Horizon

Chapter 14

“Well, what did they say?” Ialye had only just broken communications with the Esperan's and entered the small conference room, but Nala had no patience to wait to hear the news, despite feeling a bit drowsy after spending hours worshipping the real sun. She had to take every opportunity to enjoy it while there was time.

Though to her defence Saon and Ghardo looked equally eager to hear the news.

“It seems the story Ghardo heard was not entirely without merit,” said Ialye and took a seat. She had spent hours talking with the Esperan consul, trying to get to the bottom of it all, but she was unsure whether she had even scratched the surface with the information she had gained.

The Horizon had arrived in the system only six hours ago and the fact she had been able to make such quick contact with the consul was nothing short of encouraging. She had spoken with him on previous occasions over the details of their visit to the system and so far everything had gone as agreed. The Esperans were naturally cautious so there were several of their war vessels keeping an eye on the Horizon and her escorts. While it might have caused uneasiness in many situations, here it seemed nothing out of the ordinary.

After all, it had all been agreed on beforehand.

The consul had been a bit surprised to hear from Ialye so quickly and had worried that something was wrong. The red and blue lights under his opaque skin had been pulsing in a way Ialye had never seen before, though as she had explained the situation the lights had calmed down to what they usually were.

The consul was called Asiss. The location of the lights were distinctly unique to each Esperan and he had a red one just where his cheek bone pushed high against his skin and a blue one just above his left eye. Compared to humans and elves, the Esperans had a more spherical head and in the case of Asiss it was covered by blue hair that ran down to his lower back in long, thick strands. His large eyes were a deep black and oval in shape while his nose and mouth were not that different from those of a humans. Instead of five fingers he had four and each one ended in a suction cup like circle.

How the rest of him looked Ialye did not know for she had never seen him in person and the communications had always focused on his face.

“So they have people who can read minds?” asked Ghardo eagerly.

“I'm not quite sure what they do,” replied Ialye with a sigh. Asiss had been less than forthcoming on what it actually involved, but he had been very clear it was not mind reading per say. At least he had confirmed they might indeed be able to help out in identifying the agent. “But it looks like they might indeed be able to help us flush out the agent.”

“So what do they need to do?” asked Saon. “And more importantly, how long do they need for it?”

“They proposed to send five teams aboard. They call them Searchers. All they need is to walk around the vessel and meet people. The problem will be ensuring they get to see everyone on-board,” explained Ialye. That was what had her worried. How would they ensure that everyone on-board got seen and tested by the Searchers? The crew members would be easy enough as they could be ordered to appear where needed, but the passengers would be a different story.

“That won't be easy to arrange,” agreed Nala. “The passengers especially, though I suspect curiosity will get many to appear voluntarily. It's rare to get to see Esperan's in person.”

“Counting on curiosity alone will not be very reliable,” Ghardo pointed out. His mind was already working on something to ease the situation, but he needed a bit more time to get all the pieces in place in his mind.

“There is also the issue that the process is quite taxing on the Searchers. They'll be able to work only a few hours per day so it might take quite a bit of time to get through everyone,” added Ialye.