The Thief and the Commander : 09
Jan. 11th, 2001 12:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
manicdak Chapter 09: The Biron
Ehren drifted off to sleep soon after and woke what he thought was several hours later. He was used to living on a hot planet, but at least there was some respite from the unrelenting heat of the sun at night. On Utopia there was no night, and Ehren was finding that the perpetual sunlight made him tired and completely threw off his internal clock.
Robin remained lying halfway across Ehren's stomach; an uncomfortable position for the smaller Earthian. Robin's low Utopian body temperature was a nice surprise though. There was a soft coolness radiating from him. It was an unexpected pleasure, much like the cool side of a pillow. Ehren didn't particularly want to move from the spot, but he was hungry, so he wriggled out from under Robin and stumbled down to Galiana's kitchen.
He found her there, but was surprised that she was surrounded by a few well dressed mourners from the funeral. The light of never-ending day had once again played tricks on his mind, and it couldn't have been more than an hour or two that he had been asleep.
They were typical Utopian nobility; willowy, dark haired, and looking down on him with disdain. Ehren was sure he didn't look his best. His entire dress uniform was rumpled, the tail of his shirt was hanging out, his jacket unbuttoned and askew, his short hair sticking up in impossible directions, and his eyes were bleary with sleep.
"There you are, Ehrenfried!" Galiana greeted him enthusiastically.
She introduced him around as Robin's friend from I-GAS. It wasn't quite the truth, but after that afternoon he couldn't help but wonder if it might be in the cards for the future. He gave them a short rundown of his I-GAS career as a recruit and his commission as a communications officer. They were duly impressed with his firm grasp on the Utopian language. When they'd departed to the parlor, he was left with Galiana and she gave him a knowing smile.
"I was going to fetch you two before anybody showed up with their condolences," She said. "I didn't want to disturb you though."
Ehren blanched at the idea of Robin's mother catching them curled up together like a couple of kittens. He could tell by the look in her eye that she was already getting the wrong impression.
"Don't read anything into it," Ehren muttered. "Nothing happened. You saw how upset he was, and you probably saw the state of that room too. I was just trying to make him feel better."
"That's more than most," she replied. "You are a good friend to him. He needs one right now."
"I don't know about that," Ehren said. "I'm just here, trying to do the right thing. Sometimes, I..." He paused, thinking about Feliu locked in the detention center, possibly innocent, or possibly taking advantage of him once again.
"Sometimes I'm not sure what that is," he said.
****
He took a moment to freshen up in the bathroom before returning to the gathering. When he did, he found Robin milling around accepting condolences from various aristocrats. Ehren took up a position in a nearby doorway so that he could observe the entire area. He folded his hands behind his back and stood at attention, trying to do his best to remain professional. He didn't even flinch when, after ten minutes of observation, Robin broke from the older couple he had been entertaining and stalked up to him stopping only inches away. Eheren remained unmoved with his eyes staring straight ahead. He could only pray that Robin wouldn't lean in and kiss him right there in front of everybody, which was what had happened the last time they had been in such a close proximity.
"Hey," Robin said. He did move forward, and Ehren cringed inwardly, but Robin didn't kiss him. He only whispered in his ear.
"Why don't you do your job?"
"Huh?" Ehren gulped down his nervousness and tried desperately to ignore Robin's smooth cheek pressed against his.
"Why don't you please go apprehend that that Biron that's been tailing me for the entire day?"
Ehren glanced around the room and then shoved Robin away.
"I don't see anybody. Besides, my job is to watch you to make sure you behave."
"Well, since you're here and I can't exactly go shooting up the city on a hunch right now... They'll probably extend my probation when you report my little visit to the detention facility this morning. Besides the entire aristocracy is here practically, and I don't want to have another political assassination on my conscience, because Utopian security is asleep on the job again. Do you?"
"No," Ehren muttered. "You're right."
"Of course I am. Contrary to popular belief, I didn't reach commander by political affiliation."
"I get it," Ehren said. "Where is he?"
"Be discreet," Robin said, and nodded slightly towards the buffet table.
"He's the orange bald guy over there."
"How can you tell?" Ehren squinted. The bald man looked hardly different than any human he'd seen.
"Think about it," Robin said. "How many glowing orange people have you met here?"
"Okay. You have a point," Ehren admitted. "What should I do?"
"Just go over there and ask him what he's doing here. A Biron doesn't visit a dry planet like this unless he's up to something. When he runs, run after him. You still have that gun?"
"Of course." Ehren nodded. "Don't leave home without it."
"Set it to stun. Find out what he wants."
"Yes, Sir," Ehren replied.
He moved from Robin's side then and approached the bald man, who was standing there nervously twitching, his eyes casting around the room. As soon as he noticed Ehren approaching him with a purposeful stride, he bolted for the door. Ehren could hear Robin shout an "I told you so" at him as he passed by in pursuit of the suspect.
The chase seemed to last forever to Ehren, and he suddenly regretted his minimal time spent at the gym as he began to run out of breath before he could even get close enough to discharge his weapon. Luckily they came to an alleyway that was blocked off by a large titanium gate. Ehren pulled out his gun as he ran up on the man, who looked wildly around for an escape route before shrugging his shoulders and jumping onto the gated entryway. He scampered up the bars with an unnaturally fluid agility. Ehren cursed to himself, took aim and fired off one shot that hit the escapee in the shoulder and knocked him from high atop the gateway.
He landed on the paving stones in front of Ehren with a loud thud and groaned as he pulled himself up onto one elbow with a dismayed frown on his face.
"What gave me away?" He muttered in an Intergalactic-Standard with an accent that Ehren had never encountered before.
"I don't know," Ehren admitted. He peered deeper into the man's face, trying to discern what it was about his features that gave away his planet of origin. He had an average, thin nose that pointed slightly upward at the tip, high cheekbones, and, like Robin had pointed out, his skin was a strange shade of pale orange. He had no hair to speak of anywhere upon the visible areas of his face or head. Not only that, but the way he was dressed seemed oddly out of place on a planet with unrelenting light and heat.
"You're orange," he said. "And you're wearing a high-neck shirt."
"Fuck." His frown deepened and he tugged at the neck of the shirt before he pulled it off entirely. It wasn't his torso that attracted Ehren's immediate attention, but the feathery gills that were suddenly clearly visible on his neck where they had been obscured by the shirt only moments before.
"I guess I can't control my chromataphores as well as I thought," he grumbled. "Do you realize how difficult it is to get that kind of a pallor? Stupid reflective humans on this planet."
Ehren kept his gun carefully trained on the babbling Biron.
"It's not that hard. Stay on that sunless wasteland called Tarain for a while, and you'll be white too," Ehren said.
The Biron laughed at him.
"Didn't you hear me? You foreigners and your melanocytes," he said. With that he closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Ehren watched the Biron's look of concentration as the orange color of his skin slowly was replaced by a bright green around his arms and legs that faded into a light turquoise color around his eyes and abdomen, with deeper turquoise spots around his head and neck.
"That's better," he said. "Since you know, I might as well be my actual color."
"You're...green," Ehren said.
"And blue," he replied. "Don't forget blue. I suppose you've never met a Biron before." He offered his hand, which Ehren only regarded with a dull confusion, his own hand never leaving his gun.
"My name's Berilo," he said. "My sister sent me to find out what happened to Feliu."
"Uhh...he's in jail for murder," Ehren said.
Berilo threw his head back and laughed out loud.
"What's so funny?" Ehren said.
"No he isn't," Berilo replied.
"Yes he is," Ehren said. "I saw him there."
"Well, damn." The Biron scratched behind his ear and looked thoughtful. "You know he didn't do it, right? There is no way in all the rain forests of Birosphere that he could ever do something like that. Yaretzi thought something like this might have happened. Who did he supposedly murder?"
"Uhh...Aina Grey," Ehren said. He wondered if maybe he shouldn't be sharing so much information with the strange human before him.
"Fuck," he replied.
"This is nice and everything, but I'm going to have to take you in now." Ehren waved his gun in a motion indicating that he would like Berilo to turn around so that he might apply binders to him.
"Oh, really?" He smiled widely at Ehren showing rows of small pointed teeth.
"What is it exactly that I have done today, Ensign...correct?"
Ehren nodded and opened his mouth, but realized quickly thereafter that he had no legally binding reason for even detaining the Biron.
"You're wanted for questioning." He said the first thing that popped into his brain, but once again Berilo only laughed loudly at him.
"All I have done is attended a funeral," he said after his laughter had subsided. "I have an info-plant if you would like to scan me. I am a citizen of Birosphere with proper travel documentation and absolutely no criminal record."
"I think I will," Ehren said. He removed a small device from one of the small pockets on his utility belt and waved it quickly over the info-plant in his captive's shoulder. What the Biron had said held true. He had no documented criminal record.
"I guess... You're right." Ehren leaned against a nearby wall, and Berilo shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.
"Well, this chase has been fun, but I'm afraid it's left me a little too dry. This air is terribly lacking in moisture. I'm going to have to go back to my room."
"Wait just a minute," Ehren moved to block Berilo from leaving the alleyway. "You're not leaving until you tell me what you know. Nothing about this is adding up."
"You think so too? Good," Berilo said. "I was hoping I might be able to talk to a rational human on this planet. It seems everywhere I turn a Utopian is calling for Feliu's blood. I'd be more than happy to share intel. Like I said... I'm not on anybody but my sister's side. You're going to have to come back to my room though, or you will be talking to a dried out husk of a human."
Ehren nodded dubious consent and followed the Biron out onto the street with his weapon carefully concealed and pointed at his back. When they reached the hotel where Berilo was staying, he immediately stripped off all his clothes and ran to the bathroom where he immersed himself under a running faucet. He called for Ehren to join him, and Ehren entered the room with some trepidation.
"Sorry to be so forward," Berilo said, barely glancing in Ehren's direction before closing his eyes in relief. "Drying out is a terrible, terrible way to die. Yaretzi told me to wear a wetsuit, but I didn't want to stand out. The mucous glands are definitely out of the question for blending in too. Most humans get really freaked out by slime for some reason."
"It's okay," Ehren said. "Never met an amphibious human before."
"Today's your lucky day then," Berilo stretched his arms out high above his head then sat up and leaned forward with his head resting on his arms upon the ledge of the tub. "Now, what do you want to know?"
"Who sent you?"
"Yaretzi, my sister. She's a port-keeper on the Darkness...Feliu's ship?"
"Okay."
"Anyway, she felt something bad was going to happen, then the wrong crew jumped and Feliu never came back, and some strange dude showed up all enraged and shit." Berilo yawned. "I'm glad I didn't get involved in all that shady pirate business after all, but Feliu is a nice guy. When Yaretzi says he wouldn't do something like this, I believe her."
Ehren nodded thoughtfully. "Tell me about the stranger?"
"Oh, he was somebody she'd never seen before," he said. "She said he looked like one of those guns for hire. Mean, kinda with a desperate air of death all around them."
"An assassin," Ehren murmured to himself.
"Probably," Berilo agreed. "Anyway, he was screaming around the whole entire ship, because he didn't want gold for whatever they had him do. They promised him a black-hole generator."
"A what?" Ehren said. "There's no such thing!"
"Yeah, there is," Berilo said. "They don't like that kind of intel to get out, but there is. It's a temporal compactor they call it. It creates singularities that make black holes. Basically whoever has it can destroy whole worlds. The Utopians keep it here."
"But Feliu didn't steal anything from the vault," Ehren said, slowly piecing the puzzle together. "I mean, he broke in, obviously. We had footage of that. He broke in and fiddled around with a thing and put it back and left. He tried to bypass all the digi-cams, but he pretty much sucked at it until he reached the council chamber. That's when everything went dark."
"Yeah, that was the thing." Berilo nodded. "The Black hole maker. I told you he couldn't kill a fly, let alone hand over a thing that could kill trillions of peoples. He gave that guy a holo-book. Assassins aren't known for their wits I guess, so the he was ultra mad when he found out. Feliu has a price on his head."
"So, did you come here to cash in?" Ehren said.
"No," he replied with a frown. "I really like Feliu. I came here to find out what happened to him and to warn him. That detention center is locked up tight, no visitors. I thought I might warn Robin."
He spit out Robin's name with a contemptuous force that caught Ehren off guard. There was history there, but he wasn't going to ask about it.
"Yeah, well, Robin's not going to hear it right now," Ehren said instead.
"Figures," Berilo muttered with bitter inflection. "He loves him, he loves him, he loves him, blah, blah, blah, but when it comes down to it; when it really matters, he doesn't even believe him."
"Give him a break," Ehren said before he could even think about it. "He's dealing with a lot right now. I don't even know if I believe you."
"You do." Berilo grinned at him. "I can sense it."
"If I believe you, that means this government here is covering it..."
Berilo huffed an interruption and ducked back under the water. He emerged a moment later and shook his head spraying water all around.
"They're not covering anything up. They're just taking everything at face value," he said. "It's easy that way. They have a scapegoat that's a wanted man anyway, and the truth doesn't fucking matter."
"Why don't the witnesses remember this mythical assassin then?"
"Please," Berilo scoffed. "Probably a time warp or wave or something. You should be well aware of the havoc a little black box can wreak on a tiny human brain. Add to that a pressure situation, and their memories are probably toast."
"I'll need proof," Ehren mused.
Berilo looked blankly up at him. "I wish I could help. I wish I could do something."
"You've done enough," Ehren said. "Have you got an ICD? I need to make a call."
****
Rasa woke to the sound of her ICD bleating loudly near her ear. She groaned and grabbed the device from her nightstand, glancing quickly at her roommate to see if the noise had wakened her. She was relieved that it hadn't then answered the call and was surprised to hear Ehren's voice on the other end.
"Do you have any idea what time it is here?" She hissed. "I know you do, because you used an ICD. You dialed in to this time."
"Yeah, I wanted to catch you alone," he said. "I have a favor to ask. You can say no if you want. I really don't blame you if you do."
"Fine. No. Goodnight."
"Wait!" He shouted into the device. "Hear me out first?"
"Fine, do it," she said.
He explained everything Berilo had told him.
"You are crazy." Rasa groaned and ran her hand through her long white hair as soon as he'd finished . "Is there crazy juice on that planet?"
"You can get Seth to help."
"Seth is already on an Anti-GU tear," she said. "He won't have anything to do with it."
"I'd think he'd want this to be cleared up. They're trying to blame the Dysprosians."
"What!?" That bit of news had piqued her interest, and she suddenly felt more awake.
"Oh, I...uh...you didn't know?"
"The Vice-Admiral ordered a blackout. There's no news coming in," she said. "I don't even know how you're calling me."
"It's an encrypted and untraceable line!" Berilo cut in with a proud smile. "And it's waterproof!"
"Who the fuck is that?" Rasa growled.
"That's Berilo," Ehren said without skipping a beat. "But nevermind. You're the best at this. I know you can dig something out."
"Don't try to convince me with flattery. You know we'll be dishonorably discharged if we're caught?"
"Not if we're right," Ehren said. "Do you really want your galaxy at war?"
"No," she admitted.
"Then help me clear his name," he said. "It's in everybody's best interests."
"What if he did it?" she said.
"Well, then prove that he actually did it. I don't care either way. As it stands, it's really shady. Is there any reason for an information blackout?"
"No but..."
"Please, Rasa," he said. "Do it for me?"
"You're really overestimating how much I like you," she replied.
"Please?" He held out the word in a prolonged whine until she broke up with a laugh.
"That hurts my ear," she said. "Maybe I can look into it. I think it's a little weird too, to be honest. No Seth though. Seth can suck it."
"Yeah," Ehren agreed. "He can definitely suck it."
"Who is this guy?" Berlio said. "I wanna meet him."
Ehren shushed him as Rasa broke out into a loud laughter before quickly stifling it before she woke her roommate.
"I gotta go," Ehren said. "I'll talk to you when I get back."
Ehren signed off and handed the ICD back to Berilo, who refused it.
"You might need to get in touch with me," he said. "Keep it."
"Why would I want to do that?" Ehren muttered. "Robin's already going to be angry that I'm not bringing you back with me."
"We don't need to tell Robin anything," Berilo huffed. "He doesn't like me anyway."
"Wait...he knows you?"
"He knows of me," Berilo said. "I doubt he knows what I look like or that I can change my colour. Nevermind. Tell him I climbed up a wall or scampered under a river rock or something. You hardly have the stamina to keep up with a Biron in the first place. Let's just keep this meeting between you and me all right?"
He offered his hand and Ehren shook it, trying very hard to maintain his composure and not yank his own hand back as soon as he felt how cold and clamy Berilo's was. Berilo noted his discomfort and laughed. He took a step back and ran his hand over his hairless head.
"I know," he said. "It's soft at least, right?"
Ehren muttered hurried apologies beneath his breath and fled the room with Berilo's laughter ringing in his ears. Once he had exited the hotel, he found that he had no idea where he was and reluctantly called Robin to get directions.
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Ehren drifted off to sleep soon after and woke what he thought was several hours later. He was used to living on a hot planet, but at least there was some respite from the unrelenting heat of the sun at night. On Utopia there was no night, and Ehren was finding that the perpetual sunlight made him tired and completely threw off his internal clock.
Robin remained lying halfway across Ehren's stomach; an uncomfortable position for the smaller Earthian. Robin's low Utopian body temperature was a nice surprise though. There was a soft coolness radiating from him. It was an unexpected pleasure, much like the cool side of a pillow. Ehren didn't particularly want to move from the spot, but he was hungry, so he wriggled out from under Robin and stumbled down to Galiana's kitchen.
He found her there, but was surprised that she was surrounded by a few well dressed mourners from the funeral. The light of never-ending day had once again played tricks on his mind, and it couldn't have been more than an hour or two that he had been asleep.
They were typical Utopian nobility; willowy, dark haired, and looking down on him with disdain. Ehren was sure he didn't look his best. His entire dress uniform was rumpled, the tail of his shirt was hanging out, his jacket unbuttoned and askew, his short hair sticking up in impossible directions, and his eyes were bleary with sleep.
"There you are, Ehrenfried!" Galiana greeted him enthusiastically.
She introduced him around as Robin's friend from I-GAS. It wasn't quite the truth, but after that afternoon he couldn't help but wonder if it might be in the cards for the future. He gave them a short rundown of his I-GAS career as a recruit and his commission as a communications officer. They were duly impressed with his firm grasp on the Utopian language. When they'd departed to the parlor, he was left with Galiana and she gave him a knowing smile.
"I was going to fetch you two before anybody showed up with their condolences," She said. "I didn't want to disturb you though."
Ehren blanched at the idea of Robin's mother catching them curled up together like a couple of kittens. He could tell by the look in her eye that she was already getting the wrong impression.
"Don't read anything into it," Ehren muttered. "Nothing happened. You saw how upset he was, and you probably saw the state of that room too. I was just trying to make him feel better."
"That's more than most," she replied. "You are a good friend to him. He needs one right now."
"I don't know about that," Ehren said. "I'm just here, trying to do the right thing. Sometimes, I..." He paused, thinking about Feliu locked in the detention center, possibly innocent, or possibly taking advantage of him once again.
"Sometimes I'm not sure what that is," he said.
****
He took a moment to freshen up in the bathroom before returning to the gathering. When he did, he found Robin milling around accepting condolences from various aristocrats. Ehren took up a position in a nearby doorway so that he could observe the entire area. He folded his hands behind his back and stood at attention, trying to do his best to remain professional. He didn't even flinch when, after ten minutes of observation, Robin broke from the older couple he had been entertaining and stalked up to him stopping only inches away. Eheren remained unmoved with his eyes staring straight ahead. He could only pray that Robin wouldn't lean in and kiss him right there in front of everybody, which was what had happened the last time they had been in such a close proximity.
"Hey," Robin said. He did move forward, and Ehren cringed inwardly, but Robin didn't kiss him. He only whispered in his ear.
"Why don't you do your job?"
"Huh?" Ehren gulped down his nervousness and tried desperately to ignore Robin's smooth cheek pressed against his.
"Why don't you please go apprehend that that Biron that's been tailing me for the entire day?"
Ehren glanced around the room and then shoved Robin away.
"I don't see anybody. Besides, my job is to watch you to make sure you behave."
"Well, since you're here and I can't exactly go shooting up the city on a hunch right now... They'll probably extend my probation when you report my little visit to the detention facility this morning. Besides the entire aristocracy is here practically, and I don't want to have another political assassination on my conscience, because Utopian security is asleep on the job again. Do you?"
"No," Ehren muttered. "You're right."
"Of course I am. Contrary to popular belief, I didn't reach commander by political affiliation."
"I get it," Ehren said. "Where is he?"
"Be discreet," Robin said, and nodded slightly towards the buffet table.
"He's the orange bald guy over there."
"How can you tell?" Ehren squinted. The bald man looked hardly different than any human he'd seen.
"Think about it," Robin said. "How many glowing orange people have you met here?"
"Okay. You have a point," Ehren admitted. "What should I do?"
"Just go over there and ask him what he's doing here. A Biron doesn't visit a dry planet like this unless he's up to something. When he runs, run after him. You still have that gun?"
"Of course." Ehren nodded. "Don't leave home without it."
"Set it to stun. Find out what he wants."
"Yes, Sir," Ehren replied.
He moved from Robin's side then and approached the bald man, who was standing there nervously twitching, his eyes casting around the room. As soon as he noticed Ehren approaching him with a purposeful stride, he bolted for the door. Ehren could hear Robin shout an "I told you so" at him as he passed by in pursuit of the suspect.
The chase seemed to last forever to Ehren, and he suddenly regretted his minimal time spent at the gym as he began to run out of breath before he could even get close enough to discharge his weapon. Luckily they came to an alleyway that was blocked off by a large titanium gate. Ehren pulled out his gun as he ran up on the man, who looked wildly around for an escape route before shrugging his shoulders and jumping onto the gated entryway. He scampered up the bars with an unnaturally fluid agility. Ehren cursed to himself, took aim and fired off one shot that hit the escapee in the shoulder and knocked him from high atop the gateway.
He landed on the paving stones in front of Ehren with a loud thud and groaned as he pulled himself up onto one elbow with a dismayed frown on his face.
"What gave me away?" He muttered in an Intergalactic-Standard with an accent that Ehren had never encountered before.
"I don't know," Ehren admitted. He peered deeper into the man's face, trying to discern what it was about his features that gave away his planet of origin. He had an average, thin nose that pointed slightly upward at the tip, high cheekbones, and, like Robin had pointed out, his skin was a strange shade of pale orange. He had no hair to speak of anywhere upon the visible areas of his face or head. Not only that, but the way he was dressed seemed oddly out of place on a planet with unrelenting light and heat.
"You're orange," he said. "And you're wearing a high-neck shirt."
"Fuck." His frown deepened and he tugged at the neck of the shirt before he pulled it off entirely. It wasn't his torso that attracted Ehren's immediate attention, but the feathery gills that were suddenly clearly visible on his neck where they had been obscured by the shirt only moments before.
"I guess I can't control my chromataphores as well as I thought," he grumbled. "Do you realize how difficult it is to get that kind of a pallor? Stupid reflective humans on this planet."
Ehren kept his gun carefully trained on the babbling Biron.
"It's not that hard. Stay on that sunless wasteland called Tarain for a while, and you'll be white too," Ehren said.
The Biron laughed at him.
"Didn't you hear me? You foreigners and your melanocytes," he said. With that he closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Ehren watched the Biron's look of concentration as the orange color of his skin slowly was replaced by a bright green around his arms and legs that faded into a light turquoise color around his eyes and abdomen, with deeper turquoise spots around his head and neck.
"That's better," he said. "Since you know, I might as well be my actual color."
"You're...green," Ehren said.
"And blue," he replied. "Don't forget blue. I suppose you've never met a Biron before." He offered his hand, which Ehren only regarded with a dull confusion, his own hand never leaving his gun.
"My name's Berilo," he said. "My sister sent me to find out what happened to Feliu."
"Uhh...he's in jail for murder," Ehren said.
Berilo threw his head back and laughed out loud.
"What's so funny?" Ehren said.
"No he isn't," Berilo replied.
"Yes he is," Ehren said. "I saw him there."
"Well, damn." The Biron scratched behind his ear and looked thoughtful. "You know he didn't do it, right? There is no way in all the rain forests of Birosphere that he could ever do something like that. Yaretzi thought something like this might have happened. Who did he supposedly murder?"
"Uhh...Aina Grey," Ehren said. He wondered if maybe he shouldn't be sharing so much information with the strange human before him.
"Fuck," he replied.
"This is nice and everything, but I'm going to have to take you in now." Ehren waved his gun in a motion indicating that he would like Berilo to turn around so that he might apply binders to him.
"Oh, really?" He smiled widely at Ehren showing rows of small pointed teeth.
"What is it exactly that I have done today, Ensign...correct?"
Ehren nodded and opened his mouth, but realized quickly thereafter that he had no legally binding reason for even detaining the Biron.
"You're wanted for questioning." He said the first thing that popped into his brain, but once again Berilo only laughed loudly at him.
"All I have done is attended a funeral," he said after his laughter had subsided. "I have an info-plant if you would like to scan me. I am a citizen of Birosphere with proper travel documentation and absolutely no criminal record."
"I think I will," Ehren said. He removed a small device from one of the small pockets on his utility belt and waved it quickly over the info-plant in his captive's shoulder. What the Biron had said held true. He had no documented criminal record.
"I guess... You're right." Ehren leaned against a nearby wall, and Berilo shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.
"Well, this chase has been fun, but I'm afraid it's left me a little too dry. This air is terribly lacking in moisture. I'm going to have to go back to my room."
"Wait just a minute," Ehren moved to block Berilo from leaving the alleyway. "You're not leaving until you tell me what you know. Nothing about this is adding up."
"You think so too? Good," Berilo said. "I was hoping I might be able to talk to a rational human on this planet. It seems everywhere I turn a Utopian is calling for Feliu's blood. I'd be more than happy to share intel. Like I said... I'm not on anybody but my sister's side. You're going to have to come back to my room though, or you will be talking to a dried out husk of a human."
Ehren nodded dubious consent and followed the Biron out onto the street with his weapon carefully concealed and pointed at his back. When they reached the hotel where Berilo was staying, he immediately stripped off all his clothes and ran to the bathroom where he immersed himself under a running faucet. He called for Ehren to join him, and Ehren entered the room with some trepidation.
"Sorry to be so forward," Berilo said, barely glancing in Ehren's direction before closing his eyes in relief. "Drying out is a terrible, terrible way to die. Yaretzi told me to wear a wetsuit, but I didn't want to stand out. The mucous glands are definitely out of the question for blending in too. Most humans get really freaked out by slime for some reason."
"It's okay," Ehren said. "Never met an amphibious human before."
"Today's your lucky day then," Berilo stretched his arms out high above his head then sat up and leaned forward with his head resting on his arms upon the ledge of the tub. "Now, what do you want to know?"
"Who sent you?"
"Yaretzi, my sister. She's a port-keeper on the Darkness...Feliu's ship?"
"Okay."
"Anyway, she felt something bad was going to happen, then the wrong crew jumped and Feliu never came back, and some strange dude showed up all enraged and shit." Berilo yawned. "I'm glad I didn't get involved in all that shady pirate business after all, but Feliu is a nice guy. When Yaretzi says he wouldn't do something like this, I believe her."
Ehren nodded thoughtfully. "Tell me about the stranger?"
"Oh, he was somebody she'd never seen before," he said. "She said he looked like one of those guns for hire. Mean, kinda with a desperate air of death all around them."
"An assassin," Ehren murmured to himself.
"Probably," Berilo agreed. "Anyway, he was screaming around the whole entire ship, because he didn't want gold for whatever they had him do. They promised him a black-hole generator."
"A what?" Ehren said. "There's no such thing!"
"Yeah, there is," Berilo said. "They don't like that kind of intel to get out, but there is. It's a temporal compactor they call it. It creates singularities that make black holes. Basically whoever has it can destroy whole worlds. The Utopians keep it here."
"But Feliu didn't steal anything from the vault," Ehren said, slowly piecing the puzzle together. "I mean, he broke in, obviously. We had footage of that. He broke in and fiddled around with a thing and put it back and left. He tried to bypass all the digi-cams, but he pretty much sucked at it until he reached the council chamber. That's when everything went dark."
"Yeah, that was the thing." Berilo nodded. "The Black hole maker. I told you he couldn't kill a fly, let alone hand over a thing that could kill trillions of peoples. He gave that guy a holo-book. Assassins aren't known for their wits I guess, so the he was ultra mad when he found out. Feliu has a price on his head."
"So, did you come here to cash in?" Ehren said.
"No," he replied with a frown. "I really like Feliu. I came here to find out what happened to him and to warn him. That detention center is locked up tight, no visitors. I thought I might warn Robin."
He spit out Robin's name with a contemptuous force that caught Ehren off guard. There was history there, but he wasn't going to ask about it.
"Yeah, well, Robin's not going to hear it right now," Ehren said instead.
"Figures," Berilo muttered with bitter inflection. "He loves him, he loves him, he loves him, blah, blah, blah, but when it comes down to it; when it really matters, he doesn't even believe him."
"Give him a break," Ehren said before he could even think about it. "He's dealing with a lot right now. I don't even know if I believe you."
"You do." Berilo grinned at him. "I can sense it."
"If I believe you, that means this government here is covering it..."
Berilo huffed an interruption and ducked back under the water. He emerged a moment later and shook his head spraying water all around.
"They're not covering anything up. They're just taking everything at face value," he said. "It's easy that way. They have a scapegoat that's a wanted man anyway, and the truth doesn't fucking matter."
"Why don't the witnesses remember this mythical assassin then?"
"Please," Berilo scoffed. "Probably a time warp or wave or something. You should be well aware of the havoc a little black box can wreak on a tiny human brain. Add to that a pressure situation, and their memories are probably toast."
"I'll need proof," Ehren mused.
Berilo looked blankly up at him. "I wish I could help. I wish I could do something."
"You've done enough," Ehren said. "Have you got an ICD? I need to make a call."
****
Rasa woke to the sound of her ICD bleating loudly near her ear. She groaned and grabbed the device from her nightstand, glancing quickly at her roommate to see if the noise had wakened her. She was relieved that it hadn't then answered the call and was surprised to hear Ehren's voice on the other end.
"Do you have any idea what time it is here?" She hissed. "I know you do, because you used an ICD. You dialed in to this time."
"Yeah, I wanted to catch you alone," he said. "I have a favor to ask. You can say no if you want. I really don't blame you if you do."
"Fine. No. Goodnight."
"Wait!" He shouted into the device. "Hear me out first?"
"Fine, do it," she said.
He explained everything Berilo had told him.
"You are crazy." Rasa groaned and ran her hand through her long white hair as soon as he'd finished . "Is there crazy juice on that planet?"
"You can get Seth to help."
"Seth is already on an Anti-GU tear," she said. "He won't have anything to do with it."
"I'd think he'd want this to be cleared up. They're trying to blame the Dysprosians."
"What!?" That bit of news had piqued her interest, and she suddenly felt more awake.
"Oh, I...uh...you didn't know?"
"The Vice-Admiral ordered a blackout. There's no news coming in," she said. "I don't even know how you're calling me."
"It's an encrypted and untraceable line!" Berilo cut in with a proud smile. "And it's waterproof!"
"Who the fuck is that?" Rasa growled.
"That's Berilo," Ehren said without skipping a beat. "But nevermind. You're the best at this. I know you can dig something out."
"Don't try to convince me with flattery. You know we'll be dishonorably discharged if we're caught?"
"Not if we're right," Ehren said. "Do you really want your galaxy at war?"
"No," she admitted.
"Then help me clear his name," he said. "It's in everybody's best interests."
"What if he did it?" she said.
"Well, then prove that he actually did it. I don't care either way. As it stands, it's really shady. Is there any reason for an information blackout?"
"No but..."
"Please, Rasa," he said. "Do it for me?"
"You're really overestimating how much I like you," she replied.
"Please?" He held out the word in a prolonged whine until she broke up with a laugh.
"That hurts my ear," she said. "Maybe I can look into it. I think it's a little weird too, to be honest. No Seth though. Seth can suck it."
"Yeah," Ehren agreed. "He can definitely suck it."
"Who is this guy?" Berlio said. "I wanna meet him."
Ehren shushed him as Rasa broke out into a loud laughter before quickly stifling it before she woke her roommate.
"I gotta go," Ehren said. "I'll talk to you when I get back."
Ehren signed off and handed the ICD back to Berilo, who refused it.
"You might need to get in touch with me," he said. "Keep it."
"Why would I want to do that?" Ehren muttered. "Robin's already going to be angry that I'm not bringing you back with me."
"We don't need to tell Robin anything," Berilo huffed. "He doesn't like me anyway."
"Wait...he knows you?"
"He knows of me," Berilo said. "I doubt he knows what I look like or that I can change my colour. Nevermind. Tell him I climbed up a wall or scampered under a river rock or something. You hardly have the stamina to keep up with a Biron in the first place. Let's just keep this meeting between you and me all right?"
He offered his hand and Ehren shook it, trying very hard to maintain his composure and not yank his own hand back as soon as he felt how cold and clamy Berilo's was. Berilo noted his discomfort and laughed. He took a step back and ran his hand over his hairless head.
"I know," he said. "It's soft at least, right?"
Ehren muttered hurried apologies beneath his breath and fled the room with Berilo's laughter ringing in his ears. Once he had exited the hotel, he found that he had no idea where he was and reluctantly called Robin to get directions.
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