Moving the Interview Along, Part 2

Posted on Sat 25th May, 2019 @ 9:11pm by Lieutenant Adam Keller & Lieutenant Damion Ildaran
Edited on on Sat 25th May, 2019 @ 9:14pm

879 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Interview Room, Intelligence Section
Timeline: MD-2, 1345

Continued from (Part 1).

Damion paid the check and then escorted 'Tanith Endrade' down the loft stairs and out of Orchids and Jazz. He kept his gaze off of Elizabeth. Damion never looked at her if he happened to see her while undercover, but it was still wrenching to keep his attention fixed on the woman he walked with, as if he had no idea that Elizabeth was in the restaurant. You'll see her later, he told himself.

Once Damion and the woman left Orchids And Jazz, Adam headed back to the observation room. He thought he had gleaned another personality other than the three but he couldn't determine for sure. How could all three be completely unaware of the ring that they had obviously been wearing for some time? He began to wonder if at least one of the personalities had been brainwashed or somehow programmed not to remember. Although this last personality was cunning, it could possibly be that the woman was innocent and merely a weapon of someone else.

Ildaron kept up conversation with Tanith, asking about her singing days as they returned to the tram station and rode back the same way they had come. Internally, Damion was deep in thought. If Tanith really wanted to feel and perhaps even put on the ring, he wanted a counselor there. If the trauma was so bad that Tanith had put it out of her mind, he didn't want her to be without help in case she remembered. Of course, she might handle the ring and still remember nothing of it. If her handler really was an Aenar and not just impersonating one, there was no telling what he might have done to Zelda Alegari's mind.

Don't borrow trouble, he told himself and determinedly relaxed and enjoyed the conversation as the tram moved upstation.

The tram was like any she'd ever ridden, Tanith thought. Only this one is clean and bright. Her mind flashed on an isolated memory, a darkened tram station, her back against the wall, surrounded by several men. Their faces were a blur, and as she tried to focus them, the memory ended. It shook her and left her trembling inside, but she ignored that and appeared calm as she asked the man next to her, some bitterness creeping in, "Where you are from, are there trams like this? Bright, well-lit, not covered with lewd inked sayings or holographic smut?"

"Where I come from?" Damion gave Tanith a startled look. "No, there's nothing like a tram system at all, just a portage track for heavy loads that runs through our part of the tunnels and is powered by bio-fuel. The entire place is underground. If this were at home..." His voice trailed off as he thought a moment. "The lights would be flickering all the time. There'd be faction graffiti everywhere, little sketches warning us about areas to avoid, as if we don't already know them. There'd be dust, little hollowed-out areas where people have dug makeshift homes, interspersed with older plascrete areas that look a bit nicer. In some parts there'd be cracks in the walls because of subsidence or just plain bad construction. Nothing at all as bright and colorful as this."

"Huh. Maybe you do have a hard luck story," she said. "That why you left?" The more she could find out, the more she'd understand what motivated the investigator. That would help her beat him at whatever his game was. She knew any concern he expressed about her, any truth he seemed to share, was only for show. In fact, you could be lying through your teeth about your home, trying to make a connection with me. The thought amused her.

"Hard luck?" Damion shook his head. "No. Home is not a pleasant place, but I had a decent family and, for there, a decent life. I left because I couldn't stand living like that anymore. Home was turning me into an arsehole--or I was letting home do it to me. I didn't like myself, and I knew there had to be something better. So I left."

Which vastly understated the difficulty of leaving Turkana IV, Damion thought, but that was irrelevant.

Tanith was silent, mulling that over, watching the walls speed by. Then the tram began to slow. "Oh, I guess we're arriving somewhere, then." Looking around, seeing only the woman who had questioned Zelda in her cell at the beginning, she asked, "Is all our entourage in another car?"

Damion glanced at her. A sharp one, he noted. "We thought it wise to take precautions," he said. "Destiny was an unknown quantity. We didn't know what she might do."

"And me? Do you know what I'll do?" Tanith asked with a smile.

"No," Damion said with a momentary look of shared humor, "but it's likely you'll behave with more discretion and self-control than Destiny."

"Is this our stop, then?" the woman asked, still smiling as the tram slowed to a complete stop.

"Yup. This is where we disembark. Are you ready?" Isabella asked, coming up behind them with a glowing smile upon her face.

 

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