There was a kno the small plastic hatch leading to Caldwell』s capsule and the sound of scurryi. The sudden interruption caused him to spill part of the vial』s tents down his . What the hell? Who or what could that be? It was definitely human. His capsule was at least six feet off the ground ohird rao less. At first, he couldn』t quite believe his ears. This was the first time anyone had ever k the capsule door. There was an unspoken code of privacy among the tele and capsule hotel staff, such that they existed, he』d never seen one, would never kno a capsule hatch when it was occupied. That was tantamount to a gross invasion of privad a sure way of redug life expecy.
Caldwell had a decision to make. Should he just ighe intrusion and go ahead and drink the tents of the vial or should he see what the otion was all about? He relutly opted for the latter. It could be important. He placed the vial gingerly on the side shelf, wiped the droplets of death liquid from his with the back of his hand and slowly twisted his body until he was fag the entrao the capsule. He reached for the hatch. The capsule』s plastic hatch felt cold and awkward on the palm of his hands. Caldwell moved his hand away from the hatch.
He pressed the buttoo small LCD s in the ceiling. It displayed the image picked up by the security camera outside. There was nobody there, but on the outside the hatch was what looked like a package. He released the latd peered outside. The miscellaneous sounds of various states of sleep grew louder. Caldwell could hear the muffled din of Europorn emanating from one of the nearby capsules. Whoever had left the package there had already disappeared into the Byzantine maze of corridors. He wasn』t surprised. With its proliferation of cheap capsule hotels, Angel, despite its name, wasn』t the of neighborhoods. And the Angel Capsule Hotel, one of the area』s better establishments, was still the kind of place that could give even the most hardened courier palpitations.
Caldwell stared at the package, an expensive looking gray box bearing a DHL Japan logo. There was a small sticker attached to it with his name, capsule number and a return-to-sender anonymous postal box at Union Mail. It was obviously not a wrong delivery. He wondered who could have sent him the package and perhaps more importantly how the hell did they know he was holed up at the Angel Capsule Hotel? What was in the box? He had made tless enemies in cyberspace, disgraced many a sys-op, puter tei or security expert. One of them could have tracked him down a him an explosive package of reve that was close to impossible. At any rate, they would be doing him a favor. He prodded the package with his left hand, expeg it to do the vial』s job in a much quicker and messier way. Nothing. The box felt heavy against his fingers. He picked it up carefully, holding it as though it tained uranium rods areated crawling backwards into the capsule.
Caldwell placed the package oon, slid the hatch shut and turned his attention once again to the half-empty vial on the side shelf. He wasn』t even sure if what was left would do the job effectively. At least he should see what was in the box before proceeding with his suicide mission. If he hadn』t heard the kno the door he probably would have been dead by now. That fact was not lost on him. Destiny? He proceeded to open the package. Inside a protective bubble of Styrofoam was yet another blaade out of a ductile syic material.