2nd District, Tseludia Station, Pantheonic Territory, Fourthmonth, 1634 PTS
Eli Dan was in a relaxed pose, leaning back on the railing in a nonchalant manner. This was not a tactic he would normally use, preferring to sit in a place like a restaurant or a bookstore, where lengthy stays would not be so unusual. However, this was the second district. There were very few restaurants serving food to Seiyal, their place taken by the nutrient bathhouses for the Staiven. Similarly, there were few bookstores, as the practice of collecting physical books had waned among the Staiven far more than it had among his own people.
This was a place for the Staiven, and its residents felt no need to cater to the needs of outsider races.
He had considered pretending to check the wares of the stores, but in the second district, the corporate heart of Tseludia, many of the stores refused to sell to certain races such as Seiyal. It was felt that they would not be able to comprehend the technology on display.
As much as he was incensed by the discrimination, Eli had to admit that in his case they were correct. Glancing into a nearby electronics store, he was unable to recognize even a single item on sale.
He sighed, glancing around the street in search of the informant he had come here to speak with.
Despite the lacking amenities for other races, it was not unusual for the passerby in the second district to be of any race, as this was where business transactions with the larger Staiven corporations generally occurred.
As such, Eli’s loitering, while slightly suspicious, was not distinctly notable. It would start becoming notable if he spent too much time doing it, however.
He pulled out his terminal, checking the time. His contact was later than they had said they would be. Eli sighed in annoyance, using the terminal’s reflective screen as a mirror to fix his hair. In the process of doing so, he glanced around and finally saw the informant he was looking for, approaching him while looking shiftily to either side. It seemed she was worried about being trapped or followed. The corner of Eli’s mouth curled upwards in amusement.
This informant was a Staiven woman, one who had been introduced to him by an old friend from his days in the corporate school. Those days were also when he learned the Staiven language, and were thus proving doubly useful for him. Apparently, this woman worked with the Retirement Office, and was desperate for money to pay off her medical debts. He expected her to be easy to deal with.
Eli was, of course, aware that Staiven did not actually have sexes, at least in the same way that most races did. Still, it was difficult to remember this matter given how tightly the general appearance of most Staiven conformed to such norms. If it were not for her flaky yellow skin that oozed slightly and the moist, pure blue orbs she had in place of eyes, she could almost have been mistaken for a female Seiyal.
She continued to look around, eyes flagging on him. For a moment she hesitated, so Eli met her gaze with a smile. Warily, she approached him.
“You’re the…”
Her voice trailed off as she hunched slightly. It was clear that she was scared of speaking frankly in such a public space. Eli personally found such places to be among the safest. He widened his smile and raised his hands slightly in a conciliatory manner.
“No need to be worried. You’re the one Kae introduced to me, correct?”
After a pause, she gave him a subtle nod.
“You’ll pay me for the information, right?” she said, glancing around nervously.
Eli shifted his expression, giving her a more comforting smile, one that belied the predatory nature of his internal emotions. Even just by choosing to meet with him she had accepted the bait. It was time to reel her in.
“Of course,” he replied.
He leaned in slightly closer to her. He was unsure if unconscious power moves such as that impacted Staiven psychology the way it did Seiyal, but he felt it was worth the try.
She seemed conflicted, so he spoke some more.
“How about this? Three thousand serite to tell me, and if the information is truly as good as you say, a full eight thousand?”
Her lips quivered in hesitation, and a small bead of liquid ran down the side of her forehead, dripping across her cheek.
“A-alright, but shouldn’t we do this somewhere else?”
Eli shrugged.
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“Fine with me. I would have preferred to speak inside, but you’re the one who insisted on speaking in the second district. My people aren’t exactly accommodated here.”
She shifted uneasily on her feet.
“I-I’ll show you to my house.”
“Perfect.”
She led Eli to a townhome a few layers below where they stood, just a single stack over. In truth, Eli had already known its location, as well as her full identity. Her name was Fiel, and she was from a lower income family whose vast medical debt had originated several years back from handling a disease that her parent had.
Apparently there was a genetic disorder that caused Staiven to endlessly grow extra limbs until they began looking like a bush or a tree. Eli hadn’t known that until he looked into Fiel’s background.
He had been attempting to make sure that she was a real person, and one unlikely to be attempting to trap him. He still worried about such risks. Looking into the government was dangerous, and the excessively quick deadline forced him to take risks of information leakage that he would normally avoid.
The townhome had a small living room as was standard for the station, and Fiel led him to sit down across from her on the couches.
“I want to see the money,” she said, a fervent look in her eyes. “A-and not digital, in chips.”
Eli grunted in assent, noting that she seemed to have become slightly less apprehensive now that they were safely ensconced in her home. Her request was normal for such transactions, though, so Eli did not bat an eye. Large bank transactions were monitored by the corporations, but the same could not be said for physical ones. Eli had anticipated such a request, so he slid a small bag of large denomination chips out from his robe and tossed it to her.
“Three thousand, as I said earlier. You can see the rest after you tell me what you know.”
She nodded vigorously, eyes enraptured by the money. In truth, the amount was rather small for such transactions, not that he expected her to know that.
“Good.”
He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs, eyes boring into her.
“Tell me what you know about Ester Perivar.”
Fiel glanced away.
“He… he was one of the elders, those who live longer than normal for us. I was working in logistics at the time, and dealt with his transport.”
This he already knew. It was why he had wanted to speak with her.
“Why are there no remaining records of him?” Eli asked.
“We always scrub most of their history from the network. They say it’s so that they can retire in peace.”
Eli snorted. In the past thirty hours, he had long learned all about the nature of ‘retirement’. While they claimed it was a peaceful place for them to live out their remaining lives, what it actually meant was that they were taken to be experimented on by their own government. The only elder Staiven who could avoid this fate were those who had enough connections to protect themselves or the ability to hide from people like Fiel.
Eli found it fitting for the Pantheonic Government’s nature to do such a thing. Even true citizens such as the Staiven were taken advantage of for the benefit of the elite.
“I see,” he said. He smiled again, eyes narrowing to slits. His next question was what he really wanted to know. “But where did you take him? Where’s this ‘retirement community?’”
Fiel trembled slightly, and he knew she was aware of the import of this knowledge. If her employers found out that she had shared this secret, it would mean her death.
“I- I want more money.”
Eli reached into his robe again, pulling out a slightly larger pouch. He let it rattle slightly as he tossed it onto the table between them.
“Five thousand serite, right there. It’s yours if you just share a little more.”
He could see her greedily staring at the bad of money, and he knew he had her. Debtors and fools were both easy marks, and Fiel was both.
He glanced around as if building up courage, and a chuff of air huffed out from her mouth like a popped balloon. A flake of yellow skin cracked slightly more, slowly pulling away from her flesh.
“They’re underground,” she said.
Eli raised an eyebrow, not having expected such a response.
“...underground?” he asked.
“I don’t know the details because we simply sent them to an elevator. They were taken somewhere below the stacks, and some guards picked them up from us. Ester Perivar was taken down there like the rest of them.”
Eli buzzed with excitement. He had actually found a real lead. He had succeeded at Rachel’s impossible deadline, and would soon gain the respect he deserved, a stronger status within the sect. This was another important step in his soon to be legendary career.
“And where is this elevator located?” he asked, not allowing his glee to affect his professionalism.
“It’s in the first district, at the bottom of stack…”
She paused, as if finding it difficult to remember.
“I can’t remember the number, but it had a pharmaceutical company located there. I remember finding it odd that their headquarters was so far from the second district.”
That narrowed it down to only a few possible stacks. It would only take a few more questions to find the specific one. Eli found himself abuzz with energy, excited to report his findings. Perhaps he could leverage this success into obtaining a budget increase.
Education on Tseludia Station: [For the station's Staiven population, the Pantheonic Government has chartered corporations to provide proper education. For other races, no such funding is granted, although the schools are willing to accept student enrollments from various other races such as Celans, Escalos, and Telaretians if a hefty enrollment fee is paid. Such enrollments are rather uncommon, as each of these races has their own corporate schools run by their own cultures. In generally only happens in families who live in Staiven dominated districts such as the first or second. For 'lesser' races such as the Canvasians, Exid, Bloodspawn, and Ardith, there are smaller schools with less advanced scientific and technological curriculum, generally run by corporations wishing to train up cheap labor that can be exploited. For the poor, unless charity and fortunate events are acquired, homeschooling is the only available option. This issue is one exploited by the various underworld organizations for affordable and desperate additions to their forces.]