At 3,701 and just finished Chapter 1... it's not very long, but I figured I might as well post it now.

Kyndra walked slowly through the Repository's courtyard gardens, considering whether to grab lunch at that trendy new cafe down on 32nd St - what was it called, ShinyDoom? - or sit in the courtyard and finish her reading for her Early 21st-Century History class. She had just decided that she was too hungry to study when she got a ping on her ID bracelet, which vibrated noiselessly against her wrist. Bringing it up to face level, she activated the projection and was surprised to see that it was a live call, not one of the spam chain letters she usually got. The caller ID didn't seem familiar but she answered it anyway.
"Yes?" she asked the screen, putting down her bag and sitting on a nearby bench. There was a ding and a man's face popped up on the projection - she had just been transferred to a video call. Frowning, she was about to speak when the man - she now noticed he was wearing a security official's hat - interrupted her.
"Am I speaking to Citizen Kyndra Spectre?"
"Yes, who is this?"
"I'm Officer Kyne from the Missing Persons Department. This call is in relation to a Citizen Jaida Fallvor - do you know any such person?" His voice was briskly official, but Kyndra thought she could detect an undertone of nervous stress.
"Well, yes, she's actually my dormmate in Repository Dorm #32, but I haven't seen her for almost a week. Is something the matter?"
There was a pause on the line. "Citizen Spectre, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. You haven't seen Citizen Fallvor for a while because she checked into the Ward #26 Hospital last Tree-Day -"
'Tree-Day,' Kyndra thought, 'Today's Fire-Day, so that's five days ago now? What was so serious that they couldn't fix it in five days?'
"- and she died just this morning. We were unable to determine her identity until after her death because of the Non-Consensual DNA Sample Policy, or we would have contacted you earlier. As it is, I've only just broken the news to her family, who gave me your Recipient ID #."
"But..." Kyndra was having a hard time processing, and she was glad she'd sat down. It wasn't that she'd been close to Jaida - after all, they'd only lived together for a month and a half - but anyone would be shocked to hear that someone they knew personally had died. After all, that sort of thing just didn't happen these days. "She's dead? Jaida's dead? What did she die of, was it a disease, or -"
"Citizen Spectre, I'm afraid that at this time we have not been able to determine the cause of death, and during Citizen Fallvor's stay in the hospital, the physicians were baffled by her condition. She exhibited symptoms of many different diseases all at once, and she never regained enough lucidity to speak to anyone. However, I, along with my colleagues from the Suspicious Occurrences Department and the Curious Deaths Department, will continue to investigate. If we learn anything new, we'll be sure to let you know. Once again, I'm very sorry for your loss. Do have a good day." And with that, Officer Kyne's face flickered off the projection.
Kyndra was left sitting on the bench, staring at her ID bracelet. What a strange turn of events... She'd just assumed that Jaida had gone home to be with her husband for a while, or had perhaps gone on a vacation with him, or gone to visit other relatives, or any of a million other harmless things. But this, this was much worse than she could have imagined. After all, no one she'd known had ever died before. You sometimes heard rumors of deaths in the seedier areas of the city, but no one knew if those were actually true or not. Nowadays, no one died until they were well into their 130s, unless they put in a request to be crytogenically preserved at a certain age...
She had been staring at her wrist for several moments, thoughts wandering, when her bracelet vibrated again, making her jump. She activated it automatically, forgetting to check the caller ID. A black-hooded head popped up in the projection, with only one slit out of which red eyes glared malevolently.
"Citizen, have you been enlightened by the ways of the Hereditary Mind of Lys? Lysander's teachings must be followed exactly in order to stave off the imminent collision of our planet with the galaxies beyond. If this message has perturbed you -"
Kyndra slammed her hand down over the bracelet, cutting off the hollowly sepulchral digital voice. She winced, cursing all spam messages - she'd gotten this one at least twice before. Well, at least now she knew Scrivener Ryton must be part of whichever cyber-age cult had sent out that message, what with the 'Hereditary Mind of Lys' and all that nonsense. Everyone knew that Scrivener Ryton wasn't quite right in the head, although he was usually a fairly decent teacher - now she had an idea of just how cracked he was.
Kyndra switched off the projection and got up slowly from the bench. What with the message she'd just gotten, she wasn't in the mood to study or sit through any more classes. She'd probably be better off heading back to her dorm, taking the long route so she could think things over.