Verticruising
 

I step in the lift but hear footsteps behind me. I hold down the button to hold the door open. A man is just about to enter the lift when the doors to the lift opposite open. He stops and looks over his shoulder at the empty lift. He smiles at me. He gets into the opposite lift. I am about to shrug and release the door when I notice him holding his doors open and looking at me. We stare at each other for a minute. He takes his finger off the hold and raises it slowly to hover over the top button, the eighth floor.
 
I copy his action, holding my finger over the eight button. The doors to his lift begin to close automatically. The two metal doors come together and just before I lose sight of him, the man shouts Verticruise! And I hear him stab the button with his finger. I push the eight.
 
My doors close and I begin to rise. The other lift is climbing too. Is it above or below me? I can feel it over there through the doors. 1… 2… 3… Will I be stopped? Will someone push the call button on another floor? Or will the other man be halted and let me soar into the lead? 4… 5… 6… No sign of the lift brakes. I’m going all the way. 7… 8… Doors.
 
He is holding the doors to his lift open. He has won and I nod my appreciation to him. He takes his thumb off the hold button and hovers over the G. I feel my blood rise.
 
Verticruise!