19 min and 58 sec...

I rose to standing, very aware that everyone was watching me.

Clearing my throat, I said, “Hello.”

“Window is closing, sir,” said a woman beside Ileum.

“This way,” Ileum snapped and turned and walked away. We followed him, taking the cleaning cart with us.

This floor was dark. Everything was illuminated by floor lighting that was spread out in some semblance of a pattern--onetwothree, onetwothree, onetwothree.

It was as if the construction crew forgot to finish this one floor: exposed ceiling with only a metallic framework to indicate where ceiling tiles should’ve been placed, like a spider’s web; concrete pillars; unfinished gray floor; a bundle of wire; a puddle of water beneath an exposed air vent shaft.

This was a place for whispering. I cringed at the sharp tap-tap my footfalls made in comparison to the muffled thuds from Ileum’s boots.

“Where are we, exactly?” I whispered.

No answer.