In Pursuit

Elanor and Harry ran after Mr Pospishil down a grey staircase in the FluxTec building. They had run down several flights of stairs already, when they heard a door close one storey below – which was as far as the man was ahead. By now, Elanor was glad that she had decided to wear reasonable shoes but she had to hoist up her dress while running, maybe a pantsuit would have been the better decision. Her purse was hanging on her shoulder.

When the door to the staircase closed behind them, the detectives found themselves in a fern green corridor with bright ceiling lights and white doors at both sides. Each had a long, narrow glass part in the center. As Harry was ahead of her and closer to Mr Pospishil, Elanor managed to get a few glimpses of offices. They were painted and furnished in muted light colours which were certainly hand-picked to increase productivity. They had large desks and high-backed chairs. All of them seemed to be empty at this time of the day. Elanor rummaged in her purse, trying not to fall, getting out a small camera drone and putting it into the air.

'Stop!' Harry shouted, as Mr Pospishil ran around a corner. He did not add, 'We are the police.' It didn't seem right.

On one wall of the corridor Elanor could read, 'When you change your thoughts, remember to also change your world.' They skidded around a corner and into a large lounge area, full of relaxing sofas. Mr Pospishil jumped over them and Harry followed, while Elanor cursed and took the longer way around them. She pulled a small smoke bomb out of her purse, threw it at Mr Pospishil and brought a coughing fit to Harry. A dispenser of sweets was knocked over in the process, crashing on the floor and releasing a flood of colourful candies.

'We just want to continue our casual conversation!' Harry shouted coughing. 'Don't you like paperweights?'

Mr Pospishil snorted, 'Leave me alone!'

They came out at the next corridor, which said, 'I never dreamed about success. I worked for it' in a happy shade of peach. There were more of the same offices behind the doors. Mr Pospishil was by now slightly slowing down and audibly panting, but he knew the building, so he got to the next staircase and again made his way down a few flights. They could see him entering another door off the stairs. Here, the offices were slightly smaller and had more desks in them.

'I am a great fan of your videos, by the way,' Harry said loudly.

Mr Pospishil just grunted.

They took a turn through a large double door and into the next corridor. 'Either you run the day or the day runs you' was written on the cream-coloured wall in a friendly orange tone Elanor found that very fitting. At the moment she had the feeling that the day was definitely running her – and there was enough running involved. She cursed to herself as she pulled an electric shock ball out of her purse and threw it at Mr Pospishil. It hit a ceiling lamp, which went out.

'Did you know,' Harry continued, 'that we also are acquainted with Mr Wong? How do you know him?'

Mr Pospishil screeched angrily.

Another staircase, another storey down. Mr Pospishil was half a storey ahead of Harry. 'Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible' was written on the pale blue walls. They all had slowed down considerably by now. Through the glass panels in the doors. The lights behind the rooms were already off, but Elanor could see large tables and machines illuminated by the purple glow of flux batteries of all sizes. Mr Pospishil decided to take a route through one of these rooms, trying to get some space between himself and the detectives in a maze of large tables with various parts of robots. Some were connected to computers, some were surrounded by tools. Elanor pulled a self-tightening-trip-wire out of her bag and trew it to the exit door just a split-second too late. Harry had to jump to not get trapped.

'Where were you four nights ago, by the way?' Harry panted.

Mr Pospishil breathed heavily.

At the end of the room another staircase waited. Mr Pospishil was 5 steps ahead of Harry, who tried to make a leap but only grabbed thin air and tripped, while the man disappeared through the next door. Harry scrambled to his feet and went after him. The letters on the light lavender-coloured corridor said, 'We don’t just sit around and wait for other people. We make, and we do.' Mr Pospishil had gained some ground through Harry's stunt. He was almost halfway through the next corridor and scrambled through a door to the left, when the door to the staircase shut behind them.

Harry and Elanor rushed after Mr Pospishil and suddenly found themselves in a large circular room filled with sand. There were some some deck chairs and a small hut resembling a beach bar with a roof made of palm leaves. On the walls a fake view on the sea was projected. There was even bird song and the gushing sound of waves on the beach. The sand made running difficult and so Elanor saw her chance and rummaged in her purse again.

Suddenly, Mr Pospishil fell and didn't move anymore. Harry stopped, almost tripping in the sand.

'So, what is this all about?' a voice said from behind the bar.

Tavaron

24.04.23 Front Page

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