“I really hope not.” Light replied to Senjen’s message. Glancing anxiously about him.

Senjen’s scan did reveal that the chandelier had its own high-tech power source. One of the small appendages on it swung to him. The Utaysi received a Guangzhou club branded message with a 20% off one year membership discount code. The message then repeated on a few mirrored surfaces around the club, visible only to him.

-

Light held up one of his appendages to stop Senjen sending the file just yet.

“We agreed twenty five million galactic credits for safe delivery.”

The man dabbed around his mouth with a crisp white napkin from off the chef’s pass then chucked it away.

“Collect it from the casino vault on your way out. Come on, I don’t have all day.”

He held out a beringed hand palm down and grabbed the air with his fingers.

Light huffed. He would normally insist on cash up front. But since he was already up forty three million and was desperate just to be done with this job, he conceded.

“Ok…where is that?”

“Second floor in the back, come on!”

“Alright! Give it to him.”

The man took the file eagerly and his eyes rolled back as he inspected it. Then he cracked a broad grin and pulled a brightly coloured disc chip from his coat pocket. He flicked it through microgravity to Senjen, then yelled over his shoulder in a non-standard language that required both their translation packages to match and download from scratch.

A tiny old lady looked up from the kitchen and shouted back just as loud. Light had scarcely noticed she was there. They argued back and forth unintelligibly a few times before the translation kicked in.

“Ma stop! Put that down and just get the girl!” He gestured wildly.

The old woman shook her head and muttered something under her breath, slinging a kitchen towel down and doddering away.

The man looked back and grinned again, before pinning his eyes on Senjen.

“Who are you, a custom Myrmidon or something? I was only expecting seafood.”

Seafood was a disrespectful slur on QV, indicating the species could or wanted to eat them. Light was beginning to lose his patience with this man, and it showed across his suit.