Edmund sat in the couch in the café, his hands gripping tightly onto the faux-leather hand-rests. In his ears, he heard the sound of Merrion climbing down the ladder she had gestured to him over the video feed. Step by careful step, Edmund watched as Merrion descended down the ladder, before –
Suddenly, the video and audio cut out completely, changing to the monotonic buzz of static. Edmund almost leapt out of his couch in shock, luckily managing to restrain himself from reacting in an excessive manner. A voice came in over the audio feed, not the anticipated energetic tone of Merrion, but rather the more familiar yet less-desired deeper voice of Jeyga.
Jeyga: "The video and audio are gone."
Edmund: "What happened?"
Jeyga: "Unsure. She might have gone past the range of the concealed transmitter. That, or electromagnetic interference. I can't tell you for sure what's – "
Edmund: "You should have anticipated this! Tsk…you should have –"
Jeyga: "What, that there'd be a concealed elevator and ladder shaft inside some random religious order's place of worship? Of course not, you fool!"
Edmund: "Damn it all! Any clue where that shaft leads to?"
Jeyga: "Well, if it's descending, it most likely leads to the basement network of maintenance corridors and serviceways. For a ship like the Tainah, I might be able to find a map –"
Edmund: "Find it! Now."
Jeyga: "Already on it. Jeez, stop cutting me off."
The sound of typing coming from Jeyga's end of the channel formed a background to Edmund's own thoughts. He considered his options. Wait for Jeyga to finish the search for a map or go straight to breaking down the front doors and following after Merrion. Edmund let go of the couch, the imprints on the faux-leather from the grip of his hands slowly returning to their normal state. He flexed his grip as he decided to –
Edmund: "How much longer?"
Jeyga: "To what?"
Edmund: "The map, dammit. How much longer before you have it?"
Jeyga: "Hard to say, it's –"
Edmund: "Too long, I'm going in now."
Jeyga: "Don't! You'll blow your cover if you storm in now!"
Edmund wanted to agree with Jeyga, but right now, the only thing on his mind was to ensure that Merrion was safe. If they had planned properly for this, this wouldn't have happened! Edmund's mind boiled over, considering the myriad possibilities that awaited Merrion if the basement tunnels of the Tainah, a relatively newer ship, were anything like those he had experienced back in his youth, so many decades ago. All of the thoughts that stampeded through his head lead him to a single conclusion.
Edmund (thinking): It was not safe down there.
Edmund: "Do you expect me to wait while any number of things could happen to her?"
Edmund, in a half-whisper, still managed to convey the whirlwind of emotion he was experiencing over to Jeyga even through the purely audio link between the two of them. There was a reason why the two of them had been close for the last century, and it wasn't due to their dissimilar work ethics and outlooks on life.
Jeyga: "No, I expect you to trust me while I do what only I can. There, check your communicator."
Edmund flicked open his communicator, inspecting the digital transmission freshly sent to him from Jeyga. The file rendered itself on his communicator's screen in a two-dimensional projection, but Edmund could easily see that the actual schematic was a three-dimensional network of passages. Amongst the myriad snaking lines and twisting tubes within the schematic, one had a blue line starting from the surface, making its way down to a sharp 90-degree turn, and then going out at a path perpendicular to the surface before stopping.
Jeyga: "The blue line, which I assume you've already noticed, is the path we expect your dear colleague to have definitely taken. It stops at that first 4-way intersection because after that, I can't guarantee which path she'll have taken."
Edmund: "How do I get to that first intersection?"
Jeyga: "Simple."
Edmund watched, as a red line started from where the blue line ended, making a sharp turn to the right and winding through a network of crisscrossed tunnels and ladders before arriving at a location.
Jeyga: "Head to that place. I've marked it on the diagram, and it should be nearby. Relatively speaking, of course."
Edmund: "Give me all the intel on the location."
Jeyga: "It's an abandoned apartment complex. Looks like an entrance to the tunnel network is located in the bank's basement."
Edmund: "It's too far from here. I'll just enter through the building."
Edmund got up from the couch, walked over to the shop counter and paid for his drink, swiping his communicator across their payment pad. A shrill *beep* issued forth, registering the transfer of funds. Edmund pushed open the door to the café, a small set of bells chiming as the door moved past him as he stepped out onto the central road and beheld the building before him. Jeyga, with impeccable timing, chimed back in over the channel.
Jeyga: "Listen here, Ed. We don't know if there are any members of the "Children" who are nearby and are watching your movements right now. We don't know how many surveillance devices may or may not be in the vicinity. There are too many unknowns. What I do know is that the path I found for you is the fastest way through the known network, and once you reach that intersection, you can probably track her movements easily. If you break into their building without a warrant, we'll all get hell from the Admiralty. So quit your yapping and haul your ass over to the entrance."
Edmund: "Goddamn –"
Edmund swore under his breath and with a final look, he registered the designated location into his brain and dashed off towards his destination. Down the road he ran, his steps echoing down the street in both directions with the only illumination being a dim twilight glow from the Tainah's axial tube above. He mouthed a silent prayer, directed to no one in particular, as he ran.
Edmund (thinking): Merrion…Please be safe.
---
Sitting in his workspace aboard the Doyle and clad in one of his many identically coloured and impeccably tailored white-and-grey suits, Specialist Jeyga sighed. Yesterday, when he saw Edmund show up unexpectedly on the eight-thirty tram, on his day off no less, and together with Junior – no, he mentally corrected – Detective Merrion, who would normally be unauthorized for the eight-thirty, he had already suspected something was up. Seeing the two of them enter Inspector Zora's office together and the privacy lock engage only further fueled Jeyga's curiosity, and if not for the cybersecurity diagnostics that he had to run and monitor regularly, he would have loved to stay and wait until they had come out from Zora's office.
The events that had occurred earlier today had only further intensified Jeyga's suspicions. An encrypted message, albeit remarkably shoddily-encrypted (if he did say so himself), coming from one of their agents planted in the many gangs? If that were the only event, it would have been of no concern. The Fleet Investigators had many agents scattered throughout society and receiving an encrypted update from them was commonplace. But receiving it at six in the morning? From Edmund, directly? Hardly usual. Then Zora had hand-delivered to him a physical evidence bag. That had set off his alarm bells.
Jeyga pushed himself away from his office table, its surface cluttered by all manner of digital terminals, colorful knickknacks, various tools, and stacked documents bound with staples. Atop his rotating office chair, Jeyga spun around, seeing his workspace rotate around him. In a corner of the room sat Jeyga's data interface, unused for around a month. Several paintings were securely fastened to the wall, depicting various scenes from ancient history. A ghostly-pale man aboard a naval ship of yore, his hands distorting his face into a ghastly scream. A woman, black-haired and in a black dress, her skin a shade of ivory, her smile enigmatic even after centuries. A field of crops, their golden colour contrasting against the blue sky and the silver moon above. All depictions of life on the surface of a planet. Jeyga smiled, the sight of his collection calming him down. Sure, they were high-quality replicas, but they were still worth every credit he had spent on them.
Jeyga watched one of the many terminals perched atop his desk. Its screen showed the very same three-dimensional schematic he had sent to Edmund, but this one was different, having a moving point labelled "EDMUND" atop it. Through this, Jeyga watched as Edmund made his way down the central road, before winding through several alleyways as he neared the abandoned apartment that he had indicated held the closest entrance to the tunnel network from the "Children's" building.
Jeyga (thinking): He'll make more noise once he reaches there.
Edmund was always like that, no matter how hard he tried to act like a dependable senior towards Merrion. Eventually, when placed under stress, Edmund's violent and nervous tendencies would eventually manifest. It was only a matter of time before it happened, and Jeyga considered it his duty to help do whatever he could to ensure that time was as long as possible. There was nothing he could do for the violent part, but perhaps he could still help on the other end.
Jeyga turned back to his table, to work on other tasks. The modified communicator, that Zora had told him was used by a gang of thugs to break into Edmund's apartment, sat half buried amongst several other objects on Jeyga's table, hooked up to two wires to another digital terminal running a program. Jeyga watched as his program tore through the hacking device's code to analyze its mechanism of action and its possible origins. It had been running continuously since Zora had first handed the device to him, several hours ago, and the progress meter was steadily approaching completion.
In his many decades with the Investigators, Jeyga had only rarely heard of devices that could directly interfere with digital systems. The vast majority of machinery and devices available onboard the Fleet were produced by various companies owned by the ten Fabricator clans: pseudo-nobles who had an almost-monopoly over technology within the Fleet. People were allowed to repair and modify technology which they owned, but only the Fabricators themselves really understood and could produce the technologies from recycled feedstock at the large scale. At least, that was what Jeyga knew of them. Each of the Ten clans were named after a colour, though whoever had chosen their names had decided that the Fleet tongue was insufficient and had given them a name from an ancient language.
Jeyga (thinking): Why wouldn't the thugs just use a physical breaching device instead?
Attempting to interfere with Fabricator technology ranged from extremely difficult, to near impossible. Surely it would have been more convenient and reliable, rather than attempt to circumvent the security protocols provided in the 8th sector by the Argyros clan, no? As that thought crossed Jeyga's mind, the analysis program beeped to signal its completion, and Jeyga began to read through the output log, hoping that he might find the answer within.
Jeyga scrolled through the output log. Slowly, his suspicions began to turn from unfounded hunches into concrete proof. It had taken hours to analyze the program embedded into the tool due to its complexity. But that was to be expected of a program directly originating from a Fabricator clan. The engineering, the metadata, all of it adding to the evidence that whoever had sent those thugs to attack Edmund and Merrion were very powerful and very invested in their goals.
Slowly, a shrewd smile began to grow on Jeyga's face. He would turn the weapons of the enemy against them. If the program were able to subvert security protocols made by the Fabricator Clans themselves, then surely, if he were to reverse engineer the program, he could add a useful tool to the arsenal of the Fleet Investigators. Jeyga's eyes lit up as he set himself to work, waiting for Edmund to eventually pester him when he met another obstacle.
---
Edmund panted heavily, each breath coming out from his mouth billowing into a small cloud of vapor as he stood, bent over with his hands on his knees. He had run as fast as he could towards the location Jeyga had designated for him, which turned out to be just another abandoned apartment complex. There appeared to be no one living here, and even if there were, it didn't matter to him.
Edmund navigated through the winding corridors that all sloped down in this decrepit complex, following the marker outlined for him in the three-dimensional map projection that Jeyga had sent him.
A slow wind blew through the winding corridors, a sign that at least the ventilation systems in this complex were working. Ventilation systems were essential for preventing the accumulation of toxic gases, which would inevitably buildup in confined spaces and render them lethal to all forms of life. That they were functioning was a double-edged sword. On the upside, Edmund could safely traverse these corridors. On the downside, others were sure to have the same idea.
Edmund passed by rooms filled with the tell-tale hallmarks of squatter dwellings. Lack of proper sanitation, hygiene, hoarding of personal effects. All these were evident to his eyes. As he walked down the corridors, occasionally when he rounded a corner, he spotted a shadow dash across the hallway. It was probably an unregistered child using the place for shelter. Edmund didn't believe in ghosts or any paranormal phenomena. There were things and people far more terrifying that any supernatural occurrence could be, and they were worse because they truly existed.
After several more minutes of navigation down more corridors that were mostly darkened, with the only illumination coming from motion-sensitive lights embedded in the ceiling above that flickered on and off again as he passed by, Edmund came to a door at the end of the corridor. He double checked his schematic, and found that this was, indeed, the entrance to the tunnel network.
Unlike the rest of the doors in the decrepit apartment complex, which were mostly in a non-functional state or already pried open with their internal mechanisms disabled or removed altogether, this door looked positively mundane, almost anomalously so. In fact, it was the lone door in this entire complex that seemed to still be working. A lone keypad was embedded in its frame.
Edmund retrieved his communicator from within the depths of his coat. He enabled the seal of the Admiralty and tried to disable the lock on the door. A constant stream of error tones rang out from the internal mechanisms of the door regardless of whatever he did to unlock the door. Edmund was growing enraged by the door's constant denial of his attempts to persuade it to open up for him, and he tried to kick the door in. When that failed to yield results he tried to punch the door, and that also failed to even dent the door.
It appeared that the reason why this door, alone amongst its compatriots in this decrepit apartment complex, still stood unmolested and unopened was due to the strength of both its physical makeup and its electronic locking.
Edmund fiddled with his communicator, trying to get Jeyga's attention through its microphone.
Edmund: "Jeyga? JEYGA!"
---
Jeyga's vision snapped back into focus upon hearing Edmund's voice pour through his speakers. He looked around himself and realized that he was so deeply focused on his task of reverse-engineering the door hack tool that he hadn't realized that Edmund had been shouting for him. The voice feed had gone completely quiet to the point that Jeyga had thought that Edmund's link was also broken, but it looked like that wasn't the case. Edmund had just been absolutely silent. Now that he was needed again, Jeyga slipped the throat mike back onto his neck and replied to his noisy counterpart.
Jeyga: "Greetings! What can I –"
Edmund: "The door –"
Jeyga: "Ah yes I've already completed the –"
Edmund: "Shut up! I've reached the door to the tunnel network. Its locked, and I can't open it up."
Jeyga: "Hmm, going by the error logs on your communicator, its locked by Argyros protocols."
Edmund: "Damn! Not them!"
Jeyga: "Indeed. Fabricator Clan protocols are notoriously unbreakable, even by technological geniuses."
Edmund: "Then, what do we do now? It's not like you can –"
Jeyga: "Circumvent Fabricator-made security codes? Why, of course I can!"
There was a sudden silence, and Jeyga could almost picture the look of stunned astonishment on Edmund's face. A feeling of smug superiority surged through Jeyga, permeating through his entire being before fading as quickly. With a few practiced keystrokes across his console, Jeyga transmitted the reverse-engineered program over secure channels to Edmund's communicator.
Edmund: "How did you –"
Jeyga: "C'mon Ed. Who the hell do you think you're talking to? I've sent the program over to you. You can thank whoever sent those thugs to your apartment. Reverse-engineering their tech gave me this program. I may be a technological genius, but I'm not a miracle worker."
Again, silence. Jeyga could picture Edmund considering the implications of what he had just said. This time, there was no time for Jeyga to bask in his smugness. Edmund had to be warned. For all his capabilities, there were some things that were hard coded into the program which Jeyga could not understand enough to fully rework. The actual mechanism by which the program worked to circumvent the security protocols was one such 'black box' which Jeyga had to just accept and work with, embracing both its capabilities and its one, main drawback.
Jeyga: "Now listen up. The hack will only work temporarily, and once you go through the door it will probably lock behind you. And that's not all. Once you use the hack, your communicator will probably be disabled for a while. The hacking tool had extra machinery attached, most likely to cope with this effect. Before you use it, better make any arrangements for backup. Got it?"
Edmund: "Got it."
Jeyga: "Well then, Ed. Anyone you want to talk to?"
Edmund: "Patch me through to the bitch who convinced me that this was a good idea."
Jeyga (thinking): Ah, so it was her fault.
Jeyga chuckled loudly enough that even Edmund could hear him. There was no response, predictably. The two of them understood each other enough to know that Jeyga was laughing with, not at, Edmund.
Jeyga: "Understood! Patching you to Inspector Zora in three, two, one –"
There was a burst of static, then a faint crackling noise as the system routed itself from Jeyga's terminal over to its new endpoint, Zora's office. Edmund winced slightly, then waited for Zora's voice to come in over his earpiece. Soon enough, after several seconds the unintelligible noise coalesced into the recognizable, husky tones of Inspector Zora.
Zora: "Edmund? What's the matter?"
Edmund: "Everything's the matter! Did Jeyga tell you anything yet?"
Zora: "No, nothing yet. What's happened?"
Edmund: "Merrion disappeared into the Tainah's subsurface tunnel network, I've lost connection with her, and now I'm also going to enter the tunnel network as well. Jeyga's told me that my communicator will be rendered unusable for a while, so I am requesting –"
Edmund took good care to place extra emphasis on that word.
Edmund: "– that you send backup to my entry point. Jeyga can provide you more details."
Zora: "Look Edmund, you know as much as I that we're low on manpower, and right now we can't afford to divert any more people to –"
Edmund: "The hell do I care that you can't afford to do what?! Remember that you're the one who convinced me to let Merrion go in on her own! If anything happens to her because of your decision, then you best be prepared to have one more, very angry problem on your hands! Send me some goddamn backup!"
Zora sighed audibly across the channel. She had been working with Edmund long enough to know that when he was under immense stress, a less savory side of his vocabulary came out. He knew to restrain himself in the presence of others, but at times like these, nothing could hold him back, even before a superior officer. This was a particular failing of Edmund's that was only tolerated by Zora, who accepted this as the trade-off for his unique traits in other aspects.
Zora: "…fine, I'll make it happen. Go save your partner. Zora, out."
There was a burst of static followed by a return to Jeyga's playful tones.
Jeyga: "You know, you might be the only person other than Mordecai who can talk to Inspector Zora like that. How do you even walk with balls like those?"
Edmund: "Shut up."
Edmund took a quick breath to calm himself.
Edmund: "Also, thanks."
A small chuckle came in over the earpiece. Edmund cracked a slight grin as he gripped his communicator, toggling through its controls until he found the program. In the communicator display, it simply used an icon for a generic application, an innocuous and unassuming image of a piece of paper.
Edmund: "hack01? What kind of name is that? How do I use it?"
Jeyga: "Generic name. Simply click, and remember the side effect, Ed."
Edmund: "Gotcha. I'm counting on you."
Edmund clicked on the icon. As the program began to run, he began to feel heat building up inside his communicator, spreading out from the metal of the device into his palms.
Edmund (thinking): The extra devices bolted on to the hacking tool were probably cooling mechanisms.
It was lucky that he could hold on to this without dropping it in pain, unlike any normal human. While his communicator swelled with heat, Edmund watched as the sealed doorway began to beep furiously, the tones rising and rising to a fevered crescendo until at last, a final single, noticeably different tone was emitted, and the door receded into a slot in the wall with a loud crashing sound.
Edmund looked at his communicator, still clutched in his hands. He held the device at arm's length, easily feeling the heat from the device hitting his face. He would probably need to hold it until it cooled down, for it would definitely burn his coat if he were to stash it away now. Before him, the now open door gaped open, like a mouth yawning into a void. Dust coated the walls and floor: evidence that nothing had been down this passageway in a long, long time.
Edmund stepped forth into the musty tunnels, retrieving a flashlight stashed away in his cloak and using it to illuminate the path forward. Not long after he entered the tunnels, he heard the same crashing noise from earlier echoing from the entrance down the narrow passageway, which was barely tall enough for him to walk upright in. That sound of the door closing behind him, meant that he was well and truly sealed inside.
There was only one way forward for Edmund; a single path towards his destination.
Towards Merrion.