The flight towards Seka was a silent one. Neither Robin nor Patience tried to start any conversation, both were busy with their own thoughts. Only hours later, when the first buildings of Seka came into view, Robin broke the silence.
“I’m sorry Patience, this wasn’t the trip I had in mind when we first left the city.”
“Yeah, I figured as much. Would be strange if this was your idea of a fun adventure. It’s okay, wasn’t your fault. I just need some time to think everything through. That was a hell of a trip for my first story, but at least I’ll have a good tale to tell, when visiting The Weary Traveler again. The old geezers will probably never believe it.” she tiredly chuckled.
“How are your injuries? Did the first aid kit help?” Robin shifted the focus on her bullet wound, which she tried to patch up after their flight became smoother.
“Nothing to worry about,” she said, “it went through without hitting the bone or an artery. Boxing made me learn a bit about nursing my injuries. Well, it’s the first time I’ve been shot, so who knows?”
“I would offer to drop you off at a hospital, but…” Robin hesitated to continue and Patience noticed that he dropped the ship’s speed to a crawl, just before entering the city.
“But…?” she pressed on, “What’s wrong? More problems incoming?”
“You could say so, yes. When we enter the city and notify Flight Control, it’s likely that the corridor we’ll get won’t take us home.”
“They know?”
“Yup, one of the greenhouses systems sent an identification request that was automatically answered. I assume we will be led directly to Seka Security for questioning.”
“What a pain.” she sighed “Just fly in and let’s get this over with. We won’t be able to avoid it anyways and we didn’t do anything wrong, right?”
“No, there is no avoiding the authorities.” Robin confirmed and accelerated again. A few moments later, he checked them in at Flight Control and was told to wait.
*beep*
“For your ship a notification request has been made by Seka Security, please hold your position and wait for further instructions” he heard the artificial voice over the radio. Robin stopped Melody II and hovered over the first buildings of the city. He used the time to do another check of its systems. One thruster was still offline, the vents in the rear broken and fuel was running low, but the rest seemed to be stable.
*beep*
“Please follow the assigned corridor to the nearest Seka Security branch. Estimated time until arrival: 1 hour and 22 minutes. Have a nice day, citizen.”
***
Exactly 1 hour and 22 minutes later Robin landed the Melody on the roof of a huge building in the center of Nexus Haven. It was one of the plain skyscrapers one could see everywhere in residential districts and housed different branches of governmental institutions.
After he shut down the repulsor and turned the ship’s power off, Robin and Patience got out and stood in front of a stern-looking officer.
The man was in his 50s and wore the formal attire of Seka Security, white trousers, blue jacket and a blue cap. The crest of Rucasur on his arms identified him as middle ranked governmental personnel.
“My name is Landom Walzor, team leader of the security unit for area 745 - that's the one you made a mess in. Please follow me, I would like to ask you some questions.”
The official introduced himself politely and began to lead the way inside without waiting for any response.
“Mr. Walzor, I’m Robin Tulward and naturally we will answer any of your questions and explain what has happened. Before we move on, may I ask for some little help?” Robin asked, without moving from his spot.
“I’m sure that could wait for later, won’t it?” Walzor stopped and turned his head, slightly irritated.
“Well, Sir, no I don’t think so. First of all, as you can see, my friend here is injured. We only had some simple first aid kit on our way, so please get a doctor to take a look at her first. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be at ease while helping you.” Robin had to set the priorities right while trying not to sweat because of his nerves. Patience threw him a thankful glance.
“Oh, um… yes, of course, sorry.” Walzor exclaimed and his stern facade crumbled easier than Robin had expected. Seems like they weren’t really in deep trouble.
“I’ll get her to our facility's medcenter, while we start our talk, ok? What was your other concern?” he asked and looked a bit friendlier.
Awkwardly scratching his neck, Robin pointed at the ship. “You’ve changed our corridor and we now are nearly out of fuel. Can you give her a little sip? I dunno how else I would be able to get over to Quantum Forge District later…”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“I’ll see what we can do. Now follow me please.” Walzor said and walked into the building and the stairs to an elevator.
They moved down a few floors first, where Patience was received by a woman in nurse attire. Afterwards, the elevator took Robin and Walzor back up some levels and after walking through many hallways, they entered a small, square room with a table in its center and windows to the left and right.
They were made with one way see-through glass, like those Robin saw many times on his way. These windows allowed the people inside to look through, but no one from the outside was able to peek in. This made the rooms feel more open and friendly, without the risk of leaking information, when outsiders like Robin or Patience walked by.
“Do you want anything to drink before we begin?” Walzor asked while he tapped on his datapad a few times.
“No thanks, I’m fine and just want to get it over with.” Robin honestly replied.
“Okay, our conversation will be recorded, your body language monitored for reactions and I hereby inform you of the obligation to speak only the truth in an official interview with Seka Security. Ah yes and your ship will be refueled while we talk, so do not worry about your way home.”
“Thanks a lot! So, how do we do this? Never been in a situation like now.”
“You are Robin Tulward, licensed owner of the ship ‘Melody II’?” Walzor began his questions.
“Yes, I work at a workshop in Quantum Forge District and built the custom model there.”
“That was your first registered flight, where did you go and what happened in area 745, where the explosion took place?”
The questions continued from there on and Robin tried to answer everything as detailed as possible. When he talked about going to the relic site, he mentioned that he had found rumors about it online and thought it would be a good place to go for his first trip, which was more or less the truth and also what he had told Patience. He thought about hiding the fact that he had to crack the door, but ultimately it wasn’t like some big crime to go into abandoned alien facilities. So he put his cards on the table in hope to gain some points for honesty.
After that, his story became more erratic, a bit more inconsistent. His mind was playing cruel tricks as he tried to remember what had happened. Walzor caught on to that, but didn’t press too much. Seka Security was already on its way to the facility and would confirm his story, no need to push the obviously traumatized young man more than necessary.
Robin was surprised by one question that he should be able to easily answer but could only blankly stare at.
What happened to the weapon he used?
He couldn’t remember at all.
Finishing his narration of the day, he even pulled out his datapad to show the official the pictures he took in the smugglers den. He had totally forgotten about that before and used it to prove his story.
Robin gained big from that move, as Walzor immediately recognized the building's style and could associate it with the Vanguard.
That wasn’t the original name of that race, but one given to them by the Starborn, after they forced their whole species into servitude. The humanoid people didn’t look much different than humans today or the Starborn at that and were mostly sent in the border wars as a meat shield.
Vanguards often also attended the big families and clans for menial services. That’s why everyone else began to call them The Servants. When the Starborn vanished, the Vanguards hoped to regain their freedom, but were quickly hunted down and completely eradicated by the other races. They feared the Starborn may return soon and wanted to cut off one of their limbs as chance was given.
‘One more riddle of the map solved, one more entry for the new legend’ he noted to himself.
After the lengthy interview, Robin met up with Patience for a moment. She did look much better now and was going to have her questioning after him. Seka Security promised her a ride home afterwards, so he could already leave.
Giving her a hug, he said his goodbyes and was taken back to the roof where his fully refueled ship was waiting. Robin flew over to Jim's workshop and parked Melody II in her usual spot before taking the train home.
He was in need of a long sleep.
***
“Walzor, how did it go?” A well-trained man in the same Seka Security uniform stepped out of a neighboring room, after Landom walked by. The crest on his arms revealed him to be of a higher rank.
“Sir, I just saw the girl off. She fared better than the boy, but was also quite disturbed. They clearly were traumatized by the things they experienced. I do believe their story and the analysis also didn’t give any indication that they were lying.”
“But…?” Walzors superior asked, after hearing the lingering undertone.
“But while I don’t think they lied or have any ulterior motives, something still feels off…” He tried to sort his thoughts.
“Like what? The Fast Response Unit already sent word and what they found did match with the kid’s story. Some smugglers took over, all dead or fled.”
“Sir, when have you ever heard of anyone leaving the city to do some exploration and finding two different alien sites in one day? They aren’t a secret, but I have never seen anything about their locations online.” Walzor reasoned.
“They were looking for something?” His superior caught on.
“Yes, Sir, I do think so. There is nothing left to uncover on Rucasur, so I really want to know what they are searching for and where they got their information from.”
“Okay, keep an eye on them. However, don't waste too much time on this until you have some solid leads. We already have enough other things on our desk.”
“Yes Sir, it will be done. Thank you.” Walzor gave a light bow and hurried off. While his boss was right and they had more then enough cases to deal with, he would at least check in on the technocrafter's movements every now and then.
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[*** Map Legend ***] Δ Mountain ✮ Wuranger Site ✲ Vanguard Facility ✳ unknown ✸ unknown ❂ unknown ❉ unknown