Tunnels 04, Closer

that, sir. Dr. Christopher will see you straight away." She pressed a quick-dial button on her phone and Dr. Christopher's assistant was descending the Georgian staircase almost before she'd hung up.
    "If you'd follow me, sir," the assistant said, swiveling on his heels to the staircase again.

    * * * * *

    The protection officer hadn't accompanied his charge upstairs, instead positioning himself in the entrance lobby where he was able to monitor anyone who came into the building. He took out his radio to check in with the driver in the car outside. "Big Chief has just gone up for his examination. ETD is likely to be--"
    He stopped as he heard a door open behind him. Wheeling round, he saw a woman emerge from a room at the end of the lobby. She was razor thin, and wore a sleek black suit over a white shirt with a large collar.
    "Come in, Twenty-three," the radio crackled, but the protection officer wasn't listening. Spellbound by the woman, he was hardly breathing. The geometry of her face -- the unnatural slope of her high cheekbones -- made it almost inhuman, almost cat-like but, at the same time, feminine and bewitching. As her black and stunning beautiful eyes locked onto his, he felt their sheer force, and a coldness spread through his body. He shivered. Hers was the look of authority -- and such absolute authority that the protection officer was overcome by it.
    And although there was no way he could have known it, he was one of very few Topsoilers to have laid eyes on a fully-grown Styx woman.
    "Twenty-three, say again?" the radio burbled.
    As the Styx woman turned away and began to glide up the staircase, the protection officer finally took a breath.
    "Twenty-three," his radio demanded. "Is there a problem?"
    "No, everything's fine... I just saw this, er, lady," the protection officer answered without thinking.
    "A lady, huh? Having fun in there, are we?" the driver said roguishly.

    * * * * *

    Once on the first floor, the assistant knocked lightly on the door of the consulting room and opened it for the Prime Minister, then stepped aside.
    "Gordy, how are you?" Dr. Christopher asked, getting up from his desk.
    "Oh, not too bad. Same old shenanigans, you know," the Prime Minister replied as they shook hands. "Very good to see you again, Edward. Hope the family are well."
    "They are, thank you. I know you're on a tight schedule, so would you mind if we went straight to my examination room?"
    "Fine by me," the Prime Minister grunted -- he'd been about to sit himself in the chair by the desk, but now reversed direction and straightened up again.
    "Any problems with your vision?" Dr. Christopher asked.
    "It's not so good later on in the evenings, but I suppose that's just fatigue. Too many cabinet papers read by candlelight," the Prime Minister laughed, as he followed the doctor down the corridor and into another large room filled with equipment.
    "Let's take a look. If you'd sit yourself down here," Dr. Christopher said, indicating a chair behind the retinal imaging system, "and please remove your contact lens -- there's a receptacle on your left for it. Then if you'd rest your chin on the pad, we can see how your eye's doing."
    "Yes, no need to bother with the other one, is there?" the Prime Minister said. He was referring to his left eye, in which he was completely blind. Dr. Christopher braced himself for the usual joke, and the Prime Minister was not to disappoint him. "You should be charging me half your normal fee -- especially with all the flak we had over our expenses," he added.
    "Quite so, quite so," Dr. Christopher chuckled dutifully. "Now if you'll look straight ahead, please." He was sitting directly opposite the Prime Minister, peering at his eye through what looked like part of a microscope.
    "All very high tech these days," the Prime Minister commented, as Dr. Christopher fiddled with the machine.
    "Yes, only the best for my patients," he replied. "I'm going to turn on a light -- you might find it a little bright to start with." He flicked a switch, and the Prime Minister's eye was suffused by a dark purple beam. His body went rigid.
    Watching the Prime Minister carefully, Dr. Christopher rose to his feet. "Lights out, huh, fatty?" he said unpleasantly. He stepped round to the man and pinched his cheek to make absolutely sure he wasn't conscious. "At least I won't have to listen to your inane chatter for a while."
    The Styx woman slipped into the room.
    "He's Darklit -- amazing how quickly it