CHICAGO, ILLINOIS U.S.A – Penthouse, The Legacy: APRIL 11, 2141AD - 4:23AM 

Emmelines head throbbed... each beat of her heart seemed to reverberate through her skull. Slowly she opened her eyes and was surprised to find herself lying on the wet floor. She moved to sit up but a wave of nausea brought her bare back down onto the icy tiles again. Slowly she rolled onto her left side swallowing hard to prevent herself from vomiting. Tentatively she felt the back of her head with the right hand. The lump was huge and her fingers came away covered in blood.

'What the hell happened?'

In a rush it all came back, the press conference the drinks, the Jacuzzi and then... the phone call!

She spotted her NeoPhone on the floor a few feet away and pulled herself up onto all fours swaying precariously. The room spun and her vision turned red.

"Don't pass out Emmeline!" She commanded through gritted teeth.

After a moment she began crawling slowly, so slowly towards the phone. The tiles hurt her bare knees and water ran into her eyes. No... not water... blood, she realized as she watched the red droplets falling to the floor beneath her. 

She made it to the phone and sat down gently with her back propped up against the vanity. She wiped the blood out of her eyes with the back of her shaking hand and blinked to clear her vision.

The phones screen had a jagged crack running from the top right corner to the bottom left but was still functioning. An icon flashed silently. One message - marked urgent. Emmeline touched the screen and the icon opened a window with the revolving NeoWorld Messaging Logo. 

< Audio Only>

"Em, where are you!" Richards' voice sounded strained. "I'm sorry Em... I'm so sorry... Cindi knows what to do, you have to get..."

The message ended.

"Get what... Get what!?" Emmeline frantically played the message twice more but there was nothing else.

With supreme effort she hauled herself up leaning on the vanity for support. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her red hair was matted and clinging to her ashen face. Her shoulders, breasts arms and stomach were covered in rivulets of blood which stood out starkly against her pale skin.

"Shit..." She grabbed the hand towel wet it under the faucet and began to clean herself up.

After wiping away as much of the blood as possible she re wet the towel, rung it out and held it to her pounding head. She made her way to the bedroom clinging to the walls and threw open her wardrobe. She dressed quickly forgoing the underwear for a loose gray sweatshirt and black yoga pants. She slipped her bare feet into a pair of black canvas Toms and made her way unsteadily to the door. As she left she slipped her back up phone into the thigh pouch. Sensing movement the NeoPhone ran its security bio-scan.

{Beep-beep-beep – Hello Emmeline... is everything alright?}

Emmeline didn't answer.

{My scan shows your heart rate is elevated and your blood pressure is low. Do you need assistance?}

"I'm fine," Emmeline grunted, though she knew she wasn't. "Bring the car around, now!"

{Yes, of course Emmeline. Is there anything...}

"Audio off!"

Cindi silently obeyed.

No one else was in the parking garage when the elevator opened which was probably for the best. The cars' rear door slid open at her command and she gingerly climbed into the back seat.

"Back to the office Cindi..."

In answer the car pulled quietly away from the curb and out of the parking structure.

Exhausted from the short walk, Emmeline lay lengthwise across the backseat. In response, the car reconfigured the seats to accommodate her and crash cushions inflated to protect her without need of seat-belts.

'You've got a concussion Em, don't fall asleep!' warned her inner voice in a motherly tone.

Outside the car window the streetlights drifted by smoothly against the starlit background of the night sky. Surprisingly she was starting to feel better. Is that normal she wondered. Or is it like when someone is freezing to death and they start to feel warm? She removed the towel from the back of her head and after a cursory check she was fairly sure the bleeding had stopped.

'Well that's something I guess.' She thought as she slowly sat up. The nausea didn't come this time. She turned opened the backseat vanity cubby in the back of the driver-seat and tilted the mirror up at herself. What mess... her hair was tangled wet and full of congealed blood. She couldn't go into the building looking like this. She hunted through the storage compartments finally coming up with a black NeoWorld ball cap.

"Where the hell did this come from?" she muttered, putting it on and pushing as much of her sticky wet hair under it as possible.

She checked the mirror again, "Great, now I look like a thirteen year old boy..."

The car started to turn into employee parking entrance of NeoWorld Towers.

"No Wait, go to the Executive Parking!"

The car swerved gently back into the lane and continued down the street to the unmarked gated ramp. Emmeline never used the Executive Parking, though as Richards' assistant she was entitled. Using the regular employee parking lot allowed her to walk through the main lobby and say hello to friends.

The gates auto-scanned her vehicle and opened immediately. Following the prescribed route sent by the parking computer her car rolled quickly down the steep ramp and directly forward to the bank of lifts. One of which was already open. After gliding in the door shut and she could feel the change in vertical force as the elevator rose rapidly. The Executive parking deck was on the seventy-fifth floor but in less than ten seconds the doors were opening and the car rolled out. There was only one other car on the open deck and it was Richards'.

She parked a couple of spaces away and the rear door slid open on silent runners. Emmeline extricated herself from the backseat and walked slowly up to the big black NeoTrek One. It was a hydrogen powered prototype vehicle manufactured by NeoWorlds automotive division. Sitting low and wide for maximum handling at high speed, with six wheels hidden beneath a chassis that almost touched the ground it looked more like a huge crouching animal than a performance SUV.

Emmeline cupped her hands against the driver's side window and peered inside, the car was empty. She made her way to executive elevator and took it to the top floor. The doors opened onto the darkened lobby. The intelligent lighting turned on bank by bank ahead of her as she hurried towards Richards' office. Cindi opened the doors as she went until she stood in front of the huge steel vault. The pedestal was already rising out of the floor , Emmeline palmed the pad and the wheels spun. The door swung slowly open and she walked into the cavernous room. At first everything looked normal enough but as she approached she could see the drawers of Richards' had been opened and rifled through. Richards NeoPhone was lying on the floor under his chair.

"Cindi... dial 911..." she whispered.

{That's not a good idea, Emmeline}