THE LOFT

a short story by Lauren Chandler

0:00

“It’s been cycles since a detachment’s been sent up to this level,” Kaasi said to her fellow Zenith Keeper, as they stood guard next to a rather large and bulky door. “Why the sudden activity? Suddenly it’s a priority Delta designation? With renovation teams?”

The Zenith Keeper standing next to Kaasi merely glanced toward her and shook their head slightly as if dismissive of the unremarkable speculation.

“Oh, come on, don’t give me that,” Kaasi huffed with a small stretch of her shoulders. The armor was particularly heavy and cumbersome this shift. Was it because of those extra berry muffins she ate yesterday? Surely, they wouldn’t cause her armor to have become tight like this overnight. No… no, it couldn’t be. Though, she did eat all twelve in the package, but… no. The harmonic staff probably secured a slightly smaller loadout for her to change into this morning. Yes, that was it.

“Worrying about something-”

“Whoa! You again?!” Kaasi exclaimed, clearly recognizing his voice even through the modulation.

He sighed, wiping his helmet as if trying to play off a face-palm. “Yes, me again.”

“Wow two shifts in a row! That’s a rare one,” Kaasi said with a slight giggle. “What was your name, again?”

“Keeper Galileo,” he said with a tired sigh. “How’s the wrist, Keeper Kaasi?”

Even with the opaque armor and helmet, Kaasi’s sudden embarrassment was clearly on display for everyone to see. Which, thankfully only Galileo was present in the elevator landing area.

“Oh fine, fine,” she said awkwardly.

Galileo chuckled, smoothing the crisp silence that suddenly engulfed them. “It’s probably because of that Xperion,” he said.

“What?” Kaasi asked, pulled from her spiraling embarrassment.

“The Xperion. Or Zalix, I guess they’re calling it,” Galileo said. “They probably need somewhere to put him after all the commotion. Considering no one’s been living up here in a few solar cycles…”

“I guess that explains the moving equipment,” Kaasi said, careening her neck behind her to get a glimpse into the dark loft beyond the entrance door they were guarding. “The place still creeps me out.”

“Like I was trying to say earlier, Keeper Kaasi," Galileo said softly. "Worrying about something for which you have no facts is just misplaced imagination. Use it on something rejuvenating after shift, yeah?”

“But that creepy statue.”

Galileo hummed, his head tilting. “I’ll give you that one.”

Suddenly the lighting shifted to a stark red illumination, engulfing Kaasi and Galileo in a flashing, red cacophony. An alarm soon blared as bulky gyros of the door leading into the loft whirred to life, before slamming the massive door shut.

A booming yet deeply melodious voice filled the chaos. “This level is under lockdown. Remain in place. Omnific Protocol Alpha is activated.”

“Omni,” Galileo sighed to himself. He put a hand up to his temple as if to dampen the noise, and then activated his comm. “What’s going on Omni? Status report immediately.”

“Keeper Galileo, restrict access to this level at once," Omni said. "No one enters. No one leaves. Alerting Dr. Bax for further instruction.”