The Gardener of Nahi

Chapter 25

Cassidian

In the initial silence I could actually hear the blue halo hovering around my head, caused by the slicing of air at imperceptible speeds.  I kept looking straight into the bald man’s eyes, waiting for the haloer to open his.  Both of his hands were on his knees, and he was rubbing them as if he was excited to begin.  Beyond that I could see the woman with the gray hair, her face awash in cold monitorlight.  Myria was sitting nearby on the bed with a distant expression on her face.  Her fists were clenched as she pulled the thin sheets to her chin.

     As for Cyris, he was still standing nearby, and I could feel his gaze on me, as if he could perceive the truthfulness of my answers just as well as the hovering stones around me.

     “Ready,” said the woman coldly.

“What is your name?”  The bald man opened his eyes.

     “Anon Selfe.”

     “You just translated many questions and answers for us in our interrogation of Myria.  Were all of your translations accurate to our intent?”

     “Yes.”

     “Are you a member of the Hunion?”

     That was a difficult question to answer and it took me time to formulate it.  “I certainly was up until this morning.  Technically I might still be, although I am not sure at this point.”

     “Let’s assume for the moment that you are.  What is your rank and division?”

     “I am a courier, and as such I have no technical rank or division.  I report to a special branch of the Hunion called the intelligence committee and am currently stationed on Cassidian ODAC.”

     “You are a spy?”

     I tilted my head in thought.  “Yes, I suppose so.  Couriers are known for their diversity of use.”

The bald man inhaled and exhaled deeply, a sign I had learned indicated a change in subjects.  “What is the CTC cloud?” he asked.

It was my turn to exhale deeply as I prepared for my lengthy answer which I delivered monotonously.  “It’s an unknown body that stretches from the upper stratosphere directly above Cassidian and extends far up into the exosphere.  It’s rotating, but very slowly.  It’s very large and to my knowledge no objects have gone in or out of it except the innership Myria was on.”

“What is it made of?”

“I don’t know.”

“What does it do?”

“I don’t know.”

I saw Cyris look at the woman out of the corner of my vision.  She nodded towards him, as if to indicate that it was a truthful answer.