The hum of the hologram working is normally soothing to Leila, but not today. She has her eyes glued on the watch strapped to her wrist to monitor the progress on the new update she is working on, and heaves a sigh of relief when she sees it is on 43%. This is more than she has been able to achieve for the past few weeks since she has been working on it. She taps her feet on the floor impatiently as she waits for the progress update.
"Steele, how much time is left before the system's update is completed."
"Approximately 1 hour 53 minutes." Came the monotonous voice of her AI assistant.
Leila decides to take a walk away from the machine before it drives her crazy with impatience. She clicks a tiny button located on the wall which opens to reveal a snack bar. Scrolling through the options absentmindedly, she picks a breakfast burrito, noting silently that she hadn't had breakfast and it was almost 3 in the afternoon. Biting into the burrito hungrily, she spies at her watch and sees that the update had moved further, bringing it to 57%. Leila decides to take a celebratory drink and settles on a yoghurt. As she takes a swig out of the bottle, she hears the noise she had been dreading since the start of the day.
Leila drops the yoghurt and burrito in frustration. The system update crashed again and this time, she really was tempted to let go of the project all together.
"Steele!" She drawed out accusingly, "What is the problem this time?"
"There is a bug in line 156,765 of your code."
"A bug? You've got to be kidding me. Check it, what was the bug?" She asked Steele as she walked across to the open screen on the hologram island, tying up her hair in the process.
"A missing semicolon, a wrong command and missing curly braces."
Leila scoffed in disbelief, "I can't believe that. How did I miss something as important as that?"
She touched the screen, scrolling rapidly past displayed pages until she got to the defaulting code. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me? How did I miss this?" She mused quietly, correcting the errors.
Leile took a deep breath as she pressed 'compile' again. The hologram's screen lit up, signalling that the update progress was back at 0%. She leaned back against the metallic surface of her lab and sighed in exhaustion. "I certainly have a bug in me too."
"Would you like me to run a diagnostic?" Steele said, its voice calm but unhelpful.
Leile smiled sadly, her face making a desperate effort to give the impression that she was smiling. "No, Steele. I'm sure I do not need a diagnostic."
This particular project was deeply personal to her. She had promised to help Ada, a widow who lost her husband and only son to the 'Takeover Accident'. Leila had also lost her family to the accident, even losing part memory prior to the accident. She felt Ada's pain deeply and wanted to help her erase the trauma from the past.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock at the lab's Titanium door. The sudden noise startled her, and she turned sharply toward the sound. The chime came again, more deliberate this time, and she felt a twinge of irritation and fear at whoever thought it appropriate to interrupt her unannounced and also because the accident had left her a very nervous wreck.
"Steele, who is it?" she asked.
The AI's voice was immediate. "A man identifying himself as Elias Drayton."
Leila frowned. The name was familiar—very familiar. She pulled up a quick search on him and was very surprised at what she found about him. No wonder his name sounded familiar.
Almost everyone in the city knew who Elias Drayton was, even if they'd never seen him in person. The billionaire tech mogul, reclusive and rarely spotted in public, was practically a ghost in this part of the world. He was rumoured to be an unforgiving tyrant who was in charge of all the new tech developed and implemented in the city.
What would someone like him want in her lab?
"Let him in." She said cautiously, trying to brush off the crumbs from her breakfast burrito off her lab coat and tying her hair into a neater ponytail. Whatever this was, she didn't want to look completely disheveled.
The door slid open with its spring making a loud grating noise, and a tall, imposing figure stepped inside. Elias Drayton was younger than she had imagined—mid-thirties, maybe— she had expected someone old with graying hair. But Elias Drayton was a young man sharply dressed in a tailored coat that seemed largely out of place in the sterile environment of her lab. His eyes, however, were what struck her most. Dark, intense, and restless, as though they were searching for something they couldn't quite find.
"Miss Leila Steele?" His voice was deep, clipped, and to the point.
"Yes," she said, her professional tone masking her curiosity. "How can I help you, Mr. Drayton?"
He took a step closer, his gaze briefly sweeping over the holographic projections behind her. "I've read about your work, memory restoration. I need your help."
Leila crossed her arms, her guard instantly rising. She had dealt with wealthy clients before, people who thought money could solve anything. "I'm pretty sure you have better doctors and technology at your disposal to help you with the restoration of your memory"
Elias gave a small sad smile, a break in his impenetrable mask. "I need YOUR help." He repeated, emphasizing 'your' this time, to show his seriousness.
The tension in the room thickened, and Leila fought the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm not sure what you've heard about me, Mr. Drayton. However, I can assure you that my skill does not exceed those you have at your disposal."
For the first time, his cool exterior cracked. His jaw tightened, and he looked away, as though the words were difficult to speak. "I do not trust them." He admitted. "I do not trust you either, but it is easier dealing with betrayal from outside than from those closest to you."
Leila studied him carefully, noting the faint lines of tension in his expression, the way his hands remained clenched at his sides. This was one of the most powerful men in the city and here he was asking for help from her. For a while, she wondered what his life was made of, how he got to this position without having anybody he could trust. She knew then that this wasn't just a vanity request from a man who felt like he had the power to tumble the world if he wanted to, it was the request of a man who had lost all hope in humanity.
"What makes you think I can help you?" She asked softly.
Elias's gaze locked onto hers, and for a moment, the intensity in his eyes made her forget to breathe. "Because I've seen your work. And because you're my last option."
The weight of his words lingered in the air, and for reasons she couldn't quite understand, Leila found herself nodding. "Fine. I'll try to help you." She said, "But this isn't a quick fix. It'll take time."
"I have time." Elias Drayton replied simply. But there was something in his tone that suggested otherwise.
Leila turned to the holographic console, eyeing her watch to see how far the update had gone.
16%.
She gestured for him to step closer. "I'll need to run an initial scan to see what we're working with. This won't take long."
Elias hesitated for a fraction of a second before stepping into the scanning chamber that was in the shape of a cocoon. As the machine whirred to life, casting faint blue light over Elias' features, Leila couldn't shake the horrible feeling that this was the beginning of something far more complicated than she was prepared for.
As the scan began, the first faint images appeared on the holographic screen, they indicated blurred fragments of memories. Leila leaned in, her eyes narrowing as she tried to make sense of the chaotic patterns. Then, one image came into focus, it was a fleeting silhouette of a woman, her back turned, her features obscured. But something about her felt eerily familiar.
Leila's breath caught in her throat.
And for the first time in years, she felt a flicker of unease.