No sooner had Dazz put down the binoculars, a high-pitched screech rang out at the far side of the section. Old Borrick the bot mechanic sprang up, squealing like a stuck pig, dropped his toolkit and frantically wiped wet cement out of his mile-long beard. Crunk, the cement-mixer robot, had somehow got the bright idea to slop all that cement right into Borrick's lap. Borrick danced from one foot to the other, sloshing cement everywhere, while Crunk whirred happily.

Dazz sprinted to the scene, slammed Crunk's off switch, and while the robot powered down she whirled on the rest of the builders with death-laser eyes. It only took a glance to know the one face that was missing was the guilty party.

[b]"ETHAN MORRFIELD!"[/b] she roared like a tiger. The inspection was destroyed, the murder investigator just got a new reason to be suspicious, and one of her builders had up and gone missing. [b]"This has your name all over it. ETHAN! Git your ass out here!"[/b]

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and Ethan barely managed to get a few words out before Dazz slammed the barrel of her stun-gun back into his gut and gave him enough of a jolt to send him sprawling. Dazz stood rigid for awhile, without even looking back at him. Finally she holstered the stun-gun and dropped a hard hat on Ethan's face. [b]"Git back to work,"[/b] she said icily to the rest of the builders.

The doors of the visitors' elevator whizzed and clacked open, letting out the newest batch of gawk-eyed city folk. Fortunately, they were a bit too far off to have heard much of the commotion, and the tour guide was showing them the view in the opposite direction -- couldn't have the visitors getting stuck in Ethan's cement-mess, after all -- but they were another factor in the already complicated wreck of a day. Especially the ones that hung around too close to the build site, skipping the tour to watch the sunrise, apparently. The city folk held the sun and the sky much dearer than the builders ever did.

Elliana was one of those tourists, transfixed by that sun, for a minute not so nervous or timid -- that is, until Florence took a fall from up high on the building beams and landed right smack on his back just behind her. He looked dead, for a minute -- anyone would've had a concussion and a few broken bones from that tumble -- but just when she might start to call for help, Florence gave her a fright and leaped with his power boots back up to the build site, laughing, not a scratch on him.

The laugh was short-lived, though. Dazz was waiting for him, a cold grin on her face, and she shoved the handle of a shovel at his chest. [b]"And you can clean up Ethan's cement mess,"[/b] she told him pleasantly. [b]"After you apologize to that girl."[/b]

She turned her head slightly, glancing sidewise at the reporter behind a clicking camera. [b]"Reina, is there really nothing more interesting going on today besides a cement spill and a dumbass prank?"[/b] Dazz heard the telltale groan of a cable trolley opening up down the wall, and her ever-observant eyes caught sight of Otto -- a hunched old man with an identifying black satchel and a very purposeful business to attend to. Dazz's mouth twitched. [b]"Hey Reina,"[/b] she said to the photographer, sidling closer to speak confidentially. She gestured with a thumb at Otto, who was below them and a little distance away. [b]"See that guy? If he talks to you or asks to see any pictures, I'd appreciate it if you came up with an excuse not to, right? I'll owe you lunch."[/b]

In the background, Borrick the mechanic was still sobbing hysterically over his cement-covered beard.

[b]"Borrick yer gonna be fine!"[/b] Dazz hollered. [b]"Florence is gonna help you get that all cleaned up. Right Florence?"[/b] Borrick wailed in despair. Dazz winced, but was finally distracted by the sound of crackling and a tap on her shoulder. Dazz steeled herself, balling a fist in preparation to give Ethan a good slug to the jaw, but her eyes opened in surprise to find a small girl in a huge jacket filled with something that smelled and sounded delicious. Dazz tipped her head, relaxed, and spoke with an honest smile. [b]"I'm Dazz, and I'm absolutely in charge here,"[/b] she told Maria. [b]"But this is a dangerous zone, what're you doing up here?"[/b] She produced a hard hat from behind her back and dropped it onto Maria's head.

Chigger the robot whirred back around with another trayful of glasses of water. It stopped beside Maria and held the tray up to her, then scrambled across to where Emmitt was drawing chalk lines between the rivets -- obviously one of the most dedicated workers on the wall. The robot stopped beside him and very intently offered him a glass of water, beeping and whistling encouragingly. When Liam -- the only builder Dazz always referred to as competent -- approached to offer his generous help with the endlessly crooked rivets, Chigger raised the tray of water glasses to him, too, then scurried away with a pat on the head to retrieve more water. At least one little oasis in this chaos remained peaceful.

Dazz's pocket alarm began blaring music -- a [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejtz5aefk74] popular song by the city-famous Gypsy K.O.[/url] -- and she growled as she yanked out the offending device and turned it off. Was that expenditures meeting [i]today?[/i] [b]"Shit."[/b] This was the absolute worst time for a meeting about the money, especially when they were running so enormously over-budget. Dazz glanced back at Otto the inspector, saw that he had taken a break to puff on a wood pipe, and decided this was her only opportunity to get the accountant out of the way as quickly as possible. She gave Maria another smile. [b]"Hold that thought, I got an auditor to get rid of. Here, Reina can help you out. She knows about as much as I do at this point, anyway."[/b] Dazz tapped Maria toward Reina and rushed to the meeting, already making plans to get him to go away.

A few of the visitors had stayed behind from the tour, and instead were milling about near the elevators. The timid Elliana stood against the outer wall, still recovering from Florence's bad taste in pranks. Katrina, whom Dazz vaguely recognized as an accomplished bio-mechanic, exchanged cigarettes and conversation with the young and rich Vincent, whose silent butler pretended to be more interested in the sunrise. And then, there was a geeky, lanky kid in a sweat-stained suit, curled up against the barrier, staring at a calculator screen.

Dazz removed her hard-hat and approached skeptically. She gave Moth's shoe a light kick to get his attention; he seemed to be preoccupied with his own nerves. [b]"You that accountant from the . . . color-wheel firm?"[/b] Seemed a bit young to be doing such important work, but maybe that would work in her favor. Dazz gestured with her head back toward the building block. [b]"C'mon, then. Get this over with, right?"[/b]

Down in the city, the big screen at the city square popped into existence, and the queen's smiling face appeared there, tall as a building and radiant as the rising sun. [i]Good morning, good morning![/i] her voice chirped throughout the city -- loud enough for the echo of it to reach the top of the wall, but not so loud as to be disturbing. [i]It's a gorgeous morning, isn't it? The clouds are in all sorts of funny shapes today! I'm especially looking forward to the cake festival today on Jiminy Street. I heard Lee Loo will be doing a live sigil-baking demonstration, and Gypsy K.O. might be performing! And good luck to those of you participating in the hovercrate races! I'm rooting for each and every one of you![/i]

Thunder rumbled in the distance, though the sky was bright.

Electricity sparked behind the clouds over the diamond mine.

[i]I hope you have an exceptional day --[/i]

The feed suddenly cut out, and the screen disappeared.

Moments passed, and the day was just as normal as it ever was; the city carried on with its morning. Probably just a glitch in the system.