>42< The evolution of the gas station in a futuristic city is the scene for an employee who sees a crime through security camera footage.

---

“Two h-cans, please.”

“Alright, that’ll be 50 credits.”

“50?! Yesterday they were 15 a can! What are you tryna pull here?!”

“Sorry man. You heard about the explosion right? At the plant?”

A look and tone of anger turned quickly to one of pondering.

“Oh ya…I saw something about that on my channel. Didn’t like 10 people die?” 

“At least! It really screwed up our stock. We had to adjust prices to make up the difference. They should come back down in a couple weeks though. You still want two?”

“Nah, I think I’ll just take one. It should get me by ’til the prices go down. I’m gonna have to keep an eye on my gauge until payday.”

“Okay…here’s that one h-can then. Anything else?”

“Nah.”

The customer had a green mohawk and a green soul patch. He wore a pair of black sunglasses which he slid down to the edge of his nose as he held out his cthru. Sarl, the employee inside, waved his gloved hand over it like a magician does with a deck of cards. He waited for the green glow to appear on the back of his hand. A second later, it did, coupled with a polite chime.

“You’re all good to go. Take care!” Sarl said as he removed the glove.

“You too.”

The customer slid his cthru back into its dedicated holder in the center of his handlebar console. It made a chirp sound and the virtual screen illuminated like a hologram. A series of dials and gauges appeared before him in a wide panoramic display. He then grabbed the canister of hydrogen from Sarl at the window. The first slot behind his seat was occupied by a nearly depleted canister, so he slid the new one into an empty secondary slot. He secured a segmented black metal strap around the cylinder. While still turned, he reached behind him to press a virtual button on his transparent dashboard to activate the magnetic locking mechanism. He heard the click confirming the fixedness of the canister in his hoverbike. He twisted back around to face forward and cranked the handlebar. 

His hoverbike’s engine roared to life before becoming nearly silent again. While it was running, only a light whirring sound from the fan blades were audible. He lifted about a foot above the ground slowly but stably. He looked at the largest gauge in the center of his view and saw the dial needle go from low to full. He cranked the handlebar again, pushed both feet forward, then accelerated forward and upward simultaneously. The tail lights quickly disappeared into the illuminated night scene of the city. Hundreds of other hoverbikes, transport drones, and flying passenger taxis weaved in and out of lanes, horizontally and vertically. The two towering aisles of skyscrapers and buildings defined the boundaries of the transport lanes. 

Sarl watched it disappear then glanced back at the monitor on the counter. To the left of the window was a large screen with various live video feeds from all around the perimeter of the Hydrocenter. Each feed was tied to a camera and allowed him to keep an eye on his surroundings and have a heads up when a customer pulled up to the window. All clear for now. 

Sarl was in his late teens and had started working at the Hydrocenter when he was in taxi school a year prior. After middle school, he found he was interested in driving taxis through the bustling streets of Arexial. So, instead of pursuing further education, he opted out of the optional next step of his education. He got a job at the corner Hydrocenter stocking shelves and taking care of inventory shipments. He was quite intelligent, and passed school with flying colors. 

His supervisor was pleased with how quickly he picked up on how everything worked and where it went in the store. He became organized and efficient at his job. Within a month or so, his supervisor decided to let him work at the transaction window. Sarl eagerly accepted this perceived promotion and took on his new responsibilities with pride. He was the only other employee at this Hydrocenter, so really he was just taking on more work, but he wanted to prove himself. He figured it wouldn’t be a job he was at forever, so he didn’t mind letting his boss take evenings off during the week. It seemed only fair since he wasn’t working any weekend hours – the store’s busiest days. 

Sarl went to taxi school over the weekends. It was what he wanted his career to be. He got to learn how various companies had designed their flying transportation vehicles. He also got to learn how to drive them. It became apparent why some were far safer than others, and why some were more luxurious. Sarl’s favorite part of taxi school was easily the simulation lab. He got to sit in a physical mockup of the most common type of taxi, the Greebeo. He’d then secure a mixed reality headset over his head and activate the panoramic, floor-to-ceiling screens. After hitting a few buttons, his surroundings roared to life. Populating rapidly, countless buildings, vehicles, signs, and other virtual objects would appear all around him, filling his senses. He put his hands on the controls in the taxi and followed various instructions fed to him through his earpiece. He did everything from picking up virtual avatars and delivering them across town, to taking a small fake package from one building to another across town. He even would sometimes take platters of food to a party waiting eagerly at the massive park in the middle of Arexial. It was like a giant, immersive video game, preparing him for real life. He rarely made mistakes on his runs too. When he did, though, they were only minor ones and they never sacrificed the safety of his fellow flyers or the pedestrians below. To no one’s surprise, he passed taxi school right on schedule with excellent scores. The only catch was, he couldn’t afford to buy a Greebeo yet. Or any taxi for that matter. 

He was a couple hundred credits shy of the cheapest one on the market. So for the time being, he still worked at the Hydrocenter selling canisters of hydrogen fuel canisters to locals. He made decent money at his job, but it was far from glamorous. Sarl dealt with a whole slew of characters on a daily basis. Most of the regulars were taxi drivers too and would pry and question him about when he was gonna join the industry. One driver in particular, though, Jixel, flirted with him on occasion. She was quite tall and drove one of the transport drones in and out of Arexial. Unfortunately, she was only in the city about once every two weeks. Jixel was in her early twenties from what Sarl could tell – only a few years his senior. He got excited when he saw her purple and turquoise transport slowly descend into the empty lot adjacent to the store. 

He was staring off at nothing and thinking of her most recent visit when he saw a flash in the corner of his eye. He scanned over the video feeds on the screen quickly until his gaze stopped at the one that was supposed to be displaying the external side of the back door. It was completely black. The camera must be malfunctioning, he thought. Then a second later he saw another flash and the feed next to it was black too. The label read, “Back Door Interior.” Sarl couldn’t make sense of what was going on. He hit a button on the side of the monitor to activate the security protocol. His supervisor would get notified right away that something was up. He would also be able to remote in to the camera feed and run diagnostics on the cameras. If necessary, he would also contact law enforcement, should it come to that. Sarl tapped his fingers on the counter, puzzled. He couldn’t decide if he should go see what was going on and abandon his place by the window, or sit back and assume everything was going to be fine. He tried to think back to his time working there. No particular incident stood out regarding the cameras or security malfunctioning before. They were pretty reliable. He did remember one time when the main doors were jammed for a period of two days before they got it repaired, but that was it.

After not hearing any noise or seeing anyone around, Sarl decided to go check out the back door. He took the long way to the back, walking around the perimeter of the store. He weaved around various aisles of snacks and transport parts. He looked through the windows, scanning his surroundings, hoping to see something the cameras couldn’t. Nothing stood out though. He pulled his cthru from his pocket to see if his boss had messaged him or sent any type of instructions for the cameras. He scrolled a little bit on the smart device as he walked to the corridor, not seeing anything. He decided to put it back in his pocket, but as he looked up, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Instinctually, he slowly raised his hands up to his head. A silver and blue blaster was pointed right at his chest. About five feet in front of him, halfway in the back hallway, a figure dressed head to toe in dark purple loomed. The figure, probably 6’ tall, didn’t say anything. They just pointed the weapon at him. After a second, an electronic voice said in a monotone, “Is anyone else here?”

Sarl, still frozen in fear, paused for a second. He slowly shook his head no. He could feel sweat starting to slowly drip down his temple. He could tell he was shaking but couldn’t refrain. The voice replied, “That’s what I thought. Let’s get straight to it. Open up the storage drum.” Sarl thought for a moment. The storage drum was pretty much a secret. How did this person know about it? He slowly backed up, looking behind him slightly so he didn’t bump into the shelves. He replied, “O-o-o-okay. J-j-j-just don’t sh-sh-shoot me.” His hands were still in the air. The figure lowered the weapon slightly and aimed sort of at his feet now. He felt a little calmer about that but wasn’t sure what he was gonna do about the drum. The hydrogen canisters were stored in a climate-controlled, secure, underground storage tank. It was cylindrical in shape, wider than it was tall, and it resembled a drum. The only way to access it was by inserting the master cthru into the central console near the transaction window. Sarl’s boss had the master on him at all times, however. 

A few times after hours, Sarl watched his supervisor insert the device into the slot under the counter and turn a few knobs this way and that. The two of them would hear a sequence of beeps then a voice speak through the intercom warning of what would happen next. Sarl would watch in awe as the huge, 20’ diameter cylinder slowly rose from the floor beneath the aisles. It was about 6’ tall once fully emerged. The aisles were mounted to the top of it so it was quite camouflaged underground. The whole drum was filled with hundreds of canisters of highly compressed, hydrogen fuel. The clean fuel was essential for any type of aerial travel. There was a global effort to eliminate gasoline powered flying vehicles after countless accidents and injuries occurred from oil and gas leaks dripping on people below. Sarl loved the migration to hydrogen fuel. It was an incredible advancement. When he started, Sarl was taught that one canister could be distributed into 10 h-cans that were sold to customers. So, this much fuel must be worth thousands of credits. “Only a few cans would be enough to buy a Greebeo and get him into the taxi business,” he thought to himself a few times before. But he never truly considered stealing one. He was raised better than that, and he knew he was ever so close to having saved enough for his taxi. 

In the present moment, it seemed that the figure standing before him was very much interested in stealing the cans. Sarl thought about what he needed to do to get out of this situation. He thought back to when his boss told him there was an override access for the drum in case the master cthru ever got lost or broke, or even if Sarl needed to resupply after a greedy customer depleted their standard supply. He said to the purple figure, “The drum can only be opened by my boss. He has the device and the access code. I don’t.” He knew that wouldn’t be enough to thwart the thief’s plan but he gave it a try. 

“I know that isn’t the only way to get to the drum. You think I don’t know that? Don’t lie to me.” 

Sarl watched the barrel raise from the floor back to his chest level. He should’ve led with a different line. He gulped and then responded again.

“O-o-okay, o-o-okay. Yup. Y-y-you’re right. Um…I c-c-can do the override backup way, I-i-i think. I-i-i just need to get b-b-back to the transaction window. I-i-i-is that o-o-o-kay?”

“Ya. Get on with it!”

The figure gestured with the blaster for Sarl to make his way to the window. He hesitated as he calculated which path to take. He wanted one that didn’t put him any closer to the gun, but not one that could be misinterpreted as him trying to leave out the main door. He thought a moment longer before slowly side stepping his way to the window. He wanted to keep his eyes on the figure, and more importantly, the weapon pointed at him. The silver blaster glistened in the overhead lights. It was spotless. “Must not get much use,” he thought. As he neared the window, he called out, “I need my cthru to get to the drum. I’m gonna pull it from my pocket now.” He slowly reached for it with his hand. The figure’s electronic voice replied, “I’ll blast you if you try anything! Got it!?” Sarl nodded as he looked down at the device. He could see through the device’s screen that his fingers and hands were trembling as he tried to remember the protocol for both a break in and for overriding the drum. He knew if he could stall long enough, his boss might witness what was going on in one of the other cameras. He stole a quick glance at the screen with the camera feeds. He noticed the figure still wasn’t visible in any of the active cameras. It was obvious the thief knew which cameras needed to be deactivated in order to get in the back door. It also made sense why they stayed there this whole time rather than following him to the window. He looked back at the cthru for a second then stole a second look. In another feed, he caught the faintest glimmer from the camera in the corner of the room that just barely picked up the tip of the blaster. He thought maybe he could lure the thief out another step or two, just to get some evidence for later. He figured once the drum was up, then the thief would approach it and start taking the canisters. He probably didn’t need to do anything more. Now he just hoped law enforcement or even his boss would show up soon. He was terrified he could possibly die like this. 

“Let’s get moving. I don’t have all night!” the thief called out. 

Sarl found what he was looking for on the cthru in his hand. He put the device into the slot intended for the master. He heard an unfamiliar sequence of chimes, but it seemed that something had been activated. He rotated one of the backup knobs that his boss never needed with the master. It clicked after two full spins and the intercom voice dispelled its warning into the empty store, breaking the deafening silence. The drum started to lift from the ground slowly. Sarl yelled out, “Wait for it to stop moving. I know those cans are what you’re here for.” He didn’t hear anything. He leaned to his side to get a better look at the hallway. The figure didn’t seem to be there. He looked at the corner camera’s feed, but the tip of the blaster was gone too. Sarl yelled out and cautiously walked toward the drum. Then it hit him. The figure didn’t have any type of bag or way to carry out the canisters. It didn’t make sense. He walked to the drum, inspecting the inventory. He made his way around half of it before he saw something. Clinging to one of the canisters, a little square device, about three inches wide blinked silently. A few seconds later, it blinked faster and faster. Sarl stumbled and lost his footing. He knew what it was instantly. He fumbled his way to his feet and attempted to reach the back door. It was wide open. He looked back over his shoulder to see a finale of quick flashes as he tumbled over the threshold of the door, tripping over something shiny. As he face planted into the ground outside, he tried to kick backwards at the door to maybe minimize the impending blast. It was when he looked back that he saw a tiny “J” etched into the handle of the blaster. He curled up into the fetal position and waited for what came next.