Surface Tension

    On the night of the 4th of June, a pub in Bristol was busier than it had ever been in its entire history, throngs of people were desperate to take advantage of their last night of inebriation.  This was because the enforcement of the alcohol ban would begin tomorrow and many people all over the world were making the most of it.
    Attached high up to one of the dark corners of the pub was a TV, which was too quiet for anyone to hear, and was only being watched by one person anyway.
    “Our newest top story is the announcement today by a Company spokesman that the Olympus Corporation has just begun construction on the first off world colony for civilians.  Preliminary reports say that it will be based on Mars, other details are unclear.  Factors such as the size of the facility, the type of people who will live there, and even the name of the colony have not been divulged yet.  But we will keep you updated on every detail of the story as it develops.  Now, on a lighter side, a new product will be on sale on soon, courtesy of the Olympus Corporation.  It is a type of suit with advanced computer technology within the very fibres that monitors your heartbeat.  If your heart stops for any reason, the suit calls an ambulance for you and even administers resuscitative by the means of electric shocks through your chest to try to revive you before the paramedics arrive.”
    The sole human being that was watching this TV was sat in a corner by herself, she was wearing a thin black coat, which had the hood pulled down low over her face.  A drink was in front of her, she had been sipping at if for a while and barely half of it was gone.  Tabitha Roth had been truthful over three days ago and back in America, when she told Jane that she didn’t drink.  She said that she didn’t think she needed to, but now, things were different.
    Maybe it was because she knew that this was her last chance to do so legally, or maybe she just missed Jane.  Either way, she felt she needed a drink tonight.  
    She didn’t feel nervous amongst so many people, no one was even paying attention to her.  Tabitha had only very recently made it back to her hometown, she didn’t know why she chose to come back here.  She just couldn’t think of a place to go or anything to do, so she just came home and wandered into the nearest pub so she had a warm place to sit and figure things out, perhaps while watching some television.
    “Now, we have a part of the news issued by the Olympus Corporation, it is a worldwide announcement involving two fugitives from Jotnar.  The first is serial killer Tabitha Roth, convicted of the murder of fourteen people, and suspected in the deaths of many others.  She is to be considered extremely dangerous and there is a reward for anyone who provides information that leads to her recapture.”
    Tabitha stared in fascination at the picture of her own face that they showed, she barely recognised it.
    “The second is Jane Williams, the infamous child killer of Australia.  She was convicted of the brutal slaughter of twenty-three boys between the ages of four and eight in the post-war city of Melbourne.  Her reward is substantially higher, as Williams gained notoriety about five years ago for this monstrous string of murders.  Her psychological profile indicates that she is a compulsive repeat offender so we can only hope she is apprehended soon.”
    Tabitha looked deep into the eyes of her friend, and felt ill.  All the time, she thought that she was using Jane when it had been the other way round.  Tabitha was afraid that Jane would’ve thought her a monster for killing so many people, but Jane didn’t really mind, because she knew how much worse herself to be.
    Jane had lied about lying, it seemed Hermes had guided her home, not because she was a thief, but because she was an adept liar.  Maybe Jane could be considered a thief, Tabitha could remember Jane’s words echoing around her memories.
    “You don’t know what I stole,” were her exact words.  Now Tabitha knew, she stole children’s lives.
    Tabitha did nothing to make herself stand out among the crowd, even though she really wanted to.  She wanted to cry, or turn the table over, or scream, or just anything to convey how frustratingly regretful she felt at the thought of bringing Jane Williams back into the world.
    Tabitha Roth knew something about compulsion, she was sure that Jane would be out there feeling the same way as she did, and that meant she was going to kill again.
    As so many thoughts traversed the incredible ocean of her mind, Tabitha Roth almost didn’t notice the new arrivals in the pub from her position of surveillance in a dark corner, but these three individuals definitely stood out.  There were two Olympus Enforcers and an Inquirer.  She could tell they were Enforcers because they were in uniform, and she instantly believed they were here for her.
    This outfit consisted of black trousers, white undershirt with a black police vest over it and a matching black helmet, emblazoned with the Olympus symbol.  And she could tell it was an Inquirer with them because, even though he was wearing ordinary street clothes, there were a pair of shades covering his eyes.  Civilians weren’t permitted to wear any form of sunglasses anymore, since scanners had been installed in most city centres to combat terrorism.
    These scanners were similar to those at Jotnar, they could examine every face on their screen and check their retinas and facial node structure against the corporate database.  From this scan, all information would come up on screen regarding every part of this person’s life, including any outstanding warrants for arrest, in which case the person on duty would be notified who would then go on to alert the authorities.
    These cameras were installed all over the world, in cities and towns that had buildings owned by Olympus in them, which was virtually all of them, as well as within the buildings themselves.  The combined recordings from every single one of these individual cameras all around the world were sent to and then stored at the Ocularium, one of the buildings of the Polylith, where the footage could be accessed and monitored anytime by its staff.
    The reason why sunglasses were no longer allowed is because they prevented retinal scans and hindered facial node analysis.  The special shades that Inquirers wore had similar technology to these scanners.  They automatically took retinal and facial scans of everyone the person looked at and all information regarding that individual would be emitted on one side of the shades for the Inquirer to read, which made most people incredibly nervous around Inquirers.  The shades were also useful because they could be used to download instant three-dimensional maps of the local area from Olympus Archives.
    The Inquirer, along with his Enforcer escort, scanned the room.  Tabitha looked away as casually as she could while making sure her hood was as low as it would go.  Everyone in the pub, which was a lot of people, was watching the three policemen.  They were expecting them to initiate the alcohol ban, it was past midnight and they technically could, so everyone was relieved when the three men approached the bar and ordered some drinks.
    Tabitha was not relieved however, from where the Inquirer was positioned by the bar, Tabitha would have to walk right by him in order to leave.  She knew she couldn’t stay, the Inquirer hadn’t looked in her direction, but he might, and she couldn’t take that chance.  
    Tabitha needed to leave, now.  As casually as she could manage, Tabitha slowly stood up, praying that the Inquirer wouldn’t turn and look at what was moving in his periphery.  
    Tabitha surreptitiously crept backwards into the bathroom.  Fortunately, it was empty, and from the look of the place she could tell why.  Nothing seemed to work and very little of the original tiles could be seen under the layer of graffiti.  Desperately searching for a way to escape, it didn’t take her long to see the window.
    The small narrow window had a wooden frame that hung out of the wall by two old chains.  She jumped and pulled down on it as hard as she could, it took less effort than she thought it would to release the window from the chains’ slimy grip and Tabitha was sent sprawling on the filthy floor.
    Tabitha quickly picked herself up off the grotty ground and scrambled through the tiny opening that she created.  For the first time in her life, Tabitha Roth was finally thankful for her small stature.
    She was glad of her escape, even if it did mean her chosen route ended above a huge pile of black rubbish bags.  Tabitha found herself in an alleyway behind the pub and she did her best to make sure that her time spent there was kept to a minimum.
    Tabitha left the alley and started to walk down the street, looking back from time to time to make sure the Enforcers weren’t following her.  After it was clear that nobody was chasing her, that no one was about to send her back to the Jotnar centre, Tabitha still burst out into a flat out run.  There wasn’t anybody else around so Tabitha could do what she wanted to do without arousing suspicion, she fled.
    The way Tabitha saw it, she now had two options before her.  She could either choose to hunt down Jane and stop her for the good of humanity, even though it would put herself in danger by drawing unwanted attention.  Or she could maintain a low profile, keep moving and completely focus on her continued escape.  She chose the latter.