Conversations In The Dark

The sweltering darkness presses upon me and I try shifting my body in an attempt to get more comfortable, but its really no use. Fitting into cab's boot as instructed by The Voice was possible, but it required me to curl my body up in what was close to a fetal position. There simply was not enough room in the boot for me to shift my prone position into something more natural. The experience was made worse by the heat and stuffiness caused by the enclosed area.

"I need to pee." I complain to The Voice.

"Go ahead and urinate in your pants." The Voice indifferently replies, "Those clothes can no longer be used anyway."

I stifle a sigh before shooting back, "You should try being more supportive of your employees. Its a well known fact that employees who are encouraged and supported by their bosses perform better at work."

The Voice rasps, "I am extremely supportive of my servants, if you do not mind."

Oh, really? This ought to be good. I am wondering just what The Voice's definition of "supportive" is.

"Transmigrator, you are a working adult." The Voice asks, "Tell me, would your employer back in your own dimension allow you to urinate all over company property without repercussion?"

"Pardon?" I dumbly mutter as my mind goes blank at The Voice's outrageous statement.

"Exactly." The Voice continues smugly, "I have provided you an outlet for self-actualization that would not have been available back where you came from. While I do not approve of your choice of expression in this matter, I will nevertheless allow you to urinate freely all over not just your trousers, but also the boot itself. Do not feel obliged to hold back Transmigrator. You have my blessing."

I am left completely speechless and my mouth is left hanging open at the ridiculous and outlandish response from The Voice. I finally gather my wits and grumble, "Never mind. Look are we there yet? It feels like I have been stuck in this boot for hours."

The Voice rumbles back, "Its been barely an hour, and I have explained this already. The P5 have set up a checkpoint on the border of Six Trees and are only allowing people and vehicles with the proper papers through. We are still caught in the congestion caused by this checkpoint. Be patient."

I try shifting myself around the boot again to the exact same result, or more precisely, lack of result. The Voice, to my surprise, goes back to the earlier point it had made about that business of being supportive.

"More seriously, Transmigrator," The Voice says, "being supportive of someone does not mean providing them with the means of self-destruction. We have the benefit of an object lesson right in front of us regarding this matter."

"Who're you talking about? The Hero?" I say while squirming about like a trapped fish. Damn, still no good. Its just so bloody uncomfortable.

"I am talking about Mrs Alley." The Voice replies flatly, "Thanks to the money that she received from us, she managed to get herself arrested by ORPO and is currently languishing in remand. ORPO is subjecting her to regular questioning. Mrs Alley has not said anything incriminating yet, but it is only a matter of time before she cracks and spills everything about her involvement with us."

My ears perk up at hearing this news and a shaft of fear runs down my spine. Is Alley going to squeal like a trapped rat? Is the web closing? Shit.

"How in the world did the money contribute to Alley's arrest?" I query.

The Voice ruminates for a moment before responding, "Mrs Alley used the money to smuggle her husband Jacob to a nature reserve. He is ill you see, and his condition makes him both violent and contagious. Mrs Alley likely believed that it was only a matter of time before the doctors put Jacob to sleep as his condition continued to deteriorate. Spending the rest of his days living like a wild animal is certainly the better alternative."

"The problem is that smuggling someone like Jacob out from The City is not cheap," The Voice elaborates, "The cost is well beyond Mrs Alley's means, even with the money she was skimming from the Academy's accounts. That was the reason why Jacob had remained in The City until recently. Mrs Alley had forgotten that Jacob's sudden absence would alert everyone around her that something was wrong. Mrs Alley was also far too single minded in her desire to save Jacob as well as to get rid of him from her life. She lost her ability to remain circumspect and contacted a nature reserve to remove Jacob as quickly as possible. It was no surprise that someone grew suspicious and informed the police."

Sending your own husband into the wilderness. If anything this incident shows just how outlandish this world is despite appearing relatively normal to outside appearances. Dabbing the sweat from my brow, I consider what The Voice had said before asking the real question on my mind, "What is going to happen once Alley starts talking to the police? How will it impact us moving forwards?"

The Voice pauses for a moment, considering my question, before answering, "I doubt anything of note would happen to us. Mrs Alley does not have any incriminating evidence regarding us, other than the unsubstantiated stories she can relate to the police about the interactions between the both of you. Mrs Alley also has no way of proving the cash paying for Jacob's safari trip originally came from us. Compared to the problems that you will be facing from SOPO, none of these issues are anywhere close to being as severe."

Well that's a relief, sort of, I think to myself as I feel the cab begin to crawl forward again. The traffic snarl up must have begun moving somewhat. My relief at the journey continuing is quickly extinguished when the cab comes to a complete stop yet again. "Where exactly are we now actually?" I grumble.

"We have just entered the queue for automated vehicles at the P5 checkpoint." The Voice says, "Be patient a little longer."

"And no one at the checkpoint is going to check the boot of this cab? Seems a bit careless to me." I shoot back, growing increasingly irritated at my discomfort. While understand the need to hide as I was now a fugitive, it did not mean I had to like it.

The Voice notices my annoyance and soothingly replies, "The P5 troops are shorthanded and they need all available personnel to check the papers of everyone trying to move in or out of the Interim Administration Zone. They have instead set up a scanner to deal with automated vehicles without passengers. Getting past the scanner is not a problem for me. The only way you could be detected is if you decided to pop the boot open in order to stretch your legs."

"And getting into this Admin Zone would keep me safe right?" I say, "I recall you telling me that Six Trees is no longer under The City's control."

"Correct." comes the familiar rasp, "The Council has formally acknowledged that it no longer has jurisdiction over Six Trees. For all intents and purposes, Six Trees is in law a separate country. SOPO will not be able to arrest you in Six Trees for any of the incidents they are investigating. More importantly to our objectives, Six Trees is close to Ascension Tower."

"How is that relevant?" I curiously ask.

The Voice rasps, "While you were resting, I had been engaged in a continuous series of skirmishes with Fate over the codex. I attempted to engineer accidents to render the codex lost or inoperable, while Fate tried to secure it by creating a fresh Place of Power. Neither of us got very far with our plans in the face of opposition from the other, and Fate eventually gave up on the idea of creating a Place of Power. Fate has settled for the codex being moved to Ascension Tower where it is currently held under heavy guard."

No wonder The Voice sounded so tired when I woke up. "My intervention is required, as you would put it?" I answer.

"Yes, once I have investigated Fate's defenses thoroughly." the cab crawls forward again, but this time instead of stopping it speeds up, as if it had finally cleared the checkpoint.

"We are through. We will reach the hideout I have prepared shortly." The Voice confirms.

"I notice you've avoided talking about a certain matter." I remark to The Voice. A questioning rumble is all I get in return.

"Chance and the bullshit mid-fight power up she pulled out of her ass." I press further, "You called her an Incarnate back at the lab. So what's the deal with that?"

The Voice pauses, gathering its thoughts before saying, "Incarnates are a complicated matter. It would be better if we had this discussion in the hideout. What I can say here is that the Incarnates possess a very deep connection to Fate and if the presence of Master Chance is a sign, it appears that Fate has become desperate enough to directly deploy her most prized assets against us."

"No shit. I saw Fate's red thread sprouting out from Chance's spirit core. Are Incarnates champions or something like that?" I respond.

"No." The Voice grimly states, "They are the descendants of Fate's lovers."

And for the second time tonight, my jaw is left hanging open.