Almagest City

Chapter 5: An Almagest City Evening

Inside, watching her officers either head home or hunker down in their office for the night, the chief waits. It's been only a few days since the fiasco with the private school, and she thinks it's time to let Orias go, at least for now. None of the magic specialists here at the office have any clue what took him, even with Sil doing her best to convey the feeling and design of that magic.

Chief Cardassia's red-orange hair is bundled under her hat, and she readjusts it with one hand while taking sips from a drink in her other hand. In the office next to hers, Vesper is likely adjusting her meager belongings as she prepares to rest. Vesper's office is almost entirely empty, save for her paperwork. The robot doesn't have much, which shouldn't surprise Cardassia. When Cardassia came across her, Vesper was on her own, living out on the streets. She had been bouncing from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, catching thieves and resolving break-ins far more effectively than the police had. She was the only one here who hadn't applied for the job because Cardassia had asked for Vesper's help herself.

How do robots rest during night? The thought comes to Cardassia out of the late-night air. Part of her wondered if what Vesper did was truly sleep, or whether beings like her just remained aware all night, sleeping without knowing what sleep is, like what happens to her if she drinks too much coffee.

"Chief Cardassia," a gruff, elderly voice says, knocking on her office door. "I have arrived."

"Yu? Come in," Cardassia says, shaking herself out of her stupor.

"The mayor is here as well." When Chief Justice Doradus Yu and the new mayor of Almagest City Howard Menzel look through the opening door, Chief Cardassia gestures to the chairs in front of her desk.

"There's room for both of you," Chief Cardassia says. "Long day, everyone?" 

"You certainly dropped your fair share of work on me," Doradus says. The aging, wrinkly-green turtle, walking with a large oak cane, sits down on the first chair, his shell hitting the wooden backrest with a clack. "I will say, quite a job well done rescuing the Herakles boy. Though I cannot say the same for some of the other children."

"I'm sure they did their best, given the circumstances," the mayor says. Howard's gelled-up brown hair barely sways as he follows, his wiry human frame looking starved next to Doradus' imposing reptilian figure.

"Did you ask us here for the reason I think you did?" Doradus asks.

"Yes. Orias Knight," Cardassia says. "Despite questioning the perps, I don't have a single lead on his whereabouts or even who took him."

"Are they uncooperative?" Doradus asks.

"No, I believe they simply do not know. Orias seems to have been taken by their employer, or someone else entirely."

"I assume that means we're here to discuss a replacement," Howard says.

"Yes." She hesitates. "Well, to tell the truth, I've already decided." Cardassia slides over a file of an existing officer. "Elliot Sunflare. A soulbound who has been with us for a few months. He's already an officer here, and shows exemplary initiative and leadership."

Doradus crosses his arms while Howard takes the file, flipping through it. "If you have made your decision, why are the two of us here at this time of night? I had thought we would be pouring over files and applications."

Cardassia allows Howard to flip through Elliot's file and put it down before answering. "I intend to replace the other holdovers from the old team as well. Andus and Edson."

"Our agreement was that Andus and Edson would—"

"No, Doradus. Our agreement was that they would not be replaced unless we found it necessary to replace them." She opens her topmost desk drawer, taking out a glowing, ethereal strand. It looks like a piece of twine that had been thrown into a fire, glowing red but not hot or burning. She holds it out to them.