In her own rooms above the club, Chorus sat in her chair, her legs propped up within reaching distance. Her Halo-Screen opposite was on, some movie about something or other playing in the background. We had been admitted in, Jerro waiting by the door, closed to the outside world.

'On a mission from Grasslea, eh?' Chorus, if I may say so myself, looked damn fine in that light, which was of course the purple that she was famous for. She was dressed in a slim dress that sparkled, small silver tassels dangling from her wrists, one of which she extended with her hand open.

'Yes,' I said, handing the package over to her. She took it in both hands, shifting it about as if to test its weight. She looked like a child at Christmas, trying to see what would be inside the present before having to open it.

'Jerro,' she called, handing it to him. 'Go scan it with the screen, will you?'

'Certainly,' he said, wandering over to the Halo-Screen. He flicked the movie off and placed the package on a small, humming plate by the side of the screen. A strip of thin light struck the side of the package and began to feel it out, caressing it up and down with a lover's touch. A scan of the package began to unfurl itself on the screen.

'It's not that I don't trust you,' Chorus began, turning to me, 'it's just that I've trusted very few people in the past and some of them have turned out to be a little murderous. It's a tough life you know, employing people. People want the money off you and don't want to do it fairly.'

'I didn't have a choice,' I said. She looked me over and smiled at me slyly.

'I thought you were pretty new, especially for Dirty Work.'

The Halo-Screen finished scanning the package and the full scan was on the screen now. Jerro looked it over with all the studiousness of a scholar revising for an exam, or a scientist analysing the results of a chemicals test in some laboratory. Karmenseah would probably a place open for him when he left here, I thought, if he ever did.

'What the hell is it?' Chorus said, her short hair flicking from bubble-gum pink, which was its natural colour, to blue. The Halo-Screen showed the insides of the package, which was simply a black, wooden box, hollow on the inside. According to the scans, there was absolutely nothing inside it.

'I've not a clue,' Jerro said, he himself scratching his head. He pulled the projection of the package around, trying to see if it would allow him to inspect the scan of the box in any more detail. To no avail however, for just as the real thing sat there inside its package, the scan would allow nobody to enter into its depths and reveal its secrets. 'Should we open the package, Chorus?'

'Normally I would say yes,' she said, one of the cables hanging from her midsection beginning to swing like a pendulum, back and forth mere inches from the floor. 'But I don't know what's in that thing, and Grasslea doesn't do anything lightly.'

She leaned over and picked up her legs, attaching them onto her stumps and folding the cables inside them. They hissed as they locked into place, a little blue light flashing on the side of them. She got up and went over to the package, picking it up again and tossing it between her hands. It was light, I knew that from lugging it around for seven hours and up four Regions. She was wary of it, and as she scanned the room to try and find some source of inspiration for how to continue, I could see she was a little bit scared.

'You,' she said, 'what's your name?'

'Xayne,' I told her simply.

'Well, Xayne,' she said, 'I need you to make me a detour. There's 20Zale in it for you.'

20Zale? Grasslea was paying me 250 a month.

'What is it?' I asked. She smiled at me again.

'Take this to a place in 24 called Ochre Vaults. It's just off the main highway, around exit 23H I think, so catch the train and get a taxi. I'll fill a deposit form now and send word on ahead. You get the gist of how it works, I assume?'

'Want it locked up tight until you can find out what it is, or why you've been sent it?'

'I love a smart kid.'

She went over to a cupboard and began routing through for a booklet and a pen, an item all but forgotten in the world nowadays, save for a few sentimentalists. Jerro came back to the door and stuck his head out to make sure nobody had been listening in. Not as if I'd even thought there would be. This didn't look exactly undercover, just a menial job Grasslea had wanted taken care of. Until we had seen the scans, that was.

My personal feeling at the time was that it was some artefact that he'd come in possession of through some not-strictly-above-board means, and he wanted it hidden until it had been forgotten about. I hadn't seen anything on the news recently about anything stolen or gone missing, but it was certainly possible that I had missed something.

The club downstairs ramped up the volume as Chorus came back over to me with the slip.

'Hand that over to them, they'll accept it.' I took it and slipped it, along with the mysterious package, back into my coat pocket. Chorus put an arm around me and led me to the door. 'Now come and let me fix you up a quick drink. I might as well go and show my face now that I've got my legs back on anyway.'

The club was slightly less crowded than it had been when I had gone up with Jerro, but it was still nowhere near empty. The band on the central pillar stage had changed over since I had gone upstairs, and the dancers on the top were burning pieces of clothing in the pyro blasts in time to the stomping synth.

Many of the crowd had gone to the bar in the change-around, and as the band finished their opening track, some of the crowd leaning up against the bar looked over to see about heading back to the floor. As Chorus made her way behind the bar, her hair changing colour in time to the music, there were a few wolf whistles.

'Looking as good as ever,' said a girl with a steel plate making up half of her face, the bolts blushing, 'is tonight my lucky night?'

'Tararya,' Chorus replied, her eyelids fluttering, 'it is always your night, but not mine.' Shouts went up along the lines of 'get in there, Tararya,' which the girl lapped up with her face glowing red. Chorus poured me a drink and slid it over.

'On the house,' she said to me. A few cries of desperation and pleads of 'why him', before she added 'due to personal business transactions.'

'Xayne,' said Jerro, tapping me on the shoulder from behind.

'What's up?' I asked, turning around to meet him. I took the drink and tasted it. I could immediately see why people drained this stuff, this purple, shimmering brew, as if drinking was going out of fashion. It was absolutely gorgeous. Not strong, just a pop of a drink, but gorgeous all the same.

'Come back once it's been delivered and I'll get you the money,' he said. I nodded and he ducked through the crowd to get back behind the bar, where Chorus and the bartender I had first met were busy pouring faster than turbo-charged warp-speeders. A minute later I pushed the empty drink back across the counter and made my way out of the club.

Getting outside, the cold hitting my face as the Region wound down for the night, I checked the time. Five minutes to midnight. I remembered how hungry I was and darted off to find a bite to eat before heading for the station.