Alice was was dead on her feet. All four of them.
It was memory and instinct alone that kept her on the right path to the elevator; her conscious mind was already half-asleep, weary from working 48 hours with no sleep. Her bi-colored eyes, usually her best feature, were bloodshot, to say nothing for the dark circles under them. Her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail, and the jumpsuit and tool vest she wore was streaked with equal parts grease and soot.
A bath was in order. Also, sleep. If she could think of way to do both at the same time without drowning, it would be perfect.
Finally she reached the elevators, along with a group of other people. This was one of the main lifts, and though there where five actual elevator cars, they were always full up at this time of the morning. The doors soon opened and people shuffled in, a total of six people besides her. It was cramped but not stuffed, which always posed a problem for her. She had to slip a foot out of a shoe to press the button for her floor, and when things got this crowed, her shoes were always kicked around and she had to hunting for it. Fortunately, someone else was headed to her floor and pressed the button before she had to bother.
The door closed and there was the usual jerk before they started moving swiftly up the shaft, accompanied by a faint hum. Alice sighed wearily. Nap first. Definitely. Then a bath. Then another nap. She heard the usual whispers behind her, someone mumbling to a friend or co-worker about the dirty, smelly mutant they were stuck in a car with. Alice rolled her eyes, to tired to care. Sides, she probably did smell. The grease she was streaked with was made for the lucubration of starship parts, not for pleasant aromatics. Oh well, they would be rid of her in few more floors anyway.
Or, not.
She felt it before it happened. A shiver running up her spine that made her straighten up and got her bleary eyes blinking. Then, with a sudden lurch, the elevator came to a halt. Complaints and curses started all around here, but at least one person had enough sense to press the call button on the button panel. But instead of a person, a pleasant feminine voice spoke over the speakers: “We have noted the mechanical fault in ELEVATOR NUMBER 4 and have dispatched our maintenance team to resolve the issue. You can expect effective repairs in the next SIXTY minutes.”
This was meet with groans all around.
