Chapter Forty-one

The Kidnapping

Thursday, March 22. 2.30AM. 125 S.A.

Lake Lemac, Lugrin. France.

Mai had fallen asleep barely half an hour after Shin and Lizbeth left. Philip and Zi had convinced her to rest in the special tent set up for the team. She had changed her clothes for a black T-shirt and cargo pants. That was more than enough and she had the turtle backpack nearby in case she needed it. Azusa, her personal bow, was still an earring in her right ear and Mai wouldn't take it off for the world now that she had it.

Philip had covered her with a blanket and, along with his companion, they had both placed themselves in adjoining beds on either side of Mai. They had also changed into something lighter, but with their weapons and backpacks close by as well. They didn't think anything could happen to her, but there had been incidents of assassination attempts against Mai in the past. An extra precaution wouldn't hurt. They would both rest with the Neurowire's alert systems on, in case they detected anything in the perimeter near them.

In the first aid tent Van continued to recover while both Ryuuji and Natsuki continued with a well-deserved rest.

As a general rule the movement had decreased a lot, even among the soldiers. In spite of the artificial lights in place, it was better to wait until dawn to continue the search. Only the tireless army droids and Nevermore's spider droids continued with the work.

Pieces of all types and sizes of material continued to arrive, while the locations where they were found were labeled with coordinates on the terrain grids and with holographic recording for the collection of evidence.

Meanwhile, in another of the tents, where the analysis of the pieces had been taking place, a synthetic body was already immobilized on a chair on one side. From the position it was in, it almost looked as if it was sleeping, but it was not, as it was not breathing. The facial marks of the man who had been its occupant until only a couple of hours ago had disappeared from its face.

That was the synthetic that Jim Stuart had used. The red-haired had retired to his real body, but had promised to return in a few hours to continue helping Oxy and Professor Reubens with the parts catalog. Perhaps he would even ask for a few more days off at the FRT Station to continue helping out.

Silence reigned in the tent, broken only by the occasional sounds of the scanning machine. The other technicians had retired for a break a couple of hours ago and only one fey girl was on site.

Oxy, also knows as Ishijima Kanade. creaked several of her bones and then yawned a little tiredly. It had taken all day, but the only thing they had found strange in the last few hours was the strange remains that had appeared in the forest. A detailed analysis of the destroyed parts of the tactical droids had revealed that they had indeed been destroyed when tons of the plane's cargo containers had fallen on them when they hit the ground.

It remained to be seen whether everything on board had been rendered useless, but what did surprise her was that the fractuim alloy on the droids was stuck in the same pattern on both of them. It was unlikely that such a thing would happen, unless it was something controlled with experimental precision. That suggested to her that whatever was happening on board had occurred all at the same time in the electronics.

But as for the bodies of the passengers, it was something different.

Thanks to the bodies discovered and the subsequent identification they could determine where each victim had been sitting at the time of the disaster. The victims who had been burned and many of those whose nervous systems were in a solidified state were more towards the tail of the plane. It had all started there. While many of the passengers in the front of the plane had been blown away due to the explosion that had taken place when the plane crashed on the ground.

Many of the victims in the tail of the plane on the other hand were more complete but, given everyone's condition, it revealed something quite uncomfortable. Many of those who had flown out before the crash revealed as if the entire flight had already been dead before reaching the ground. It was the chronicle of a death foretold.

But the problem lay in what had caused the problem in the first place, and how the plane had broken the laws of space time to travel more than two hundred years into the future.

"Aren't you going to rest Professor Ishijima?" Lee's voice startled her from behind. The professor Lee Reubens had just returned with a couple of drinks in his hand.

Lee passed her the bottle which she received with a weak smile. "Hey, thanks." It was a warm chocolate drink, definitely if she drank it she was quite likely to fall asleep. A break wouldn't hurt. She had work to do for several days anyway. That had only been the first day in the place. "Where did you get this one? I like this kind."

"The army machines in the kitchen tent," Lee replied, pointing to his own bottle. He had a cranberry juice.

"I guess we could take a break until tomorrow, I could use it," Oxy said and snorted when she saw another negative result from the parts scan. She dragged her feet to one of the chairs near the synth and collapsed. "Professor sit down, please." She invited pointing to the other chair nearby.

A pair of spider droids arrived at that moment with a load in a small container on their backs. They carefully unloaded it into the raw parts section and withdrew without further ado.

"I guess I'd have to apologize if this isn't the trip you were hoping for," Oxy said.

"No, it's fine. It's been a new experience honestly. I didn't imagine Nevermore did such technical work."

"Why?"

"Well... there's always rumors around. The news and stuff."

Oxy smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I guess in a way the reputation some of us have is that there's always chaos wherever we go... most of us always go many times when the chaos has already happened... we're just going to pick up the pieces of the mess so it doesn't happen again."

"And leave everything written down for the record," Lee pointed out, with a pursing of his lips.

Oxy nodded with a sigh. "In some ways these kinds of cases don't always happen, which is good."

"What's your theory? Speaking of Dark Events."

Oxy looked at him, and it seemed to Lee that that look was that of someone with a certain gloom.

"There was a time when there were no theories or hypotheses. And today there are as many as there are stars in the sky. I honestly want to believe that this will stop at some point. But I doubt it."

"Are there more happening?"

"Well, in scales there are always periods where they occur less and others where they sometimes skyrocket. These last fourteen years is a fairly active period. There hasn't been exponential growth either."

"If there was I doubt we would even be having this conversation."

"Yes..." Oxy admitted, as she took a sip from the bottle, the sweet taste of the liquid really was numbing.

"But you're not a special agent, are you?"

"I have my license, but I prefer to be support."

"The other guys in similar uniforms are all agents right?"

"Yes, except for one. The big guy with the blue-black hair, Shin."

"He's not an agent?"

"He is, but he's been on probation all these months. In fact he had his ceremony yesterday, one of the reasons many of us were in France was because of it. Our Director Princess had to take the oath of office."

"Princess?"

"That's what we affectionately call her sometimes. She and Shin are partners."

"But I saw him working earlier with the other blonde girl. Agent Londonderry, I think?"

Oxy nodded and smiled. The image of the three of them being surprised in the morning by her came to her memory. "The situation is complicated. They, I mean the three of them, are a team now. Mai and Lizbeth are two veteran agents already, but Shin is the new one at SID."

"Shin Aogami... I see. I heard that many people called him doctor? What is his field? Forensic science?"

Oxy smiled. "Yes, but not a licensed one. Shin comes from a time when feys lived in hiding. He doesn't have a real degree. He knows a little about everything, you could say he's someone who learned in the field."

Lee frowned. "In fact one of the reasons I came out just now was to look for him but, I was told he's not here."

"Why did you want to see him?"

"It's just that his face looks familiar from somewhere. I can't place him though. For a moment I thought I might have met him in college."

Oxy laughed. "No, impossible. Shin hasn't been to any college. At least not in this century."

"In this century? How old is he?"

"Much older than any of us here."

"But he looks young."

"Well age is a relative thing for a fey, it depends on how you look at it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there's no exact theory of how humans are chosen to become feys. But, on the other hand, the most likely theory is that it has to do with certain attributes like brain plasticity. It is possible that this is the reason why there are more young-looking feys than old feys. It is possible that the Other Side chooses feys based on certain types of more receptive brains or perhaps some physical attribute, although this is just a theory."

"More receptive?"

"It's nothing more than a theory, but you rarely find a fey that doesn't possess some kind of strange quality and I'm not talking about special abilities. For example some are very athletic, others maybe not so much, but they are cunning and others are also very intelligent. It is not a generalization at all, in fact there are even feys that had diseases that if they had been in a human body would not have survived but they had other capabilities."

"And in the case of Shin, what? He's just intelligent?"

"It depends on how you look at it. I don't know if calling him intelligent is the most accurate, but he is. He's also incredibly stubborn at times."

"And he doesn't have a title?"

"Shin is a special case. Think of him as one of the first people who went into Dark Events research. He specialized in many areas of study in a didactic way. If it were up to me I would give him the PhD of PhDs."

"You've known him for a long time?"

Oxy put on a wistful smile. "He's one of my best friends, I think part of my getting interested in science comes from him. Shin's the curious type. He knows a little bit about everything."

"I hope I don't sound disrespectful but, when I saw him, he gave me a strange feeling. He really, to put it mildly, seemed imposing. Something really strange. Is it because of his age?"

Oxy shook her head, but didn't remove her smile. "I guess being an astrophysicist you know about the implications of chirality, right? The new interpretations of the uncanny valley with the advent of the feys?"

"Yes, although it doesn't have much to do with astrophysics. Basically that many feys have that sort of inter-species magnetism that often becomes hypnotic. What's that got to do with it?"

"Well there have been models in the past that try to explain how other species could live in the universe, where the chirality is not the same as ours. Technically and experimentally Shin is a rarity among rarities, among the feys."

"What do you mean?"

"There is a biological theory that is the most common regarding pheromone attraction, but Shin for all intents and purposes wouldn't even have to be alive."

"But he's a fey, right?"

"He looks like one. But many associate Shin with the theory of chiral resonance to explain that sort of attraction and repulsion that many feel. Physically he looks attractive, but on the other hand even feys feel that strangeness when they see him. Like there's something that doesn't add up."

"Chiral resonance? But that would only be applicable if we found intelligent life..." Lee paused and thought about it. "'Shin'...?"

Oxy raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Homework for the house, Professor Reubens!"

Lee folded his arms and smiled. "You're kidding right? You're telling me he's an alien?"

Oxy stood up from the chair and grinned wider. "I'll leave it stinging, we can discuss it more in the morning."

"Really?"

Oxy nodded. "And that's not all, Professor. Shin and Liz are investigating a clue on the other side of the lake right now. You can ask them tomorrow when they get back."

Lee heard that and paused, looking at her. He had almost forgotten. "When I was a kid, I used to hear stories about anomalies here. I miss those days and the nuns at the convent very much."

Oxy looked at him curiously. "Why do you miss those days and the nuns?"

Lee made a nostalgic face "You see, I was in a religious orphanage as a child. It was the only home I knew since I was twelve."

Oxy was touched by Lee's story and wanted to know more about his past. "And what do you remember about those times?"

Lee sighed. "That's the funny thing, Professor. I don't remember anything before I was twelve. I have amnesia, and my past is a mystery to me."

"I see..." Oxy looked thoughtful. Now that she remembered when she'd seen Lee's profile it said something about growing up in an orphanage, though his childhood details didn't appear. She supposed it must have something to do with child data protection. She could ask him, but she didn't know if it would touch on any sensitive issues from his past.

"Life stuff," Lee said and she nodded.

"Come on, let's go to the tent where the other boys are. Let's get some rest, we've got enough for a few days." Oxy frowned and rubbed her eyelids. That chocolate drink had really taken its toll. She felt really sleepy.

Lee pointed to the inert synthetic. "And he'll stay here?"

"He's in a dormant state, Jim can activate him... because he's linked to him already. No problem."

Oxy brought her hand suddenly to her head. Something wasn't right. Did that chocolate bar have something in it to make people sleep? she wondered. But no, it wasn't that. She was feeling something different. It was a kind of disorientation.

"What the fuck?" she wondered as she tried and fell to her knees on the floor. Her mind was blurry and she was seeing that the Neurowire was showing abnormal inputs in her visual cortex. Something was really wrong. She couldn't think of anything else. This is information overload or something else. How? When?

Lee quickly knelt down next to Oxy and stopped her head from hitting the floor. "Professor?! Are you all right? What's wrong?" He held her as he watched her fade away, staring blankly at the ceiling of the tent.

Two blurry figures burst into the room, moving with lethal precision. Before either of them could react they sensed a sweet smell in the air, for some reason it reminded them of almonds, or so it seemed to Oxy as she fell into a stupor she couldn't control. She plunged into darkness.

"Please help!" Lee asked looking at those who had just entered.

It was a man and a woman in military uniform. She had no time to react. The woman moved with a precise movement and did something to his neck.

"But... what-," Lee managed to say, as he felt his strength leave him and he fell into a stupor just as heavy as Oxy.

Consciousness faded for both of them, their voices faded and their bodies went still as they were dragged into oblivion.

***

"Well this was easy," the woman said. Wavy red hair, and pale faced. Rum sighed and looked at her partner who was already moving and carrying Lee. Her camouflage system had only changed the color of her hair, as she didn't think anything else was needed.

"Come on, we have to hurry," Stan said. He was using his shapeshifting ability and now had the face of a man with bushy eyebrows and short black hair.

They had arrived at the site a couple of hours ago, making sure they really wouldn't have a problem getting past the perimeter fence. Both had false identities, which Rum had created and uploaded to the index of the soldiers who were in the area. With the new powers of her Neurowire that had been easy. Then they had gone to the place where a vehicle was supposed to be waiting for them.

That too had gone just as EVE had said. There was a military vehicle parked next to others, but it was one that only they could open. However, that bothered Stan in a way. They didn't know who it was, but there was someone who knew what they would be doing there. Not knowing who it was made him uncomfortable. He just hoped that anonymity played both sides. Just as they didn't know who it was who had given them the vehicle and the escape route, they hoped that person didn't know their identities either.

They had then searched the surrounding area until they found the exact location of the targets. Both were together and that was already a relief.

Although they did not only know that the targets were there, they were surprised to see the activity in the area. Was it some kind of disaster simulation or had something really happened? It didn't take Rum too long to find out, it was a disaster caused by a Dark Event. Some kind of oopart from another era had arrived on the scene. That explained the activity.

There were few soldiers patrolling the surrounding area, contrary to the heavy security around where they had entered. The few internal guards were no problem for Rum. She simply had to enter through the back doors of the system into the Neurowires of those within a 200 meter radius of them and was easily hackable in case something happened.

Rum had tried for some years those black market programs that offered the possibility for a person to be completely invisible to the Neurowires nearby. But those were simple programs, with only a few meters of range. The enhancement that Janus had given them increased the range quite a bit, among many other functions. Based on a system called spider web, where the Neurowires closer to the emitting zero point acted as repeaters, but attenuating with distance.

Once that was done, both were located in the vicinity of where the targets would be and it remained to wait for the movement to cease a little more. The tent where they were both was farther away from the guard but every few minutes droids carrying containers came and went from the place. Nevertheless, there were only the two targets in the tent.

Rum decided to take action and entered her target's Neurowire system. Professor Ishijima Kanade. Real name Oxy and member of Nevermore's SID. As she expected, the system was a lot more complicated, but nothing she couldn't handle after about five minutes. What had bothered her was that the Neurowire had extra corridors with riddles and formulas that led nowhere. They were an extra layer of personal security, but she had bypassed them after realizing that they were traps to insert viruses into the invader and track her Neurowire.

From there everything had become simpler. She had accessed the emergency controls that controlled certain substances in the body. They were microcapsules in the blood system. That was so that in case of emergency a fey could regenerate faster. It was a pharmacological cocktail that contained several functions to help, but the truth was that it was also a double-edged sword. For an outsider it could be those microcapsules to release into the bloodstream substances that were not needed. She focused on a cocktail of vitamins that, combined in the right order, could cause symptoms of lethargy and even fainting due to sudden hypervitaminosis. Oxy didn't know what had happened and fell to the ground when they came in.

The second target, Lee Reubens was somewhat different. He didn't have a Neurowire, so they had to resort to the ever classic sleep touch to put him out of action.

Stan carried Lee and Rum carried Oxy. Both were light so it wasn't a problem. Trying to go unnoticed as best they could they evaded the lights and moved into the nearby forest. Soldiers passing near them could not detect them at all. The information entering the visual and auditory cortex was being rewritten in real time by the subroutine Rum had activated.

They approached the military vehicle and opened the back to carefully put the two of them in. They had not suffered any injuries, but Rum was sure that the girl named Oxy would wake up with a horrible headache later.

Oxy and Lee would remain tied up with restraints, while Stan and Rum executed their escape with military precision. With cautious and coordinated movements, they left the site under the cover of night without being detected heading east. They were not even stopped at the security fences that guarded the road entrance to the site. The soldiers saw the vehicle approaching and simply lifted the fence with mechanical movements as if they had no will of their own. This was also due to Rum's subroutine of involuntary ignorance.

The camp, shrouded in the darkness of night, was left behind as Stan and Rum moved silently down the road.

Rum turned to look at the two targets, wondering who they really were. She had been involved in many crimes throughout her life, but kidnapping was one of the ones they rarely did. They had won the lottery with the Edinburgh job and now this one would help them get the cash payment for the strange cube.

With that they could say goodbye to the whole shitty life.

But there was something that bothered her about it all. It was already too strange that they, who were doing menial jobs, had been lucky enough to be hired by that man for that job and with such a strange payment.

The underworld criminal recruitment boards were little known, but they were always active. But the two of them, because of their backgrounds, tried to always stay in the shadows. That the muscular man from the abandoned port had hired them meant that he would have had to dig deep into those profiles of the highest scoring criminals to pick them who were not very qualified.

They were experienced and could be considered veterans in the criminal world, but they always tried to keep a low profile. Even so, they had been hired and had successfully carried out their task. And in the new job there had been a few problematic setbacks but, even so, now it only remained to deliver those two to Geneva and everything would be finished.

It was a coincidence on the other hand that they were hired just when they were in Edinburgh and that they had not issued a status update revealing that they would be in Scotland. And then how Janus had hired them.

Could it be that Janus guy had something to do with it all from the beginning? No, no way. It didn't make sense. But then, how did he know about the cube? Had he followed them from Edinburgh knowing that they would receive such a payment?

Rum sighed wearily, never mind looking for explanations. The job was done and only a few hours separated them from the end of it all.

Those two unfortunates were the key to a better life for her and Stan.

"I'm sorry," Rum muttered.

"Did you say something?" asked Stan with his eyes focused on the road.

"Nothing," Rum replied quietly.