“No I don’t, which is why you’re here. I will deal with the culprit once you find them. Take this overlay icon with you. If you need to question any of my staff, they will know it came from me, and will assist you to the extent they can.”
Vargas receives what looks like a crest. An eagle, with its wings stretched out. “Thanks.”
“I will have one of my men take you to Mrs. Miku’s room. I expect you to have results for me Mr. Mitchel, don’t disappoint me.”
Vargas rolls his eyes. “I guess I’ll be going now.”
One of the two mountains lead Vargas to Miku Fidona’s room. There was nothing outside of the room that showed anything had happened. The big man watched carefully down each side of the hallway before opening the door for the two of them to enter.
The big man says, without looking back at Vargas, “It’s bad in there.”
Vargas had seen some pretty bad things before, and figured the big guy hadn’t seen many deaths before.
“I’ll be fine, let’s get this over with.”
As they enter, the metallic smell of blood fills his nose. This was the first real crime scene that Vargas had ever been to. He had been training for the last four years to be a Paladin, which was a special government force, akin to a military. Since humanity was more or less united under one flag, there was considerably less need for military might. So the Paladin’s act as a backup for the Knights, which are the policing force on Eden.
Vargas tries to concentrate on what he is seeing, and only on the scene, not the horrific view before his eyes. There is blood all over the walls of the expensive looking room. Miku’s body looks as though her bones were ripped out of her, and her skin lays on the bed curled out. He can feel himself ready to throw up, and grabs the trashcan nearby. He hadn’t had breakfast yet, which was a blessing in disguise he thought. The big man to his right arcs an eyebrow.
“This your first time?”
Vargas wipes his mouth from the dry heave. “Yea, but I’m sure this isn’t normal.”
“You’re right. So any ideas?”
Vargas takes in a deep breath. Which turns out to be a bad idea, and starts to dry heave again.
“Try going out on the balcony, I can wait here for you.”
He does, sliding the door open to the fresh – blood-scent free – ocean air. When he was in all of the training, they showed them horrific scenes of what had happened to people in the past. Magic does funny things to people. Most of the population controls themselves just fine, and use magic to enhance their daily life. Heat food, grab objects out of reach, power their electronics, but there are some who don’t see it that way.
The laws are very clear on the subject on magic use, when using it on another person. If it was with the intent to cause harm, that’s illegal. Having someone rip your bones out through your skin, would fall into that category. So Vargas knew he was dealing with a rogue wizard, a warlock.
He takes a few more breaths in of the ocean, and walks back in.
Stepping back in he closes his eyes, and tells himself, evaluate the room, shut off your emotions.
Opening his eyes, he begins to look around. Miku’s body lays across the bed as if she was staring at the door, which probably meant she went to open the door. The blood on the carpet didn’t look like there were any footprints on it, and the blood didn’t go into the small hallway leading out of the room.
Looking over her body, her HaLO was missing. With it missing, whoever killed her was covering their tracks, or she had information on it they wanted. Either way it would be something to look for. If he was lucky, the killer might be stupid enough to have it on or turn it on while he’s still onboard. He could track them that way.
Vargas looks over to the big man, “What’s your name?”
“Phillips.”
“Well Phillips, have you tried to track Miku’s HaLO yet?”
“We have, there wasn’t anything.”
“Tell Maldone to keep trying it, and if something comes up, send it to me. Also, was she watching over the blueprints?”
“No those were kept in the vault onboard. We’re going there next.”
“Lovely.”
7
Daylight begins to creep in around the corners of the curtains, as the air conditioning kicks on, making them dance back and forth. Marie and Vernon wake up to the light caressing their faces, having already set sail on the open ocean for the last few hours. It was now well past noon for their first day of marriage, as they begin to stir. Still tired from the repeat performances the night prior.
Vernon wakes, a smile still plastered on his face, and turns to Marie asking, “How is Mrs. Douglas doing this lovely morning?”
She stretches and turns toward him, to gaze in his bluish grey eyes. She smiles at them, and lets out a satisfied giggle, “She is doing wonderful with her new husband waking up by her side.”
For this first day they had planned to tour the ship. There was nothing official or sponsored by the ship that they could go to, but since this was the first cruise ship ever built on Eden, they wanted to explore around it.
Vernon asks, “Where is it that you wanted to go to first?”
“I’m not sure, did you get a map of the ship when you boarded?”
“I did yea, didn’t you?”
“No, the host that was there had a perfectly practiced apology though.”
“Was his name Charles?”
“It was, how’d you know?”
“He checked me in too, and did the same apology, but it was for the blandness of the overlay prompts. It’s almost like he had been doing that job of his for a long time with it that practiced.”
Marie laughs, “You’re right,” and reaches under the covers to nudge at him. “Well, hurry and bring it up.”
Vernon rolls his eyes as he does, sharing his virtual space with Marie. Yet this time he does something a little different, he sends over permanent access along with it. She looks at him and smiles.
“Are you sure about this?”
“I am. You need to be able to see what I see and access what I have access too. There was a story I heard about, where a Paladin got a nasty overlay virus, undetectable by scans. It wasn’t till he started to attack other people that they forcibly looked through his overlay vision to see how twisted everything was to him.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Yea it is, but that was a rare case. I also want you to have access to my vitals, my finances, and my location when allowed, because I love you. I want our lives to be all together as a whole, virtual, physical, and financial.”
Marie’s face beams, “That is incredibly sweet.”
Vernon smiles back, pulling up the map. Two bright yet small yellow dots begin a slow pulse, showing their location on the map as in their room. In scanning around the larger areas of the ship they see there is an onboard casino, game room, dance hall, ice rink, two movie theatre sized pools, and the dining hall in addition to the ballroom they had their wedding in. This was only a portion of the ship. They begin to discuss what they wanted to see first, but the rumbling in both of their stomachs answers that question for them.
Vernon asks, “Was that your stomach or mine?”
Marie makes a face of shock and disbelief before answering, “You heard that?”
“So I guess it was yours,” Vernon laughs, “But I’m hungry too. With all of last night’s festivities done with I need something in me.”
Marie’s expression goes from relief to concern, and Vernon can see her mind crank through a few questions before she asks, “Was I your first?”
Vernon blinks, and the words weigh heavy in the air for what felt like hours, but was only a few moments. He answers with a smile on his face, and a soft tone in his voice, “Yes Marie. I have never been with anyone else, and wouldn’t have wanted to be either. I wanted you.”
Marie’s eyes begin to glaze with tears. She leans over to kiss Vernon, and her exposed flesh touches his. The kiss is soft
, yet there is a weight to it. Sparks of enjoyment flash through his body and he comes to attention. As Marie pulls back from the kiss, she notices, and takes hold saying, “Aw, that’s so cute.”
Vernon frowns, shaking his head, “That’s not cute, don’t call that cute.”
Marie laughs, and rolls away leaning over the side of the bed. She looks for something on the ground, while Vernon watches the curves of her back sway to and fro as she rummages around. She comes back up, victoriously holding her undergarments, and wiggles them on.
There is silence in the room, except for the hum of air conditioning, and wafting of the curtains. Vernon lays there and admires her wiggling, and shimmying around.
Once finished she turns back to Vernon saying, “Food.”
With the map was still floating in the virtual space above their bed. Vernon finds the main dining hall three floors above the ballroom at the aft of the ship. Upon seeing this he lets out a heavy sigh, and Marie shoots him a look.
He says, "The buffet hall is on the other side of the ship, above the ballroom that we got married at yesterday."
Marie glares, "You had better not be getting lazy on me mister! We have a full day ahead of walking around this ship and I will hear no moaning or groaning from you."
"None from me, no mam." Vernon says back quickly.
They get dressed in casual yet festive attire, both in flowered shades of green, blue and red. Walking down toward the aft of the ship, they choose to go through the hallway of rooms that lines the outer layer of the ship instead of going through its center. Vernon feels almost claustrophobic while going down the hallway. With him standing a head taller than six feet, and broad shoulders he feels as though they will almost touch on either side as he walks through.
Vernon shakes the thoughts from his head, and looks back over his shoulders to see Marie staring at his back with a sultry glare of admiration of his features. He can feel her eyes looking past his clothes. They haven’t really had a lot of time together over the last couple of weeks, and Vernon knows he has grown over the last four years in height and muscle. He had just finished the Paladin training academy when he asked her to marry him, and without hesitation she agreed.
Vernon stops to returns the stare, and he grins as he begins to admire her. Marie is shorter than him but her face comes up to around his neck, her shoulder length auburn hair falls around her face framing it, and has a slight yet natural curl about it. Her dress, loose as it may fall on her small frame, shows off her voluptuous curves pulling tightly against her chest, and wide hips with each step.
He had always looked at pictures of her and him together, to keep him going throughout his training, but Marie is more beautiful now than she had been when they were in high school. She had filled out in all the right places.
She tilts her head with a slight angle, and has an inquisitive look on her face. “What’s wrong Vernon, why did we stop?”
“Nothing, I was just feeling cramped in this tiny hallway, and I was admiring your filled out curves.”
Marie’s head straightens in a snap, “Filled out curves, I will have you know that I am only a hundred and sixty pounds, and that is a perfectly good weight!”
Chills run though his veins before he replies, “That’s not what I meant, I was just saying that you have become more beautiful since we were kids in high school is all.”
“Oh,” Marie says apologetically, “You filled out too. I mean, I don't remember you being so muscular.”
“Yea, training daily will do that to you. I’ll tell you about it later though, for now let’s just get out of this hallway and go eat.”
Vernon about-faces and begins a forward march toward the pursuit of food, and Marie follows pace. As they walk down the hallway their eyes are drawn to various glass enclosures spaced throughout, each with handmade dolls, depicting different forms of theatre and folk art.
Vernon turns his head back toward Marie, “Hey, do you see all of these creepy looking dolls?”
“I do. Their eyes seem to be following me as we walk. Creepy.”
Finally reaching the other side of the hallway, there is an exit sign pointing toward a staircase. Across the walkway from the stairs is an elevator, and past that Vernon can see the large wooden double doors for the ballroom. He gazes upon the now shut doors, letting his memories of last night flood back to the forefront of his thoughts. Walking in to the room for the first time, the decorations, Marie’s grand reveal in her dress, and running out of them with rice being thrown from every direction.
Vernon then lifts his left hand, and stares at his delorium wedding band. There are three tiny embedded diamonds within the center of the band, it having a rough finish, and to either side of that a smooth polish. It symbolizes the love and bond they now share, and he fondly remembers the discussion of how he didn’t need this expensive metal ring or the diamonds in it. Marie wanted a metal durable enough for him, elegant for her, and matching. Stones and all. Delorium was that metal, so she insisted they get the matching rings from a jeweler near Bastion known for his skill and craftsmanship of molding delorium. It is a rare liquid metal found here on Eden, that only a few people on the planet know how to, or have the skill to mold it. Needing a precise rune covered forge and special process — which is a trade secret — to turn it from liquid to solid.
Staring at the ring wells up emotions within Vernon, and he reaches out a hand toward Marie, grabbing hers to pull her into a kiss. He thinks of the engraving in both rings as their lips meet, I have found the one whom my soul loves. Just to know that she is there for him and with him, for this day till their last is a joyous feeling for him.
The elevator dings, bringing them back to the here and now, and they wait for the current passengers to get off before loading in. Vernon takes a look back to the stairs knowing he should be taking them, and hesitates — Rajini’s face flashing in his memory — before getting pulled in by Marie.
Entering the elevator Vernon is surprised to notice the walls are not walls but a single pane of curved glass, which opens to the middle of the ship. He gazes upon what looks like a strip of store fronts within the ship. Bellow them there is the front desk with a handful of people waiting to talk with a receptionist, and in front of that a decorative spiral staircase leading to lower levels.
Marie hits the button to take them to the fifteenth floor. Ascending brings Vernon’s focus upward and he can see wires with colored balls and reflective circles spaced decoratively in between the elevator he is in and the matching set of elevators within view on the port side of the ship. The elevator slows as they reach their floor, and a new pair of elegant dark wooden double doors comes into view on their left.
With the time being past one o’clock, the lunch crowd had already come and gone, but there are still a healthy flow of passengers in and out of the dining hall. They exit the elevator and head into the dining hall. As they walk in, past the pair of double doors, there was a massive open space laid out before them. The back and side walls were missing, replaced with thirty foot panes of glass, allowing a two hundred and seventy degree view of the open ocean devoid of obstructions.
Vernon looks out past the paned glass, horizon in every direction, with the only thing to see being the ocean and wake left behind. It was breathtaking. He looks to Marie and sees that her eyes are focused elsewhere. They were focused on food.
8
The Vault was at the bottom of the ship, a drafty and cold place. It was perfect for computer servers which housed the cruise’s private HVN. The whole area was tucked away from any passenger walkways, and filled with cameras on top of security guards.
The other guards stand straighter as they see Phillips come into view. He gives them a gesturing nod of the head, and they open the security door, to the innards of the vault. The door was massive, taking up eight to nine feet of height and depth.
Each guard eyes Vargas as he walks past. Which he doesn’t like. So he gives them his largest go-to-hell smile, and wave
s.
The servers were sent in rows, very neat and tidy, with blinking lights showing a casual observer they are working. Phillips motions for Vargas to follow him toward the back. Walking down the rows, he can’t believe how large the space is, almost the size of the buffet hall. At the back of the vault stood a fence from floor to ceiling, of latticed metal, and in front of Phillips a scanner. He waves his HaLO over it. The screen lights up with an outline of a palm, and he obliges by place his within the lines, as best he could fit the meat hook he called his hand. That was then followed by an retina scan.
Vargas watches as he unlocks each level of security. The culprit would have had to bypass each of the locks, or found a way in without having to go through them in the first place.
“So, Phillips, can I have a look at the blueprints of the ship after this?”
“You’ll have to ask the boss on that one.”
“I’m trying to find out if there is another way into this room without having to go through all this security.”
“If that’s all you’re looking for, there isn’t. This room is one gigantic box, with only the one door. The air is pumped in from the front, next to the guards, then circulated around from internal ducts.”
“What about power?”
“Same.”
Vargas nods.
Phillips opens the cage door, and gestures for Vargas to go in first. Taking a step into the room, Vargas begins to lose his balance. He sways, unable to catch his balance, and Phillips pulls him out of the cage – slamming him up against the side.
“That would be the last security measure.”
Vargas’ hands rub his face. “What the hell was that.”
“Vertigo. The room is lined with runes causing anyone who enters to be grounded. Unless you have one of these.” Phillips holds up two wrist bands. He hands one over, latching the other around his wrist. Vargas watches as he walks into the room without any ill effects on him.
Phillips pointed out where the theft occurred, and it was clear the door holding the schematics was cut off its hinges.
Cypher Theorem Series Box Set: Books 1-3, The Zero Class, Shadow Moon, Dragon Fire: A Science Fiction Fantasy Page 22