by Collin Earl
*****
"Yes that's right, Reed. From the dossiers, he is the one who is most vulnerable. Of all the potential candidates, we can leverage his circumstances most effectively."
Dr. Shu sipped his jasmine-infused sake as he spoke with the small image of his contact emitting from the projector.
"I will relay your choice back to the committee," the image replied. "How is your imposed incarceration going?"
Dr. Shu harrumphed. "Damned naturalists. It's not like they actually pose a significant threat. If it hadn't been for those last few anonymous communications that were intercepted, I wouldn't be here. They just popped up last minute, right when things looked like they were going to settle down. Now I have some Northern Territory bear guarding me."
The contact laughed.
"No seriously, this guy could pass as a Ganga for sure." Shu could feel the sake burn as he tipped back his third cup. "Well, that's it for me. Anything else you need?"
"No, we are good here. I will arrange the meeting with the Vice-Chairman later tonight. Yuon? Yuon, what's the matter?"
Dr. Shu had turned to listen to something he thought he had heard. When he didn't hear it again, he turned back to his contact. "Oh, nothing. Just thought my incompetent guard was saying something. Anyway, let me know how the meeting goes. I think the Emperor will be very pleased with the information that Reed is willing to share. For the right price, of course."
The contact chuckled a knowing laugh. "Well, Yuon, get some sleep. You look tired. After I arrange the meeting, I'm stopping off in the Burning Plains to facilitate an acquisition. I'll be leaving tonight and may not have comm coverage down there, so just leave a secure message with your update if you can't reach me."
Dr. Shu didn't quite hear this last comment. His attention had again turned back to the noise at the front of his apartment. "Huh? Oh, fine. I will be in touch."
Dr. Shu severed the comm uplink and turned to leave the room. As he stood, he swayed a little. Perhaps that third cup had been a bit too much. He unlocked the door and ventured out to find out what that grizzly bear of a guard was doing that had made such a ruckus.
His apartment was dark, and in his altered state of mind Dr. Shu could not for the life of him remember disabling the light dimmers. However, there had been many a time when the automatic lights waking him had done nothing to help his sake-induced hangover, so the fact that he had disabled them made sense, in a turned-around sort of way.
"Hank? Hank!?" Wait that wasn't the man's name. What was it again? Harry? Horse? Ham? Yes that was it, Ham. "Ham! What's going on?" Dr. Shu continued through the sitting room towards the front of the apartment. "Ham! Answer me! What was that noise? You in heat or something? You find a nice girl bear to mate with?" Girl bear. That was funny. Yep. Third one was definitely one too many. "Ham! Ha-"
Dr. Shu stopped mid-yell as his slowed brain pieced together what his eyes saw at the front door. The door was open and it looked like it no longer fit into the doorframe. The bottom part of the floor jutted up in a weird fashion and bowed the rest of the frame outwards. Ham was on the floor. What was Ham doing on the floor?
Dr. Shu slowly took in the scene and then noticed that Ham's neck was cocked at a very unnatural angle. Sluggishly, the adrenaline started to kick in. It flowed freely, trying to overcome the effects of the sake. Dr. Shu started to breathe very rapidly as his brain told him to find the panic alarm. He spun around and groped the wall. His hands were shaking now. Where was it? Stupid dimmers! Why had he disabled them? He threw his hands all along the wall, desperately feeling for the plastic box. At the end of the wall, his fingers brushed it. There it was! He fumbled to get the safety shield open. The adrenaline coursing through his veins combined with his impaired fine-motor function made his fingers shudder and shiver. Just as the shield slid upwards and his hand was about to come down on the button, a vice-like grip clamped down around his arm and spun him into the wall, his back smacking against it. All of his breath escaped as the force of the impact propelled the air out of his lungs. Even if Shu's alcohol-addled brain would have thought to scream at the black apparition that now stood in front of him, there was no air left inside of him to make a single sound.