"Cleaning Detail"

Life wasn't too bad on Titan Station. The Sprawl, while its economy was declining since the 'Ishimura Incident' hadn't had the biggest of impacts of everyday life as it would on the cities established on planets and moons. Here on the station, all that mattered is they kept enough spare parts to fix up ships and serve as a home to the hundreds of thousands of citizens that lived there. There was a decline in population too, most of those people either up and left or found other jobs that required them to move elsewhere but regardless such events weren't anything a janitor had to ponder about. Arson looked down at his uniform with his surname, Nakov, and let out a sigh. While it certainly wasn't anyone's desire to clean up for a living it ironically was a more stable job than most professions nowadays. While most people began chasing engineering, welding, or any other job relating to vessels and ship maintenance, they would always be in competition with millions of others wanting the same position. No one really wanted to be a janitor, nor a waiter, nor a cashier, which is exactly why Arson got the job in the first place. "Bright side of things Arson, bright side of things." He said in a light Slovak accent to reassure himself.

"Welcome C.E.C. Janitor Arson Nakov." Said the robotic, feminine voice of a voice over that paused for a split second before referring to his job. Why they decided to install such a software was beyond Arson's knowledge, he read somewhere that it brought a sense of familiarity but he still wasn't very sure. Equipping a hand-me-down kinesis module, his I.D., and the usual rag, spray bottle, and bucket for the cleanup order he had been called to.

Waltzing on over to the psych center, he was greeted by the receptionist who spoke up with 'Her again?' to whom he gave a nod in confirmation. Making a left past the entrance doors and down the decorated halls Arson finally came upon 'Patient 028', Layia Kaliskova. The doctor in charge of managing her looked at the blonde-haired girl through the window that was covered in a red liquid. A bit startled at the sight, Arson was stopped in his tracks and looked at the doctor. "Is that-?" He started to ask but was cut off by the psychologist.

"Just a cherry slushy," He responded, "I would have thought she was starting to get better when she asked for such a simple request but I should have figured it was just for the chance to see you." It was a relief to hear it not be blood. Arson had cleaned up a bit of it here and there, naturally, but this was way more than what he's seen in quite a long time.

"Me? When I'm here she's always been receptive to whatever you do and acts fine."

"That's my point, 'when you're here'." The doctor echoed with finger quotes. "I'm not really sure why myself but that's another mystery we're here to solve. In the mean time I'll leave you to it, I still have to check up on my other patients."

"Wait don't you normally have to watch over?" Arson asked

"Well, official policy says that I have to watch over visitors just incase something goes wrong but considering she's harmless, especially with you around, I think its safe to have you as a 'treatment'. Apologies for the label."

"No, it's alright. I guess that makes sense?" With the short silence afterword's, the two parted ways. Arson entered Layia's room a bit weary of what may happen but was met with a bright, wide-eyed smile from the girl that looked delighted to have his company; like a child excited about getting a new present from the store. While starting to clean the window the man half listened to the blonde's ramblings about whatever made up adventure she came up with. To be honest it was an interesting listen but of course it was just a part of her vivid imagination, but quite the adventure it was from the sounds of it. Meanwhile the janitor continued to clean and shine the window until he could see the faint reflection of his dark-brown hair and eyes with Layia still telling the tale of her great adventure behind him.

"This is the emergency system, all civilian and staff personnel in the, Psychiatric Treatment Center, and adjacent sectors are advised to vacate the area and consult your rig for the nearest exit and details." The same voice said calmly. It wouldn't be the first time an emergency like this happened. Last time it had been a small kitchen fire that had spread out of control and the worst one Arson had witnessed was a sudden depressurization of a moderate size room. The former of which was dealt with relatively quickly and efficiently but the latter, well a dozen or so souls were lost when a stray meteorite crashed through the glass. Horrible ordeal that incident was. Following protocol, the janitor set down the rag and bottle about to head out the door before having his arm grabbed by the girl. Looking back at her he could see her once joy filled expression fill with dread with a subtle but visible shiver.

"C-Can I go with you?" She stuttered, "They're coming soon..."

"They?" Arson asked before being thrown off his feet by an explosion followed by dozens of screams. Scrambling to his feet, with Layia close behind him, Arson opened the door to take a look outside. The doctor was already headed back over to him with a quick pace to his steps. "Doc, what the hell is happening?"

"There was an explosion on one of the lower levels. I'm not sure about the details but we're to evacuate to the nearest safe zone." He said calmly. "Hopefully it's nothing too serious, we've already had enough problems recently as it is, ha ha." He said with a chuckle trying to lighten up the mood.

"Doctor," A nurse had called, running up from behind them, "A number of patients are refusing to leave their rooms. What do we do about them?" She asked, trying her best to ignore the rest of the staff darting for the exit.

"Easy there, just tell the others to get whoever is willing and get going to safety. I'll see if I can get them to budge, this isn't like them at all." The nurse nodded with the doctor's instructions before heading off.

"Hey Doc, what about her?" Arson asked pointing to the girl still clenched to his back. He saw a little trail of dust fall from the vent above and looked up in curiosity but nothing showed.

"You too son. Like I said this isn't normal for the patients, and in all my years of trusting my gut something just doesn't sit right with me." The man stroked his grey mustache trying to think up an explanation but to no avail, "Just look after her for now please, I have a feeling this isn't a regular emergency. Either way I won't leave any of my patients behind even if it's just a drill." Arson nodded swallowing to ease his nerves and took Layia by the arm. The older man began going to and from different rooms leaving the two to flee the place themselves. As they joined the panicking crowd the janitor noticed that one individual, a nurse, seemed to have quite a bit of blood on her uniform. More so than what was expected of the profession but her face said that she was just as terrified and confused about the situation as the rest of them. While Layia admired the vast view of Saturn and the station, the rest of the staff simply ran for their very lives.

A.N.: Just a small and quick story about an idea. May continue it, may not, but that depends on what I can make of it. As always, enjoy!

~Firetoast312