{fb1000000discarded boxes. She waited. Twenty minutes went by and still she waited. There was no sign of them. The voices weren't audible so far down the corridor, so she moved a little closer. Slowly she crept along the partly-lit corridor, but was suddenly shocked to hear a loud bang behind her! Turning quickly, her heart racing, she was confronted by a small child only a few feet away. He was armed with a realistic toy gun. He grinned at her, and the reaction he had forced.
{fb1904000"You're under arrest. Come with me to the HQ."{fb1000000 he said in a mock-authorative voice.
Also disturbed by the child's gun were the intruders. As McGraph was chastising the boy as quietly as she knew how, the intruders ran towards the lift; careful not to look back towards the woman and the boy. Both men pressed frantically at the unresponsive lift buttons; but to no avail. They looked at each other and ran to the door marked 'Stairs'. The tall one shot pointlessly at the lift controls in frustration.
{fb1904000"Bloody bastard machines!"{fb1000000 he shouted, in a slightly foreign accent.
McGraph was torn between following the burglars and inspecting what state her home was in. {fb1904000'To hell with the danger. This mess will be there when I get back'.{fb1000000 She reasons.
McGraph runs to the nearest balcony and looks over it, searching for an unfamiliar vehicle amongst the usual one's parked below. She spots what she thinks is the 'burglar's' mode of transport and heads for the stairwell at the opposite end of the building. If she can just get close enough to their vehicle and see the registration number, maybe she can find out for definite who they are. She races down the stairs two at a time like a person possessed.
Each time she passes a window she checks to see if they've got out before her. She's now jumping down 3 steps at once at a time.
Two floors to go.
Although the lift is supposed to be out of order, McGraph hears it's mechanism whine in to action, but thinks nothing of it. More important things to worry about now!
Finally, the last floor.
She takes the final few stairs in a single leap and promptly lands in a heap at the exit door.
{fb1904000"Shit!"{fb1000000 she groans.
As she pulls herself to her feet, a car is heard screeching away. McGraph manages to hobble to the door and wipes the grime from the small circular window. She peers through it.
{fb1904000"Gotcha"{fb1000000 she grins, whilst tapping the car registration number into her portable Mini-Comp.
Her current task complete, McGraph becomes aware of a sharp pain in her foot and thinks she may have broken a bone. Painfully she crosses the lobby and presses the lift's {fb1904000'CALL'{fb1000000 button. The lift doors open almost immediately and out steps a Lift-O-Matic maintenance engineer. He promptly switches off the lights and places an 'OUT OF ORDER' sign on the door.
{fb1904000"You've just used it. How can it be out of order?"{fb1000000 McGraph snaps.
{fb1904000"It's the internal sensors system, it's kaput!"{fb1000000 says the engineer blankly. {fb1904000"Never was any good really, foreign you see, from Titan. It scans for the presence of life inside when the buttons are depressed. Then through a series of {fb1904000neuro-chemical analysis, it detects where the person wants to go. Kids go in press a button and think of strange things to confuse it! Damn things need counselling all the time!".{fb1000000
{fb1904000"So how come you just got it to work?"{fb1000000 McGraph asks patiently.
{fb1904000"I went to a different floor from the one on which the lift was situated. I called it to that floor. It arrived unsuspecting. When I eventually got it's doors open through physical and mental persuasion, I over-rode it's central neuro- system and gave in my destination, with this little beauty"{fb1000000, he explains, produc- ing a solid gold swipe card.
{fb1904000"Go anywhere with this you know".{fb1000000 he said confidently.
{fb1904000"Can I use it to get to my floor, I think I've broken my foot and need to phone for help".{fb1000000 McGraph pleads with as much dignity she has in her body.
{fb1904000"Sorry, more than my jobs worth that is, letting a non Lift-O-Matic person use a Lift-O-Matic swipe card. This is a gold one you see. I've got 25 years service. No, I can't let you use it".{fb1000000 he states flatly and marches off through the door marked 'EXIT'.
{fb1904000"Phuh"{fb1000000 she says to the swinging door that Mr bloody 'Lift-O-Matic' just walked through.
{fb1904000'What does he know'{fb1000000 she thinks to herself, looking at the lift.
