Ask her nicely

?Hi there.? Samantha says as she steps through the battered gray doors and approaches the sour-faced matron. ?Mr. Abrams sent me down here to pick up some Jane Doe?s possessions. They?re moving her off of the 145th.?

The woman nods noncommittally and clicks her keypad with practiced ease.

?Don?t see the authorization yet, but I know the Jane Doe you mean. Came in about last night, I was working that shift.? The woman looks away from the monitor screen back at Samantha. ?Thought it was odd at the time that they put her on the upper floors.?

The two women wait in silence for several long seconds. Samantha isn?t exactly sure how to continue, and the woman seems happy to wait for a computer authorization that was not coming any time soon.

?It?s nice to see a regular old keypad and monitor.? She says just to fill the silence. The woman snorts, but seems to soften just a little.

?I thought all you young ones wanted to throw these away.? The woman responds bitterly. ?The tech folks sure aren?t happy to come down here when this girl starts acting up.?

?Not me.? Samantha tries to sound sincere, ?I didn?t even want a link, I?d much rather have a keypad like that to work on.?

?No kidding, I thought I was the only citizen on the planet that still knew how to type.? The woman?s eyes soften just a little and the grim tightness of her mouth relaxes slightly as she runs her fingers over the keys. To Samantha?s surprise the keypad looks like a pretty standard QWERTY keyboard.

?I type.? Samantha tells the woman with a shy smile, ?My father is a writer, and he taught me.? She explains while mimicking typing in air. ?I?m a little rusty though, I haven?t had a chance to use one since I moved here.? Moving to the side of the desk she looks over the information on the screen. ?Can you show me how it works??

The matron pushes the keyboard closer to her and touches the screen moving the cursor to the center datafield. ?Go ahead then pretty thing, let your fingers do the talking.?

Samantha quickly types in ?Jane Doe? and hits the return key.

?You really can type.? The woman smiles sheepishly ?Didn?t mean to doubt you, but it?s a bit unusual that?s all.? Samantha was barely listening to the clerk; instead her eyes scan the list of Jane Doe?s that fill the screen, as they stream by. ?Let?s add the admission date, that?ll make this easier.? The woman takes the keyboard back and types in a few more numbers, suddenly there are only three names on the screen and only one has a locker number next to it: 35A-4734. ?There it is. I?ll go get the bin if you want to see what?s taking so long with the authorization.?

With that the woman pushes herself off her chair and walks slowly toward the back door of the dimly lit room.

How long would she be gone? Could she fake the authorization orders? Hide and empty the locker herself later? Or just knock out the clerk and take her stuff when she gets back?