[Audio] Friday, Week 52

[unofficial_ambassador]

This is Inara. I'm on the ship. Is there anyone still working who has something with them that I could wear back into the city?

Comments

[unofficial_ambassador]

[A name will definitely make searching for information a bit less difficult.]

A computer thief - was his name in the crew register? Local legend is that one of the first people from the ship could drive people mad with a touch, which sounds like our man.

[It would also make him over one hundred years old.]

[kazeninaru]

Oh, it does. And it could be from the crew. His records were deleted, some of them anyway, so Salvation couldn't tell for sure. But I think he was, since it was either that or he broke into the ship from the outside, and who would know how to do that? And why?

[She sounds excited, really. It's her first really good lead. Even if it doesn't necessarily lead anywhere good, it's better than what they've found so far, and it can lead to more.]

What if he is the one who made the ship crash? What if he is connected to this end of the reality that I saw when I touched him because he is causing it somehow? Or he wants it?

[Okay, now she's just extrapolating, but she's excited, okay.]

[unofficial_ambassador]

Why would anyone want that?

[Wanting to amass as much power as possible on Verdana, even at the cost of others from the ship is at least something that makes sense. What possible benefit can anyone gain from ending reality?]

[kazeninaru]

[Haruka shrugs.]

Why do villains do anything? They want power, they want revenge, they have a safe reality they can escape to, they want to die themselves and take everyone else with them....

[From the way she says it, Inara can probably pick up that Haruka has fought... pretty much all those types.]

At least with this, we can start making better guesses as to what he wants.

[unofficial_ambassador]

[People here are all so used to this sort of thing, it's disturbing.]

You said you saw something?

[kazeninaru]

When I shook his hand, I got a vision of that ruined future-- remember, the one you woke up in? I saw that. I think he has something to do with it. It may be just that he was there with us, or will be if he was not taken like we were but actually lived that long... or it may be that he is trying to bring it about.

[She shrugs.]

But we have a way to see if he has meddled with someone, as long as it has not been too long, so if I can find someone recently affected, I can prove whether it is him or not.

[unofficial_ambassador]

We have something like that? When everything was happening with Elissa, no one seemed to have anything concrete. If it's touch-based, any of us who were with him in that future could be affected.

[kazeninaru]

The AI only just told me about it a week or two back. She told me how his power works, and that you can see it, when you look at it in a hospital with the right equipment. I... am just hoping our hospitals have that equipment.

[She needs to get in there and ask, really.]

[unofficial_ambassador]

I'll be visiting Doctor Solus sometime in the next few days if you'd like me to ask him. What was it called?

[kazeninaru]

[Haruka wrinkles her nose at the thought of Mordin Solus, but she nods. As long as she doesn't have to talk to him.]

Neauroimaging equipment. And somebody who knows how to use it.

[She had to look that up in English, since the conversation about it took place in Japanese. But she's sure that's the right translation.]

[unofficial_ambassador]

[Inara notices the grimace. Clearly Haruka has already either witnessed or been the victim of the doctor's eccentricities before.]

He's a bit odd, but not so bad if you know how to handle him. And he does excellent work.

The hospital should have neuroimaging equipment, but I don't know how easy it will be to get access. I'll ask him when I see him.

[kazeninaru]

Then I obviously do not know how to handle him.

[Haruka gives a sniff, with that. But she relents and offers Inara a little smile, as they step out into the open air at last. It's hard to stay annoyed around someone that pretty, especially when one isn't even annoyed at her.]

Thank you for your help, Inara-san. We'll find him sometime.

[unofficial_ambassador]

[Inara returns the smile, but then sighs and looks out at the horizon.]

I hope so. I promised Nem that no one else would die for this.