Mana Pool Snippets - The Job

Part 3

"You don't say," I said with my mouth full. I was croging hungry. I gulped down a glass of wine—housemate Shriv honey wine—swallowed, and belched to the side, with class. "Oh man, do I love calibird pie. Sometime I beg clients to feed me, but I thank you sir."

"Certainly," Benali said, stunned at but the three empty dishes. He still had his bottomless cocktail.

I leaned back as I sipped my wine. The private booth had a yellow half-circle couch and magic-lit lights floating on the ceiling. "So, Benali, what sort of job is this?"

Benali nodded. "You seem eager to have it."

"You noticed."

"Well, for Halcunacs, it is customary to know one another," he said. "You haven't spoken proper greetings since you came, or at the ship. Bear with me, this is my first time meeting a Halcunac in a while."

"Oh, I see," I said with my eyes nearly closed. I pointed to my stump behind my head and said, "See this?"

"Yes."

"I had an honor dread, but not anymore. I severed my ties with Viro a long time ago. They don't come after me much often, but sometimes for an excuse. You ask anything about what they see me as, forget it."

The same goes to you, Xi'Tra. Do your own research.

Benali's black eyes widened. "Severed? But you're a hybrid species. You can't use magic anymore?"

"Nope, and don't ask how. Forget my culture, get to the details. If you want to ask more questions about my people, then forget hiring me."

Benali stroked his white beard. "I suppose I'll respect your reasons."

"Good," I said. "The job. What is it?"

Benali cleared his throat. "It's a non-military survey job. Nothing too hard to handle."

I skewed my brow. "Government work?"

Benali nodded.

"Huh. I've done survey jobs for mining corporations and ground troop movement, but not government. It's not Viro?"

"Certainly not."

"Okay. What am I surveying?"

Benali sipped his milky cocktail. "The company, contracted by the Republic, hires third-party techs to monitor one suspicious asteroid in deep space."

"That's it? A rock?"

"Not just any rock," Benali continued. "A year and a half ago, it entered a restricted system. We mentioned it to the Council but none gave interest or clearance for further investigation. We need someone with stealth technology to help us, and your ship has it."

"Okay. What system?"

Benali leaned forward but not over the table. "Politically sensitive?"

I leaned forward. "How sensitive?"

"PCPA."

I leaned back, whistled, and nodded. "Primitive Culture Protection Act."

You know about it? Okay, just making sure.

"Precisely, and a well-known primitive species I'll press."

I asked about the asteroid's trajectory, and the Council's involvement. Get this: Asteroid Helen was deemed harmless to the Council, a pass by, but the company made it a potential for extinction. Not even the Council itself had the nerve to call for movers to lower the threat.

"It just be natural selection removing a thorn in the galaxy. Big whoop. Plenty of young species to go around. What's so important about this species to potentially wipe it from existence, maybe?" I drank my wine.