The reek of machine oil mixed with too-often recycled oxygen hung heavy in the air as Nicodemus made his way through the cramped corridor at the far end of Binary Bloom. The occasional gurgling of water or other liquids in pipes running along the ceiling was like the beating heart of the pirate outpost to his ears. His steps echoed along the metal walls and ceiling, and along the tracks set into the floor used by heavy carrier drones. Nobody had made the effort to make this section anything but functional.
He knew the station like the palm of his hand, being its semi-official head. Moving around confidently, he finally reached his destination: A nondescript storage depot, its heavy metal door ajar. The light shining into the corridor was much more bright than the sparse lighting on the metal walls that Nicodemus was passing.
He turned into the storage and found it about two-thirds empty, with a number of unmarked boxes filling up the back part and a small table and four chairs along one wall. Yezz was sitting in one of the chairs, tapping on her tablet computer, a mug in front of her on the table. She looked up as Nicodemus entered and gave him a nod.
He closed the heavy door behind him, making sure that its air-tight seals closed fully.
„Yezzania.“, he simply said as a greeting, using her full name.
„Nico“, she answered, gesturing towards the chairs opposite her. Nobody on Binary Bloom called their governor using his full name. Well, not until recently when the Erulas marines showed up and made a point of being official and formal.
Yezz leaned back in her chair. „I know what you want and why. My office isn’t remote enough for this. But no, I never reveal my buyers. That is one of the reasons they trust me. Besides, most of the time I don’t even know myself who the final buyer is, because I work with a network of people like me, buying and selling. A given item, especially alien tech, might go through half a dozen hands before it reaches whoever is ultimately purchasing it.“
Nicodemus sighed, moving over and putting himself into an empty chair. „Could at least let me sit down before you break the bad news.“
„It is you,“, she replied with a sly smile dancing over her lips, „who is asking inappropriate questions.“
„I didn’t even… I mean, you gave the answer before I had even asked. But yes, I want to know what we are dealing with and with whom we are dealing. Yezzania, I have marines breathing down my neck and government heads on the line demanding answers. We’ve all kept this station out of trouble with the authorities by being useful to them. Plausible deniability and all that. What I mean to say is: We exist because this way they can cry about us being evil criminals and there’s nothing they can do when the aliens your crews plunder complain about it.“
Yezz sat up straight, and the smile had disappeared from her face. In her best business woman tone of voice she answered: „I am acutely aware of that. We both know that most of the alien tech I trade in eventually ends up in the hands of someone official. Someone who can’t be found dead in the vicinity of pirates, but has a desire to obtain some tech that the aliens aren’t selling to humans. Or not in large enough quantities.“
She took a deep breath and relaxed a little. „Nico, I don’t know myself. The crew came back from what we all thought was an ordinary job. Instead of me finding a buyer, one of my regulars contacted me and asked about it, offering a solid deal. It’s not much of a secret when crews leave on a job and timings are fairly regular, so it wouldn’t take much guesswork to know another hyper core is likely to appear on the market.“
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Nicodemus nodded, waited for her to continue but she didn’t. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke up: „What told you that there’s more to it?“
She picked up her mug and took a sip before answering his question. „That the order was not for a hyper core, you know, any hyper core, but specifically for this one. Not that… I mean it doesn’t have a name, but he was specific about the timing and region of space where it was acquired. About ten days after the heist. At that time the crew was still in outer space. How could he know?“
„Not the only oddity happening with this particular loot.“, Nicodemus completed the thought. „You also mentioned Elias Thorne making an offer. He might be doing a deal here and there under the radar, but there’s no way he has such connections.“
He trailed off, and nobody filled the silence that ensued. „Something is off with him.“, Nicodemus finally continued, stating the obvious plainly. „My intuition tells me he isn’t telling us the whole story. And I don’t mean the usual omissions and secrets everyone on Bloom has.“
„Agreed“, Yezz said, „After I heard the story from Red, I had my office searched for bugs by a trustworthy guy who is really good in surveillance tech. He found nothing. Elias didn’t know because he eavesdropped on me.“
Nicodemus pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes in thought. „Look, this is not the usual business. Bend some of your rules for me, Yezz. We need to get to the bottom of this before the marines cause even more trouble, or the other planets decide to send in their own guys just because. I have four supply haulers en route with food and goods we need. If they turn them back, things will become more than just inconvenient.“
Yezzania examined Nicodemus carefully. Her eyes wandered over his face, shoulders, arms, hands. After long seconds stretching out she exhaled and looked him straight in the eyes. „You’re right. This is a danger to all of us. But I’m sorry that I can’t help as much as you probably think. There were too many coincidences, so I sent Red and her crew somewhere they can get a lab report on the thing. They should be on their way back by now. A couple of days and we’ll know more.“
„We don’t have a couple of days!“, Nicodemus exclaimed, stressing every word. „Marines are here on the station today. People want answers now. People who I don’t want to piss off. People who can send more marines, or battleships, or whatever they think it takes.“
He stood up, quickly enough that the chair almost toppled over. „Yezz, I need something, anything. I’ve been playing for time and diddling around as much as I can but that’s limited.“
The governor of Binary Bloom began pacing up and down near the table, his fingers drumming his hips. „They think we are hiding it, or trying to play them against each other. Or whatever they think. Fact is, part of me is happy that the marines don’t let anyone exit or leave, because otherwise there’d be a good chance I could be sitting in one of those unused, soundproof storages next door, tied to a chair, with one of those Dangorod spies interrogating me. With a blunt object in one hand and a scalpel in the other.“
„Oh please.“, Yezz tilted her head, „Don’t be so dramatic. I’ve heard they have quite effective drugs these days. Plus, of course, direct stimulation of the pain center.“
„Very reassuring, thank you.“
„Anyway. I got it. Not a fan of holding a hot potato myself. I’ll get you something. I’m just worried about the interception risk.“
„How many aliens do you think“, Nicodemus said very slowly, „don’t already know way more about this core than any human lab can figure out? The only secret in all of this is where the damn thing is.“
„You think our friendly next-door governments know what they are looking for?“
Nicodemus turned around, looking straight at Yezz. „That’s a good question. By the pressure output I experience I figured yes they do. But thinking of it, they never mentioned any specifics. They might be in the same place as us - knowing that it’s not an ordinary core, but not knowing why and what.“
„If you’re right with that,“, Yezz began.
„Then any information we can get about it gives us an advantage.“, Nicodemus continued.
„And a possible bargaining chip!“, Yezz completed the sentence, excited.