The Agent

1

"What mad conviction led man to believe he could rule the world when he had already failed to rule himself?" – Dieter A. Bachmann

1:

...

"Hey fatty," the bald, hard looking man standing in front of her says in a smooth, threatening tone. "What's your name?"

The agent squares her shoulders ever so slightly, resisting the impulse to look down.

"Iris Bachmann, of Mitras, sir." She places her right fist over her heart, moving her left hand to her lower back. The man looks at her salute as though he finds it distasteful.

"I think you've made a mistake, recruit. You must have taken a wrong turn on your way home. The King's Armed Forces has no need of fatties who needs a string of servants to get dressed i the morning." The sun bounces off his shiny head and into her eyes, forcing her to squint at him. When she makes no attempt to speak, he continues:

"Why are you here, you maggot?!"

Shadis' grim face hovers only a few inches from hers, left eye twitching slightly.

"To serve, sir."

"Oh, so we have another who is just dying to serve the king." Shadis' smile mocks the idea. "You and cadet Bott should join hands."

"Is that an order, sir?"

A flicker of amusement flashes across his face, but then his expression sobers.

"Service?!" he barks. "And what the hell would Mitran pampered scrum like you know of service? You make me sick! Turn around so I don't have to look at your stupid face again."

She turns around with as much dignity as she can afford, hearing someone close by snicker quietly. Iris hears Shadis stalk away in search of someone else to amuse himself with. Her new view of the large group of recruits offers up a wide selection of young faces. They are a ragged bunch of strays, runaways, farmers' children and impoverished working-class youths fallen on hard times. Many are as thin as bean stalks, so wispy that a strong gust of wind might whisk them away.

She allows herself to glance at the long faced kid the instructor had head-butted some minutes ago. He cups his forehead with one hand, standing rigidly upright. Behind her Shadis identifies his next victim and comes to a halt.

"Who are you, maggot?!" she hears him ask.

"Reiner Braun, from within Wall Maria," a boy replies in a deep baritone. Shadis snorts loudly, but for all his bluff and bluster it is apparent to her that he is not totally averse to the raw material he sees in front of him.

"And you?! Why are you here?!"

"I'm here to save humanity." His accent is a little strange; not quite the typical farmer's slur which seems to gulp down some of its consonants, but a somewhat more refined drawling singsong... He must be base-born though, surely. No one of decent birth would speak so plainly, or thoughtlessly.

Shadis makes a show of belittling the recruit even though he clearly likes the look of him. He does another sweep of the lines and hones in on someone within Iris's visual range. It is a small blonde girl who is decidedly pretty, and the instructor questions her so viciously Iris finds herself waiting for the moment when the girl will break into tears. When the girl, Krista, seems close to unravelling completely Shadis finally lets up and leaves her be.

The ceremony draws to a close and the instructor takes his leave. Iris picks her pack up off the ground, ignoring those around her as she makes her way to her assigned bunkhouse. Once inside she places her pack atop one of the empty beds. She unpacks her clothing, paying no mind to the murmur of voices around her. Her hand brushes against a cool metal disc inside her pack, and she picks it up. The brass object is of intricate design; an outer ring marked with symbols and numbers encircles a smaller, inner ring which is turnable. In clockwork, the arms revolving around the center of the disc would have measured time, but here they aid in measuring distance. The object is an astrolabe, and a fine one at that. She lifts her eyes and scans the bodies inside the room, finding that none of them are looking at her. After a moment's hesitation she slides it into her boot, tucking it into her sock. It would be unacceptable if it went missing.