Meanwhile, Darren's other employees had a job to finish for him.
All the way in Westblock District where the morning air carried a distinct blend of fresh ink, recycled air, and tension —the bureaucratic kind, lined with plastic badge scanners and filtered sunlight through reinforced skylights.
The Calivernia Department of Economic Recognition & Trade Licensing, or CERTL, stood like a blunt monolith in the business sector: thirteen floors of slabbed walls, smart-glass panels, and security cameras hanging lazily like vultures keeping watch over ambition.
Inside, the main atrium of CERTL resembled a cross between a futurist airport and a corporate mausoleum.
Queues of executives, assistants, and startup founders lined the chrome-inset floor in snaking patterns, all inching toward self-registration kiosks glowing with sterile white light.
