Звездопад / Starfall: Глава 22

Chapter 22

Camrad_RIP 15.08.23 в 13:08

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Camrad_RIP 15.08.23 в 13:08

"I keep hoping it's just such an invitation to visit." Krain grinned wryly. He was sitting in a chair. His arms were bound behind his back, and the high backrest forced him to bend forward.

Camrad_RIP 19.08.23 в 05:34

"It is." Alex nodded, closing the door tightly behind him, and after waiting for the characteristic quiet hiss and clicks of the locks closing, he continued:

Camrad_RIP 19.08.23 в 05:35

"You're my personal guest. How do you like the atmosphere?"

Camrad_RIP 19.08.23 в 05:35

"I'm a simple man." Krain shrugged, still squinting at Alex. "I don't know about nobility. The furnishings are the most luxurious I've ever seen. I'm embarrassed to be in one."

Camrad_RIP 19.08.23 в 05:36

The atmosphere was indeed more luxurious than ever. Alex ordered that the "guest" be placed in a room inside the "personal area," intended for the prince and the closest cronies. Of course, not to impress the rebel with the elegance of the decoration, but to minimize the number of witnesses who could see him. Inside the rooms of the "personal zone" there was no visual recording, there were far fewer servants than on the other floors, and all of them were brought in, not from the locals.

Camrad_RIP 19.08.23 в 05:44

// And I don't need witnesses at all." Alex sighed mentally, pulling out an injector from his jacket pocket.

Camrad_RIP 19.08.23 в 05:45

"Are you going to torture me?" Krain asked in no uncertain terms when he saw the injector.

Camrad_RIP 19.08.23 в 05:45

"Why torture?" Alex shrugged indifferently. "Just having a chat with my dear guest over a cup of Lima Serum."

Camrad_RIP 19.08.23 в 06:39

"By yourself? Without any helpers? That's quite an honor. The princes haven't tortured me yet."

Camrad_RIP 19.08.23 в 06:40

"Enough of the snark." Alex snapped at him, who didn't like what was going on either. "What helpers? If you say something under the serum about the Anti-Imperial Alliance in front of witnesses, I'll be in a lot of trouble."

Camrad_RIP 19.08.23 в 06:42

"So maybe we shouldn't?" Krain asked without much hope.

Camrad_RIP 19.08.23 в 06:43

"It is necessary," Alex barely audibly exhaled and added in a full voice. "The attackers haven't been interrogated yet, but the guys say they look a lot like 'broken' Sociar slaves. I have no idea who they are." He admitted sincerely as he began to roll up the rebel's sleeve. "But they say there are a lot of them in the Anti-Imperial Alliance. And anyway, there are only three possibilities as to why this attack was possible: they followed me, they followed Lord Lister, or they came with you. And if they came with you, I'd really like to know if you knew or if you were being used."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:07

"And what if I knew?" Squinting angrily, Krain asked. "Are they going to shoot me right here? Or would they take me to a place with cheaper carpets first?"

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:08

"Logically, in that case, you should have been the accidental victim of that attack, catching the occasional blaster shot during the shootout in the alley," Alex answered honestly. "But I won't do that, at least not this time. But our relationship will stop being buddy-buddy."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:10

Alex pulled a cylinder of "Lima serum" out of his pocket and charged the injector.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:11

"Actually, that thing is very harmful." The rebel said quickly, squinting at the metal snout of the injector hovering near his shoulder. "It affects the brain."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:11

"I know, so I'll try to make it quick and inject the neutralizer right away."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:15

The injector hissed briefly, leaving a spreading red stain on his arm.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:15

"And I was burning my skin on Tallana while I was looking for you, you shit-eater..." Krain grimaced, writhing in pain.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:18

"I got you out of the Transit Station alive." Alex reminded me tiredly, sitting down in the chair opposite.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:18

The serum was working fast, and the rebel was in no shape to continue the pique, so Alex started the interrogation, trying, as he promised, to be as quick as possible, limiting to only the most necessary questions.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:19

Krain knew nothing of the assault. He had come to the capital to deliver a report to Plenipotentiary Representative Liora on the activities of their cell in the Tail Sector, and to be a liaison between the rebels and Alex if necessary.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:21

// And they didn't plan to contact me right away." Alex noted in his mind. "Krain had a letter for me, but it was supposed to be delivered in three or four decades when I would have gotten used to the assignment. Makes sense."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:21

But four days ago, Krain had been approached by the local leadership to facilitate a meeting with Lord Lister, which didn't surprise him at all. The lord, with a high court position and young, was a possible valuable ally. After the events on Tallana, they knew each other personally. He had contacted Liora and received the go-ahead to help the central sector and to send a letter to Lord Cassard as well. Liora felt two meetings in a row with a high nobleman might pose more of a problem than one meeting with two at once.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:26

// "My appearance at this meeting was not part of the organizers' plans and is the result of Ms. Liora's amateurishness. And if you take the guards I brought in out of the equation, the attackers would have succeeded."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:28

The picture appeared pretty clear, and Alex hurriedly injected the neutralizer.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:29

After receiving the injection, Krain was panting heavily as if after a grueling jog, and by the time Alex uncuffed him, the rebel was shivering:

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:30

"You couldn't just ask all that, could you?" Krain said with difficulty, his gaze slowly returning to normal.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:32

"When you get assassinated every ten days, you kind of stop taking the word for it." Alex shrugged, feeling guilty deep down. "After the serum, they recommend either stimulants or alcohol. Which do you prefer?" He asked, and rising from his chair, pulled closer a large tray of drinks levitating nearby at waist height.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:36

Instead of answering, Krain snatched a bottle of strong liqueur from the tray and quickly managed to get the lid off and, despite his trembling hands, tipped it into himself, taking a few greedy sips:

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:37

"I wish a zwigolot fuck your lordship." Krain wheezed and pulled the neck away from his lips, looking at the label of the bottle. "Is that your way of apologizing?" He asked with a smirk, taking another sip. "A drink for the price of a flyer?"

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:49

"Do I have anything to apologize for?" Alex raised an eyebrow as he poured himself a tincture of tarium. "Did I take advantage of you and set you up? Or maybe I brought some enforcers with me to the meeting, putting the others in mortal danger?"

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:47

"Are you implying that I own you?" Krain asked with a squint, and after another sip from the bottle, he added with a sigh. "Well, maybe I am."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:53

"Not that it's you personally." Alex clarified, thoughtfully chasing the emerald liquid through the glass, which exuded a fresh, slightly spicy flavor. "But for Liora, and the rebels in general, I'm sympathetic to you, and this is such a set-up in return. What's it like for you? Is it okay to be a victim of revolutionary expediency? I mean, you've been set up. If that attack on Lister had been successful, you'd be the first one they'd be looking for."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:55

"I'm a small bug." With a philosophical look, Krain shrugged. "For breeding or bait. Mistress Liora is a larger fish, a girl with connections, but no one will cry for her either. While I was paralyzed, I heard something that sounded like big politics. A bigger figure might get shredded in a soup like this, not like me or Liora."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:58

"And what is the interest of the Resistance in this great policy, that it is worth breaking relations with two lords at once?"

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:59

"The shadows know." Krain shrugged again. "Depends on who you ask. There's no united Resistance. The gathering is this: I'm a maxi. Liora is a republican-legalist. Our gnarm, though he denies it, looks like a cartel fighter, or maybe he's from the Union of the Free, or maybe both. The young students are for everything good against everything bad. And they all have their own interests and views on how to live after the empire is gone."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 19:02

"Maxi?" Alex asked, who guessed from the context that he was talking about a political group, but no more.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:38

"Well, there was a maxi." Rebel was a little embarrassed. "Probably more of a mini now..."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 19:03

"I have no idea what it means," Alex admitted hastily to prevent Krain from slipping into a lengthy self-exploration.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 19:03

"Well, maximum and minimum utopian programs." The rebel obviously expecting to see some recognition in his eyes, but not finding it, explained. "Maximum program means to withdraw and concentrate all production resources for the fastest creation of the technosphere, with the fastest exit to self-sustaining, and therefore to the level when the technosphere will begin to provide people. Well, the minimum program implies operating exclusively with tax money. The elements of the future technosphere will be ordered from existing manufacturers, which, of course, will be noticeably slower... But if you think about it, there will be much less resistance to this approach, which means..."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 19:07

"I got it." Alex interrupted again, though he was interested to hear about the differences between local communists and socialists, but now there were more pressing problems. "Are these 'broken slaves' or what do you think they are, really from yours?"

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 19:08

"Probably," Krain admitted reluctantly as if it were something embarrassing. "There are plenty of them in the Alliance."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 19:09

"I'm told slavery has been outlawed for twenty years."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:40

"It is." Nodded the rebel. "That's why they don't like the Empire."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:41

"For the abolition of slavery?" Alex clarified, who thought he had misunderstood.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:41

"Uh-huh, nasty business." Krain nodded again. "The Sociarians trained slaves: when the master is satisfied, a drug is injected into the bloodstream - pure bliss. If he's not happy, the painful shock goes directly to the brain. A few years of such training and few people have any will of their own."

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:46

"Sounds pretty nasty." Alex nodded, involuntarily wrinkling his nose as well.

Camrad_RIP 27.08.23 в 18:39