Cold Fish

Posted on Tue Nov 26th, 2019 @ 8:51pm by Gill Anderson
Edited on on Tue Nov 26th, 2019 @ 9:55pm

Mission: Opening Shop
Location: Deck Six - Marshall's Office
Timeline: 7.30am

Gill shivered. The climate control in his office was playing up and he found himself glancing up at the vents expecting snow any moment now. Normally he did not mind the cold, but for the third day in a row he'd skipped breakfast on the back of a shitty nights sleep and it all added up to a miserable start to the day. He rubbed his hands together and blew into them, watching the cloud of condensation billow out from between his fingers. With a grumbled curse he reached over to the nearby chair and snatched up his Lien Mohn jacket and struggled into it. Leaning over then he tapped the red button of the communication panel on his desk. There was a moment of static before a voice sounded out,

"That you Marshall Anderson?" the voice enquired.

"It is." Gill confirmed, "Any chance of getting a tech down here to fix the weather? Feels like gorram New Kasmir in November!"

"No can do Marshall. Contract gives upper decks priority and we are still getting interstitial condensation all over level three. Have you tried picking up some freelance tech from the transients?"

"I want it fixed not stolen." Gill complained. The voice on the comm barked a laugh and terminated the transmission.

"Nah mei guan shee." Gill spat shaking his head and heaving himself from his seat. He flicked through the papers on his desk before picking up his Cortex pad and wandering over to the fish bowl he kept sitting on a stand near the door. He dipped his finger in the water to check the temperature. Too cold! The little Goldfish came swimming to the surface looking for food and seeing only Gills finger gave it an experimental peck and swam back down to hide.

"Let's get you somewhere warm shall we?" Gill said scooping the bowl under his arm before leaving the office.

Out in the corridor the temperature was bearable. Gill made his way straight through to the reception area where a young red head sat tapping away on her data console. She turned to look up at him as he walked in and smiled her eyes dropping then to the goldfish bowl.

"Climate control down again?" she asked shaking her head.

Gill shrugged lowering the bowl and nudging the sign that read reception to one side. "Can Avakhon stay with you a while Trish, I have rounds to do?"

"Sure he can," she cooed as she tapped the side of the bowl. "Cant have you turning into a block of ice now can we."

"Thanks." he started to leave but Trish reached out and tapped his arm.

"Oh em, you have a message from Lacy's on two. Someones been lifting sex toys from the store rooms again."

"Why aren't retail security covering that?" he asked.

"Sounds like she hasn't paid up." Trish shrugged, "The lingerie business must be slow."

"Must be." he replied grudgingly.

"Tell Abbey I said hi!" Trish called out as he turned once more.

"Absolutely." he waved.

"And pick me up one of those purple rabbit doohickeys." she called again.

"Absolutely not!" he called back as the door closed behind him.