"It's a little paranoid, even for you." She turns around to face you, and a wry smile graces her face at your wordless shock. "You forgot to disable his greetings sub-routine. I almost dropped my coffee when I got here."
You sigh in frustration. "I thought I told you to keep quiet during the meeting, Castle-3."
A deep baritone emanates from the cabinet. "Ah, but the meeting has not yet begun, has it, Doctor? Also, for the duration of this mission, please refer to me as Cabinet-3."
You throw up your hands. "Fine! Point taken. Just remember to stay there unless I give the signal." Then you glare at Kal'tsit, who seems to be politely amused by this byplay. "Look, it's not paranoia if they're really out to get you, okay? I don't want the director to get the wrong idea."
"She is coming here to talk, not to fight."
"Yeah, and if she thinks we're weak she'll just mulch through our defenses and take Ifrit back. Rhine Lab takes the theft of their intellectual property very seriously." You think back to some of the stories Silence and Ptilopsis shared during their debriefing and shudder. "I don't see why Columbia needed a super-soldier research program when they have someone like that on their team."
Kal'tsit shrugs, setting off disquieting ripples in her labcoat. You inhale sharply as realization strikes you. "And you think I'm paranoid? Is that thing even safe to be around, outside the lab?"
"Think of it as a field trial." Kal'tsit calmly sips at her coffee. "And it will prove to be a valuable bargaining chip, if necessary."
You collapse into an armchair. It is profoundly irritating how Kal'tsit can confound your best projections of her behaviour. "I thought you disapproved of our decision to shelter Ifrit."
Kal'tsit frowns. "I disapprove of decisions made purely on a emotional basis. Especially when the consequences are not taken into proper consideration. I expect such behaviour from Amiya, but not you."
You feebly attempt to defend yourself. "We can learn a lot from what Rhine Lab did to their test subjects, can't we?"
The riposte is swift. "Is it your intention, then, to give Ifrit back to Rhine Lab? After we have extracted everything we can learn from her?"
You bite back an instinctive denial. As much as it pains you to admit it, Kal'tsit has a point about reckless decisions. "If... if it becomes necessary."
"The old you would not have hesitated to use Ifrit as a bargaining chip."
"The old me isn't here."
Kal'tsit looks moodily at her cup of coffee for a long moment, then sighs. "Try not to give away too much. We have no idea who is backing Rhine Lab. The last thing we need is civil war in Columbia."
A message pings on your tablet. The Rhine Lab representative has arrived and will join you shortly.
"She's here. Remember, if all else fails, jump out of the window." Kal'tsit looks faintly alarmed at this, but nods.
"Dr. Kal'tsit. Greetings. And you are...?" Director Saria of the Rhine Lab Defense Division is a tall Vouivre with a menacing stare and a slowly lashing tail. For an unarmed negotiator in the middle of questionably enemy territory, she seems remarkably at ease.
"Tactical Operations Coordinator for Rhodes Island. Codename Doctor." You smile briefly, although it is hidden behind your mask. "An old joke about preferring surgical strikes."
"I see." No reaction worth noting, although her tail stopped briefly. A poor sense of humour, just like Silence said. "I had expected a one-on-one meeting with Dr. Kal'tsit, or your CEO, Ms. Amiya."
Kal'tsit rises smoothly to your defense. "We felt that you might get along with the good Doctor here, since you have such similar roles in our respective organizations. And of course, he was so eager to be here. He personally offered asylum to the individuals we are about to discuss."
Throwing you to the wolves, more like. She couldn't make it any clearer that the refugee trio are your problem to handle.
"Indeed, they are settling in very well. Little Ifrit has even made a friend." A small barb to remind the Director you consider Ifrit a person and not a thing. "But where are my manners? Please, have a seat."
Poor Frostleaf. Still, babysitting is a thing teenagers do, yes? And making friends? She's capable and adaptable, she'll figure it out soon enough.
You steeple your fingers together as Director Saria takes a seat, all the while glaring at you. You think you hit a nerve there, which is good news for your plan, half-baked as it may be. "We have also offered employment to Drs. Silence and Ptilopsis, and they have accepted."
"Rhine Lab has not released them from their contracts, and their non-compete clauses are still in effect." Director Saria objects immediately. "And if they have offered their research to Rhodes Island, then we consider that theft of our intellectual property."
"Dr. Silence is working on drone-assisted field triage, and Dr. Ptilopsis on her unique Originium arts. Neither have remained in their original fields of study." You consider your next words carefully. "And as for their research, well... they told us nothing we did not already know."
Director Saria blinks once, then looks to Kal'tsit for confirmation. Kal'tsit, on her part, looks dissatisfied, but nods. "Minor differences, but essentially the same procedure."
"The difference being that we did not immediately begin experimentation on unwilling subjects!" You feign outrage, leaning forward and banging on the coffee table for emphasis. "Irresponsible! Unethical! Shoddy work! The integration between host and donor is abysmal!"
Director Saria does not appear to take insults lightly. Her fists are clenched in her lap and you fancy you can see a white haze rising from them. Still, her voice remains even as she retorts, "Do you think you can do better, then?"
You share a glance with Kal'tsit. She appears to be content to take your lead for now, so you return your gaze to Director Saria. "Let us speak frankly as men and women of science, Director. We have done better."
The Director breaks into a mirthless grin. "I thought so. Your CEO, Amiya. She's a puppet, isn't she."
"No!" "Hell no!" Both you and Kal'tsit object simultaneously. You look at each other, not wanting to speak over the other, and you motion for Kal'tsit to go ahead.
"She took on the burden willingly. And she remains the kind of person who would take on that burden. She has not changed." Kal'tsit pauses for a moment in thought. "Amiya may be what we made her to be, but she has always been what she is," she concludes huffily.
You adopt a lecturing tone. "That you would call her that speaks to a fundamental misalignment of perspective, Director Saria. And, ethics aside, it is the reason your project could never succeed."
"Oh? And why is that?"
"How much of a soul can Originium Prime capture? And how much can be successfully transplanted? There must be losses along the way. And when it comes to a contest of wills, who has the home ground advantage? Quite simply, a donor can never triumph against a host."
Director Saria frowns. "That is quite the claim you are making."
"Oh, the host can be driven mad," you admit. "It happens all the time. But the only way to get any form of acceptable integration is for both host and donor to desire the same thing. They must work together, in harness. And motor skills don't transfer well, either. After all, it is a new body. In short, to create a super-soldier, the host must also be a super-soldier themselves. Volunteeers, preferably of the same height and build."
"No. I know that is not true." Saria shakes her head in rejection. "Your CEO has combat skills well in excess of her age norms. You have her wear limiters of some sort on her fingers. And when she takes them off, she can channel the power of her donor."
You lean forward. "And if we were to share the secret of that limiter, would you leave the three of them alone? Although I should warn you, you may not like the answer."
Saria looks conflicted. "Ifrit is a danger to both herself and anyone around her. For her own safety, as well as for others, she should return to our custody."
"Please give us some credit, Director. Rhodes Island is the foremost treatment facility for Infected in the world. Of course we have experience in inhibiting powerful Arts. Or if you think that's not enough, why not join us? We always have space for a talent like yourself."
"I would like a few minutes to consider your offer." Then, after a short pause, "Why won't I like the answer?"
"Because, Director, there is no such thing. There is no technological shortcut to enforce a unity of spirit. Only a shared purpose can do that."
"Then explain the rings!"
You sigh. "Amiya's donor died in an explosion. Perhaps she tried to pick the grenade up, but in any case, we were unable to recover any Originium Prime from the donor's hands. No transplant to the hands was possible, and so they remain purely Amiya's. Hence, the rings represent a boundary between Amiya and the donor. Taking off the rings is a purely psychosomatic gesture symbolizing the surrender of the host to the donor's will."
Saria considers all this for a few moments and then stands up abruptly. You flinch a little at the sudden movement and your hand darts into your coat pocket, but she makes no move towards you. Instead, she inclines her head towards you. "I will honor the offer in the spirit it was intended. Thank you for your time, Doctor. Dr. Kal'tsit." Then she turns around and leaves.
There is a minute of silence as Kal'tsit finishes her coffee. Then, withering scorn. "That was the most concentrated pile of crap I've ever heard. Volunteers only? Harness? There are so many holes in that hypothesis I could use it as a fishing net."
"It got her off our ship," you reply. "And hopefully she'll scrap whatever is left of that cursed project they still have."
"Hah! You might be able to trick little children with that so-called silver tongue of yours, but she's no fool. She didn't believe a word of what you said."
Indeed. Director Saria is no fool. But there were gaps in the security coverage when the trio escaped from Rhine Lab, and backups that mysteriously vanished, and it seems that several researchers died in that terrible, terrible accident in which all the other test subjects were put out of their misery.
Saria doesn't need to believe. All she needs is a plausible excuse to present to her superiors and the Rhine Lab research into Originium Prime transplantation will be permanently written off as infeasible. Who knows? She might even accept your job offer.
Inside your mask, you smile. "I think you might be surprised, Kal'tsit."