“Yeah, yeah,” replied the first. “I'll talk to you tomorrow.” He lifted his hand up to his headphones to flip the switch to OFF.

“Going to see the race?”

Ikato's fingers twitched just as they were about to touch the toggle switch. In his mind images flashed through his eyes of straight chaos – a large crowd cheering all around in a stadium and on rooftops of buildings – the bright blue of the sky, white fluffy clouds like mountains – crisp cold air rushed past his face – the crowd's cheers started to sound in unison, chanting a name.

Ikato shut his eyes tight and shook his head. “You know I don't watch those. Later.” and before other could respond, Ikato flipped his headphones OFF. It took him a few seconds before he felt his heart rate slow back down in his chest while breathing soft controlled breaths. Slowly, he lifted his eyes to the screen before him. “Vector Nine shutting off. Command confirm.”

“Command confirmed.” came the voice of the computer. As it spoke, Ikato stretched upright and eased the chair back. As slipped forward to drop his feet off the resting pad onto the actual floor, the voice continued, “Shutting off Vector Nine. Re-routing observation responsibilities.” There was a pause in the procedure that made Ikato freeze to listen to the voice through the muffling of his headphones. “Logging off complete, Vector Nine Ikato.” The screens went black and in perfect timing, a red light came on and illuminated the spherical cabin.

Ikato stretched his arms up and eased his way behind the chair the distance of a few steps before reaching a circular door. He tapped a button control down by his hip, a soft chug sounded and the door slid open upwards into the wall from a single point.