Gaia

Eli Beckstrom didn't like people showing up to his home unannounced, having his breakfast interrupted, or dealing with the Lords' personal goons. Garver Weist had hit the trifecta. Eli stared the man down across his dining table, pleased when Garver looked away first and squirmed a little.

"I'm sorry to bother you at this early hour," Garver said. "I promise to be brief."

"You have three minutes," Eli replied flatly.

"I know you work in a more esteemed position now, Eli, but you did do a hell of a job with systems security when you first started under his Lordship Townsend."

"I know where I worked and what I did," Eli said impatiently. "Do you have a point here, Garver? My food is getting cold."

"There have been some security breaches in the lower levels lately. Nothing extreme, mind you, not yet. But still, the Lords are beginning to take notice. His Lordship Townsend would like you to personally look into it. Make sure the problem goes away."

"That's not exactly my job description anymore."

"Lord Townsend specifically wants you, Eli. You're familiar with the network systems and you are his own head of security. And given your background, you're familiar with the Ground as well."

Garver put slight emphasis on the word "background," making Eli's grip tighten on his fork slightly. Yes, Eli was more than familiar with the Ground Level. It was the place where he came from. It was a place he never wanted to return to. But Seamus Townsend was the one who had taken a chance on Eli and had helped open just enough doors to get the angry teenager he had been and that was essential to the one thing Eli had been planning for these past eight years. He was talented and he was smart, but Eli never would have made it this far if not for Townsend. So Eli couldn't exactly refuse this request. Any form of security breach should be looked into, anyway. Eli knew what happened to the Bottom Dwellers when they aimed too high and actually hit something.

"Fine," he said curtly. "I'll make sure the situation is resolved quickly and quietly. Now get out and let me finish eating."

"Lord Townsend will be most pleased-"

"Reuben, please show Mr. Weist to the door."

"Very good, Sir." The older man in a smartly pressed uniform stepped forward to usher Weist out, making the man wince slightly in his iron grip. Reuben looked human for all intents and purposes, but was in fact a top of the line android. He acted as a butler for Eli, though he was also equipped to serve as a home security system. He was incredibly strong and could shoot tranquilizers from his fingertips. Eli considered him a more trustworthy and likable companion than the vast majority of people he knew.

Reuben bid Garver a good day and returned to the dining room as Eli resumed his breakfast.

"Would you like me to reheat your eggs and bacon, Sir?"

"No, thank you, Reuben it's fine."

Eli ate in annoyed silence. Townsend knew that Eli had subordinates who monitored security on the lower levels. He must have wanted Eli to look into this because there were so rarely breaches or concerns as far down as the Ground. Generally those who dwelled on the modern day version of Mount Olympus didn't even think about the people on the Ground. Eli gritted his teeth. He didn't want to deal with this. He was going to have a word with his security team to find out why they felt it was okay to be so lax with monitoring the lowest levels. Idiots.

Eli rose and went to the window, turning off the holographic image of a mountain lake so he could look out over the city. From here, it almost looked like the ground didn't even exist. Like the towers just grew out of nothingness and reached up into the sky. His mother used to tell him an old story, about a beanstalk that went up for miles and miles and at the top lived a giant with a wealth of treasures. Eli thought it had come true, only there were dozens of beanstalks made of metal and they grew out of destruction instead of from a magical bean.

He could see other towers, stretching across the expanse of Gaia. Up here everything looked cleaner, brighter. The sky was almost like the blue it had once been, though it was off slightly. It had more of a pale, washed out lavender sort of color instead of true blue. But on the Ground, all it looked like was a flat slate of gray. It got dark sooner down there too. Despite the stories he'd heard of the way the world used to be, it was impossible to imagine it. The holographic images you could choose to cover your windows if you wanted a different view didn't seem like anything that could have really existed once.

"Reuben, I'm heading to work," he called out.

"Very good, Sir. Would you like the pork chops or the roast beef for dinner?"

"Surprise me." Eli shrugged into his coat and made his way to the security headquarters for Towers J-O. Everyone was having their morning cups of coffee and the night shift techs were on their way out, but they all froze when they saw Eli.

"Boss!" Jeremiah Henson was one of the Enforcers who worked for Seamus Townsend. Eli never understood why Henson had chosen this line of work; he was enthusiastic but he seemed too cheerful and nice to be an Enforcer.

"Morning, Jeremiah," Eli said.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I got a visit from Weist," Eli replied, crossing his arms and leaning on the doorframe. "Apparently there's been some commotion on Ground Level. Minor security breaches. Who's been watching the lower levels?"

"Myler and Janns are the techs," a new voice answered, stepping out of the back room. Renee Perona was more the sort of person one would envision when they thought of Enforcers. She was tall and lithe, with her dark hair pulled back into a severe braid and eyes that had been genetically modified to look like golden cat's eyes. She was ruthless, and Eli was glad she was assigned to work the upper levels. If she patrolled the lower levels under a different Lord, he shuddered to think what kind of damage she could, and would, cause.

"Torbin, Ketcher and Ulrich are the Enforcers down there. Those five morons are the ones that run everything from Ground to Level 4," Renee went on. "It's no wonder this is slipping past them. They just want to dick around because they think it's an easy assignment. Do you want me to take care of this?"

"No," Eli said quickly. "That's all right. Townsend wants me to personally see to it. Jeremiah and I will take point on it."

"Jeremiah?" Renee's eyebrows dipped down in a frown.

"Hey, I'm good at my job too, golden girl," Jeremiah informed her. Renee glared at him with her unnerving eyes and left without another word. Eli knew she was annoyed that he'd chosen Jeremiah over her, but Eli preferred her up here, overseeing the affairs of the elite. He didn't want Renee anywhere near the Ground.

"Let's go, Henson," Eli said. "We have a mouse to trap."