The man in the video paused to look up from his speech. "Those are the words of another man facing another problem long ago. But they still ring true. As do these, also his: 'And even more—if more should be required—the future of human civilization is at stake.' Well, what we are facing is as paramount as the challenges humanity once faced, and, yet again, the future of our way of life is at stake."
I rolled my eyes and paused the feed, tapping open a transcript. "He goes on like that for a full chron."
"What is he talking about?"
I skimmed his speech and tapped on a section halfway through. "Here it is, buried deep. His audience must have already known what he was talking about." I grimaced at the text. "This guy needed a better speech writer."
"Or a word limit," Suyef stated, smirking at me.
I chuckled and nodded. "Anyway, it is the water. He's going on about the Outer Dominances wasting water." I highlighted a column. "Ironically, he accuses them of doing the same thing you're suggesting: pouring it over the side just to spite the Central Dominance."
"So, now we know how they did it," Suyef said, moving away from the panel. "Decrease the water flow to the outer settlements while massively increasing the flow to your few controlled ports on the shell's edge. You create the illusion of an uptick in water usage."
"And convince your population the people in the Outer Dominances have it in for your way of life. Enter this politician and more like him," I added, nodding at the man standing frozen on the screen.
He held one hand up, pointing at the audience and, in that moment, his face suddenly looked very familiar to me. I stepped near the screen, opening up another search and loading an image of the man. When his face filled the screen, I heard a sharp intake of air behind me. I looked over to see Suyef standing there, eyes locked on the image.
"You know him?" Suyef nodded. "He seems familiar to me as well, but I can't quite place him."
Suyef stepped near the panel and covered the lower half of his face and his hair with his hands. Once he did, I knew immediately.
"The Questioner from the other day?"
The Nomad nodded. "The Questioner," he whispered. "His name is Colvinra."
Chapter 15 – Facing a Questioner
"Wait, you recognized him even though you had only seen his eyes?" I asked, interrupting Quentin.
He glared at me, head cocking to one side. "No, I recognized his voice. Then, his face started to look familiar. And those eyes. You don't forget solid black eyes like that."
"I'm assuming this is the same Colvinra Micaela encountered?"
He frowned. "Do you want to tell this story?"
I held up two hands. "No, no, I'm just clarifying. It's a lot to keep track of."
"If you have a hard time keeping track of a familiar name in this, just wait until you meet Nidfar," Quentin muttered, settling down on the floor next to the table.
My ears perked up at the name, one the Queen had mentioned.
"Do you know where I can find him?" I asked.
He nodded. "He's dead."
I ground my teeth, eyes narrowing at him. He must have heard the grinding, because he looked up at me, eyebrows raised.
"I was told you died, too."
He shrugged. "I did."
He fell silent, and no amount of prodding on my part would get him to tell me more. After several minutes of me trying, he finally lost his cool and fled the room. I let out a long breath and shook my head.
"You can't push him like that," Suyef said, walking into the room.
"What do you do? Stand outside the room all day and wait for him to stop talking? How do you always know when to show up? It’s creepy. And you aren't exactly giving me much to go on here," I muttered, grabbing my things and making to leave the room.
He held an arm across the doorway. "I've told you, he's unbalanced. He's not right in the mind. You've done well to get this much out of him. Be patient." He lowered his arm but held my gaze. "Trust me, you'll get all your answers."
I shrugged and moved past him, making my way to my room. I noticed Quentin's door stood open, so I stopped and peeked inside.
There in the corner, I found him. He lay huddled up into a ball, knees gripped to his chest and eyes squeezed shut. Over his head, he wore a listening device, a set of silver implements that filled his ear canal and wrapped around his ears. I couldn't hear what he was listening to, but I could hear one thing: him humming. The melody filled me with competing emotions: dread warring with joy, agony with peace. Over and over, he hummed the notes, occasionally taking a breath. As he did, he slowly uncurled, his body relaxing. Within a few moments, he fell asleep, the hum falling to a murmur and eventually a grunt as he dozed.
When he awoke nearly a full chron later, I sat on his bed. He stretched and shifted to sit against the wall.
"What were you listening to?" I asked when he removed the device.
He shrugged. "Something I found in the network. It's ancient. As in very old. I think it used to have someone singing to it."
"Does it help?"
He shook his head. "Nothing does."
"So why listen?"
"Because it's better than listening to my own thoughts."
#
"If this Colvinra is as interested in the water usage as he claims to be in this speech, or at least in using it to control people, he shouldn't have an issue with our mission at all," I pointed out, nodding at the face of the Questioner on the panel.
"As you'll soon discover, I'm sure, Colvinra has a way of making things as complicated as possible," Suyef muttered, moving away from the panel. "My predecessor left a lengthy report on his encounters with the man. It seems that, since he came on the scene, he's taken a particular interest in the few Nomad brethren in the Seeker ranks." He turned to look at me. "You can imagine I wasn't too surprised to find him in charge of the squad trailing us."
"But you'd never met him before?"
He shook his head, eyeing the image from the other side of the room. "Just seen images and read the reports of my two predecessors."
"Wait, only two?"
Suyef looked at me. "Yes, we tend to complete two rotations up here on this mission. Roughly ten-year cycles."
"So, your predecessors didn't report on him prior to the water 'crisis' starting on Colberra?" I asked.
"No, he first appears in our records a little over twenty cycles ago," Suyef answered.
I stared off at nothing, trying to wrap my brain around something that couldn't quite be seen, like a memory of a dream.
"What are you thinking?" Suyef asked.
I shrugged. "Not sure, but something isn't adding up here, and I've got this feeling it's going to smack me in the face with how obvious it is."
"Concerning him?"
"Concerning all of this," I stated, waving at the panel. "You, me, the water, him. All of it."
Suyef stared at me, not saying a word. I shrugged and nodded at the image on the screen.
"Your reports say anything else about him?" I asked.
Suyef shook his head. "Just to step carefully and avoid his questions. He's quite good at them, you can imagine."
"I don't suppose you get that title without that skill," I stated, stepping near the panel and tapping open another search. "I'm going to see if there's anything else to be found about him."
A few moments later left me with next to nothing.
"This man hasn't done much that's worthy of public record, it seems," I said, stepping away and staring at the small amount of information available to me. "Name, rank, a brief reference to his work in the Dominance governance prior to his appointment as a Questioner, and nothing more."
"He was appointed?"
I tapped open a file. "Here's the memorandum." I skimmed the document. "Pretty straightforward. Lauds him for services to the Central Dominance but doesn't state what they are. Appoints him to Questioner, and that's it."
"Look at the date," Suyef said, nodding at the screen.
I peered closer. "That's the same cycle as the speech he gave."
"And you can find nothing on him besides this speech?" I shook my head. "They must do a purge of records when you become a Questioner."
"When you become a Seeker," I pointed out. "No one really knows who the Seekers are individually. Seeker records aren't exactly public knowledge, and if I was running that organization and had the power to do so, I'd make my employees' history disappear."
"Organizations like this are dangerous," Suyef muttered. "No accountability when no one knows who you are."
I looked over at the Nomad. "The Central Dominance doesn't care about accountability. Who's going to stop them on this shell? And they leave you well enough alone on your shell, so what does it matter to you?"
"People should not be ruled like this. It's not natural."
"It's what they wanted. It's their own fault," I retorted.
"So we should just let them continue to wallow in their misery because they chose it?"
I shrugged. "Talk is cheap. The Central Dominance controls the Citadel. As long as they control that, and the Seekers protect them from anyone that might wrestle that control away, the people are stuck with it."
"That's not very Isler of you," the Nomad whispered.
I glared at him. "I've only been there once and then as a young kid. I've spent more time on your shell than this one, and the world the Force lives in is a whole different one compared to the rest."
Suyef nodded. "Very isolating, that life is."
I shrugged. "It's what we had, so we made do with it."
"I'm not judging you for it," the Nomad said, resting a hand on my shoulder. "Merely commenting."
"This is neither here nor there," I said, nodding at the screen. "We don't know any more about him than we did before."
Suyef removed his hand and nodded. "We may not ever," he said, looking at me. "Can you use our file to find anything?"
I shook my head. "I tried that. As nice as it is, there is still something limiting its access," I muttered, frowning at the panel. "It's weird, I always thought the restrictions on the network we had on your shell were the Nomads' doing. You even said they were."
"They are," Suyef stated. "We couldn't have you tapping in to our network. We knew where your loyalties lay."
"Sensible approach. One problem," I said, pointing at the panel. "I've found the same restrictions here. The same blocks. Same access limitations. It's different information, and it's guarding less, but it's there."
"What are you saying?" Suyef asked.
I looked at the Nomad for a moment then shrugged. "I don't know what it means. I just know whatever your people used to limit our access to your network is on this system as well. Protecting a much smaller amount of information, as far as I can tell."
Suyef frowned. "How our people managed to block your access is still a bit of a mystery to me. I've asked them before, when I went through my initial training. They never answered, just dodged the question."
"You suspect them?" I asked.
"No," he replied, emphatically, looking back at me with hard eyes. "They have their reasons and chose not to share them with me."
I held up my hands. "Easy, I wasn't accusing them of anything," I said.
Suyef sighed and looked away. "I know. It's just frustrating."
"That they'd send you on this mission without trusting you with all the information?"
"Yes, but how could they know what I would need to know?" the Nomad asked, waving at the panel. "We had no idea what we would find doing this. You know my opinion of this 'mission,' as you call it. It's their way to get you and your meddlesome questions off our shell and somewhere you might, at best, find something beneficial to them and, at worst, land in Seeker hands."
I chuckled, shaking my head. "Not very nice of your elders."
He barked a laugh. "They'd just as soon peel off your skin as be nice to an Offlander."
The conversation ground to a halt. Suyef murmured something to himself, then nodded at the screen.
"Could this have something to do with the problems the elders mentioned?"
I shrugged. "It could be. It's possible a problem on the system might cause this." I held up a finger. "But remember, it looks exactly like the blocks your people put up."
"So, something is protecting the network," Suyef said. "And potentially causing problems because of it."
I stared at the screen for a moment before remembering something.
"Whoever is peeking at files did it again," I said. "And I pinpointed the information they're looking for." Suyef arched an eyebrow. "The water control program for this station."
"A monitor?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Maybe, or someone else interested in the system."
The panel Suyef had set up monitoring the tailing Seekers flashed to the front. We both looked over to see the five markers moving toward our position.
"What are the odds?" I asked.
#
We remained at the panel, closing out my work and awaiting the approaching Seekers. The sensors showed them surrounding the tower and taking up positions. A single blip moved nearer, and soon the door slid open, revealing the Questioner. He wore his cloak, head wrap covering most of his face, save for his black eyes, which remained hard as stone. He stood tall, filling the door as he entered, shoulders broad. His hair, a strand just visible under his hood, matched his eyes. He stepped into the room and the door slid shut behind him.
"You're heading for the settlement," he said.
I glanced at Suyef but held my tongue. The Nomad spread his hands to either side and shook his head.
"Our orders state we speak to no one, not even Questioners."
"I've seen your orders, Offlander," Colvinra hissed, slicing a hand through the air. "Including the original directives your orders stem from. My sources just found them. So let's cease these stupidities and move on." He jabbed a finger at me. "Remove your hood."
I frowned and looked to Suyef, who nodded. I took the hood off. Colvinra's eyes widened slightly as he watched.
"Is there a problem with my trainee?" Suyef inquired, eyes still on Colvinra.
"Do you know who I am?" the Questioner asked, ignoring the Nomad. I shook my head. "Not at all?"
I shrugged, head still shaking. "Can't say that I do," I replied, uncertain of how much to reveal of the little we did know.
"Very strange," he whispered, glancing at Suyef. "I assume your predecessors informed you of me?" The Nomad remained motionless. "Yes, we know they've been keeping tabs on us, sending reports back to your people. We've known for some time. You've sent mostly harmless information back, so we allowed it."
"Why let a potential leak remain in your system?"
Colvinra shrugged. "That's a question for the politicians. Seems they like the idea of having you here. I think they believe if they let you keep coming up here to join our most secretive organization, you'll be inclined to return the favor someday." Colvinra barked a short laugh. "You can guess my thoughts on the likelihood of that happening."
Suyef nodded once. "Slim to none, if our Elders have anything to say about it."
Silence fell as Colvinra shifted his gaze back to me. "You are a puzzle I'll admit I did not expect to find. You say he's a trainee?" Suyef nodded. "When did you graduate the academy?"
"Last year, sir," I answered, latching on to the first thing I could think of.
He frowned. "Strange, as your orders don't mention your name, just his." He nodded toward the Nomad. "Mentions an accompanying trainee, but even that is a mystery." He turned to look at Suyef. "It's not often they send a trainee on such an important mission."
Suyef shrugged, shaking his head. "It wasn't my call. In fact, he was sent on this mission over my vehement objections," he muttered, glancing at me. "I was overruled and not told the reason. So, I've been tolerating him and attempting to fill in the gaps in his academy work."
Colvinra nodded, eyebrows arched. "Yes, we've be
en less than pleased with the academy's products the last few years ourselves." He waved a hand before him. "That's another discussion. Last word of you, Nomad, placed you on your own shell tending to ... What was it? Family business. When did you return?"
"Just recently, sir, as I indicated before," Suyef replied, nodding at me. "Just before I was assigned him for this mission."
"Normal port of entry?" Suyef nodded once. "And the trainee was waiting for you?"
Suyef glared at the Questioner with more fire than I could muster. "The particulars of how and where I acquired the trainee aren't of interest to this mission. His existence was revealed to me a few moments before they gave me this assignment."
The Questioner's eyes narrowed as he watched the Nomad. Finally, he shrugged. "You're heading for the settlement now, I assume?"
Suyef's head cocked slightly to one side, eyes on Colvinra. "We've visited a lot of settlements. You'll need to be more specific."
"The only one that matters," he retorted. "The only one with people still living at it."
Suyef nodded. "Eventually, yes, we are meant to go there."
Colvinra pulled out a padd of his own and tossed it to Suyef. "Here's an update to your orders."
Suyef keyed the device on as I moved to look over his shoulder. The Nomad scanned the document, then handed it to me. It was an almost exact duplicate of the document I'd just created a short while before and secretly planted, with a simple amendment column tacked on to the end.
"So, we go there directly," Suyef said, looking back up at Colvinra.
The Questioner nodded, clasping his hands behind his back. "We're on our way there. It seems a local administrator's been messing with the water system and been detained. He's being held at a Questioner facility now, and we're being sent to take his daughter into custody." He nodded at the padd. "You'll find the details there. Only other document." He looked around the station. "I'll leave you to your chosen abode. We depart in the morning."
"You don't need our help to detain a citizen," Suyef pointed out, nodding at the padd in my hand.
Colvinra nodded in agreement. "True, but us going on a detainment mission gives you better cover to accomplish what you need to do without raising any suspicion."
Rise: Paths (Future Worlds Book 2) Page 14