Quartday, Rami 4th 067.M42

Blessed Saint Celadine, I don't think I've ever been so happy and relieved as I was to finally shut my front door behind me just now. And not just because I was greeted by a squeaking little fuzzball.

I ended up waiting in that hab room until nearly lunch time in the end, watching the door and just waiting to see what they'd do next. I don't think it would have been smart to go back to sleep after they woke me, and I don't think I would have been able to even if I'd wanted to.

Originally I'd thought to keep my original plan of leaving to get the six am lifter. I just wanted to get out of there and get back up to my home as soon as I could, but I was worried whether they would just be lurking somewhere, watching and waiting for me. I mean, given that whoever it was tried to come for me in the middle of the night, I'm sure that no matter what time I left, they'd had someone out there keeping an eye on me, but I figured the longer I waited, the more chance there was that I'd be able to slip out unnoticed in the crowds later in the day, that they'd be tired or distracted or Throne, perhaps they'd need a biological break. Creepy weird kidnapping cultists still use the bathroom like everyone else, right?

I decided to wait until just before twelve - thirteen tends to be the start of the mid-day break period for most larger institutions and businesses, but foot traffic around the streets tends to pick up about an hour or so before that in most levels. Thankfully I'd already paid for the night, and as long as I was out before thirteen I wouldn't have to pay for a second day.

I was going to continue wearing my adept robes, keeping up the idea that I was nothing more than an adept ferrying documents around, but after the events of the morning I decided it was probably safer just to put my civilian clothes back on to travel in. If they'd swapped shifts in any way, I figured a description of me would include the fact that they were looking for a robed adept. Not just an ordinary guy in regular shirt and trousers. I had also thought of heading for the regular commuter transit to get back up to my level, but the nearest station is much further toward the centre of the hive, and to be completely honest I didn't want to stay walking around on this level any much more than I had to. The lifter was right there, I'd be able to mingle with the crowd heading up and I wouldn't be walking on my own through the streets in an area where I've got no idea how many of these people could possibly be lurking.

The Emperor was looking out for me today. Once I'd packed my things, I made my way down to the lobby of the block and found a place where I could watch the street without being immediately visible from the outside as far as I could tell. I thought I might wait and watch, to see if I could find a large enough group of people heading in the right direction to be able to mingle with, and slip away out of their notice. I don't know if they were still even watching or not, but it turned out that just as I got myself settled in my vantage point, a nearby workplace must have let out for lunch or something, because an absolute flood of people just started milling about on the street outside, eventually all dispersing to move off in all different directions - including the one that I needed to head in. So I picked up my gear, slipped out the door and tried to filter my way through to the centre of the biggest group heading out toward the lifter.

I honestly don't know if they were watching me leave. I tried to keep my eyes open as I walked, keep looking around me - thankfully I could play a bit of the "Naïve upper-hiver making his first visit to the lower levels", and it just came off as me being an idiot who'd found himself out of his depths for the first time (not so far from the truth, funnily enough) - so my wide-eyed gazing wasn't anything to be particularly noted. But I don't know who, if anyone, they would have stationed watching me. Would it be one of the robed folks? Another bald-headed freak? Just some ordinary guy in work coveralls or a Sister in Hospitaler robes? When you don't know who you're looking for, it's very hard to tell if you're being followed.

But there wasn't any one particular person who seemed to crop up more frequently than anyone else and nobody seemed to weirdly be constantly going in the same direction as me. People filtered in and out of the group I'd latched myself to and I made it back to the lifter queue without encountering any sort of oddity, at least that I noticed. And once again I was able to peel my way off and mix into the smallish crowd gathered there to wait for the lifter and eventually make my way aboard.

The trip back up in the lifter was probably one of the most fraught of my life. Despite that most of them had been there waiting already and had barely spared me a glance when I'd arrived and made my way onto the lifter, I was still nervous and couldn't stop myself from watching everyone who came near or even looked too long in my direction. But despite my paranoia, none of them seemed to care, and by the time I got back to my level I think I'd finally relaxed a bit.

Having said that though, I still didn't go straight home. Thankfully twenty-fourth is a fair way from my home precinct, and there's a few different ways to get there between the magrail, walking and taking the trolley. I took the most roundabout way I could think of to get home, and though it took me another three and a half to get there, I think I was finally able to reassure myself that I wasn't being followed, and that it would be safe to go there.

Tomorrow I have to go back to work, but after my shift is done I'll be taking what I've found to the Magisters and handing it off to them. And if they don't want it, I may see if I can escalate it to the Arbites. It's about damned time that a professional started looking into this, because I think it's much more than just a single mother getting fed up and abandoning her baby.

Thought for the Day: Always strive for success. Even if you fail, the memory of your deed may inspire another to achieve victory where you could not.