Tads and Aswon made it back to the chopper with their escort and cautiously poked their head inside, both scanning first the normal view and then the astral. There was no sign of the spirit, or anything else unexpected, no disruption or taint of astral space that they could detect.
Slowly they checked the chopper out, starting at the back of the cargo hold and working forward.
"Hello? Grandfather? We've come back to keep you company and make sure you're ok?" Her voice echoed off the metal walls, reverberating around the tomb like quiet of the chopper. She listened quietly, and then heard a considering hum from Aswon, and moved over to his position, at the rear of the living module.
Wordlessly, he pointed at a stack of clothing on the bunk, all neatly folded and with the socks bundled together in pairs. As he straightened up from examining them, he saw the blanket carefully folded under the mattress on the bunk above, then started to spot a dozen other little touches. The tea towel hanging up to dry, perfectly folded over the rail on the field oven. Salt and pepper pots turned to line up so the labels could be seen. The cap closed on the bottle of washing up liquid. It appeared that their spirit had definitely settled in.
Tads continued her search, and checked out the back seat of the car, spotting the still frozen pile of clothes on the back seat. She reached over and grabbed the pile, then with a heave pulled them towards her. A moment later she fell back out of the car, a pile of frozen clothes in her hands along with a mass of ripped furniture foam stuck to the bottom and a look of surprise on her face. Aswon heard her "ooof" as she landed on the decking, and quickly strode over to her to ensure she was ok. When he saw the ripped seat he sucked air in between his lips noisily and shook his head at her, before wandering off, muttering as he did so.
"Marius is going to be upset with you…. You bet he will. Oh yes."
"But, but…but…" Aswon ignored her, and continued to look around, biting the inside of his cheek a little to stop the smile from showing.
Frowning, Tads climbed to her feet and checked over the mound of clothes and ripped foam, then moved into the slightly warmer living module and put them in a tray to catch the water and positioned the whole mass near the heater, turning it onto its lowest setting. A minute of work and she had a blanket hung up in front, trying to keep the warm air constrained in one area and made two small nests for herself and Aswon to curl up in and keep warm overnight. After a moment's reflection, she extended the one for Aswon considerably as she imagined someone that tall trying to call up in a ball.
The night passed without incident, colder and less comfortable for Aswon and Tads in their nest of blankets than it did for the rest of the team ensconced in the VIP wing of the facility, but it was restful none the less. The spirit did not show himself or give any sign of being present, and in the morning, the two of them made another bowl of vodka-flavoured porridge before they left the chopper, returning to the blast door and hitting the intercom to alert the staff. Within a few minutes, another smartly-dressed security officer escorted them back to the guest quarters where they arrived just in time for breakfast to be wheeled in.
Marius and Nadia looked tired, both grabbing large steaming cups of coffee and struggling not to yawn, the result of a night spent pursuing activities other than sleep, it seemed. Nobody offered any direct comment, but there were a few sidelong glances and smiles between the others.
"You know, I've been thinking about what you said last night." Shimazu said as he grabbed a bowl and started to load it up with slices of succulent fresh fruit.
"We said a lot of things last night. What in particular?" Kai asked.
"About the leeches. I think we ought to get one of the jars, to show Ludmilla. Explain that they're magically reactive. Not to sell!" His eyes flicked around the table quickly, fixing each of the others with a stare for a moment. "Just to show her. She might be able to borrow one for a while, to do research on, I suppose. But she might be able to tell us more about them."
"She may do. Yeah, she's probably going to be interested. Why don't you go get one of the jars?" Shimazu nodded at Kai, and grabbing a few more slices of fruit to keep him going on the way, headed to the door to make the arrangements.
Tads sat at the low table with four large plates arrayed in front of her. Carefully placed on each, separated by a moat of pristine white china, was – well, it was one of everything. Every single foodstuff provided for breakfast was carefully doled out and positioned on her place. Slowly and methodically, she worked through the hot items first, sampling each in turn and chewing them thoughtfully, making the odd note on her pocket secretary and then clearing her mouth with a quick swish of water.
Shimazu returned a few minutes later, bearing one of the large jars containing the leeches, wrapped in a towel to hide it from prying eyes. He carefully set the jar down on a table, and then returned to his breakfast. Within a few moments, all of Tads, Kai and Aswon had given him a very quiet and subtle look over, just to ensure that he did not have anything wrong with his aura, or had suffered some strange leech-related mishap on the way.
They sat quietly otherwise, enjoying the breakfast that would have done a luxury hotel proud and listening to the morning newscast. It seemed that out in the wider world the rumblings of the demise of Fuchi as a triple-A megacorporation were still being felt – their holdings being fought over by the other mega-corps like a frenzied mass of sharks. The news that morning though covered a massive purchase of shares on behalf of Fuchi in the Renraku company, reminding everyone that though downgraded in status, they were still a multi-national, multi-billion Nuyen company. The newscaster moved on to the appointment of a new member of the Corporate Court for Cross Applied Technologies, the newest mega on the block, before finishing with an update on the situation in Seattle where apparently the Renraku Arcology was still under military cordon. The current speculation was that the lockdown had now actually been caused after a rival corporation had launched an attack and reprogrammed the computer systems there to become hostile, forcing Renraku to abandon the facility.
There was a discreet knock on the door and Aswon rose after a moment to see who it was.
"Excuse me sir, I just wanted to check that breakfast was to your satisfaction?"
"Indeed, it was!" Aswon said with feeling, opening the door wide so the others could see the security officer standing at the threshold. "In fact, the only thing missing was to be able to drink fresh manjo juice and bask in the morning sunshine."
"Alas sir, the ability to control the sun is beyond our power, much as we might wish otherwise. We do have some tanning booths in the gymnasium though which I'm sure would be available to you." Aswon smiled but shook his head. "The Lady would also like to enquire as to whether you would have an answer with regards to her proposal, by eleven AM?" Aswon stepped back out of the way and turned to face Kai, cocking an interrogative eyebrow at him.
"Ahh yes, I'm sure we will do. Please do let Lady Ludmilla know that we would be happy to speak to her later and advise her on our answer."
"Of course sir. Is there anything else you need?"
"Yes, actually," Hunter said around a mouthful of sausage and bacon. "I'd really like to go for a run. Anywhere we can do that?"
"A…. run? We do have a gymnasium with several machines."
"No, no, I can't stand treadmills and being indoors. It's just not the same as feeling ground underneath you and the wind in your hair. I mean just a track or path or something, where we can actually be outdoors."
"I will make some arrangements, sir." The security officer pulled the door closed as he backed out, leaving them alone.
"Yeah, I could actually go for a run, too." There were general mutters of agreement, and one by one they headed off to go and grab a shower in their respective suites. At least having gotten into fresher clothes the night before for their introductions to Ludmilla they were still relatively clean.
Kai pulled out his phone and hit the speed-dial entry for Germaine, hoping that he'd be able to get through to her.
"Hello? Oh Kai, good morning."
"Good morning to you, too. I just thought I'd give you a call and let you know we're actually now up in the edge of Russia. I know last time we spoke you mentioned that you had a man up here that might need some help or have some work that needs to be done, and as we're in the area it seemed like a good time to call."
"Marvellous. Well, let me send you though his number now then. Vlad is a dear, dear fellow and has some lovely tales to tell. Do pass on my regards to him, will you. Oh, I should mention that you might want to be careful calling him – it can be a little noisy at times."
"Thank you for the heads up Germaine, I'm sure it will be fine." He flipped over his phone as it buzzed, and checked that the data packet had arrive ok – sure enough, there was the number and the name "Vladimir Gortleb", along with a standard looking encryption key locked business card. He turned the phone back over as he heard Germaine continue to speak.
"Now, last we spoke, you mentioned a delightful little holiday location to me, Kai. Any news on that?" Kai thought for a moment, then prevaricated, describing how they were conscious of her high standards and that they had a desperate desire not to disappoint her with the experience, and that they needed just a little more time before it was ready.
"I see. Well, do they have a landing pad there?"
"I'm afraid not – there will be a helicopter landing facility there soon, I am certain," Marius nodded his head vigorously at Kai, clearly already thinking about this, "but not yet I'm afraid. Will that be a problem? We can always raise the priority of the work?"
"No no, it will be fine. We'll just take the Bentley instead. Well, I shall await your call then to tell me that it's ready, and we shall arrange a date. Now I must go and attend to some business! I'll speak to you later, Kai, and find out what's going on with Vlad."
She disconnected and Kai considered his options, then dialled up the ranch. The phone rang a few times, then Naena answered, telling Kai that Rusudan was at town, sorting out some things for the ranch. The others listened with half an ear, as Kai quizzed her on the state of the ranch and if they were ready to receive visitors. There were some snorts of amusement when Kai mentioned that Germaine might be a 'high maintenance' visitor that would demand extra attention, followed by another set of snorts as Kai clarified that yes, that meant they might need more towels.
Kai started to listen more, and his smile faded a little, then returned, and if anything intensified as he listened. A few minutes later after telling Naena that she was doing a great job and to get ready for some visitors, he hung up and sat back in the comfortable embrace of the chair, spinning the phone in his hand while he gazed across the room. After a few moments, he realised that people were watching him and waiting for an explanation.
"It seems the town is doing pretty well now. People are a lot happier, and the two policemen have recruited a few deputies to help keep an eye on things, and to make sure that nobody else muscles in on the place. There's been an election for a new town councilman or something, and some shopkeeper has been chosen that seems to make Naena happy. At least I think that's what she said. But on the whole, the place is looking up." He stopped spinning the phone and checked the display.
"Well, might as well give this Vlad fella a call then and see what's going on." He settled back and then introduced himself to the person on the other end of the line, going through the social dance of introductions. He was just describing how Germaine had described that he might be interested in some work when the phone blared, the tiny speaker crackling and distorting as some awful noise emitted from it. It went on for nearly three seconds, then abruptly stopped, and everyone in the room could just about hear the sound of someone talking in a normal tone of voice.
Kai chatted for a few minutes, asking questions about size of cargo and urgency, details on the nature of the cargo with regards to specialist handling and so forth, then telling his contact that he'd get back to him soon.
"Right folks – Mr Vlad wants some people to subtly head over to Stockholm, pick up four large powered freezers, each about a metre deep and high, and maybe two metres long, and then get them to Moscow for him."
"Stockholm? That's thousands of kilometres away, surely! There's no way we're going to make that kind of trip are we?" Hunter and Marius shared a confused look, listening to Aswon chunter about the distances involved and the cost of flying the chopper that far, and checked the maps, wondering if he was talking about somewhere different.
"I don't care about how far it is…did you say freezers? What's in them? I bet its dead bodies or something." Shimazu interjected. "I hope it doesn't turn into something like that Golem job, with people chasing after us again."
They spent a few minutes looking over the map, working out the distances involved and the routing they might take. From the dam, it was about 1500km to Stockholm – so they would certainly have to tank the second they made it there, if not somewhere before – nobody wanted to run out of fuel while crossing the Baltic Sea! From Stockholm it was a 1200km journey back towards Moscow, and then a fairly easy 400km hop back to the dam. All told it was going to take just over two full fuel loads, which gave them a baseline for their costs of around 40,000 Nuyen, plus the expense of any bribes or permits they needed to apply for. Shimazu was still unsure as to the job, assuming the worst about the possible contents of the freezers and the possible trouble that it might bring.
They were interrupted with a knock on the door of their suite – the guard had returned, and instead of a discreet pistol tucked into the holster in his suit he now carried a very obvious submachine gun on a three point friction sling. The team exchanged a few looks, but then followed him out of the suite and through the facility, emerging into the bright and cold spring morning from the side of the dam. They stretched out for a minute, warming up their muscles and then headed along the path at a slow jog, their breath making little clouds against the clear blue sky.
The guard trailed along behind them about ten metres, clearly accompanying them whilst giving them some privacy to continue their discussion. They rounded out a few ideas for how they were going to approach the job as they ran down the gravel track, the huge expanse of the Volga river to their right.
They had run for about ten minutes along the track, travelling at a steady pace and keeping the group together. Shimazu and Aswon were no doubt chafing at the bit to stretch their legs, but there was no way the rest of the group would keep up with them and have any chance of conversation.
A sudden flurry of froth exploded from the surface of the river, and a mottled green and brown head thrust out of the surface, bulbous eyes blinking as they sighted on their target. A dull and moist sounding noise echoed off the pilings at the edge of the water as the creature forced a gobbet of fluid out of the specially mutated tube with a flex of its muscles.
Shimazu barely had a moment between the emergence of the creature and the attack, but it was long enough for his reactions to kick in, and his legs dropped him into a roll to the side, clear of the path of the ball of phlegm. The rest of the group scattered, moving away from each other and several of them found their hands grasping at where holstered pistols should have been if they were 'dressed for work'.
Three rounds struck the creature, stitching up from just above the waterline and rising along the narrow body in a neat line. Barely had the third round hit before the first exploded, ripping the creature apart sending gobs of flesh arcing through the air. Out of their peripheral vision, they saw the guard with the SMG shouldered neatly, his eyes tracking over the water for further threats, while faint wisps of gunsmoke rose from the end of the barrel.
The team formed up and glanced out at the remains of the spitting pike as it floated on the surface, the remainder of the five metre long body writhing sinuously in response to disjointed signals from the nervous system. A moment later another large set of jaws clamped onto the centre of the body from below, dragging it down beneath the turgid waters and out of view.
The team circled around, and started to jog back towards the dam, continuing their discussion and ignoring the water to their left and giving no sign of the attack that had taken place. Behind them the guard jogged along with them, his SMG covering the water and his eyes scanning the surface carefully, ready in case there was another attack on these strange visitors to the facility.
Their journey back was uneventful, and they moved aside as they reached the door to allow their escort to reach the hand-scanner and keypad, clearing their way into the facility. Marius mentioned to the guard that he wished to return to the chopper soon to check on some engineering work, and the guard told him he would make the necessary arrangements. Soon they were back in the suite, each heading off for a quick shower.
By the time Marius and Nadia had freshened up, there was an escort waiting for them, one of the dam engineers by the looks of his jumpsuit and hard-hat. He escorted them back through the engineering section of the dam towards the helipad, occasionally waving to other engineers as they spotted him. Back at the chopper, he stood to one side and watched as Marius swarmed up to the top of the craft towards the top housing and rotor shaft.
With a little help from Nadia, they worked at the parts, checking over the assembly for damage. As Marius pulled on one of the locking pins to check it was secure, it came loose with a sudden 'pop' nearly sending him falling backwards from the top of the craft. The pin had snapped about halfway long its length, a bright flash of exposed metal showing where it had cracked under pressure. Carefully Marius lined it up from the outside of the housing, his eyes widening as he looked at the measurement.
The pin was barely long enough to hold in place – even a small amount of vibration would have rocked it free, and certainly the pressures of normal flight, let alone combat manoeuvers would have sent it flying off into space and releasing the parts it was designed to hold in place. If the spirit really had held this in place, then he'd prevented a major engineering casualty that would have grounded them.
They slid down from the top of the craft, and Marius showed Nadia the damage when they were back on the ground. The engineer came over for a look as well, gazing at the pin with interest.
"You want a hand with that? We can whip you up a replacement nice and easy?"
"You can? And thank you, that would be most helpful."
The engineer led them back into the facility, heading down the stairs to one side and into the engineering spaces. A few minutes later they were in a large and very well equipped maintenance room. Marius looked around with envy at the computer controlled lathes and drilling machines, the spotlessly clean work areas and the rows of quality tools laid out on the pegboard, each part marked with an outline behind it. The engineer was true to his word, pulling out a titanium blank from his stores and then setting it tightly in the clamp on the lathe, before setting a scan going on the old part. Using the software on the system he extended the scan to include the missing part, before sending the completed image to the machinery.
While the computer carefully pared away metal and produced a tight spiral of titanium thread from the blank, Marius chatted with the engineer and complimented him on his workspace and facilities. His enthusiasm was genuine, and his knowledge of engineering and manufacturing obviously struck a chord with the base engineer. Soon they were chatting away like old friends, Marius listening as the man told him about some of the other engineering jobs they had ended up doing. It sounded like Ludmilla often had visitors landing with either battle damage or craft that had been pushed to their limits, and that the base team were well practiced with patching them up. Indeed it seemed like they approached it as an engineering challenge and something interesting to do rather than having to tend to the generators and equipment of the dam itself.
By the time the part had been manufactured and fitted, it was close to 11am, and they had to hustle back to the suite with their escort. On their return, Marius and Nadia found that Kai had already been in touch with Vladimir and had accepted the job, and under the glares of the others had managed to negotiate up from the initial offer of eighty thousand to ninety thousand with a ten grand bonus if the cargo was delivered inside the next week.
Another knock on the door precluded further conversation, and once more they found their smartly-dressed and subtly-armed guard-escort waiting for them. They grabbed their gear, not expecting to return to the suite after the meeting and followed their guide as he led them back into the main section of the dam, turning into the corridor they had seen the previous day that was labelled up as the laboratories.
Another heavy and soundproof door was opened for them, leading them into an observation room that looked down into some kind of lab. Ludmilla stood at the sharply slanted windows, watching as some experiment was being performed.
"Darlings, good morning! I hope you slept well. Do come in." They entered the room, and the door closed quietly behind them, cutting out the faint noises of the dam and leaving only the quiet hum of the air-conditioning. As they closed in on the windows they could see that a small team was performing some kind of surgery on some African green-back monkeys in the brightly lit bio-lab laid out below them.
"So, I hope you have had a restful evening, and that your jog this morning wasn't too exciting?"
"Indeed, a most pleasant evening, thank you. Your hospitality is most gracious, and we were very impressed with the prowess of your guard as well." Kai smiled and laid the response on thick, watching Ludmilla carefully. She smiled at him again in a dutiful way as he said 'the right things'. "We have had a discussion about your offer, and we wish to accept it, once we've carried out our small task that we mentioned previously. This should only take a few days, just a quick trip from here to the North West to deal with a little cargo, then back. Really should be no trouble."
"Excellent! Excellent. I'm sure a delay of a few days won't cause any problems at all. So, let's get down to business shall we? I have two offers for you. The first would be for a simple cash payment – if you can bring me the breeding pair I'm after, then I can see them being worth half a million to me."
The team tensed, and Kai tried to keep his face impassive. That was a lot of money for a retrieval of two critters – so either they were very dangerous, or the area was. Or both. On the other hand, if it went well, then half a million Nuyen bought the team a lot of upgrades.
"Or the other thing I had in mind was an experimental engine for your helicopter, and a cash payment or three hundred and fifty thousand."
"What kind of experimental engine?" Marius asked, his interest piqued.
"My researchers came across some pre-crash information, from an aviation company looking at the practicalities of using a diesel engine for aircraft."
"Diesel?!" Marius spluttered. "But…the weight, the power output."
"Well, it's true that it's a heavy engine, and that diesel has a lower specific energy than Kerosene. But on the other hand, the fuel is lighter and the engine is simpler, leading to improved reliability. Also, compression-ignition engines have a higher fuel compression ratio which leads to being more efficient on a per-cycle basis, which in turn leads to greater range and cargo capability. My design engineer is predicting that anything up to a 30% increase in fuel economy may be possible eventually.
"Hmm." Marius stopped and considered, and the idea bounced around in his head. Everything she said was true, though some issues came to mind. "But the engines while simpler, are also required to be stronger due to the reaction and method of ignition, which is why they're normally used for truck engines where the weight doesn't matter. Though again, the fuel being a compression ignition rather than spark ignition would make it considerably safer in the event of an accident."
The discussion ranged back and forth for a few minutes as Marius gradually came around to the idea, with every downside of an aviation diesel engine appearing to have an equally strong upside in some area or another.
Several of the team tuned out as the engineering discussion got technical, and watched what was going on in the lab. A monkey was restrained on the table and hooked up to some kind of monitoring system, and had been given an injection. They could see the monitoring equipment clearly from the observation pod, and watched as the heart rate and blood pressure soared upwards while the monkey thrashed and writhed. As the seconds passed, the monkey flexed and strained, and the restraints slowly came away from the table, black cables on reels slowly playing out as muscles contracted under the hairy skin. On a separate display they saw the level of force required to pull against the resistance cords also spiralling upwards in a dizzy dance.
Marius rejoined them, and hustled them over to one side of the observation pod while Ludmilla returned to her studies, watching the scene below in the lab with interest. He rapidly filled them in on his thoughts on the engine, and the deal proposed.
"Ok, here's my thoughts. We do the run to Sweden, and go pick up the cargo from near Stockholm, takes a day, maybe two. Refuel, then head to Moscow to do the delivery. Top off the tanks, then head down in a few hops, covered as a commercial flight to North Africa. Find these critters, stun them, then get them packaged up and bring them back most of the way here, heading to the Quarry. We drop all of you guys off, who get the truck and head back to the ranch, with Shimazu and Hunter driving. Nadia and I bring the chopper here and drop off the cargo, then oversee the refit of the new engine, and we then fly back to the ranch to meet up with you."
There was a minute's animated discussion trying to work out if this prototype engine was to be trusted, or if it would even be economical, before they agreed that they would at least take the job to Sweden and agree to Ludmilla's job, then work out the details from there.
"We've had a quick discussion, and worked out the top level logistics – and we can't see any problem with this. We're looking to do a very quick job for our contact nearby, should only take a few days, then we'll be back and will take on your job to Africa."
"Marvellous Kai, that's good." Below her in the lab, the monkey suddenly stopped struggling against the straps and resistance cords, and lay on the table panting heavily, its eyes wide and staring into space.
"By the way, my friend Shimazu here has something you might be a little interested in, as you seem quite keen on paranormal critters." He nodded and stepped to the side, and Shimazu unwrapped the jar from the blanket, showing the large black leech attached to the side of the glass."
"Oh, that's an interesting looking specimen. What is it?"
"Well, we're not entirely sure. It's some kind of awakened leech. We know they secrete a corrosive saliva, and they inject an analgesic compound when they latch on to someone to drain their blood, and that can cause anaemia to the targets. And you don't want to use salt or heat to get them to release from their target – that makes them go into a frenzy and actually burrow into the flesh further. Instead you need a strong source of UV light."
"Where did you get such a magnificent specimen?" Ludmilla gazed at the creature with interest, getting her nose almost to touch the jar as she examined it minutely.
"Um. Let's just say it was a one time opportunistic seller, in Turkmenistan. And we've not seen anything like them anywhere else."
"And what does it eat?"
"Pretty much anything, but especially meat."
"And you want to be careful, they leave you drained and weak if you're exposed to them." Hunter shot a glare at Shimazu as he spoke.
"They drain you? How? By what mechanism?"
"We think it was mainly blood loss – one of the creatures escaped from its jar somehow, and we think it was feeding on Hunter overnight, draining his blood. It certainly grew in size significantly by the time we realised something was wrong and found it. But it left him anaemic, listless and feeling very weak for some time afterwards." Shimazu explained.
"And how many of these marvellous creatures do you have? And how many do you need?"
"Well, we've got four of them. And I don't know about need. Only I seem to have any particular fondness for them. But I'm not really looking to sell them, but I thought you might be interested in the loan of one or two, for study."
"No, that won't do at all. I must have one. Name your price."
"How about a prototype diesel engine?" Tads muttered.
"What was that?"
"Erm. I think in the interest of full disclosure, we don't know what they are and what their powers are. They may be able to drain life force from creatures and such like, so you should take precautions." Tads said, in a louder voice.
"How about we loan you the creatures for study, in exchange for some of the combat drugs you're developing?" suggested Hunter.
"Hmm. I think we could manage that. Of course, we'd need to do a medical work-up on you to make sure you're compatible and it's safe." Shimazu looked a little mulish for a moment, clearly not keen on the idea, but relented after he saw the others nodding their heads.
"Oh, there is one other thing I wondered." Aswon interjected. "We ran into some strange ghostly creatures while on the mission to get your plant. If you wish, and have someone willing to have the spell cast upon them, I think our Shaman would be happy to set up a mind-linking experience and share our knowledge of what happened during the mission with you, so you have a record of it." He glanced over at Tads who gave a tiny nod of her head.
"Ahh, now that also is interesting. Very interesting. Yes indeed I will take you up on that offer. Come now, let's make some arrangements!"
A deal was quickly hatched, and soon the team found themselves heading down into the level below, where the science labs were actually located. As they wandered down, Hunter quickly realised with the help of his cybernetic spatial recogniser that they were in a facility built out of modular blocks with high order symmetry. Each of the labs was clustered around a central access corridor, with a similar layout including access facility and containment areas, the observation room above, operating utilities and so on – clearly they had been built as pre-fab modules and installed here separately.
The medical lab was equipped just as highly as the bio-chem lab they had seen, and soon several of the team were being subjected to a very thorough high-tech medical check, Hunter's cyberware and bioware being catalogued and both he and Shimazu's physical systems being mapped out. The technicians checked them over thoroughly, and declared them compatible with the drugs, with no issues found. After the testing, they headed out to find Marius, Nadia and Kai who were waiting for them in the central area, discussing and planning the mission ahead.
Aswon and Tads meanwhile headed into a different lab. This one was kitted out with a massive array of computers and a series of headsets and probes attached via fibre optic cables. A somewhat nervous-looking technician was waiting for them, his hands smoothing down his starched white lab coat repeatedly, betraying his discomfort with what was to come.
"Do not fear, there is nothing to worry about," Aswon said, "our shaman here will cast a spell that will allow you to see my thoughts and memories. I will be able to see your mind too – but only what you explicitly choose to share. I cannot go through your mind, or see your secrets, or anything like that. It causes no pain or discomfort, and has no lasting effect."
His explanation seemed to sooth the man somewhat, and he nodded.
"I'll just need a moment to get the equipment calibrated and set up." Tads and Aswon looked at each other with a little confusion, unaware of what he was talking about. The man turned towards the computers and activated a series of commands, buttons and panels, and then reached for a bundle of fibre optic connectors ending in small plugs. One by one these were inserted into the back of his head – in a location similar to where Marius plugged in his rigger jack. Rather than one big bundle though, these ran up the side of the neck in two parallel lines. When they were all connected, the man reclined on a seat and relaxed. "I'm ready."
Tads concentrated and cast her spell, linking their minds together. She felt the trepidation of the technician, but sensed him trying not to resist or disrupt the spell. After a moment she made the connection and relaxed somewhat, waiting for Aswon to begin.
He ran back through the memories of the ghostly female spirit and the attack on the vehicle, then the later assault on their position as they harvested the plant. He tried to express his memories clearly, letting the emotions seep through with his actions, and felt his heart race as he relived the battle and the magical assault, the fear as Hunter was battered with the spell and their relief at the timely arrival of Marius in the chopper.
When he was done, they lapsed into silence for a moment, then he heard a voice over the speakers, asking him to think again about the terrain they had been driving over when the attack happened. He complied, going through the memory and trying to remember the smaller details more clearly, ensuring he relayed not only the sights and sounds, but also the tastes and smells, the feel of the car, the emotions of the team. The voice guided him through the whole encounter, asking him to relive some parts two or three times, asking for additional details or clarification. This was followed by Tads going over her memories as well, although she made efforts to be discreet about the spear and the fear effect.
Eventually they were done, and Tads dropped the spell with a sigh of relief. She rubbed at her forehead gently – it appeared that casting and maintaining the spell for a while had left her with the edges of a headache. The technician sat up and slowly began to unplug the jacks from his head, returning them to the stand next to the chair.
"Well, that was exciting – but rather you than me. Though I envy you the thing you can do with your heart rate!" Aswon nodded to him, then watched as the man keyed up a display and was surprised to see a rendering of his memories animated before his eyes.
"What is this?"
"It's a simsense recording. As you were sharing the memories with me, I was reliving them as if they were my own – but the simsense recorder implant lets me then record that memory out to a chip for later playback. It's not perfect, and to tell you the truth, I'm glad you didn't get hurt – that always feels bad after a recording. But now someone with a sim-deck can play that chip and experience what you experienced. As a teaching and research tool it's invaluable – you really can be put in a situation and see how you'll react."
A second technician entered, distracting them from their conversation. He approached Aswon, and handed over an insulated box. Inside the packaging was a small vial with a sealed one shot hypo-spray unit. A small handwritten card displayed the text "Anti-venom: Leiurus quinquestriatus hebraeus / Leiurus quinquestriatus quinquestriatus" in a neat script.
"The boss said to give you this in exchange for the recording, just in case you run into trouble." Aswon sealed the box up and murmured a thanks, then asked for and received a copy of the simsense recording for his contact before then leading the way from the lab, closely followed by Tads.
Kai hit the button on his phone, dialling through to Germaine.
"Hello again! I just wanted to let you know that we've spoke with your friend Vlad, and have taken on some work with him that we're just about to sort out."
"You have? Marvellous. That is good to hear, I do so like people with a keen sense of timing."
"Indeed. And we've also spoken with our people at the holiday location and they're ready to receive you as a guest whenever you're free. Now, I do have to tell you that it's a little rustic, just to set your expectations. Is there anything special that you require? If so, please let me know and we can arrange it."
"No, rustic sounds smashing. It'll be like camping as a girl all over again! So – that's fine then. Let's say next weekend?"
"Next weekend would be great, I'll let them know to be ready for you."
With their business sorted, the team assembled and they headed back towards the landing pad, accompanied by one of the security detail. Just as they were boarding, they spotted the door open from the facility, and a man in chefs' whites came running through, waving frantically at them.
Kai climbed back down the steps again to meet with him.
"Excuse me, Monsieur, I have here your dish, as requested."
Kai looked at him in confusion, then took the small plastic box and opened it. Lying inside were two small black fungi, nestled on a bed of finely chopped salad arranged artistically – the truffle forming the heart of a flower while the fans of lettuce, cucumber and tomato fanned out like leaves, atop a stem made of celery and cress.
"Thank you. It looks wonderful, and I'm sure our Shaman will appreciate it. My compliments to your kitchen, and to the Lady of course."
The chef bobbed his head, and then had to grab at his hat as the increasing downwash from the rotor started to make its presence known. He retreated back to the doorway with the security guard, while Kai climbed aboard and pulled the steps up and sealed the doorway.
Inside he showed Tads the truffles, but both he and Tads were surprised when Aswon gently pulled the box from his hand.
"Time for dinner later. First I need your help writing a report for the contact in China. The sooner we finish, the sooner you get to eat your fungus."
Tads frowned at him but then sighed and reached for the keyboard.
"Ok, let's get this done."
The chopper gently lifted into the air, rising up vertically and then ponderously swinging around until it was clear of the pylons and cables from the nearby transformers and power regulators, and started to head south-east towards a meeting with Vlad.
