Her server was a senior Deyzara. Less susceptible to mold and rust than a mechanical, the live waiter was also cheaper to operate in Fluva’s remorselessly damp climate. Matthias accepted the food appreciatively and was about to begin eating when a visitor intruded on her vision.
Looking up, she found a short, slim man with a mournful expression gazing down at her. She decided he could not have weighed much more than fifty kilos. His hair was thin, blond, and receding. He looked to be about thirty. Worn down early, she concluded. One of those sad individuals who found themselves peeled prematurely off the roll of Life.
“Sorry to break in on your lunch, Administrator Matthias.” He spared a furtive glance for the other occupants of the dining area. “I really need to talk to you.”
“Here?” She forked food, chewed calmly. Whatever else the man was, he did not appear threatening. “Why not make an appointment with my office?”
“Kind of in a hurry. Don’t like formalities.” He cast a meaningful glance in the direction of the other chair. “May I? I think it’s important.”
She sighed inwardly. One of the main drawbacks to being in charge of everything was never having any privacy. People were always confronting you with complaints, suggestions, requests, demands, angry objections to something you’d just done or were going to do or hadn’t even contemplated. It went with the job. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take long for her uninvited guest to have his say.
“Clifford Kamis,” he was saying as he slipped into the chair. “You can call me Clif.”