Chronicle of Nautilus

Chapter 3: The First Encounter

Glen interrupted, “I don’t care about your false beliefs. If your way of getting this wealth”—he pointed at the lights and the ‘magical’ wall behind him—“was liberal, I can’t imagine what are you standing for. Please, just shut up and give me the names so I can leave this place.”

 “Aron Rondo.”

“Who is he and what does he do?”

“He’s a small politician, knows a lot, just like you. Even though we agree on many political subjects, there is something strange about him – a sort of menacing aura. I have a feeling he feeds the money I give him to some dangerous people.”

“Why did you not try to take care of him? A man with your power could rid of annoyances with ease.”

“Oh, I did, once, and failed so hard. He said I shouldn't try it again. So I don’t.”

“Interesting, old man, interesting.” Glen turned towards the exit and spoke as he walked, “Don’t have hard feelings on me. It was just business. Hope we won’t meet again.”

“Hope so too.” Glen could hear words coming from behind his back.

He stepped out to the alley and the wall shifted, leaving the man to fight the python again. He took a longer glimpse at it, the symbology reminded him of something. Something he had learned at school and long forgotten.

Glen took the comms device out of his pocked, used it for a while and strode towards the outskirts of the city. Let’s see what are you mister Rondo.

-----

Glen stopped by the largest house in a humble neighborhood on the higher end of the city sloping upwards. It was a bad idea for famous people to try and stand out of public. That’s exactly what the individual living in the house did, with all the oversized exotic trees, huge swimming pool and unnecessary house decorations.

As the doorbell chirped in bird’s voice, Glen looked around and saw how simple, the neighboring properties were. How much have money corrupted this man?

The door opened. A little fat man put up a warm smile and extended his small arm to greet Glen.

“Mister Usher I welcome you to my humble house. Please come in, you must be tired, walking all the way from the center. I believe you know my name, but please, just call me Ron.”

Glen did not like him from the moment he saw him. The information he managed to gather on the way was that the man had ugly character and was famous at failing to control his temper. The warm smile was disturbing Glen, it did not go away even after they shook hands.

“Thank you Ron for your kind welcome. Do you know the purpose of my visit?” Glen asked while following Aron through the corridors. Old pictures, stuffed animals and expensive antique furniture made an impression that Aron was trying to turn his house into a time machine - everything here felt ancient, this little man must have been admiring the times of past.

“No, my assistant informed me about the meeting only an hour ago. I’m sorry. I did not prepare a decent welcome. Please take a seat in my office while I go and make some tea.” Aron pointed a finger to one of the rooms and rushed away. “Feel free to read some of my books or check some holocrons. I will be back in a minute...”  Words were fading away as he disappeared in the hallway.

Glen did as suggested. Inside the room there were some old books written two or three centuries ago, it must have been his parents who brought them in. Most of the books about politics, written by famous thinkers and philosophers, they looked intriguing, but Glen chose to check holocrons instead. He took the dustiest one,  cleaned it with a sleeve and placed into the holographic projector. It was a record of children’s birthday party. The little kid with a bad temper must have been Aron. He was opening gifts, crying, being mean to other children. The character patterns shown in the hologram had matched the ones Glen learned about. As the holocron's record was about to end and Glen tried to take a seat, Aron rushed into the room, he was so clumsy that he managed to nudge Glen. Usher lost his balance and dropped to the chair.

“Sorry, for that and I’m so sorry for making you wait. Here is your tea.” Aron put a cup of tea on the table in front of Glen. A strong flavor of strawberries filled the room.

“Thank you for the hospitality.” 

“It’s nothing.” Aron paused. “Let me ask, why are you here? Are you writing some story?” The little man looked intrigued.

“No, not today, this time I came to get some confidential information that never makes it to the stories.”

Aron lifted his eyebrows. “I’m a member of the parliament. All information about me is accessible to anyone on the ship. I can’t tell you anything you would not find in the public data.”

“Yes, you can, mister Aron, and you are going to tell me everything.”

“About what?” The warm smile had not left the politicians face. Was he still thinking he was in control of the situation?

“About you, taking bribes and trying to push society crippling laws.  About the money you are using to support small time terrorists. You are going to tell me everything you know and give names of all your dirty friends.”

“You have no leverage to ask for this.”

Glen was waiting for this moment.

“No leverage you say. Some people would disagree, but I do think that violence sometimes is the answer. I represent the first citizen. I could snap your neck and walk away unpunished. I think of doing it right now. The leverage is your life!” Glen lifted up the tea cup and crushed it without flinching. The smell of strawberries was gone, only tension remained in the room.

Glen’s eyes radiated with a deadly intent, he threatened, “You won't escape, so speak.”

“You don’t know who you are talking to, my little policeman.” Aron looked amused. “I know it was Landau who sent you. I know you visited Cho today and I know much more.” He continued the conversation in a gentle soft voice. “By accident you kicked hornets’ nest and you will get bitten. I guess that’s what happens when you roam in the jungle too often.”

 Glen started having doubts if this was the same person described in the data he found. He knew Rondo was a selfish man with a weak character, it should have been easy to break him with simple threats. The person in front of him was different. He understood he had made a mistake by underestimating this small man.

“Who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters are the reasons why I’m here.”

“Why are you here then? You can’t be Aron Rondo.”

“Why, do I not look like him? My agenda is beyond comprehension of your small brain. Why do I even bother talking to you? Not like you are going to remember any of this.” Little man shook his head and stood up.

Glen was reaching for his tranquilizer gun. It was gone. It was in the hands of Aron pointed at him. He saw a blast followed with a loud bang. As Glen got dizzy he heard words coming from Rondo.

 “Don't be upset, we will meet again.”

*****

  

The next day Glen woke up in a hospital; he had lost memory of the last two months. When Landau found out about it, he visited Cho Juan, who seemed to have suffered from a partial memory loss as well. According to Usher, Cho should have had some political agenda, but he did not. The lead Glen followed became a dead end.  The doctors had no clue, what had caused the memory loss, but Tom had a feeling in his gut, it was work of the mystery man Ermac asked him to find.

 Tom bought ‘The Walker’ on the way home. The title on the front page was the following - “Politician Aron Rondo found dead in apparent murder-suicide.” The first citizen sighed, he was in disbelief that people were still capable of taking their own lives. Sometimes he would visit the funeral of politicians to pay some respect, but not this time, he had no idea who that man was, nor sympathized with the way he left.