{"id":324,"date":"2013-02-17T00:00:34","date_gmt":"2013-02-17T05:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=324"},"modified":"2013-02-16T18:45:19","modified_gmt":"2013-02-16T23:45:19","slug":"seven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=324","title":{"rendered":"Seven"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Secrets die only when those who know the truth pass beyond the world.<\/h3>\n

— Erich Quizibian, c. <\/i>5070 PD<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

5 Decem, 5249 PD<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWell Inspector, this is as far as we go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The station at Cassini VII was far busier than he\u2019d expected it might be, considering how far out on the fringes of civilization it was.\u00a0 Timrel Winston glanced back over his shoulder at his transport\u2019s commander, a stocky man with the look of a long-term spacer.\u00a0 \u201cOf course,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cYou told me that from the start.\u00a0 I\u2019ll still need to find a ride to the Colony.\u00a0 Any suggestions?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tania<\/i>\u2019s captain hesitated with a slight frown before he said, \u201cYou might try the Mission Systems office on the fifth ring.\u00a0 Rumors on the newsvids are saying that they\u2019re going to pull all of their ops out beyond the Whispers.\u00a0 They might be able to take you as far as the Colony if you\u2019ve got the credits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Credits I\u2019m not worried about,<\/i> Tim thought.\u00a0 It\u2019s getting out there and completing my assignment.\u00a0 Finding out what\u2019s actually going on this far out here\u2014finding out what happened to the Whispers.<\/i><\/p>\n

Who killed that planet and why?<\/i><\/p>\n

His communicator shivered in his pocket, just once, signaling that he had messages that had come in while the Tania<\/i> was in jump.\u00a0 \u201cUp on the fifth ring?\u00a0 Hard to find?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShouldn\u2019t be,\u201d the Tania<\/i>\u2019s captain said.\u00a0 \u201cI can send someone to show you the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim stooped to pick up his duffle, shaking his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo, if it\u2019s not hard to find, I shouldn\u2019t have a problem.\u00a0 Thank you, Captain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways a pleasure to serve the Commonwealth, Inspector.\u00a0 Have a safe trip.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to,\u201d Tim said with a smile.\u00a0 The other man gave him one last nod and then turned and walked away, headed to oversee loading and unloading of cargo.\u00a0 The inspector\u2019s smile faded as he shouldered his bag and turned away, heading into the bustle of the Cassini VII station.\u00a0 His stomach growled, half insisting on a meal sooner rather than later and he frowned.<\/p>\n

I should probably grab a bite now in case I can\u2019t later, shouldn\u2019t I?<\/i>\u00a0 He shook his head at himself and started to hunt down one of the omnipresent chains that littered every spaceport from here to New Earth and out to the far end of the homosphere again.\u00a0 He dug his communicator out of his pocket as he walked, tapping at it with a thumb as he wended his way through the station\u2019s crowds.<\/p>\n

The Inspector General sent me an eyes only priority one?\u00a0 That never happens.<\/i>\u00a0 Frowning, he glanced around for the nearest patch of private space available, changing course from his initial hunt for sustenance.\u00a0 Then again, I\u2019ve never investigated something as big as this before\u2014no one except the Inspector General has, and she wasn\u2019t even lead on that case.<\/i><\/p>\n

Frederick Rose was, and he\u2019s dead.\u00a0 Whoever killed Mimir killed him, too.<\/i><\/p>\n

Tim shivered.\u00a0 The Inspector General had warned him.\u00a0 The full weight of that warning hadn\u2019t quite sunken in by the time he\u2019d left New Earth.\u00a0 Now it was finally starting to.<\/p>\n

He found the public baths, tended by a slender, black-haired girl with almond eyes.\u00a0 She smiled at his approach, peachy pink lips drawing back from straight white teeth.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething I can help you with, Inspector?\u201d\u00a0 Her Universal was flawless except for the hint of a Chinasian accent.<\/p>\n

He shifted his bag.\u00a0 \u201cDo the baths have private facilities?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have public and private baths, sir,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cWe try to cater to all cultural sensibilities.\u00a0 More profitable that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d he said, eyes drifting to the menu.\u00a0 He dug his credit tab out of his pocket and handed it to her.\u00a0 \u201cJust a private room, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d she said, her voice a purr.\u00a0 She ran his chit and handed it back, fingers brushing almost suggestively against his as she did.\u00a0 \u201cFollow me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?<\/i>\u00a0 He tried to ignore the nervous butterflies suddenly dancing in his stomach as he followed the woman through a shimmering privacy screen and into the baths.\u00a0 Beyond the short hallway, Tim caught sight of some traveling businessmen who looked like they probably hailed from Idesalli or Quildana Corp enjoying the public baths with a few pretty girls who were as naked as the day they were born.\u00a0 A shiver worked its way down his spine.\u00a0 He\u2019d never been a fan of being out in the open like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you all right, Inspector?\u201d<\/p>\n

Damn.\u00a0 Did she notice the shiver, or is the discomfort all over my face?<\/i>\u00a0 He smiled.\u00a0 \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n

She offered him another smile and ducked down another hallway, leading him past a series of smaller chambers.\u00a0 She parted another privacy curtain and nodded down a third corridor.\u00a0 \u201cAll of these are available in your price range.\u00a0 If there is\u2026anything\u2026else that we can do to make your visit more pleasurable, do not hesitate to let us know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her tone of voice made his stomach give an uncomfortable twist.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just a damned baths, it\u2019s a whorehouse, too?<\/i>\u00a0 He smothered a grimace and nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll be sure to do that, Miss.\u00a0 Thank you again.\u201d<\/p>\n

She smiled and turned away, hips giving one suggestive little twitch before he turned away and let the curtain fall closed between them.<\/p>\n

Damn.<\/i>\u00a0 He knuckled his eyes as he slumped against the wall.\u00a0 All cultural sensibilities indeed.\u00a0 I think every single one of mine was just offended by that.\u00a0 I wonder if the owners tell al the women to do that?<\/i><\/p>\n

Hell.\u00a0 They\u2019re probably hired for it.<\/i><\/p>\n

Tim shook himself.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t here to investigate bathhouses in the outer reaches.\u00a0 He was here to find out why a planet had died.<\/p>\n

He levered himself off the wall and headed partway down the corridor.\u00a0 The room he picked was small and quiet with a large tub made of dark stone dominating the space.\u00a0 He sealed the door and sank down on the edge of it, tugging his communicator free of his pocket again.<\/p>\n

\u201cBloody hell,\u201d he breathed.\u00a0 \u201cWhat was so damned important that it\u2019s flagged P-1 and eyes only?\u201d\u00a0 Tim rummaged around in his jacket for his earpiece.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t a point in those flags if anyone overheard what Sephora Damerian had to tell him.<\/p>\n

He jacked the earpiece into the communicator and plugged the other end into his ear, tapped in his code, and waited for her message to come across.<\/p>\n

He swore again when he realized that she\u2019d used maximum encryption, too.\u00a0 What the hell is this?<\/i><\/p>\n

Then he heard the fear in her voice, buried beneath the steel, as the message filtered through.<\/p>\n

\u201cTim, this is the Inspector General.\u00a0 Listen carefully and destroy this message once you\u2019ve listened to it.\u00a0 Trust no one inside the confines of the Commonwealth.\u00a0 Rose knew more than he ever told anyone here.\u00a0 He had his reasons.\u00a0 Find his friends on E-557.\u00a0 They should help you.\u00a0 You\u2014and they\u2014might be our only hope.\u00a0 Find the man named Windsor.\u00a0 Shoot a tight-beam to my personal line when you make contact.\u00a0 Out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trust no one?\u00a0 Of course Rose knew more, but\u2026no one?\u00a0 And who\u2019s this Windsor?<\/i>\u00a0 His jaw tightened.\u00a0 Somewhere between here and the Colony at Eridani Trelasia, he was going to have some serious research to do.<\/p>\n

He listened to the message a second time before he destroyed it and keyed in the tight-beam to the Inspector General.\u00a0 What time is it there?\u00a0 Hell, she said to tight-beam her personal comm as soon as I got the message.<\/i><\/p>\n

Sephora\u2019s voice was groggy as she answered.\u00a0 \u201cDamerian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Damn.\u00a0 I woke her.\u00a0 <\/i>\u201cInspector General, it\u2019s Winston.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTim.\u201d\u00a0 She was instantly more alert.\u00a0 \u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a private room in a bathhouse at Cassini VII,\u201d he answered.\u00a0 \u201cWhat changed between the time you gave me this assignment and now, ma\u2019am?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a warning from beyond the grave,\u201d she said grimly.\u00a0 \u201cI found something in the archive about Mimir.\u00a0 You need to be careful, Tim.\u00a0 Bloody careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

He grimaced.\u00a0 \u201cYou already told me that.\u00a0 You said it when I left.\u201d\u00a0 His brows knit.\u00a0 \u201cWhat did you mean when you said I can\u2019t trust anyone inside the Commonwealth?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExactly what I said,\u201d she told him.\u00a0 \u201cFrederick Rose uncovered a conspiracy within the Commonwealth around the time Mimir died.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t get the chance to warn me while he was still breathing\u2014probably because he uncovered it almost too late and didn\u2019t want to endanger me any more than I already was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA conspiracy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Sephora said.\u00a0 \u201cLook, Tim, don\u2019t ask for any more details.\u00a0 I will get them to you personally if I can.\u00a0 I need you to find his friends on E-557.\u00a0 I need you to find them and learn what they know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes you so sure they know anything?\u201d\u00a0 Tim asked.\u00a0 What makes you think that they didn\u2019t have something to do with his getting killed, or what happened at the Whispers?\u00a0 What makes you think I can trust them?<\/i><\/p>\n

She exhaled a quiet sigh.\u00a0 \u201cThere was no one in the universe he trusted more than a man named Adam Windsor,\u201d she said after a moment.\u00a0 \u201cNot me, not even his wife.\u00a0 If anyone knows anything about what happened that we don\u2019t, then it\u2019s him.\u00a0 He\u2019s on E-557, Tim, and I need you to find him.\u00a0 Tell him that we know about the conspiracy and ask for his help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHelp with what, though?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding out who killed the Whispers,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cAnd who killed Mimir and is probably about to kill the Commonwealth from the inside out.\u201d<\/p>\n

No pressure, huh?<\/i>\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re sure about this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore sure about this than anything else,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll try to keep you in the loop and I\u2019ll try to run interference, keep you safe, but out there\u2026you\u2019re on your own, Tim.\u00a0 Be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways, ma\u2019am,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cWill you be able to make contact again?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot anytime soon,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cAny reports you have I want maximum encrypt and forwarded to me for my eyes only.\u00a0 I meant what I said\u2014don\u2019t trust anyone else Commonwealth.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how far the conspiracy goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight,\u201d he said quietly.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll do what I can, ma\u2019am.\u00a0 I\u2019ll get to the bottom of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStay alive,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re more use to me alive without having solved this mystery than you would be dead and having solved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll try,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The channel died and he sat there on the rim of the tub, staring at nothing, for a long, long time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Secrets die only when those who know the truth pass beyond the world. — Erich Quizibian, c. 5070 PD 5 Decem, 5249 PD \u201cWell Inspector, this is as far as we go.\u201d The station at Cassini VII was far busier … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-two-ashes-to-ashes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s25yjF-seven","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions\/325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}