The Genesis Covenant

Plan

Thursday 23rd April 2022 - 1300

Buckingham Palace - London

Main Gate

The palace is pretty impressive, I'll say that.

I'm standing in front of the big ornate gates, watching crowds of tourists and a couple of guardsmen standing still as if it was a photo.

They know their job, their purpose, I wish I did.

I get to thinking about what to do now. I need to wait for robot to contact me in a few hours. I decide to turn the phone on and check it every 30 minutes. I've no way to charge it and it's not a Florian so it won't last for three days. Plus I just feel a lot safer being disconnected.

What do I need? Food, yeah I really need food, rest, and a place to hide.

I need to change clothes and I decide to try and change faces again too. I don't want anyone getting a fix on me. Change faces, I still can't get to grips with the fact I can do that.

Next, I need answers. I need answers bad, I start to think about how I might be able to get them.

I start looking around, I'm looking for faces about my age maybe a bit older. I don't want to use someone else I know. It's been just plain weird being Fizz, I want to be someone else as soon as possible.

I see a couple of people that would work. I settle on what I think is the best-looking guy, hey I can be a little vain. He has a narrow face, angular, defined cheekbones, small nose, fine features overall, looks maybe 21. This guy traveling from what I can tell so he probably won't even be in the country in a week. He looks a bit like a young Johnny Depp, so I name him Captain Jack.

I try not to look like I'm staring, the idea of reflective sunglasses pops into my mind. I need to get a pair of those if I'm going to be doing a lot of this.

When I'm sure I have the detail fixed in my mind I take one last look at the Palace and head off back towards the park.

I find a secluded spot at the end of the park. I look for cameras, but can't see any. I hunch down with my back to a tree, I look around, I'm clear. I put my arms over my face, the last thing I need is some passerby going nuts because they see some kids face, what was it? Transmogrify.... I bury my head into my arms, crouch down and curl by body into my legs and visualize Captain Jacks face.

The vibrating feeling begins, it's much less painful this time, and it's all over pretty quickly. Maybe 30 seconds this time.

I remove my arms, look around, still no one. I stand up and grab the phone out of my pocket and power it up.

I select the camera and flip the screen and inspect my face.

I maybe don't look exactly like Captain Jack, but I certainly don't look like myself either.

I'm beginning to feel exhausted again. I have that constant feeling of hunger I've pretty much had since yesterday. I decide to stuff my face on the way to wherever I'm going.

I get on the net and start looking for hotels and clothes shops.

The area I'm in is Mayfair. I know from playing Monopoly that it's one of the most expensive parts of London. I'm going to have a hard time fitting in here, so I look further afield.

There is a Topman near Oxford Circus, I peg that as a place to go for clothes.

I'm searching for nearby hotels when I think to search for the Florian Institute in London, maybe that's' where those guys are based.

I get a hit, there is a Florian Institute in the Tower Hill area of London on St Clare Street. It's a futuristic looking white box with windows that appear to be laid out randomly.

There is scant detail on its purpose, but it appears to be a small satellite think tank and lab. It's relatively modest compared to the other five Florian office buildings in London, which appear to house thousands of employees.

I decide to grab some clothes, and head over to Tower Hill. The Novotel looks like a good place to stay, it looks nice but not pretentious, hopefully they will take cash.

I power the phone down, get my head up and head for Oxford Circus and the Topman.

I'm coming around Hanover Square when I spot a Pret A Manger, it looks like some kind of fancy sandwich shop.

I head in and grab two Classic Super Clubs, a Hoisin Duck Salad wrap, a passion pop smoothie and 750ml of water. They bag it all up for me and I pay with a £20 from my back pocket.

I grab my haul and take it back to Hanover Square. It's a beautiful small park in the heart of London. Surrounded on all sides by period buildings, except for maybe the concrete eyesore above the Barclays and Lloyds banks.

The weather is mild enough that the park is busy with London's workforce refueling before another afternoon of work.

Right now, I envy their simple schedule and boring day. I wish I was one of them.

I look for a bench, they all have small plaques, with messages, some valedictions some just thoughts.

One says, 'seize the day before it seizes you.'

Perfect for me, I sit down and start devouring my small feast. My mind wanders back to the events of earlier in the day.

What happened to Mr Castle? He looked in a bad way.

Could I have done something?

What must Ami be thinking?

I needed answers, my resolve begins to harden.

I will go to the institute and see if there was anything I could find out.

I'd keep checking the phone for messages every 30 minutes, but until I heard something I didn't really have a next move, and I wasn't just going to sit around a hotel.

I was going crazy I needed to do something.

I wrapped all the trash in the bag it came in and headed off. I dropped the trash in a bin on my way out of the park and headed on for Topman.

It only takes another five minutes and I'm in the store.

I'd never really been shopping before, all my clothes were welfare donations that I was given, so I wasn't much into style.

I needed something reasonably smart, I was going to be staying at a nice hotel, and I looked a somewhat older. I also decided to stick to dark clothing, I didn't see myself skulking around at night, but under the circumstances I just didn't know and wanted to try and cover the angles.

The shop was a cornucopia of clothes, 100's of items, all kinds of things all kinds of styles. The store was super cool, with a jumbled layout and stylishly dressed staff. It was overwhelming, but exciting.

I went on a bit of a spree.

I got two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, two plain black and grey t-shirts. Two pairs of black chinos, a black shirt and what I thought was a very cool black leather jacket which zipped up the left side with fold over lapels. I also grabbed a pair of black trainer shoes, the kind that looks smart, but wouldn't hold you back to much if you needed to run.

I took my haul over to the register and nearly fell over when it came to £600, I had to delve deep into my blazer to get the necessary cash.

I asked the cashier if I could change into my new gear in the store. She gave me an odd look. Then either because I had a cute face or because she simply took pity on me she directed me to the changing rooms.

I came out feeling pretty good wearing the shirt, chinos, and leather jacket. My school clothes and the rest of my purchases stuffed into two large Topman bags. I threw my old gear into the first bin I passed.

I headed for the Oxford Circus tube station.

Destination, Tower Hill.