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vigilant of security officers, went for the nearest ground-level exit.
     
    Lon and Eve were incredibly relieved as they exited the transport station.
    They entered the city’s central plaza, a huge, open-area shopping and business district outlined by immensely tall buildings and other architectural wonders, ornamented with long strips of illuminated water pools down the centre with a series of descending steps leading to them, and filled with large crowds of people.
    The sky was an illuminated shade of black, but there was plenty of artificial light available at street level.
    The two walked to their right, following one flow of pedestrian traffic.
    Several gigantic, salient advertising and broadcasting screens accentuated the ruling political party’s power with completely exclusive airtime for pushing propaganda to aid the upcoming national elections. The face of Oswald Lungisile, the Minister of Home Affairs, smiled down upon the citizenry in an almost mocking manner, and the echoes of his baritone voice dominated the background hum of people. His speech declared that the SARP would “continue to maintain our fair and just social systems,” and “stamp out corruption in all its forms”. Such a hateful figure, Lon thought. How long would they spout such strident lies?
    “Where to now?” inquired Eve as they walked past a large, canopied outdoor café, taking in as much as possible the potent and bitter scent of roasting coffee beans.
    “Chris’ workshop is in that building over there,” Lon raised a hand and pointed to one of the medium-height buildings far opposite them.
    It would be quite a walk for them to get there, so they subsequently decided to pick up their pace. It was difficult for them to walk as a couple due to the abundance of slow strollers in their path, so they often had to separate to walk through and around groups of people.
    To avoid the masses and to take a shortcut they exited the flow of people and walked down the steps towards the pools of water in the centre of the plaza. They intended to pass through the walkway between the two nearest pools, but they had to stop.
    Near where they intended to shortcut were two policemen keeping an ever watchful eye on the public.
    In fact, Lon and Eve noticed there were numerous police officers dotted about the plaza.
    “Dammit, we have to be careful.” stated Lon.
    He and Eve were much drier now than they had been, however they still looked out of place.
    The police were known to be inquisitive, always ready to catch someone out or accuse them of something in order to lay on a fine or practise their front hand.
    They had to stay clear of all forms of law enforcement, especially now that there was a chance that someone may have noticed the fault in the NGT system which made the two look like they had dodged paying for their ride. It was not an easy task though, as the holiday season always warranted an increased presence of law enforcement.
    Lon and Eve had to take a longer route, an all the more frustrating issue for the pair as, for them, time was of the essence, or so they were hoping. They quickly rejoined the flow of people so as not to stand out in view of the two policemen, and at the same time they were carefully observant of other law enforcement personnel in the area.
    “This is so annoying!” proclaimed an uncomfortable and frustrated Eve, “These wet clothes are starting to chafe”.
    Lon agreed, “Yeah, I know, but there’s nothing we can do about it. Let’s just keep going forwards”.
    The plaza area was massive, so walking from one end to the other was not a speedy task.
    Between every few or so buildings was a street, some of them fairly dark at this time due to a lack of artificial light, but ideal for a hasty escape on foot, and difficult to be spotted by surveillance, should they be confronted on their way. Thankfully though, it seemed unlikely.
    “So,” started Eve, “you haven’t told me why we’re going to your