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Dramatis Personae

Elisha

A Doric colonnade ran along the front of the apartment building with a waist high metal railing running between the supports and creating a suggestion of where the building ended and the rest of the world began. At one point there had been a garden bed in front of the building’s porch but now it was just dirt. Elisha carefully stepped over the railing and sidled up to the door of the Carter apartment while pulling a flathead screwdriver and hammer out of his coat pocket.

Over the centuries a lot of innovations in home security had come about. However, when it came to physically barring someone from a building humanity had never beaten the blend of security and cost effectiveness in the simple deadbolt. Before seeing he had competition Elisha had hoped to avoid forcing his way into the building. Now that it looked like he might be racing another interested party his approach was going to have to be more direct.

It took him about ten seconds to force the lock. At some point all those other security innovations were going to come into play. He had no doubt he was being watched by cameras somewhere and there were probably DNA traps trying to lift some of his genetic material from the air he exhaled, too. Since the building was unoccupied and a licensed Thieftaker had some sway with the Lawmen his breaking and entering probably wouldn’t result in charges. There would be a fine of some kind and he’d have to pay for the lock. Once it was all said and done Elisha planned to bill it to Director Wen.

In the mean time he closed the door behind him and looked around. The apartment wasn’t very big, little more than a kitchen, living area, bedroom and bath. A chair sat at the kitchen counter. A scattering of stale crumbs on the counter top hinted it was where Carter preferred to eat his breakfast. Elisha grabbed the chair and propped it under the doorknob. It wouldn’t keep out anyone with access to the sidereal but for the vast majority of city toughs it would do the job fine.

The first step was to go to the bedroom and rummage through the closets. There were a lot of Wayfinder style clothes, the kind of heavy, insulated garments that helped keep a body warm out in the depths of the Helium Seas. As wardrobes went it was on the expensive side. A man planning to up and leave would probably sell clothes like that to help fund his travel or at least bring them along with him. There were empty hangers in the closet but not many of them. Maybe three changes of clothes were missing. Elisha had been leaning towards Carter not planning his own disappearance after interviewing his acquaintances and this pushed him further in that direction.

A blinking light at Carter’s comm station indicated he had messages. However given how long he’d been missing that wasn’t surprising and, without breaking its privacy codes, there was no way to make it play them back. Might be worth taking the memory coral out of it, though. There was plenty he could do with that and a little more time to work. The screwdriver came out of his pocket again.

There was a knock at the door.

Elisha put the screwdriver back in his pocket then gripped the handle of the etheric lash at his waist as he quietly slid his feet over to the door. The rest of him naturally went along with them.

“Mr. Carter?” The voice, though slightly muffled by the door, was high, clear and feminine. “It’s Lucy, the building manager? Are you back? The Guild told me you disappeared!”

Elisha frowned and tapped a plastic screen next to the door. It lit up and displayed an image of the colonnade from a high angle. A woman in a well tailored red pea coat and hat stood outside, peering at the door. His frown deepened.

So far on this case he’d moved pretty quickly and without some of the due diligence he’d do for a case that didn’t involve missing people who might not be dead yet. So he didn’t know who owned or managed the building. However he strongly suspected this woman wasn’t the owner or manager. Her coat was too nicely made to be affordable on a building manager’s salary and, while an apartment owner might be able to afford it, she wouldn’t come out on this kind of call.

But what sealed the deal was her data veil. She’d pulled the gauzy fabric up and piled it on her hat as women often did when they wanted to make eye contact with whoever they were talking to. That made the inside of it visible. Problem was there wasn’t any data displayed on the inside of her data veil and Elisha couldn’t imagine a real estate mogul or the mogul’s building manager ever switching off their flow of information like that.

Then there was the expensive hovercar from out back of the building. Whoever owned that had to be interested in the apartment as well but the odds that a well dressed society woman was on her way to look into a missing Wayfinder all on her own were small. She was a ruse. The chair was still under the door handle so there was no way she was getting in without his knowing it. Where would someone go if they wanted to sneak in?

The bedroom had a large window. Stepping with great care Elisha moved back towards the bedroom, angling to stay on Carter’s worn rugs rather than step on the tiled floor. He moved over to the wall the living room shared with the bedroom. Pressing himself against the wall he unlooped the six foot length of his etheric lash from his belt and held the weapon coiled once in his right hand. Then he slunk closer to the doorway.

He took two steps before a strange sense of dislocation hit him. For a split second he wasn’t sure what had happened. Then his mind jumped back to a visit to Theiftaker’s Hall several years ago, when one of the boys had been showing off a gizmo he’d brought back from further down the dexter arm. Said it was supposed to cut people off from the sidereal. When he turned it on it felt just like now.

Elisha had just made the connection when the barrel of a knifer poked out of the bedroom door, followed quickly by the brim of a hat and a wide, jowly face with a thin mustache. Without even thinking the theiftaker struck with his weapon. The weighted coil of wire looped twice around the other man’s weapon arm and Elisha yanked hard, dragging the barrel of the knifer down.

To the other man’s credit he didn’t waste much time trying to yank free. Instead he leaned down into the dragging motion and barreled forward into Elisha. For a moment the two men grappled. Elisha tried to get a grip on the other’s elbow or neck but the man kept his arms moving enough he couldn’t find purchase and there was some kind of trick to his hat. Part of the brim must have been metal reinforced. It dug into Elisha’s side as he tried to wrap up the man’s head.

It was pure stupidity to try and shock someone with an etheric lash while that person was holding on to you so Elisha adjust his grip on the handle until he was holding it like a black jack and clubbed the man’s knifer out of his hand with it. In response the other braced himself against the wall and shoved Elisha back into a recliner. For a moment he tried to grab the back of the chair and stabilize himself. When it became clear he couldn’t Elisha leaned back the other way and let himself roll over the furniture, landing in a heap on the other side. Then he braced both feet against the base of the chair and kicked it towards his opponent.

Who jumped over it. Just hopped up in the air, tucked his feet under him and let the thing slide right on beneath him. Elisha scowled in disgust. The other man stopped to pull the lash off his arm once he landed but the second that took was enough time for Elisha to hook ankles then kick the back of his opponent’s knee with the other foot, sending him to the ground. A mad scramble ensued.

Rather than try and get back up Elisha rolled onto his front, got halfway up on his knees and threw a haymaker down at the other’s head. He got a knee in the gut for his trouble. As he doubled over the other man clasped both hands behind Elisha’s neck and used them as leverage to try and roll them over. Elisha grabbed the belt of his opponent’s overcoat and applied counter torque to prevent it. The metal hat brim slammed the thieftaker across the bridge of the nose in the nastiest headbutt he’d ever taken.

He rolled back, dazed, and braced against the wall, shoving himself to his feet. The other guy grabbed the kitchen counter and dragged himself upright as well, a half smile on his lips and a wild look in his eyes. Once upright the other man shook his arms out once and balled his hands into fists. Elisha wiped at a trickle of blood leaking from a cut on his nose then raised his hands up in front of his chin and cocked his head to one side, watching.

The front door burst open with a loud crack, slammed against the far wall and swung back closed with a bang. The chair that had been wedged under the knob clattered to the floor and slid halfway into the room. Both men turned to stare at it. The door opened again, in a more sedate manner this time, and a new man in grimy leathers stomped into the room, dragging the woman in the red coat behind him by one arm.

“Okay, wise guys,” he snapped, glaring at the two of them. “What do you two think you’re doing in my house?”

Lloyd

In just twenty short minutes the good mood brought to Lloyd by returning to civilization had vanished, replaced with seething anger. First there was the strange woman banging on his front door. Now there were strangers tearing his living room to shreds and he was going to have to pay to have his locks fixed. Worst of all, the two hooligans glared at him like he’d interrupted something.

Lloyd shoved the woman in red into the room with the rest of them, folded his arms across his chest and scowled. “Does anyone want to tell me what is going on here?”

Red was caught by the man in the broad brimmed hat and dark overcoat. The other man, who wore no hat and a long duster over a pleated shirt, lowered his hands from a fighting stance and cleared his throat. “You must be Lloyd Carter?”

“And you must be a dumbass, I know who I am. I’m asking who you are.” The annoyance that had been building in him since the lady out front had refused to tell him who she was and what she was doing on his doorstep suddenly burst and left him feeling very tired. “You know what, I don’t care. Get out.”

The hat man had stooped down for something and now drew himself up to his full height and Lloyd got his first good look at him. They were roughly the same size and height, which was unusual in and of itself as Lloyd was just over two meters tall. There was also an unsettling look in his eyes. Then he very conspicuously lifted one hand and shoved the knifer he’d picked up off the floor into the belt of his overcoat, leaving his hand on the grip. “Not just yet, I think.”

It was a threat and not a subtle one and Lloyd wasn’t quite tired enough to ignore it. “I guess you want to explain yourself to the Lawmen, then?”

The big man’s lips twitched into something that might be a smile. “You haven’t had time to call them.”

“It’s a public street and there are five other apartments in this building,” the other man replied, slipping his hands into his trouser pockets with a carefree attitude. “He doesn’t have to.”

“You don’t seem bothered by that,” Lloyd snapped.

“I have a license from Thieftaker Hall and a contract to find you from the BaiTienLung Company,” he replied, pulling a card out of one pocket and offering it to Lloyd. It said “Elisha Hammer, Thieftaker” in silver leaf print and included a comm registry and address. “The Lawmen know me. I don’t know who these two are and until a second ago I thought they were involved in your disappearance.”

Mr. Big watched the exchange with one eye on them and one on the lady, clearly unhappy with the news that Hammer had an in with the law. “Ma’am?”

All eyes turned to her. She straightened, pulling one hand out of her clutch purse and watching Lloyd steadily. “Who I am is no business-”

Hammer removed the purse from her hands with mystifying ease. One moment it was firmly in both hands, the next he was stepping past her with the item firmly in his grip and Lloyd had no idea how he’d managed it. Mr. Big started slightly, half drawing his knifer, but reluctantly put it back when it was clear Hammer wasn’t an immediate threat. Lloyd had heard the line between thieftaker and thief was pretty thin but he hadn’t thought it was that thin. Hammer dumped the purse’s contents onto the counter and angled himself so he could paw through it while keeping one eye on the two of them. “What have you got here, anyway?”

“Does it matter?” Lloyd demanded. “The three of you are still in my house and I didn’t ask any of you here. I’m glad someone thought to send a detective to look for me but you found me now and I’m very, very tired so how about you all get lost and let me get a shave and a nap?”

“Miss Wen will be delighted to know you’re fine,” Hammer said as he pawed through cash sticks, room and vehicle keys and several sheets of flexiplast. “She was worried you’d gotten wrapped up in some kind of business feud.”

“That’s not what happened.”

“Maybe, maybe not. After all, someone besides her has hired some pretty nasty people to look for you as well. These two have real money behind them.” Hammer paused and picked up a cylindrical object about twice as long as the palm of his hand and turned it over in his hands once. It was gunmetal gray with a pale, coppery pattern winding around it like wires. “What is this? Looks a bit like an ethereal transmitter. Wonder who this calls?”

It looked like an ethereal transmitter but it wasn’t. It was apparently something much more sophisticated, although L-93 hadn’t really elaborated on that when it gave one to Lloyd. He turned his attention back to the woman, eyes narrowing. “Where did you get that?”

The sound of approaching sirens began to drift in the still open door. The lady sighed, slapped something on Mr. Big’s belt and grabbed his elbow. The two of them seemed to bend and slide, as if they were suddenly nothing more than water on a window as it was wiped away by a cloth, then they vanished from sight as they finished turning sidereal. Hammer dropped the cylinder and began to turn himself but Lloyd waved for him to stop. “I wouldn’t do that.”

Hammer did, in fact, stop his turn. “Why not?”

“Because you need to tell your boss you found me before I run off again.” Lloyd pinched the bridge of his nose. L-93 had warned him the OMNI people would find him quickly but that was a lot faster than he’d given them credit for.

Hammer gave him a curious look. “And what are you running from?”

“I don’t really know, Mr. Hammer. I don’t really know.”

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