll come out double."
"Is that true!"
"Sure, look in the files!"

Both grinning widely, Achilleas and Elvira enjoyed a moment of blissful silence before they were interrupted by a voice coming through the open channel. Maya.
"Elvira, the partners are back and Mr. Espinosa needs you in his office right now."

Immediately, Elvira stood. Achilleas as well. Right before leaving the conference room, she gave him some instructions for escape.
"Take the side door, make a right and go down the service lift at the end of the hall," she said.

***

A few minutes later, Elvira found herself back in her office with a fresh batch of Farouk Espinosa's case files to review. Achilleas exited the front door of the building and was approached by the valet with keys in hand.

"Here you go, sir, I left it in the best spot. Just get right on in!"
"Thanks, lad!" Achilleas smiled as he got in the car. "Make sure you park it the same spot next time!"

As he drove away, both Achilleas and Elvira simultaneously looked up at the noon sky. In satisfaction, they smiled and closed their eyes for a brief moment, bathed in warm daylight.

:) (Smile) — Description
The massive organic shaped silver building that was situated in a lush green area of Miranda, Sydney was designed by the legendary architect Emma Olsen herself. At dawn, the first beams of ginger orange daylight flooded the empty center of the building and radiated the entire structure - awakening it from its nocturnal slumber. Over the great portico was a picture of the daily zodiacal divinity – Hera Amaterasu, holding up today's date, 15:th of May 2089.

Humming along to Godiva's latest hit 'My time is not now', Elvira Stark raced her newly acquired two door Honda up to the building that crisp and sunny morning and maneuvered around the gaudy, late model Teslas and Mercedeses double parked in the semicircle driveway.
"Hello People!" she hummed. Seeing a precious open spot, she parked near the curb and checked her watch. 9:15. "Tartarus," she thought, "late again."

Elvira was almost always late to work. Not that it really mattered, since the partners at her law firm usually made their way in at noon after a morning round of golf. Still, she wanted to keep up appearances and not lose the job that she had slaved three long years at law school to get. Fixing her frizzy, black hair in the rearview mirror, she simultaneously wound up her shade of red lipstick and applied it deftly, then she added some powder to her mocha brown forehead. Regarding herself in the rear view mirror, then she grinned, making sure that not something from her breakfast had gotten stuck between her teeth.

Not completely accustomed to her new car, she opened the small driver’s side door slowly, swung her legs out and touched the ground with her four inch black heels. As she rose to her feet, she felt slightly embarrassed as her ice blue skirt slid up above her slender thighs. Quickly adapting herself, she found herself staring at the valet, who was standing at attention, sporting a boyish wide grin.
"Good morning Miss Stark," he said excitedly.
"Good morning, Airu," she nodded to the young Asian man, around who's cheeks some puppy fat still seemed to linger. Or was it nighttime computer game and junk food fat, she wondered, then decided that she didn't want to know.

****

Across town in Windsor, Achilleas Yamauchi rubbed his bare toned chest, tracing the lines of the tattooed temple dragon and poured his cup of morning coffee. Running his hand through his messy black hair and letting out a yawn, he entered his wood floored penthouse living room overlooking the roof tops of the surrounding buildings. He paused to take an extra long look at the skyline. Today was a precious day, a rare day. One of the last that he could enjoy at home before having to jet off to his next mission as a Gatekeeper Enforcer.

Placing his cup down on the curved glass end table, Achilleas noticed two women by the roof pool of the opposite building. One of them was wearing a goldenpanty set and had a curved, bronzed posterior – a devastating combination. The other one wasn't really visible, she was behind the palm tree, but he could glimpse a mane of blond hair cascading down as she bent down to take something off, a shirt perhaps. Then, he lifted his eyes to look up in the sky, at the glistening hovertown up there. Benathiari. He was going there, within 24 hours he would be up there, in that marvelous, divine place where the sky was deep indigo and star spangled even during daytime and you could see the curvature of the Earth. He was going there to risk his life. And he hoped to the gods that he would be back home again. In one piece.

Then his mind slipped to his lost friend Kelly and he walked over to the altar and watched the rests of yesterday's incense on the black obsidian surface and bit back emotions.
"I'm sorry, Kel," he murmured. "I'm sorry that I didn't make it, that I wasn't able to do my duty and cover your back as promised."

They had said it wasn't his fault, but he knew better.

But before he took off up there again, there was something he had to do. Activating his civilian implant, Achilleas cycled through the endless list of names stored in his contact file, watching it overlaying his left eye as he lifted his gaze to stare into the dully white wall surface. He hated then the virtuals superimposed reality, it always got him nauseas.

Elvira Stark

It sounded demure, professional. Sitting down on his white leather couch, he expanded the information, still staring at the wall.

Elvira Stark – Legal Clerk – Brodsky & Espinosa

He read her brief resume before coming to a small picture. An innocent looking black girl with slightly cherub cheeks and round, long-lashed eyes stared back at him. Achilleas ran highlight reels in his implant to see what more there was, he'd bookmarked her information a few weeks back upon returning Earthside again, but he'd been keeping pushing this duty forward day after day after day. And now it was less than 24 hours before he was up there again, and he knew he couldn't procrastinate anymore. Elvira Stark thus.

***

Elvira’s heels clicked stridently across the marble as she strode through the lobby, past the weirdly snaking, luminescent tubes of modern art, and into the lift. Getting off at the 46:th floor, she walked through the coral colored hallway and arrived in front of the large double doors of her law firm. Swiping her keycard, she stepped into the entrance foyer and was greeting by Maya, the purple haired secretary sitting in her usual position behind the front desk, a cord running from her implant and down somewhere below. Too much information for the Wifi obviously.

"Good morning, Mrs. Stark," Maya greeted her with a flash of perfect, snow white teeth.
"Good morning" Elvira nodded, returning the smile, albeit not as overdone, then began heading straight for her office.

"Oh Elvira, you have some mail here," Maya made her stop short.
"Where 'here'?" Elvira frowned. "In your channel?"
"No," Maya held out something grayish and elongated. "A physical posting."

Stopping short and surprised, Elvira turned around and took the offered envelope.
"Late night?" inquired Maya nosily.
"Oh, no, just got caught up in some traffic this morning."
"Hmm funny, I didn’t notice any when I came in." Maya paused. "One more thing. The partners are out downtown at a deposition this morning until noon. I guess you got lucky," Maya added under her breath.
"Deposition my ass," Elvira murmured under her breath. She knew well that was not the case. As usual.

That girl sure was weird, why else did she make Elvira's coming and going her business, Elvira wondered. Yet she ignored the last comment instead of returning something witty. Don't feed her and perhaps she stops, she though as she headed towards her office. Although she was annoyed by Maya, she was content in knowing she'd have some quiet time until the afternoon.

Reaching her desk and connecting to the channels, Elvira situated herself to start her day. She had tree cases in her channels, two to prepare and one to wrap up, all dealing with malfunctioning nanobots. The latest case dealing with an Indian reality actress who'd came down with thyroid cancer in spite of paying a fortune for anti-cancer nanobots and was now suing Ateran Medicals on more than 6 million Eurasian for presumed loss of life years and income. Elvira opened a folder and placed her head in her hands while taking a long gaze at the medical report.

Her mind began to work the case but she was startled by a gentle bing and buzz from her phone. She half smiled as she expected a sweet message from her fiancé Ottavian, who was an investment banker currently on assignment in Tokyo. But to her surprise, the message was from an unknown number. She shifted her eyes from the medical files and over to an empty slate.

The little green bubble on the screen read Hey .

She didn’t know why, but she felt a jolt of electricity run through her body. Who could have written this message? By the brevity and tone of the one word text, it was certainly from someone with a lot of self-assurance. Someone used to be treated as a noble and obeyed by the iota. But who? And why? It wasn't any of her normal clients, as Elvira was prudent with always storing not only name and addresses but also biometric data of her clients. Sutapa Adju wouldn't call from an anonymous channel, that simply wasn't her style, neither would old Rheza Othello, the client who's case she was wrapping up after a hard won victory in the Final Court, stating that Mr. Othello's lost eyesight had been due to malfunctioning bioware.

Then who? She wondered if she should text back. They were all prompted to haul in new clients, and even though she was overloaded with work as it was, and this didn't come through the normal channels, she knew she'd ought to reply.

Another text buzzed through. I'm Achilleas Yamauchi.

A rush of adrenaline sent her heart pumping. Who was Achilleas Yamauchi? The name was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't recall from where right at the moment, and nothing came up on an immediate reel. Should she answer? Then a new message came in. I'm in need of someone who can remove an implant.

Then you have the wrong number, she rapidly texted back. This is a law firm and I'm specialized in medical mistreatment, dealing with Modern Medicine. You should probably call a doctor.
That's the next step, the reply came swiftly. I need permission to take it out.

Damn! she thought, contract issue. That was probably Wolfgang, Linda or Trevise's desk. Somehow this Yamauchi guy had written a contract in which stipulated that he'd had a business implant installed, and now he wanted out, but was bound by several clauses. This was so not her thing. She was just about to tell him that when there was a new message.
Would you like to meet? I can pay you well.

Her mind went running a million miles an hour as she wondered who this random guy was who'd just contacted her for a contract re-negotiating job. And who was he with, there weren't many who wrote these kind of contracts anymore, not since WWIII. But she could think of a few. But why had he contacted her directly instead of going through the firm's official channels? Something told her that this wasn't entirely legit. Then again, if she could make some extra on the side...

In abhorrence, Elvira shifted her attention from the message area and back to Sutapa Adju's medical file. However, after biting her thumbnail and looking at it for a while, she could not help but be intrigued. The situation was perfect. She was alone in a beautiful office. The partners were away for quite a few hours more. And she needed the money. She returned her attention to the message area once more and noticed that sweat had broken out on her forehead. Yes, her career was off to a good start and she had everything she wanted. But still she yearned for something more, and perhaps that something was spelled excitement as well as money. She could take care of Adju's case tonight.

How much? she typed, she couldn't believe she was doing this.
100 000 came the fast reply, then a second line. Ivory Sterling and a line of exclamation marks after.

Damnation, only gangsters used crypto currencies these days, and even though they were legal in Australia, they were not seen as really kosher. And she knew that if it became common knowledge on the firm that she was burning her midnight oil, or rather her midmorning oil for Ivory Sterling, she might well start looking for another job. Then again....

She dropped an address line in the message area. Come by now! We have until noon.

***

Achilleas could not believe what he was seeing on the virtual slate. He blinked twice and rubbed his eyes but it was still there. Elvira Stark had accepted, and for a bargain price, not even tried to negotiate it upwards. Either she was stupid – or that was not what she wasn't.

I’m on my way he sent back.

Since there was no time to really get dressed, he quickly threw on a pair of simpleshorts and a loose fitting white cotton daycloak, then he set the alarms and dashed into the lift down to the garage, on the way down he entered the address line into his yellow Apple convertible. As he stumbled into the seat, he thought that he usually loved to rather drive himself, however he knew too little of the area he was going to and there was not much time. His implant clock read 10:15 am and he remembered Elvira’s text that read 'We have until noon'.

****

Pacing in her office, Elvira thought nervously as her rational side began to pose questions. Should she just text back and call the whole thing off? Was he really going to show up? What if the partners got back to the office before 12? With the clock ticking however, she decided that the best thing to do was to follow through and make this happen. Knowing herself, she might well stay a good girl for the rest of her life and hope to be made a partner herself one day, either here or somewhere else. As such, this was a rare, perhaps once in a lifetime opportunity to both make some extra money and live a bit on the wild side. Something to tell her grandchildren one day if she got any.

100 000 Ivory Sterling, that was almost the double in Eurasians, she figured as she accessed the exchange rates. Who in Tartarus could have this amount of money. And needed an implant removed so badly that he was wanting to pay them all.

Then she remembered something, and she began diving deep down in the channels, hoping she'd have enough time.

****

The valet looked in bewilderment as the yellow Apple roared into the driveway. Pulling right up to the valet stand, Achilleas hopped out of his car.
"I’ll be about an hour," he said. Simultaneously, he handed him a hundred coin to which the valet smiled and joked.
"I’ll keep it running."

Walking barefoot through the lobby, he slipped into a packed lift as the doors were closing, feeling the stare of the men and women in business outfits. He fidgeted as he noticed 5 floor lights lit up before his. After the doors opened and closed at the 33rd floor, the remaining a man, elegant in his gilded mohawk, tapped Achilles on the shoulder.
"Hey, aren’t you Achilleas Yamauchi?"

Achilleas blinked.
"Sorry?"
"It IS you. Wow, I was at Benathiari beach. I was there with my sons when your platoon busted the terrorists. We wouldn't have been alive now if you guys weren't there."
"We were just doing our duty..."
"One of you died, right?"
"Yes, a guy named Kelly Swartzenblut." Achilleas replied, trying to be both polite and dismissive at the same time.

"Can I get a picture?" the man asked.
"I.. sure," Achilleas replied.

The mohawk adorned man then deployed his handcam, put his arm around Achilleas, and took an awkward picture.

"Achilleas Yamauchi, I can’t believe it!" the man said as he walked off the lift.

Relieved, Achilleas checked the time. It read 11:05 am. Not that much time until noon but still enough.

The lift chimed as it hit the 46:th floor floor. Stepping out, he found a channel of confusing numbers and arrows entering his implant and he hesitated but a brief moment before he headed right. Towards the end of the hall he ended up at a glistening, blast proof iron door. The etched name of the legal firm matched the name Elvira had sent him. This was it. He pressed the doorbell and waited. After a few moments the door opened to reveal a young, black woman standing at attention. So this was Elvira Stark. She looked as good as in the net pictures. Even better in her business suit. She reminded him of a high space flight attendant.

Elvira greeted him with with an outstretched hand, silver-painted nails gleaning in the overhead light, a hand which he clasped nervously, hoping he wasn't sweating.
"Achilleas Yamauchi," she said, the cadence of his name having a quite different and more business like ring than with the mohawk guy.
"Yes, and you must be Mrs. Stark."
"True."

Without another word spoken, Elvira turned around and walked back into her office. Achilleas duly followed.

"Oh Maya, this is Achilleas Yamauchi," Elvira said as Maya peered up, eyes beaded, from her working channels. "He’s one of our new clients," she added.
"Mister Yamauchi. Funny, I don’t have you on my list. Were you scheduled today?" Maya said.
"Uhm-" Achilleas managed.
"He’s not on the schedule," Elvira interjected. "He’s a new client. No need to check him in, I’ll handle it personally."

Before Maya could say another word, abut security and such, Elvira led Achilleas down the hallway towards a large conference room in the opposite end of the office. It was fancy as it was meant to impress clients. Once inside, she shut the doors quickly and leaned her back against it. Achilleas stood uncomfortably in the center of the room. Elvira noticed his tall, lanky yet muscular frame underneath clothes looking as if he'd been asleep in them. And regardless of his sloppy outfit, there was something neat and orderly by his stance. Military.
"So..." she said.

"This is what I need to get rid of," Achilleas said as an icebreaker as he tapped his forehead.
"For 100 000," Elvira she stared directly into Achilleas' gray-blue eyes. "Ivory Sterling," she added as an afterthought.

Achilleas looked around the fancy room, the single large, panoramic window, from which you could see all the way to the Pacific, the conference table in genuine wood and the crisscrossing arrangements of leds in the ceiling. The walls were clad in motion tapestries mimicking a slowly moving ocean under a clear blue sky with fluffy little clouds drifting by the horizon and a flock of seagulls turning in midair to return the way they'd come from. Then two dolphins cleaved the surface, sprayed water in the air then dived down again, and he took that as a good sign. He knew that these tapestries came with about a thousand different shots and he wondered why Elvira had selected the sea. If it was she who'd done that of course.

"Yes," he said. "I can pay you that. To assure you of my honesty, the money has been placed in a Temp-pool at the Hong Kong Hermetic Bank and..."
"Sit down," she cut him off as she took a seat by the conference table and Achilleas slid down diagonally from her. "I knew I remembered your name from somewhere," she added business-like.
"And?" he asked as he felt the chair form fit to his body. Not liking it, it was all he could do to not fidget but relax and concentrate on the woman in front of him.
"I've been doing some research since our conversation. Including about an event up at the flying city of Benathiari. There was a thwarted terrorist attack there in October last year. And a Gatekeeper Enforcer who died. A Kelly Swartzenblut."

"Yes," Achilleas nodded. "He was my mate." He tried not to balk at the memories that were again assaulting his mind. The memories. And the guilt.
"I knew," she said, "I've read in on your file."
"But that is... classified."
"Yes, but one of the guys working here knows how to get round such things." She put a finger to her lips. "But you never heard it from me and we'd deny it the whole way and then some of that would be nessesary. And I bet the military lawyers have no chance against what we've got here."

"Well," he said. "I'm not going to pick up that glove. I just want that implant out."
"And there's no opt-out clause."
"On the very contrary."
"I know." Elvira paused. "But what I also know is the reason why Gatekeeper Enforcer captain Swartzenblut died. And that was because of a malfunctioning implant. The same manufacturing kind as the one that is stuck in your head. Thus the survival clause applies to you, Mr. Yamauchi," she added as she watched him touching his forehead and frowning.

"Which means?"
"That I might claim in court that your implant is a death trap. If your employer wants to take it that far. But I believe that they'll settle for my offer to let you remove it, together with some damage claim compensation. After all, we cannot have the Gatekeeper Enforcers parading in the court, not to mention in the news."

"So what you're saying is all I need is the proof that Kelly was killed because of..."
"I already have that proof for you, captain."
"Please, call me Achilleas," he paused. "What if they ask where you got this information about the implants?"
"Pledge of silence," once again a dark brown finger against two ruby red lips. He couldn't help but he found that very – sexy...

"I've sent the proof to your channel together with a written advice that they remove your implant or they get to hear from us."
"Us? But you're not officially representing me, right?"
"Yes, you know that, and I know that. But your supervisors do not know that."
"Then I guess you'll have your Ivory Sterling," he murmured.
"Yes, a win-win deal. If you get the recommended claim for not taking this forward, you'll come out double."
"Is that true!"
"Sure, look in the files!"

Both grinning widely, Achilleas and Elvira enjoyed a moment of blissful silence before they were interrupted by a voice coming through the open channel. Maya.
"Elvira, the partners are back and Mr. Espinosa needs you in his office right now."

Immediately, Elvira stood. Achilleas as well. Right before leaving the conference room, she gave him some instructions for escape.
"Take the side door, make a right and go down the service lift at the end of the hall," she said.

***

A few minutes later, Elvira found herself back in her office with a fresh batch of Farouk Espinosa's case files to review. Achilleas exited the front door of the building and was approached by the valet with keys in hand.

"Here you go, sir, I left it in the best spot. Just get right on in!"
"Thanks, lad!" Achilleas smiled as he got in the car. "Make sure you park it the same spot next time!"

As he drove away, both Achilleas and Elvira simultaneously looked up at the noon sky. In satisfaction, they smiled and closed their eyes for a brief moment, bathed in warm daylight.