The spy's report drank all the mana out of the boy! Gran-Maran began to report the information and at once his face contorted in pain. The words were barely supported by his hoarse breathing. Lee Long was ready for it. Poison! The spy's communicator injected Gran-Maran with a lethal dose of poison. Lee began to activate the Healing skill without stopping. The spy wheezed, his body trembling with convulsions. But he spoke. Spoke for four long minutes. Those minutes had a nasty effect on the boy. Lee Long struggled to maintain control and set new topics for the report.
What had he learned from the spy? Lee Long received a powerful blow to his worldview. People were living under surveillance. The colonists of Europe 9 maintained strong ties with other races and worked for the intelligence of different races. Gran-Maran controlled a large network of agents. As the boy began to listen to the spy's report he thought it was a real serious adult world. Nothing out of the ordinary. Agents are living in the colony get credit from the Ferin, the Bregan, and the Shade. It's normal. The inhabitants of the galaxy paid close attention to a new sentient race. The Ferin got the first contact and began to regulate the control of the Humans. What difference does that make? The other races wanted to know the details and make their profit. Surprising if no agents were working for the Orcs in the colony. Any nearby sector of the inhabitants of the galaxy has long been able to infiltrate the life of the colony. All races want to keep their finger on the pulse of events.
Maria is working for the elves! His guardian has fallen into the bregan net! Lee rubbed his nose. What were the Eared Ones able to catch her on? How had the Bregan recruited her? What could they offer her of value? He cannot ask her. He would have to keep that secret.
Lee Long did not think of the Europe 9 men as traitors. He planned to use Europe 9 to his advantage.
Maria was familiar. Lee suddenly realized that Gran-Maran didn't die for nothing. Now Lee could get Maria for himself. She's a specialist. He has leverage on the woman. With that, he could have a modest plan.
But the tastiest information made Lee Long think very seriously.
Gran-Maran had a planet of the cover! The spy was certain that the coordinates of the planet were known only to him. Zagran made the long journey to the unknown planet. His ship made an FTL jump beyond the known regions of the galaxy. The Wild Abyss. The unexplored regions of space. The flight lasted five days. The spy conducted a study of the planet.
The planet with type A atmosphere. Suitable for living and breathing for most sentient races. The atmosphere contains insignificant amounts of harmful impurities and gases. Flora is widespread and vegetation produces oxygen. The fauna is richly diverse. The assemblage of animal species includes dangerous predators of various kinds. The land surface occupies just over 45% of the planet's surface, Three continents are covered with motley grass meadows, virgin forests, verdant hills, rugged swamps, and small lakes. Wild grasslands are separated by old mountain ranges. The oceans and numerous inland seas have provided ideal conditions for the emergence of diverse flora and fauna. The place can utilize its resources and produce enough food for a large population. Examination of the surface revealed a supply of valuable resources. The planet could successfully support modern industrial-type technology. Gran-Maran droids discovered deposits of M-crystal and Power Stones. One polar cap.
No representatives of sentient life were detected.
This information could have been a decisive fact in Lee Long's development. He could begin to realize some of his fantasies. Five days of FTL flight! It took about 13 days to fly a normal transport from the edge of explored space to the central sectors of the galaxy. It was a long journey of a pirate and a criminal. Normal and law-abiding sentient beings used the large portals. A network of transport portals linked all sectors of the Alliance. Travel time was limited only by delays in obtaining a safe corridor and passing checkpoints.
The flight from the planet Europe 9 to the capital planet Ferin took 30 hours in hyperspace. Between the capitals of Ferin, Bregan, and Shade sectors the flight lasted about 2 days.
The boy liked the idea of looking into a distant corner of the Galaxy.
But how to leave the colony for a week? His engine would shorten the travel time, but it would take at least a week!
Lee Long began to think about how to legally get the opportunity to be away from the colony for a long time. It was a bad idea! It could affect his reputation. He needed a strong cover.
The boy hid the dead spy's body in his inventory and left the inn. He had had a busy day.
For more than seven hours he flew around the various corners of the capital and took in the inheritance.
First of all, Lee cleared all available spy accounts and replenished his piggy bank in his inventory. 4,817,460 credits allowed for large and important purchases. Then Lee busied himself with the agent's hiding places and hangars. He visited two hangars and discovered two ships. The medium transport and the small scout accepted the passwords and allowed the new owner to take control. Lee transported the prey to their new berths. He did all the work in a fey body and used a fake ID. Moving to the new property began with security measures.
The first major purchase was a droid with a powerful program to find and eliminate bugs and viruses in the hardware. Lee Long could have used the Zagran spy's hardware. But he did not allow himself such foolishness. Undoubtedly, the droid anti-hacker and slicer with the production license of Ferin himself kept spyware in the program. Lee had no expert hacker or slicer acquaintance. The duelist could only rely on the system. He bought an expensive model SH 9extra4 droid and stashed it in his inventory. The droid was shaped like an insect and resembled a scorpion. It cost 112,000 credits. That was serious money for serious hardware.
The spy's hangars had no supplies or containers. All supplies were stored on the ships. Lee immediately pulled a droid from his inventory and gave the command to check the ship. The droid swung its manipulators and began work. The scorpion's reports were not encouraging. The droid found strange tabs in the onboard computer program, in the engine hardware, and the electronic protection complex. This droid possessed a set of tools to produce subtle and rough handling of the hardware. Lee trusted his assistant and ordered all trouble removed from his new ship. The first ship turned out to be a transport and the boy took no chances. He did the cleanup at the site of the old ship's parking lot. He was afraid of an explosion. Who knows what protective measures an experienced spy applied? The boy left the hangar room and waited outside for the results. The communicator allowed contact with SH 9extra4. It took about an hour to get things in order and rent a new hangar to hide the first ship. SH 9extra4 worked with the small scout for over an hour. The small hull of the ship and all its contents were stuffed with sensors and tabs that were not part of the standard programs and instruments. Lee Long didn't take the risk of worrying about the functionality of the instrumentation. Scorpion ran on four paws over the scout and without pity cut out and destroyed unpleasant and strange additions to the ship's electronics and technology.
It took four hours to visit the agent's shelters and safe houses. One apartment was in the middle district of the capital. One establishment on the lower level was a regular bar with rooms on the second floor. One den was in the underground city of Ferin. Lee collected all the interesting and valuable items from the apartment. The droid assisted in finding the hiding places. It's software and hardware could scan the surface material. Lee opened the caches he found and replenished his piggy bank and his supply of information chips. Now he could use SH 9extra4 and carefully crack the passwords on the chips. Unfortunately, the loot in the apartment was too heavy. The boy hadn't even shrugged off the food processor and the chemical toilet. The winner takes it all! But first, he has to unload his inventory.
"Hanzo Hasashi, you will do the dirty work. We need to get rid of one scumbag's body." typed Lee into the communications channel with the assistant. He thought to make an addition to the droid. A miniature vocoder would allow the scorpion to respond Get over here! A mood-enhancing moment would be added to Lee Long's uneasy life. The boy thought like a simple hunter. The body should be divided into pieces and buried in different parts of the dungeon. SH 9extra4 showed his skill and the complete primitive thinking abilities of a child of a sentient race. The droid had a full set of directives for cleaning up and removing hazardous materials.
"No object detected for the cleanup event," the droid responded.
Lee looked at the message and retrieved the spy's body from his inventory. SH 9extra4 quickly ran up to the corpse and issued a report,
"Twelve cybernetic objects detected. 7 objects associated with the increased threat. Possible detonation of material."
"Remove the hazardous objects," typed Lee's order.
SH 9extra4 began working with two manipulators and a tail at once. The droid neatly cut out the pods and other foreign additions to the body of the zagran. Lee was uncomfortable watching this bloody work.
Suddenly his communicator received an emergency signal from the droid,
"Object activity detected! The danger of detonation!"
The boy jumped up to the droid and put it away in his inventory. He ran out of the room and it saved his life. An explosion shook the building! Lee couldn't keep his feet and fell to the floor of the hallway. The building debris hit the boy's body. "Status!"
[Lee Long
Race: Earthman.
Type: Duelist. Mage.
Level: 21. 797700/839800
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 4
Intelligence: 30
Endurance: 30
Health: 68/300
Mana: 21/300]
Healing! Healing! Healing! Healing! Healing! Healing! Healing!
Lee drained all his mana to restore his health and felt better. He got to his feet. And slowly walked to the exit of the building. Next to him ran anxious cats and kittens. Ferin loudly expressed their feelings. Outrage and anxiety, curiosity, and fear. Lee thought only of how lucky he was. Silly lucky. He was lucky that the droid weighed less than a dead spy's body! The overload in his inventory wouldn't let him get off the ground! It was the first time he'd ever taken that kind of damage. The vile Gran-Maran retaliated even after death. Zagran is a dangerous race. Lee whispered angrily,
"I hope the explosion sent all the molecules of your body into the Wild Abyss! Greedy! I only wanted to use your chemical toilet."