Chapter 55

The following working period I and the others in the group were summoned to a briefing room to discuss the next round of visits we would be making. This also included an update on the investigation into the group behind the invasion of Rogoth as well as the medical seal mimickers plus other sources of potentially illegal drugs in the form of mood enhancers or, at the extreme end, enslavement drugs.

“So, no names as yet?” Amanda asked.

“None and it rather looks like they have closed shop for now until we stop the current activity investigating them,” Vilgra, who was chairing the meeting, informed her.

“So, I take it we are looking into various historical records of trading?”

“Yes, though it’s slow going as it’s a big Empire with a lot of trade routes,” Vilgra acknowledged. “The medical seal mimicking would appear to be closed down though, as we finally caught the one who handed over the protocols.”

“Are there no clues from him or her as to who was behind it?” Torric asked.

“We’re going over his finances carefully, though this goes back to incidents of covering up crimes committed over several years for several clients.”

“Coerced?” I asked.

“He claims so. However, I have my doubts. We’ll know more as his questioning continues,” Vilgra replied. “At the moment it simply looks like they had something on him, though that never appeared to prevent him getting paid and being eager to help.”

“I take it that that something was his past history of covering up investigations into drug related crimes?” Torric queried.

“Yes, though the medical seal protocol does appear to have been a new side line for him.”

“How did we catch him?” Haelee asked.

“We were investigating the use of enslavement drugs by the Roksos Cartel and caught him falsifying a report on the type of drug used.”

“He fooled the monitoring AI?”

“He wasn’t aware of a recent upgrade into Imperial Health Bureaucracy by Orliantomin Jorulla to prevent this sort of thing. Written reports had not been scanned to the same degree as verbal reports were, so he often said one thing whilst writing down a totally different conclusion.”

“Naturally ImpSec and the Guardians wouldn’t cross reference,” Torric sighed.

“Why would they? They assumed the AIs would,” Vilgra nodded. “Orliantomin Jorulla was, however, suspicious as to why his Bureau were not picking up on certain cases and had the system modified to ensure that tests and reports could not be faked.”

“Good on Uncle Jor,” I acknowledged.

“Fortunate for us, yes,” Vilgra nodded. “Liono, I take it Dayyev was not observed during his Expo?”

“He was not, Senior Troubleshooter. We monitored no hostile activity at all,” Liono replied.

“Rather suggests this group suspect we are closing in,” Verlig mused.

“Yes, though this is not a concern of yours any more. ImpSec will deal with them now,” Vilgra replied. “Your group were instrumental in uncovering evidence against them, but are not part of the Imperial enforcement arms.”

“Oh, I think we can allow them the glory,” Amanda chuckled. “Last thing we want is a planet or a Realm having suspicions about why we’re visiting.”

“Very much so,” Vilgra agreed. “Still, you’ve done the big three plus the Emirate, so you’ll be visiting Imperial worlds in the near future.”

“Back to playing the fairy-tale princess, my love,” I said in an aside to Amanda.

“Yes, though it does mean Trusha and I can far more easily join you in your lower-level forays,” she smiled.

“That’ll please her, she might get to bang some heads,” I replied.

“I can hear you, you know,” Trusha stated menacingly.

“I know, but it’s true,” I smirked as even Liono looked like she was hiding a smile.

“You are so going to regret saying that in your next joint training session.”

“You wipe the floor with us anyway,” I laughed. “We know how tough the sessions can be.”

“I am not violently inclined!”

“Oh, well, I’m sure Larre can come next time so you can rest up,” I pointed out.

“That’s not his job,” Trusha stated stonily.

“Just trying to allow you to escape the violence in the lower levels.”

“You won’t escape the violence heading your way if you don’t stop trying to wind me up!”

“OK, children, enough,” Vilgra interjected with a smile, before carrying on with the briefing.

“This is the last time we’ll meet for a while,” Noll informed the group. “It’s clear ImpSec are closing in and whilst they don’t have names, it’s possible they could find us.”

“A pity,” Vrice nodded. “It was quite profitable for us.”

“Yes, though this last year has been somewhat disappointing and we made no progress on recreating rejuve either, come to that,” Trask pointed out.

“We have enough to be able to live in comfort. It’s better than execution,” Vollt replied.

“That’s true.”

“I’m sure we can restart in some other Realm,” Noll suggested. “We could certainly re-invest our profits in profitable enterprises. There are plenty of opportunities in somewhere like the Florvenian Realm for those with business experience and capital.”

“Ugh, a primitive backwater,” Trask grimaced.

“Not so primitive as all that and an Imperial Royal still goes a long way there,” Vrice shrugged. “Certainly a possibility for exile.”

“I won’t ask where you’re all going, but I wish you luck,” Noll concluded the meeting.

After the briefing I was asked to remain behind by Vilgra in order to pick up instructions for an excursion into one of the lower-level industrial zones. The AIs had flagged an issue regarding possible exploitation by an entertainment centre and wanted me to have a nose around as the Guardians had found nothing.

“So, no ideas how they are being exploited?” I asked.

“I suspect a protection racket,” Vilgra replied. “Probably run via the centre, as they usually stick to legal methods of getting credits off customers. Might be drugs though.”

“Normally that’s gangs,” I frowned.

“That’s why I want you to take a look. No one seems to know anything, but there are signs that the workers are not spending their credits on the usual run of things.”

“I’ll get right on it,” I nodded. “Amanda will probably want to tag along.”

“That’s OK. Doubt it will be really dangerous.”

Several hundred rotations later I was busy sketching in the Tokri District Industrial Zone. Like most zones of its type, it was mostly automated, though had plenty of individual workers and residents as well taking advantage of the Imperial edict on providing work if you wanted a job. It was soon obvious something was amiss, as, despite sketching away in one of the many retail areas, I was ignored. Not just looked at and dismissed by busy people as I occasionally got, but totally blanked by the people around me.

“It’s almost like they are automatons,” Amanda commented.

“True, they are going through the motions of buying snacks etc, but no one is speaking other than to order and there are no conversations either,” I replied.

“Yes, really odd,” she nodded. “AI? Are there any subliminal messages being broadcast?”

“None that we can detect, Serenissimé.”

“Any focal point for the various workers here?”

“Just the assembly plants themselves. It was their simply going to work, then going home and sitting doing nothing until they slept that indicated something unusual. Though as none are breaking any laws, we cannot involve the Guardians, just flag it with Senior Troubleshooter Vilgra,” the AI elaborated.

“Are the assembly plants owned by the same corporate?” I asked.

“Yes, Dayyev. The Stellos Group.”

“You don’t suppose they could be using enslavement drugs to minimise production losses caused by human error, do you?” Amanda asked me.

“Possibly, that’s why we need to visit the entertainment centre and check out their business,” I replied.

The entertainment centre was on the outskirts of the zone, between the assembly plants and a housing complex and was distinctly more ‘vibrant’ in that it attracted people who didn’t work in the zone.

Soon I was sketching the various users of the facility who were there to game, gamble and indulge in sex with the various workers who were paying off their debt of service that failing their education had landed them in. Most seemed happy enough, though there were always guards around to prevent them running off to enlist as well as ensure the customers behaved.

“So, you don’t get anyone from the Tokri zone?” I asked one of the guards.

“Yeah, we used to, till about a binary cycle ago,” he replied. “Polle, the boss, noted the dip in our revenue, but it’s not like we can make people come here.”

“Seems busy enough?” I queried.

“Yeah, we run a decent place here. Staff are happy enough and there’s no skimming their earnings to excess. Just a percentage to pay off their debt,” he replied as I handed over the sketch.

“So something is going on,” Amanda frowned.

“Looks that way, possibly added to the air at the various plants,” Trusha replied.

“Need to prove it though.”

“True. It’s not like we can just walk in,” I nodded.

“The plants use air filtration units to remove airborne particles,” Liono answered. “I can gain access to them.”

“Let’s go.”

A lift dropped us off at a precise location which overrode normal security measures and had been designated by Liono. This address allowed us access to a series of service modules in a sealed off part of an assembly plant. She and Trusha then used some sort of probe to scan each module until they found the one they were looking for. Liono then used a hacking tool to cause the module to open. Revealed were several filters as well as a canister that appeared to have been recently fitted into the structure to inject something into the system.

“I think we have something,” I pondered as the bodyguards attempted to remove the canister.

“AI, scan please, override, Amanda alpha 2,” Amanda commanded.

“Scanning. Substance unknown, canister is not part of this system,” the reply from the AI came back quickly.

“Inform Aunt Vilgra please. We need a team here.”

“Complying.”

“Anything on the observation monitors?” I asked as the bodyguards finally managed to get the canister out.