The Hotel

A man stood in front of the hotel's check-in. He was a little short by Martian standards, dark hair and an uncomfortable looking posture. He was wearing a fine suit, in the style of formal dress of Earth. He stood uncomfortably as the tired clerk swiped in his name. "Gallus Sacro... very Latinized. Is that a Terran name?" The man gulped nervously and adjusted his tie. "Yep, I'm from North America, here on business."

The clerk had perked up at the sight of his name and his Earth-like dress. "That's very cool, Mr. Sacro. What's it like back on Earth? Is it as green and wild as the pictures? How do you like it here on Mars?" Gallus chucked uncomfortably. "Not quite as green as the pictures madam. And Mars is a gem in its own right, best folk in the system if you ask me. The dust though, that took some getting used to."

The clerk giggled and handed him an access card. "That's quite alright sir. I was born and raised here and I'm not quite used to it either, enjoy your stay." Gallus tipped his imaginary hat to her. "And enjoy your dust." After that he hurried away quickly, glad the awkward interaction was done with. He headed to the elevator, taking in the ornate style of hotel.

The night's stay had cost him quite a lot of money. The whole empire used a kind of digital currency that could theoretically be traded for solar energy. The entire yearly energy output of the Sun was priced at one Sol. This of course, was a ridiculous amount of power, and all of the energy ever produced in the history of the empire didn't even add up to a single Sol. But the currency was designed in more ambitious days, when dyson satellites swarmed the Sun, and fusion reactors were popping up on every rock in the system.

The hotel was pretty empty, which made sense; Mars was not in line with Earth at the moment, so the cost of a laser line ticket between the planets was very high at the moment. This created a kind of "tourist" season on Mars; not that there was a whole lot to tour. Gallus stepped into the elevator, and it leisurely brought him up to the building's sixth floor. He figured he would go to his room first, to arouse less suspicion, and snoop around the hotel later.

The room was beautiful, a modern treasure of stainless steel and clean glass. The king sized bed looked as inviting as a cloud, and had buttons on the sides to raise and lower the headpiece. A huge holo-screen covered the room in a semi-circle arc, allowing a visitor to watch movies in one hundred and eighty degrees. The bathroom was sparking clean, with an enclosed shower room containing multiple shower heads and a sauna feature.

The resource administrator in him cringed at the thought of running four shower heads at once, but he wasn't here to criticize their wastefulness. He walked up the the well made bed and ruffled the sheets, taking care to roll around in them a few times for effect. He even left the holo-screen on, playing some kind of obscure cooking show highlighting Martian produce.

He waited in the room a few extra minutes, just to be sure no one was on his trail. Once satisfied, he left the room and went down the elevator again, all the way to the basement floor. If any oxygen was being piped into the building, the main line would be somewhere below ground. The lowest level was typical for a hotel; a dank basement with a gym and a pool.

He stalked around the mostly empty floor, looking around for anything suspicious. He paced the pool, the hallway, and the men's locker room, but couldn't find anything of interest. Growing frustrated, he sat down on a bench in the locker room to collect his thoughts. He was going to feel like the world's biggest idiot if nothing came of his little vacation. But he was sure there was something going on; why else would Grotto be staying here?

Out of curiosity, Gallus pulled out his air detector. To his surprise, the number had been jumping around as he had paced through the building's underbelly. The variations were pretty small, as he was using a sensitive and professional device, but they were there. He noticed one particularly large spike from seven minutes prior, and tried to remember about where he was at that time.

He tried to retrace his steps, but wasn't able to remember exactly where he was. Defeated, he continued roaming around the basement, but kept an eye on his detector to see where the oxygen might be leaking from. After a few minutes, he noticed that the levels were highest by the pool. He circled around the pool area a bit more, following the increasing concentration of oxygen.

There were a lot of rooms adjacent to the pool, mostly locker rooms and hallways, so it took him a while to find the exact source of the heightened readings. He discovered that the highest numbers were right next to one of the pool's towel racks. That didn't make much sense to Gallus at first. Was the towel rack releasing oxygen? He held the detector up to the floor and found that the levels were just a tiny bit higher at ground level.

There was no reason for oxygen to just spontaneously accumulate on the ground like this. Something had to be below him. The floor of the pool area was made up of large, carved stone pieces. Between each piece was a bluish kind of mortar that held the rocks together. Below the towel rack was one such mortar crack. Except this one looked a little bit different. The mortar didn't look like mortar at all, it was much too round and smooth.

He dug his fingernails under it and found that the entire tile moved without much trouble. He pushed it to the side and found a small hole in the ground with a ladder running down it. He took a picture of the secret compartment for his documentation, and debated his next move. He didn't know what or who was in that hole, and he might have alerted someone to his presence just by the sheer act of moving the stone.

There were probably security cameras catching his every movement too, even out in the basement. He didn't have a choice. He had to go down. If he left now, Grotto and his associates would have enough footage of him snooping around to catch on to his espionage. The only way he could retaliate was by getting dirt on Grotto before Grotto could destroy him.

Gallus steeled his nerves and turned on the flashlight on his wrist device. He decsended the ladder into the darkness, pulling the stone back on top of him.