Part II

"What happened? Sylia, Nene?"

"We are right here, Linna," Sylia said and placed a reassuring hand on Linna's shoulder. She already had Nene under occupation. "Stay still for a little while until your eyes get used to the darkness."

The previously bright lit floor was now in total darkness. There was no light at all.

"What do you think happened?" Linna asked again.

"Brown out," Nene said, "too much power being requested and the grid can't handle it."

"Sylia?"

"I don't know. In any case we should stay together and try to find an exit. We're on a main pathway and following that will lead us to the escalators. Do any of you remember where an exit sign was? It will lead to the fire stairs."

"No, Slyia, sorry," Nene said. "I don't like the dark."

"What about the staff? They will be able to help us and the other customers," Linna said intelligently.

Sylia had forgotten about the boomer Staff. They could see in the dark and also likely contained geospatial positioning systems and floor plans of the department store allowing each of them to move around in the black out even if their optics were disabled. There was nothing to worry about at all.

"Good thinking, Linna."

"Thanks, Sylia."

"I'll call one then – hey help! Over here!" Nene yelled.

"Sush, Nene," Sylia warned, giving Nene's shoulder a squeeze.

"What for, Sylia? There's no danger. We'll be out of here in no time and hopefully the payment system has shut down too so this stuff won't cost me a single yen!" Nene held up her shopping ineffectually.

Sylia didn't know why she shushed Nene. It was just that that feeling had crept up and taken root at the base of her spine when Linna had mentioned the boomers. She had to laugh at herself – wanting to drive the feeling of unease away – boomers were her nemesis, raison d'etre for existing. If boomers were around then the cause of the trouble was their fault. To her it always came down to that. Boomers were bad and to be destroyed.

"Oh, come on Nene you're not thinking of stealing it?" the irrepressible champion of rights Linna chided.

"It's just a thought."

The three fell into silence, straining their ears to hear anything while they could not see. The circulation system was still running, its white noise now the loudest sound. The seconds dragged on.

"Where is a Staff? They should be here or telling us what to do in an emergency," Linna whispered unconsciously. "And what about the other customers? There were some not far from us before the lights went out."

"And one of the boomers," Sylia said almost to herself.

"Perhaps we should look for those customers?" Nene suggested.

"Why aren't they saying anything?" Linna said.

Sylia's unease was not going away. As each minute standing past the stronger it grew. What was happening was unnatural. They should have heard someone, especially hysterical female shoppers screaming for assistance. They could not be the only ones to have asked for help. And where was that help? Slyia did not like what was going on at all.

"Let's try and find the fire stairs ourselves," the silver-hair women said.

"Why not the escalator?" Linna asked.

"They won't be working if the lights are out-" Nene replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"If the power is gone the main entrances will be sealed so we wont be able to get out even if we get down to the ground floor," Slyia lied, "the exits are released for this sort of emergency and the fire stairs may have their own lighting."

"We'll follow you, Sylia," Linna said to the Knight Sabre leader.

"Keep together, I don't want anyone to lose touch." Sylia ordered.

Sylia lead the three-link chain. She had a mental map of the area around them reconstructed before the lights had mysteriously gone off. They could be no further than twenty meters from an exterior wall and having a solid wall to one side would make her feel a lot more comfortable than standing in the open. Following the wall would certainly lead to a set of fire stairs.

Groping about in the blackness was not a quick or dignified way to travel. Slowly and carefully Sylia threaded her way through the inconveniently placed clothes racks and displays. Nothing was perfectly linear or gridmarked in a department store. Aisles had to point in different directions and laced with more obstructions than the D-Day landing beaches, terminate with a dead end or offer or something to stumble over.

Finally however they reached a wall. Sylia lead clockwise brushing the wall with her fingertips, seeking reassurance from the wall's physical and immobile presence.

Then the fingers felt air and she stopped. Nene then Linna bumped into her back like a collapsing accordion.

"Oof, why did you stop like that?" Nene growled from between Sylia's shoulderblades.

Sylia said nothing, she ran through the possibilities of what the emptiness could mean. Despite the time her eyes had not adjusted and the void was even blacker than the rest around her.

"Did you hear that?" Linna whispered.

"No, what?" Nene said, still stuck in the middle of the taller women.

"Quiet…"

There was a noise, Linna had been right. A crunching, tugging, tearing, gristle-ing noise coming from inside the void. Other than the air vents it was the only noise and it made their hearts beat faster.

"I wish I was in a hardsuit right now," Linna said.

"Follow me, but be ready for anything," Sylia said and as quietly as she possibly could stepped into the void and the change room she expected the void to be.

Change room areas can be of many formats. A long corridor with booths on one side or two, multiple corridors or an open space surrounded by booths. In Sylia's own store there was just the doorway and then two booths for changing. A boutique store, Sylia's did not have hundreds or even dozens of customers going through daily. It was exclusive enough that waiting for a booth was acceptable to the customers. Waiting meant more time having to look at something else to buy because once a customer already has something to try or purchase they would not leave having lost patience first. Sylia knew her customers and knew women.

The geography of the change room was not important for Sylia to spend much time thinking about. Not when twin round circles of light illuminated the plastic-flesh tone of a boomer staff android.

Behind Linna had seen and let out a sigh, "Finally…"

The boomer wasn't quite right for Sylia's sharp investigation. Dark and deep shadows gouged the boomer's face making its appearance disturbingly psychotic. The light from the eyes bled away quickly disembodying the boomer into a hovering specter that caused Sylia to glance down to see if she could see the boomer's legs and feet.

There was something down there on the floor, a pile that reached the boomer's knees.

Sylia looked back up. She only knew what to expect because she beyond the boomer's glowing eyes and saw that it had gone rogue.