Brief Interrogation

The man with a badge entered the room, a doctor and his android assistant following closely behind. He wore the customary navy-blue suit that of detectives, had jet black hair and piercing green eyes. "My name is Detective Themis; I will be asking you a couple questions after the doc gives the okay." The detective nodded towards the medical professionals, who then proceeded to her bedside.

"Hello Ms. Phos, I'm Dr. Aeson and this-." gesturing to his female nursing assistant standing beside him, who bowed lightly, "-is Zoe." The doctor picked up the tablet lying on the table, looking at Ayla's medical file, ready to update it. "How are you feeling, any discomfort or numbness anywhere?"

"No, just a slight headache".

"That's good, Zoe will be doing a quick scan, okay?" Ayla nodded. The android nurse stepped closer to the bed; her light blue eyes grew brighter as she started scanning her. The doctor continued reading her file out loud "You have a slight concussion, a sprained ankle and wrist, slight smoke inhalation, so you might have a cough and itchy throat, no burns luckily, only a couple bruises; all in all, surprisingly good for being in such a terrible accident," Dr. Aeson finished, smiled meekly at Ayla. "You're very lucky."

"I guess so." Her gaze lingering on her bandaged right wrist, 'I don't feel lucky though.'

The brightness in Zoe's eyes faded "No further injuries detected, maybe a bit dehydrated but overall, healthy, she can be interviewed," Zoe smiled then turned to the doctor, " Though I suggest we keep her in the hospital for another day, just to be sure.

"Alright then, we will be taking our leave for the time being, if you need anything press the call button," Dr. Aeson said placing the tablet back down and turning around to leave with Zoe, "Oh, and don't put too much pressure Ms. Phos." Aeson narrowed his eyes at Themis before walking out of the room.

The room fell silent as the detective waited until he could no longer hear their footsteps before closing the door. Ayla felt nervous as he sat in the chair Arcadia was previously occupying.

"You don't have to feel uneasy; this is just a routine interview you aren't under investigation." She stayed quiet, his attempt at reassurance made her more nervous. Themis took a small, metallic, rectangle out of jacket pocket pulling it apart quickly to reveal a portable tablet, like the one currently on the bedside table. "Okay let's begin, what was your reason for being inside of Salmone Towers?"

"I was there for an interview at Monty Minotaur's Beefy Buffet." Themis snickered, quickly clearing his throat as she rolled her eyes. "Terrible name, I know."

"It's certainly...unique." he answered, getting an agreeing nod from Ayla. "Moving on, what floor were you on when the first explosion occurred?" he asked looking at her intently.

"Tenth floor."

"Were you inside the restaurant when it occurred?"

"No, I was just stepping out of the elevator when it occurred. But I am sure I heard the alarm before the explosion."

" The fire alarm was activated seconds before the explosion according to eyewitness reports. Did you see anyone near any fire alarms when you got out of the elevator? "

"I wouldn't know, this was my first time in the building."

"Was anyone on the elevator with you when you got to the tenth floor?"

"No. And when the alarm sounded, I just followed the crowd to the stairwell."

"Oh, I see. I guess you don't know about the emergency chutes located on the outside of the Salmone Towers. They are used in emergency situations for staff evacuation, it takes seconds to reach the ground from the executive floors." Ayla shook her head even more confused now. "Well, as you must already know, teleportation depots are highly regulated and aren't authorized within three hundred feet of corporate or government buildings or inside of private property, due to the risk of terrorist attacks or other crimes being committed. Salmone Towers built emergency chutes as an alternative to mitigate injuries or death during any emergency."

"So why did everyone run to the stairwell? Wait didn't the alarm say to go to the stairwell?" She was confused, this seemed to fuel her headache, her head began to swim.

Themis' stare intensified, "Are you sure, could you be mistaken?"

Ayla took a deep breath to steady her nerves, replaying the traumatic memory behind closed eyes. When she opened them, her demeanor changed. "I'm sure, the alarm said to make my way to the nearest stairwell."

Themis studied her carefully. Her blue eyes had cleared, and her response was sure, her gaze never wavering from his. What did this mean? Could the people who had brought such pain and tragedy to his city really be this organized and technologically savvy. They had rewritten the emergency instructions, it would have taken a skilled hacker, no a pro. This was worrisome. She was watching his reaction and worry was slowly creeping onto her face. "We'll have to look into this." His voice steady, revealing none of the turmoil in his mind as he tried to process the new information.

"Sadly, whoever attacked the place completely destroyed the fiftieth floor in the first explosion, including the chute." Themis' grip on the tablet tightened, threatening to break it "effectively trapping all of the people and forcing them to use the stairwell. She knew that the explosion came from above her but had not known how high up or how bad. The building had a total of Sixty Floors, "what happened to those stuck that high up?" she asked dread settling in her stomach like a rock. He hung his head, his body noticeably trembling. His voice was laced in anger "No survivors above the forty seventh floor, death toll currently stands at fifteen thousand, five hundred and ten."

The room fell into a deep solemn silence.

Ayla broke the silence first. "I know you said the first explosion was up on the fiftieth, then how did the first floor catch fire and start crumbling?" Her voice shook as she spoke.

"The six underground fusion boilers that powered the entire complex. The bastards sabotaged them, they were timed to explode in quick succession minutes after the initial explosion. The force of the blasts obliterated a vast portion of the foundation, it's a miracle that the building didn't collapse. There's no way to stabilize the building, right now we're using gravity tethers to temporarily hold it together so we can complete the rescue operation. Unfortunately, the time we can use these tethers is short, we only have time for rescue we can't retrieve all the bodies."

Another heavy silence fell, this time Themis broke it.

"We're to catch them..." Themis' voice trembled, anger barely hidden. "We're going catch who did this and bring them to justice." It was a promise, mostly to himself.

"That's a lot of information, not afraid of listening devices?" "This is a public hospital after all." Ayla stated. "It's all on the news." "Keeping secrets about operations on such a disaster would be career ending."

The rest of the interview went quickly, with Themis asking a couple more questions before clicking the tablet back into a small rectangle and heading to the door. "I hope you and your friend enjoy your pizza." He winked with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, leaving before she could respond.

Arcadia appeared in the doorway, pizza in hand, looking down the hall behind her. "Hey, that detective is kind of cute, don't you think?"