Section II: Troubled Minds

A Chapter by N. David Gonzalez

Tyler makes preparations to depart to Flana, getting briefed on the situation. Meanwhile, The Queen's captors talk to a mysterious man.

“A Mentor, Leader, and Godfather,

Sir Joseph Carnagee found success

in Guidance. None have been able to

match the level of his work

with the exception of

his own daughter.”

- From Requiemis Historica, by Biran Vocan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The taxi took the last corner, bringing a wondrously large building to view. The building was an older building, with modern additional smaller buildings attached to it. The roofs made a point all aiming towards the center, which housed a very large point with multi-frequency dishes around it. Driving up to the front doors, the taxi slowed to a stop, the body of the car partially lowering from its half-meter levitation off the ground, allowing Tyler to get out in a more comfortable manner. He sped-walked through the front doors and down hallways, a maze of paths leading to his destination. He finally reached the door he was looking for, Office Room 512 - General Joseph Carnagee. The door led to a small office with an empty desk. The desk would not be empty for long, as the desk owner walked over to it, her face clearly stressed, and very young. She was a rather short person, only half a meter tall, the desk being of equivocal size. Her fur pattern resembled that of a beagle, and her darker orange dress shirt had a small tag that read “Intern”. She looked up to the sudden arrival and took a mild sigh of relief. “He is just in his office. We are all worried.”

Tyler exchanged his thanks, and pulled out a small coin of pure gold to put on her desk. “For you.” He remarked, before walking over to Carnagee’s office.

In the office, a much older man stood in front of a table, contemplating. His fur was a washed out golden color, somewhat frizzled with stress and a lack of sleep, not that it hid his aged features much. He wore an off white pair of pants, alongside a similar colored shirt underneath a blue ceremonial suit jacket with accompanying golden sash. Atop his head was a similar blue beret with a little emblem in the bottom left corner. He turned to face Tyler, his darker green eyes filled with both relief and concern.

“I am going to assume you were briefed on the situation prior to your arrival?” His voice was older, yet soft.

”Yes. It was quite hard to miss, being displayed on every programme.” Tyler responded back, as he shook Carnagee’s hand before leaning in for a hug. “I know we are in search of Evalynne and her assistants. I would like to have more details about what I am about to walk into.”

”It is not that sending you in to find a few missing people is difficult. What I and the rest of the current Contributors fear is their current unstable relationship with the Collection.” Carnagee rests a hand on the table, his face growing more concerned.

“I have not heard of this unstablement.” Tyler replied, partially confused.

“It is not entirely public yet. Their adoption of modern technologies is slower than either of us wish, and they seem to feel neglected. We have tried to address the issues, but have had little success due to… unintended raids.”

“Pirate problems? I thought the pathways and the planet were secure from such issues. How are they still a problem?” It was quite uncommon to be dealing with the Pirateer Anarchists in this volume now, as they have mostly stayed back to their respective planets. Aside from the occasional raid or two every month, both parties have stayed their distance, while spying on each other.

“To make a long story short, it was being managed, but when it ramped up in severity, that was when we started planning for an investigation. That was supposed to happen tomorrow, but then this happened last night. I have been awake since an hour after she was reported missing, about seventeen hours before the news went public.”

“Oh…” Tyler’s face showed a little bit of concern, emotion on his face quite a rarity. “Do you wish for me to start my departure for Flana, and you can brief me the following day?”

“…Yes, I would appreciate that. It will give me a clearer mind.”

“Alright, I will leave you to that.” Tyler started to make his way towards the door, but paused halfway. “Actually, can I ask about the status of my request for a new subteammate-”

“Yes, yes, We approved it this morning, you will have a new Club Ace, you will meet her at Flana. One bit of warning, she is quite shy.”

“Understood. Thank you. Please get some sleep.” Tyler walks the rest of the way to and out of the door. A sigh escapes his mouth before walking over to the little secretary. “He did not prepare a private flight over to Flana, did he?”

“No, he did not. You will have to take a public flight over, then we can send a car over for you.”

“I figured. Good night, Ms…?”

“Ophelia. Precilia Ophelia.” She gave a rather cheeky smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dry wind blew, pulling up the deep red-orange sand. It provided a misty haze across the almost black sky of night to the inhabitants of Marta, partially burning their eyes. Almost like a mirror to Apolo, Marta was populous with busy streets and stores. However, in contrast, Marta’s citizens were quite dishonest with each other, stealing and robbing from one another as if it was their job, with no law to prevent it. Marta was a place of lawlessness, a society ran by anarchists. Mutual respect was removed a long time ago, and only fear remains.

At the capitol, located at the center of the northeast hemisphere, one lone figure stares out of the window at the highest point. The room he stood in was a rather spacious, yet small, conference room, with a table at the center accommodating at most four people. The room was lit in a more intimidating manner, darker warm lights to contrast with the night sky, and to help illustrate the figure at the window.

The figure’s general build was somewhat stalky and tall, measuring a meter and a quarter tall. His face was chiseled and aggressive, ears pointing up, and a muzzle looking strong enough to bite through steel. His rather dark brown and black fur pattern accommodated his menacing look, alongside his eyes. Both were clearly artificial, if an older model compared to Tyler’s. The whites of the eyes were absent, rather covered in a matte black, alongside the pupil. The iris’ were the only differentiating factor, a deep yet bright red, smooth with no details with the exception of the individual LEDs.

His outfit almost looked like a lighter set of armor, cobbled together with unmatching items. A set of black boots and pants, alongside a shirt hidden underneath a lighter purple robe. The robe almost seemed too small, not reaching anywhere past the calves and the sleeves barely reaching the elbows, yet seemingly it wraps around his torso just fine. Over top of the robe were belt-like straps, merging together in the middle before curving away, functionally working like a vest. The straps were littered with many pockets and holsters for weapons and ammunition.

He stared out the window, contemplating, pondering, planning. His mind was going in every possible direction at once, meticulously going over every possible detail in his mind to ensure no loose ends remained, and that his success, and only his success, was guaranteed. His train of thought was rudely derailed when, to the left of him, a vision-screen turned on. The screen itself showed a smaller figure concealed in shadows, concealed to the point of being unable to discern details, adjusting the camera for a little bit, before moving away to shine a spotlight on an older woman tied to a chair, unconscious. Her clothing and facial description matched that of The Queen Evalynne. The figure in the shadows whispered next to the camera. “She is still alive, as you requested.”

“Good. Now, leave her there. Proceed with the following part. Do not falter. If you falter, you will die.” The red-eyed man commanded. His voice instilled fear into the figure in shadows, causing him to partially convulse. The darkness behind the figure also convulsed, as others seemed to have heard. The Queen stayed motionless, unaware of the dangers of her current situation.

prev chapter