I was not welcome there. I have to admit, I did not immediately realize why.
“What, BioKin again?” the manager grimaced.
“Yes,” I shyly confessed.
“In relation to what occurred three days ago?”
“Right.”
He did not want to deal with me and passed into the hands of the shift master.
“What are you there?” the worker squinted suspiciously.
It seemed to be unwise to introduce myself as a new employee in that situation.
“An independent auditor!” I arched my chest. “Investors want to know feasibility of the project.”
“This is long overdue… Office rats!” the master expressively presented his point of view.
“Let’s do it like this: you’ll help me understand what’s going on, and those smarty pants will no longer disturb you.”
’Because they are about to be swept out with a dust broom,’ I added to myself.
We shook each other’s hands, and the staff became much kinder to me.
It quickly became clear that our office wanted to design a prototype of the control block for a fermentation vat, the main production unit of the factory. Every vat was fed with filtered and stirred sewage, and illuminating gas and a tarry substance—used as a raw material for all sorts of chemical products—were received as output. Oh, plus lots and lots of water. The essence of the problem was that the super proliferative bacteria, modified through white magic methods, were extremely sensitive to the composition of… hmm… culture medium. Much, much more sensitive than the unpretentious wild strains! As soon as the microscopic workers, invisible to the naked eye, got overheated or overcooled, they lost their activity, and the vat had to be stopped. And cleaned. My visit to the factory coincided precisely with the cleaning event, and I could tell you: a ghoul one hundred years old compared to that would be like a walking scented candle. The half-treated sewage had to be stored somewhere else for the cleaning of the fermentation vats, and that added flavor to the situation.
I could kill people guilty of triggering even one such event, but if BioKin was the cause of that at least twice… then the workers’ sincere hatred was understandable. I did not want any more visits to the sewage facility, but intuition told me that the solution of the design problem could only be found at the factory. There was something in the enhanced bacteria that turned their inoculation into quiet sabotage. If I wanted to work off Quarters’ money, I had to find that intangible factor.
Nothing distracts one better from evil thoughts than hard, creative work! The object of work in this case is irrelevant. In a few days, I totally forgot the events of the past few months, as though the whole saga about the Dark Knight had nothing to do with me.
Not surprisingly, when I noticed the chief of Redstone’s NZAMIPS waiting at the university gates, I did not linger my eyes on him for a second. All the more so because Captain Baer was in civilian clothes. Maybe he was waiting for a girl there?
No, the captain (Quarters told me that his nickname was “Locomotive”—he was like a steam engine: slow-witted, narrow-minded, and impossible to stop) had other plans. When I caught up with him, he hissed: “Hey! Slow down.”
I slowed down and exhaled a disgruntled huff: “Any questions for me, sir?”
“We need to talk.”
He took me to a dark cafe and offered a seat at the far table. I did not mind—I preferred that other people did not see me with him. Otherwise, it would be the talk of the town.
“I want to re-record your crystal.”
My eyes may have popped out: “Why is that?”
“Because I can replace it without any problem, but they’ll have my head if I lose it.”
“I don’t get it!” I was being honest.
The policeman frowned crossly.
“Look here! I have gotten a new supervisor recently. I worked with my previous boss for fifteen years; naturally, I helped him a few times, did some favors—I couldn’t stay that long on his team without that. But God forbid I should trust any of the dark mages; I know your brothers’ nature very well. My boss had personally covered up the case of your “breakdown”, saying that the channel was stable and there was no reason to panic. I did not mind; there was no point in arguing with the boss. Had I gathered an expert commission to investigate, both you and we would have endured a lot, but the conclusion would have been the same. It’s a different story now: he is no longer my boss, and I can’t pin his words to the file. I’ve been thinking and realized that I was a fool—I shouldn’t have believed a dark magician. It’s not about you personally, it’s just that you guys have differently rotated brains; you cannot take other people’s interests into account.”
“Why, we can!” I replied touchily.
“Not in this case,” the captain dismissed my comment. “In short, the entire division is looking for one smart ass, browsing crystal records, fussing around everywhere. The new boss will see your crystal sooner or later, and it will be better if he doesn’t find the “breakdown” in it. Do I have your interest?”
I clearly understood that the chief of Redstone’s NZAMIPS was offering me to collude. And it was more important to him than to me!
“I do not agree if it’s for free.”
“What do you want?” Locomotive growled in an unfriendly manner.
“I want to know everything!” I joked.
“Then you’ll die early,” he promised.
I shrugged: “Maybe. You won’t pay me anyway; after money, information is the second most valuable thing. Let’s agree as follows: you will fully answer one of the questions that interests me, we’ll record a new crystal, and you’ll give me back the old one.”
“Ha!”
“Come on! You don’t really believe that I’ll blackmail you, knowing what is at stake for me, do you?”
“Then why do you want it back?”
“Are you kidding? That was my real Empowerment!”
He paused for a moment, staring at me with blank eyes. I never thought that a man with such a dull appearance could have a bright mind. Now I knew.
“Agreed,” the captain decided. “The crystal hasn’t been numbered; after it has left the storage, nobody will be able to discover where it was recorded. You can’t present it as an imprint of another mage’s aura; your name was engraved on it before the recording.”
“I have never even thought about giving to a stranger!” I reassured him.
“You will come to my office tomorrow—here’s your notice.”
The timing was perfectly appropriate: he was obviously aware of my class schedule.
“I will,” I hid the notice in my pocket and suddenly asked him, “How do you feel about zombies?”
He gave me a hard look.
“In theory, I mean!”
“Don’t be a smartass!” he threatened. “I’ll watch you closely, you theorizer, son of a bitch!”
Why did he mention my mother? Ugh. I just had to find a place for my dog.
Chapter 15
Only in a week I managed to leave the sewage factory and come back to the office. I expected to ask Johan a couple of questions, but the white mage’s desk was empty.
“He took a vacation,” Polak tried not to look at me, “to recover from sickness. During his time off, we’d better put things in order…”
The white magician started commanding my respect—he decided to ask for help! Let’s face it: these guys do not always have enough spirit to understand their own problems. A good reason to roll up my sleeves.