The Agency: Meeting of Souls 10/??
Chapter Ten
This was the time of day he most enjoyed, when it seemed the world slept and for a few minutes he could enjoy the beauty of the rising sun and the absence of white noise. For this precious time before the world stirred into chaotic routine, he could lower his shields and simply enjoy being.
Treize watched the rainbow of colours arcing across his ceiling with the faintest of smiles curving fine lips. It was a quiet time, a time when those in the apartments surrounding his slept. A few were stirring, he could sense their rising awareness. One was cursing the alarm clock, still more than half asleep and mindful of a past record of falling back asleep and being late for work. Another was sighing and wishing they had not woken so early, having another thirty minutes before their alarm was set to wake them. The world around him was stirring to wakefulness and his quiet time to draw breath was coming to a close.
The prism catching and refracting the light in a blur of colours over his ceiling hung in the open window and rocked gently to the first hint of breeze of the day. On the ceiling the rainbow moved in response and rocked, mirroring the prism's movement. It would be a fine day and he could not lie in bed and contemplate the more simple pleasures of life for long. Within an hour the apartment complex would be chaotic with the thoughts of its inhabitants as they prepared themselves for another day of work.
This was perhaps the best time of the day for him, free from the normal chaos of input he dealt with. His normal working day required he operate on the edge, his shields stressed and threatening to plunge him into chaos. This time of peace was so slight and much sought after. A non-telepath or empath could not appreciate the simple beauty of breathing in the mental silence.
Telepaths and empaths lived with the constant overflow of the people surrounding them. Thoughts and emotions constantly assaulted the individuals psyche and those sensitive to it and unable to shield found their individuality submerged beneath the onslaught. The rarer telempaths, individuals graced with both telepathic and empathic attributes, lived on the edge of insanity and a Prime in the field even more so.
The mass of thought produced by a single person, while uncomfortable, was nothing compared to the chaos to be found in a city. The emotions and thoughts of the populous were constantly shifting, rising and falling with the events of the day but always overwhelming. This apartment complex was only one small section of a mega city and some days it was all he could do to close out their mental and emotional emanations.
On first arriving at the apartment his fellow tenants had been no threat to his sanity, his shields being more than capable of protecting him. That was changing as his increasing distress left him more and more exposed to their white noise, the subconscious and surface thoughts of those surrounding him. His shields were stressed, not dangerously so at this time and he was determined not to permit himself to drown in the overflow should he allow the situation to continue.
He considered the rainbow and the gradually intensifying colours as the sun shifted. In a minute or so the sun's rays would no longer strike the prism and he would lose that small exquisite example of natural perfection. He took pleasure in natural beauty and a rainbow did not thrust unwanted thoughts and emotions upon him. It was a pleasure to simply enjoy these quiet few minutes of peace, one of the rare moments he looked forward to in a day.
He lay stretched out on his bed, the sheet drawn to his hips, his left arm over his belly and his right thrown up to frame his head. It had been a warm night and he had not slept well. Thoughts of the murder and the possibility of there being a stalker loose in the university had disturbed him to the point he had seriously considered giving up on the idea of sleep. There had been so many questions to be considered and no answers were forthcoming.
//There may be something I missed in the suite. I need to have another session with Ms Bloom and maybe that session will give me some clue I missed. I'm sure there was something there, some 'thing' just on the edge of her recall that would assist us. //
Intense blue eyes rolled to the window and he smirked. Mr. John A. Bertram would need to purchase yet another alarm clock. The consternation coming from that individual was a semi-regular occurrence, as the man had a tendency to throw his clock across the room and swear mentally as the clock impacted. This would make the third clock in two months the accountant needed to replace. It was also the signal for Treize to acknowledge the time and protect himself against the minds of others.
With a sigh he reached for the remote control and watched as the privacy screen rolled smoothly into place, sealing the window against the prying eyes of his neighbors. A second button was pressed gently and he felt the activation of the psychic screening in the sudden silencing of those few active minds and the absence of the muted rumble marking the amalgamated minds of those still asleep.
The human mind was never silent while life existed and even the sleeping mind produced thoughts and dreams that could be touched by a telepath. Heightened empathy picked up the emotional responses reflecting the dreams, or subconscious thoughts ranging from a remembered herb's flavor in a casserole to the disgruntlement a newborn infant experienced in the moment before waking to demand a feed. Some of those subconscious emotions were not so innocent and the quiet moment before waking tended to bring out the darker side of the human conscience.
His apartment came complete with the very best in psychic shielding the Agency could provide to ensure their Prime had a quiet mental zone in which to rest. No telepath could penetrate these shields in a probe and no non-telepathic impulses could enter to disturb his rest. In the noisy world of day to day humanity this was his only personal haven.
Glancing at the clock Treize decided he did not particularly fancy lying in bed any longer. The sun had moved and the prism no longer caught the light and he was due to rise within twenty minutes. He shut off the alarm and swung his legs out of bed, taking the time to stretch slowly and thoroughly. He needed to schedule a few hours of gym time, he decided as a stiff muscle resisted and he ran a hand through his mussed hair.
//Well, another morning. I wonder what this one will bring.//
The loft style apartment was open plan and his bedroom was elevated giving him a full view of the length of the lounge and into the kitchen. Sunlight streamed into the kitchen and he moved to lean on the railing circling his bedroom and watched as the automatic timer activated and his morning coffee began to brew. He really needed a good coffee of a morning to get motivated and it was becoming harder to get excited about the prospect of going to work.
//Damn it, I need a vacation. //
He was becoming tired of that repetitive thought.
He straightened and stretched, reaching high and holding the stretch to feel the pull on his muscles and know by that pull he still had the comforting limitations of a physical body. There were days he craved physical sensation, something physical to overpower the sensitivity of his mind and ground him in solid, smelly humanity. He needed the reassurance of knowing he was more than mind and his physical needs had too long been ignored.
//Maybe when I finally get that vacation I can find someone to spend a little quality time with. Purely physical quality time. //
He padded into the en suite and started the shower running before finding a fresh towel and placing it on the warming rail. Turning he surveyed his naked self in the full length mirror and seriously considered his reflection.
He was a handsome man, he knew that. He read it in the forefront of the minds of too many women and not a few men he encountered in his everyday activities. He was attractive enough physically to draw the eye of a prospective partner, but he had had few physical relationships. He had been sexually active since his sixteenth year, but his burgeoning telepathic and empathic abilities had interfered with an active sex life.
One of the most annoying features of his talents was his inability to turn off his talents during the intimacies of sex. If you combined physical touch with raging desire, no psi shield could keep out unwanted thoughts or emotions and teenagers had remarkably little restraint when in lust. Necessity had seen him curb his experimentation in the sexual games adults played. He had improved his mental shielding over the years, though due to early experiences he no longer sought out physical relief.
For him to enjoy a sexual experience he needed the supreme intimacy of a mind to mirror his own. He longed for a partner whose mind was his equal in skill and talent, whose body sought out the consummate pleasure as he did. He knew there would be many people who would not, or could not, understand sex for the sake of sex did not stir him. He needed to find someone who could mesh minds with him as neatly and pleasantly as their bodies could mesh in the dance of love.
Love, not lust. He sought so much more than lust.
"One day, Kushrenada, you'll turn around and he'll be standing there, right in front of you and you'll know. Just by looking and touching his mind, you'll know."
He ran a hand through his dark red hair and sighed, turning to step into the shower. Sex on its own paled into a base need beside the full glory of a mind meld. He had not experienced the ultimate intimacy himself, but it was something he instinctively sought and this need was not something peculiar to he alone. He knew many of the active high level empaths and telepaths shared the same problems as he when it came to their sex lives. There were a few fortunate pairings of high talents who had found their ideal match and what he felt from them was something he desperately wanted for himself.
Of course his sexuality created a problem in itself. He was, to his certain knowledge, the only homosexual telepathic empath in the Prime rankings for his field. He was not in the least sexually interested in the female of the species and that aching need for a partner of his own sex had already seen him in trouble with his family.
"Une." He leaned back against the wall of the shower and allowed the warm stream to flow over his head. "Why did you have to want all of it? Why couldn't you be content and settle for a contract as Leia did? She understood the problem and did not want everything, but you had to have it all. Why couldn't you settle for having a child and not wanting the title of Duchess to baluster your family fortune? It was a generous contract, but you had to demand so bloody much."
In all fairness she had been young and her family had been pushing her to provide far more than a mere breeding contract. They had sought the right to the Kushrenada name tied to their own by marriage and confirmed by heirs. Une had been young and at that time she had never been beyond the influence of her grandfather, who had been likened to a bad-tempered bulldog on more than one occasion. He had ensured his granddaughter believed his desires were her desires and nothing short of marriage would be acceptable to her or to her family.
//Too many see the title and the fortune that goes with it, but it takes more than them demanding a marriage contract to get this particular Duke to agree to a wedding. The merger of companies with the wedding admittedly would have made a nice little increase to the Kushrenada empire and opened up a few new business opportunities. It would have pleased the oldsters of both families, but they pushed too hard and too fast and even upset Aunt Hortense. It takes a lot to upset that old harridan, but they managed it. //
He had wondered for a time if he might not find himself leg shackled to a female despite his sexuality and inability to perform in certain intimate areas with said female. The contract offered to the Une family stated clearly enough his sexual preferences and either her oldsters had chosen to ignore it or disbelieve it. The final scene with Une in tears and the oldsters of either side snarling at each other still made him wince. In the end, despite the scene and the accusations and threatened recriminations, they had not gotten their marriage nor had they an heir of Kushrenada blood to strengthen their psionic talents.
"I need to check on Marie. It's almost the end of the month and I did promise I would take her on a holiday with me now she is getting older." He squeezed a generous amount of shampoo into the palm of his hand and lathered his hair well. //I don't regret agreeing to contract for you, Sweetling. In truth I would have liked another child. //
He missed his little girl, who looked far more a Kushrenada than a Barton. That flame red hair was his grandfather's legacy but her blue eyes were his own. She was an angelic cherub, who thankfully was not being spoiled rotten by her mother and doting grandfather. He took particular care to maintain good contact with both his daughter and Leia's family and he had not had cause to regret agreeing to the contract with the Bartons.
In today's society the psionic gene was in high demand. It had been noted early in the development of their psychic society that certain talents, most notably high level telepaths and empaths, had difficulty with sex. Every Psychic with a reading of six or higher on the accepted scale, was required by law to provide a minimum of three children during their breeding years. With the passing of this law by the ESUN council in an effort to have demands met as the psychic influence grew in their society, it became an accepted practice for telepathic families to contract for children. Contracting spread the precious gene lines into multiple families instead of restricting the genes to one or two families for a full generation.
Artificial insemination techniques saw the need for close physical contact to secure offspring was not an issue in breeding new generations of increasing sensitivity and abilities. It was not empaths or telepaths alone who offered contract for breeding and all fields of psychic ability were expected to produce an adequate number of children. The accepted equation at the present time stood at three, one child per parent to maintain the status quo in the existing population, plus an additional child to fill the growing needs of society.
The practice of contracting for children was strictly policed and the contracts were complicated legal documents. No psychic lightly entered into such a contract and there were checks and balances in place to ensure both the parents and the child's rights were adequately considered. His own circumstance of being a homosexual meant the contracts were to his benefit, as he was required by law to father a minimum of three offspring regardless of his sexual preferences.
His homosexual status was listed on his contracts as a matter of course. The possibility existed the sexual genetic trait might transfer to his progeny. The family of the mother might need to consider the child's sexual preferences in later breeding concerns. It was his personal hope the Kushrenada inheritance might be passed on to a child of his whose conception might be considered something of a miracle a hundred years ago. He was hoping to find his ideal match and in this day and age there was no hindrance to males producing offspring together, with the aid of a surrogate to carry the child.
He personally was not ashamed of his sexual orientation and to be homosexual was not socially frowned upon as once it was, though in certain circles there was still a stigma. Having children was no problem with genetic screening and in vitro fertilization techniques and there was always some woman willing to carry a child for a fee. It was his family and their tradition-bound obstinacy that saw him hounded to wed and provide a Duchess. He had lost count of how many times he had been told to wed was his duty and he should reconcile himself to normality. In the oldsters' view being abnormal was nothing to celebrate.
He sniffed indignantly and choked as he inhaled water. A brief couching fit rescued him from the indignity of drowning in a shower and he cursed himself for his stupidity. He should know better than to think of his tradition-bound oldsters interfering in his life. He had full access rights to his daughter by Leia Barton and perhaps it was time he gave consideration to having a second child. Mariemaia was approaching six years of age and she was, at this time, his only heir.
"Still, with this work schedule… I'm tired." He ducked under the spray and allowed the hot water to sooth him as it washed away the shampoo. //Where would I get the time to pay attention to a second child as well as Marie and maintain the current work load I am under?//
The bottle of conditioner found its way into his hands as he considered the implications of arranging a second contract. He would need to determine who in the telepathic and empathic circles was considering a breeding contract. If he was considering another child he might as well make certain it would be accounted one of the three he was required to produce with another person with high level psychic ability. He was, after all, working at having his work load reduced, which would only benefit his family life. The elders were constantly grumbling over the age of his daughter and the lack of siblings.
//It is something to consider when I am on vacation. I might even mention it to Mariemaia and see what she would think about having a brother or sister. There would be an age difference, but I think she might like the idea of being an elder sister.//
One provision placed in any contract for further children would require Mariemaia Barton Kushrenada be granted visiting rights to the new child. He might not have his children living in with him, but he would not have them separated from each other. If such a condition was not agreeable he would not be signing any documentation.
He lathered himself liberally with herbal soap, the aromatic and chemical properties of which were formulated to relax him and only wished he had the time for a long soak in the bath. Baths were a luxury reserved for evenings, however, when he desperately needed to relax following the tensions of the day. He had a full day ahead of him and just about now his coffee would be nearing the perfect brew. He winced at the thought. Machines just could not make a truly decent cup of coffee but he had spent a fortune on the machine in the kitchen, as it could produce what he termed an acceptable cup. At least it was decent enough to stimulate him to face the day.
//I need to sort my priorities. First, get this case solved so I can have some down time. After the case is concluded I need to put some form of acceptable order into my shields and maybe have a chat with one of the other Primes. I wonder where Gabriella is at the moment? She might be willing to make some time for me and discuss how best I should handle Une and her schedules.//
It was not so much the heavy schedule he had found himself on that he needed to change. He could cope with such hours for extended periods of time, so long as he was given adequate opportunity periodically to recover. He needed time to clear his mind of the residue he absorbed from the minds of those he was required to contact in the performance of his duties. Inadequate time between assignments was only the cap of the iceberg however and what really annoyed him was not a mental need at all.
He dared not acknowledge aloud, even to himself, the simple truth. A large portion of the tensions disrupting his routines had little to do with the heavy work load and everything to do with his currant sexual status. It bothered him that such a base need as getting laid should disrupt his physical and mental functions to the point it affected his ability to perform his contractual obligations.
He needed to get laid.
If he approached one of the other Primes it would become blatantly obvious to them at a glance what a large portion of his problem actually was. He could not see himself fronting Gabriella and admitting he needed sex to improve his performance. Unfortunately, Gabriella and every other Prime in his field were astute enough to read him like a book.
"God, I can just imagine a conversation concerning my sex life with Gabriella. She is bad enough at the best of times, but that is one subject I do not want her concerning herself with."
How was he to stand secure against the mental noise of any sexual partner who could not shield their own active mind from him? He needed physical release, but he wanted so much more than the act itself. As easy as it was for Chang to casually tell him to get laid it was not so simple a thing to accomplish to a satisfactory conclusion.
He could not do casual. He had never been able to perform casual sex. In the intervening years, with the growth and development of his talents, it was even less likely he could enjoy a casual sexual encounter.
It was rare he found someone who could stir a sexual response from him. At sixteen his talents had been awakening, late for a Kushrenada and he could and had enjoyed sexual encounters. By eighteen his casual days were past, his talents at such a level and growing stronger rapidly that for him to have sex without the melding of body and mind was simply impossible. That did not stop the body from yearning, even though the mind was incapable of complying. It would be a raging disaster if he tried and he was not willing to subject himself or anyone else to such failure.
A fleeting image of palest gold and silver hair darkened by the setting sun flashed into his mind and he cursed softly. Yes, there was undeniably a physical response to that pale vision and that simply would not do. Not at this time.
"Merquise." The breath of a whisper and he turned his face up to the spray. //I believe you could match me… mentally. What about physically? Would you, against all odds, be a match for me physically? Knowing my luck you would be as straight as an arrow. //
He ducked under the spray to rinse off and tried not to think of the pale cascade of hair and the crystal blue eyes he had seen only in a photograph. He really was low this morning. A twenty year old student he had never met face to face and he was fantasizing about him in the shower. Amid a telepathic community it was equivalent to rape.
"God."
Treize sank to the floor of the shower, his back sliding down the tiled wall and he turned his face up to the spray trying to wash away the thoughts. What colour would he be? Pale but not white, the photograph suggested a very pale gold tinted tan. If that colour was natural to him and not the result of tanning… He wrenched his thoughts away from the very desirable picture forming in his imagination of cream gold skin glistening with water…
He slammed his fist against the tiled floor and the burst of pain failed to banish the thoughts. "Get a life, Kushrenada."
At least Merquise was not underage. That was the only concession he would gift to his conscience at this time. At least he was not fantasizing about a boy, but a young man who, should he chance to be homosexual, would be legally of age to respond to any advance Treize might make. If he could dredge up the courage to make such an advance.
//This is not good. Perhaps a bout in a VR unit might take the edge off//
He personally did not favor the use of virtual reality units to aid fantasies, but if he was anything he was a realist when he had to be. The demands of his physical yearnings were getting in the way of his work and even testing his ethics if he was beginning to place a face to the body he sought to possess. If there was no immediate relief forthcoming soon he would be driven to distraction. Work was hard enough already without fantasizing uselessly about long-legged blondes with cascading pale hair and intense blue eyes.
"Get a life. Don't do this." He growled at himself and thrust himself to his feet. "You pathetic deprived bastard, get a life."
He had better control that this and needed to regain command of himself. He shut off the flow of water and grabbed a towel, vigorously rubbing his hair. He would need at least a half hour session of deep meditation to command control over errant thoughts and squash any physical overflow. He had a reputation to maintain and his work ethics would not permit him to go into the office at less than his peak efficiency.
He wrapped the towel around his waist and reentering the bedroom settled himself in the center of his bed and in a series of measured breaths he took himself down into trance.
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His body was a distant awareness at harmony with the flow of peace from his mind. Heart, body and soul existed in harmonious cooperation within the expanse he inhabited. Neither was more than the other, none was less than any other element of the whole. Within harmony there was peace.
Peace was desirable above all things.
It could not, of course, last.
The incessant chiming intruded on the peaceful haven surrounding him. It was discord within the harmony and its presence disturbed his satisfaction with life and produced irritation. Some remote part of him recognized the sound and named it 'vid phone' and determined it to be of importance. His reluctance to venture from the harmony and deal with the distraction was compounded by that small, but annoying, part of him demanding he rouse himself to attend to the duties associated with his life.
He drew a deep breath, increasing his awareness with the breath and rose from harmony where all was right with the world, into that other existence where annoyances were the norm and peace a rarity. By the fourth measured breath he was aware he was seated in the center of his bed and the vid phone was still shrieking for his attention. For all of two seconds he considered ignoring the summons and promptly dismissed the desire. If he did not respond to the call he would have security on his doorstep checking to ensure the Prime had not slit his wrists.
Unfortunate thought, he mused as he slipped from the bed, unfortunate but a very real scenario. Telepathic empaths were notorious for ending the pressures beating at them day and night by attempting suicide. The overload of input could very quickly reduce a Prime level telempath to the status of a gibbering idiot or helplessly suicidal. The employers of Primes in his field kept their Primes under close surveillance to protect their interests.
There were only nine functioning Primes in his field for a reason. Perhaps soon there might be a tenth talent who would be as carefully observed as each of the other Primes.
Intent on silencing the annoying device he descended the stairs rapidly, misjudged the third step from the bottom and stumbled the rest of the way down. He was fortunate not to have landed on his face and was not in the best of moods when he reached the vid unit. With no small amount of temper at yet another disaster making itself known so early in the morning, he stabbed at the control switch and swore mentally.
He was practically naked and why had he forgotten he was only wearing a towel? Said towel was coming loose because of his fall on the stairs and Lady Anne Une stared at him from the vid phone and she was blushing.
For some reason he had thought the woman had grown out of blushing.
"Something I can do for you?"
He made no effort to cover what could not be covered though he made certain the towel did not give her more of an eyeful than it already had, by grasping the formerly tucked end before it could elude his grasp. She made a good recovery, he noted as she dragged her eyes up to where they should have been since the towel would not oblige her by dropping that last precious inch.
"Tsuberov University has contacted Yuy. He's on the way to the University. Meet him there."
She might have been attending to business but it was not his imagination. She was ogling the view and enjoying it if that deepening flush was any indication. It was a relief she was not lingering over the call and not attempting to indulge in social chit chat. Nor was he inclined to delay her from her normal duties and he could feel the towel slip on his right side, threatening to reveal all. He hitched his hip a little to press the towel into the front of the unit to allay that danger and scowled at her, noting where her gaze lingered.
"Has Winner been accosted in his new rooms?"
"Someone broke into the murder scene through the night. Apparently they have vandalized the suite and Tsuberov really do have plumbing problems now."
"I'll be there within a half hour. Do I expect to find an Agency forensic team or…"
"Yuy's people are already on it." Une interrupted. "I have alerted Chang and he will meet you at the University complex. I'll be expecting your initial report by noon if not earlier."
The screen went dark and Treize sighed in relief as he straightened. At least he had not flashed the Commander, but he really needed to buy larger towels. He felt he had been molested just from the heat in her eyes.
Treize grasped the towel and stomped up the stairs stark naked, glaring at the offending material.
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If the University had wanted discretion the previous day, they seemed to have undergone a change of policy overnight. Treize took particular note of the assortment of vehicles in the car park at the rear of the dormitory as he turned off the ignition. He noted Chang's assigned vehicle pulling into the only remaining space on offer three slots from where he had parked and congratulated himself on snaring the closer space. It was petty and far beneath him but it had not been a good morning thus far and he was not inclined to be particular about any small pleasure that might come his way.
Two vans prominently marked as plumbing contractors dominated the area, each with their rear doors open displaying a wealth of plumbing supplies. A suspiciously large van, unmarked with any logos or writing, he recognized as a typical ESUN Security Forces forensic unit and parked beside it was a marked police car. The four vehicles filled the smaller front row of the car park.
In the second and longer row of parking spaces, in addition to his own vehicle and Chang's, was parked a low slinky sports car. The dark red vehicle he recognized as having been driven by Yuy on a previous case. Two luxury cars, notable for their personalized number plates, told him there were at least two Tsuberov officials in attendance. Possibly the Dean, he mused and perhaps even a member of the Board of Governors of the establishment concerned with this second breach of security. Two clearly marked Security vehicles filled the remaining parking bays and he supposed Otto would not be a particularly happy man this morning.
He could sympathize with that considering his own morning.
Chang Wu Fei draped himself over the roof of Treize's vehicle as he surveyed the car park with obvious displeasure. "This is Tsuberov's idea of discreet? One can only hope they have not contaminated the crime scene as it may give us vital evidence."
"Yuy should have been here early enough to keep contamination of any evidence down to a minimum. Otto strikes me as having more than sufficient sense and experience to keep everyone out of the suite once the discovery was made." Treize responded as he closed the car door and locked the vehicle. "My concern is what might have taken place in the suite between the time the intrusion occurred and the time Otto arrived. What time is it?"
"Eight forty, give or take a minute or two." Chang looked about the car park and the visible grounds and scratched absently at his ear. "The grounds are quiet. I wonder how long that will last?"
"I believe classes begin as early as eight thirty on some days. From the schedules I saw the majority of classes have a nine a.m. start. The students should now be having breakfast and making final preparations for their first class, so I would be more concerned with being trampled in the rush sometime in the next fifteen minutes. We do not need students running around in the halls to further compound the problems involved thus far in this case."
Chang's grunt was safely neutral and Treize ran his eyes over the assortment of vehicles once more before stepping away from the car and drawing Chang with him. Side by side the pair walked on the path skirting the side of the building to the main entrance and each kept an alert watch out for any evidence of obvious disturbance in the flower beds on either side of the footpath. Both men paused by unspoken agreement at the foot of the steps, each man eyeing the building for a long moment.
"No sign of obvious disturbance in the beds around the ground floor windows." Treize mused. "If this is our killer or stalker we need to determine how they are accessing the building… if they are not one of the resident students, of course."
"Still no students in evidence." Wu Fei mused, glancing at his wrist watch. "I would have thought there would be some movement by now. It is too quiet."
"It may be the students of Tsuberov are far more conscientious about time tables than my past experience of such establishments would suggest." Treize motioned to the door for Chang to precede him. "I am, however, inclined to think someone may have removed them in advance of our arrival."
Chang grunted, having come to that conclusion himself. Perhaps the student body had been moved from the dormitory and the university was being more discreet than he had originally presumed upon arrival. Wu Fei reached the last step and was about to turn to Treize when Otto appeared in the doorway. The man looked harried and Treize could well imagine the grief the Dean and the Board of Governors would be giving him over a second unauthorized incursion in to the dormitory.
"Mr. Kushrenada. Mr. Chang. My apologies for calling you out again and so early. It has not been the best of mornings and I somehow doubt it will improve."
Chang offered a nod by way of a greeting and motioned toward the interior of the building. "What happened? Our Commander was not exactly forthcoming with details."
Otto motioned for them to precede him into the foyer. "I am hoping you will be able to answer that question for me. The residents of room 220 rang security around seven this morning to complain it was raining in their living room."
Treize arched an eyebrow and decided Otto might be in for a worse morning than he. He was hopeful his own day would improve but he was doubtful the Security Chief could hope for the same improvement.
Chang blinked. "Raining? Lovely. Were they enjoying a torrential downpour or merely a sun shower?"
Otto ran a hand through his hair and looked amused. "Unfortunately it was well on its way to being a torrential downpour."
Treize stepped through the doorway and noted a security guard stationed discreetly near the doors. Chang, he noted, barely glanced at the man as he entered and Otto nodded to his man as they passed.
"When the on duty guards investigated the suite above 220 they discovered the lock on the suite had been smashed. Before they entered they called me and waited for my arrival before opening the door. They had already noted the carpet at the door was soaked. When I arrived we entered the room and found…" Otto hesitated and finally shook his head with a diffident shrug of broad shoulders. "Well, you'll see what we found. Someone went off their head."
Treize was surprised when Otto stepped quickly around Chang, motioning him away from the staircase they had used the previous day. At his curious look Otto motioned to the door to one side of the stairway and opened the door revealing a long wide hallway with dark green carpet and elaborately decorated walls.
"There are elevators at the far end." He murmured by way of an explanation. "I have walked up those stairs more times today than I care to think about and I'm not inclined to do it again."
Chang led the way through the door followed by Treize and Otto brought up the rear though his long stride soon placed him in the lead.
"In a nutshell the suite has been ripped apart and if I didn't know better I would think someone had taken to the walls with a sledgehammer. The problem with that theory is the residents of the suites on either side are occupied and none of the students who live there heard a blessed thing. Nor did those in the rooms directly beneath the suite on the floor below."
"No one heard the intruder?" Chang sought clarification, frowning and giving Treize the impression of a thundercloud forming.
"No one on either floor heard a thing. The residents of 220 were being rained on and from the look of their suite it had been raining for a considerable time before any of them woke up. Other than that no one seems to have noticed anything odd."
Treize frown deepened as he followed the Security Commander into an elevator. If the room was as badly damaged as Otto suggested, then there must have been a noise element involved. The fact no one had heard anything suggested to him there had been some form of psychic suppression involved in the incident. If that was the case it was disturbing, as it implied a phenomenal and dangerous talent if one psychic could block so many people from hearing a disturbance. If, of course, one individual was involved.
"How long before we can expect students to return to the dormitories?" He questioned.
He was already compiling a list of students he would be required to interview. The students whose rooms flanked the suite in question must at some point be interviewed and perhaps even a sampling of their memories must be made. It was possible they might be affected by implanted suggestions. Catherine Bloom carried false memories and he was not foolish enough to think the perpetrator would stop at interfering with the mind of the security agent and not with the minds of students.
Otto sighed and shook his head, pressing the button for the third floor and relaxing back against the wall.
"None of the students will be returning to the building today. Considering the damage done I had no option other than to order an evacuation from the building. When the extent of the damage became apparent we needed to turn the water off and we cannot have students in the building without water."
Chang exchanged a significant glance with Treize and both raised their estimation of the damages. Neither had marked Otto as a man who exaggerated and his comments thus far on the damage done to the suite were beginning to sound alarms in both men.
"I ordered them evacuated with the instruction they take with them one overnight bag of luggage and informed them we have burst pipes by way of an explanation. It hardly justifies the problem but it is the literal truth, I suppose. Credibility will be easy enough given the students from 220 were rained on and the students on either side of the crime scene know something was going on. The carpets were wet in the hallway in front of the suite and with the way news travels in this place, the entire university will know in the space of another half hour."
The plumbing contractors vans in the car park would also grant credibility to the excuse, Treize decided. Such evidence should turn any suspicion from something more untoward. He supposed someone would come up with the idea of a disgruntled student performing an act of vandalism that might have gotten out of hand. When he questioned the students adjacent to and below the suite that rumor might rise quickly.
"Morning classes have unavoidably been disrupted for the majority of the student body while we deal with the problem of seeing the students fed. I believe the cafeteria is not the place to be at the moment, if you actually want breakfast. The largest problem will be adequately housing the displaced students from this dormitory. You will have no problem with students running around in the building interrupting your investigations. It will be at least two days and possibly as much as a week before we can turn the water back on."
//Breakfast. That would have been nice. I'll have to arrange something to baluster my calorie intake to compensate for any probes I might need to perform in the course of the investigation this morning.//
The door rolled aside and Otto stepped out into the third floor, motioning the investigators to join him and then proceeded to guide them through the hallways to the suite. Treize took the opportunity to consider the implications if what Otto suggested might not be exaggerated.
Nothing leaked through the man's shields offering him a glimpse of the thoughts going on in that curly-haired head. Chang looked more curious than alarmed and flicked his gaze at Otto and then to Treize and Treize shook his head. No, he was not inclined to probe the Security Chief at this time, though he might be so inclined to peek at a later time.
The carpet squelched underfoot as they approached the suite, though on their approach angle it was not possible to see within the suite until they practically stood in the open doorway. The door was ajar and Chang frowned at the carpet underfoot and added a few thousand liters of water to his estimate of how much might have leaked before the internal rain storm was noted downstairs.
They were still a number of steps away from the door when Treize's attention was caught by the wreckage of what once had been a class four security lock. The device looked to have been the recipient of a massive impact by a heavy blunt object. A sledgehammer, as Otto had suggested, might have caused such damage. Such a blow should have woken at least one if not more of the students in the suites in the immediate vicinity and Treize exchanged a significant glance with Chang.
The door looked to have been the recipient of further sledgehammer-style attacks about the lock and door handle. Repeated blows had broken the seal and impact dents had cracks radiating outward from the center of impact. No small feat considering the door was a particularly solid specimen.
"That's nothing compared to inside." Otto commented and leaned forward a little to push the door open, placing his hand on the wood to stop it from swinging immediately shut once again.
Treize stared at the room beyond with widening eyes and managed to maintain decorum by catching his jaw before it dropped open in abject surprise. His partner whistled softly and stared, raising a hand to try to push the door open further.
t.b.c.
Karina Robertson 2006
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Treize Kushrenada : Level 10 Sending/Receiving Telepath Receiving and Projecting Empath at Level 10. Prime rated. Agency Operative contracted term of 5 years with 2 years remaining. [25yrs of age Training facility: Psychic Institute Munich Division.
Commander Anne Une: Level 8 Telekinetic. Operations Commander of The Agency. Contracted term of 10 years with 7 years remaining. Berlin Division. [22 yrs old.
Chang Wu Fei: Level 9 Telekinetic Receiving Telepath Level 5. Agency Operative contracted term of 10 years with 8 years remaining[22yrs of age Training facility:Psychic Institute Luxemburg Division.
Heinrich Otto: Tsuberov University Security Chief. No Psionic talent. Staff Member at Tsuberov for five years. Fitted with a Neural shield implant against telepathic intrusion. Former employment, Sanc Imperial Guard. [35 years of age.