Calan - The Immortality Paradox

Chapter Eighteen: Agents of the Empress, Part One

Date: 410, OA19,655

Location: Cunniculum Asteroid

'Go on! Go on...fuck yes; she's like a Jí yīng when she turns that corner! Another one - that's it! One more to go...stick it, stick it, stick it...she won!' Dhruvesh clapped his hands together above his head with joy. The holographic sequence replayed in various perspectives. An ecclectic jumble of jagged and curved three-dimensional shapes zipped in and out of vision, twisting and turning in elaborate shapes, like spinning pathogens. Shells of super-heated air kissed the hulls of the ships as they bounced between dense atmospheres. There was no restraint to their flight; each as maverick as the last. Cosmic Velocity was one of Dhruvesh's favourite sports. 'Look at that smoothness. Not even autopilot can make that corner that parabolic!' He jabbed and grinned at his scaled-down model like a spoilt child.

Urja Thakur, already exhausted before her job had truly begun, observed passively as their ship manoeuvred into the asteroid's entrance duct. As they crossed the threshold, the shadow of the celestial volume swallowed the light from Tanwen. Automatic illuminators switched on, startling her crewmate out of his reverie.

'We there already?' He asked, the disappointment unmistakable.

'I would say finally, but yes. Welcome to the Cunniculum Asteroid. Shithole incarnate!' The gloom of the asteroid interior provided no contradiction.

'I can tell you're looking forward to this!' Dhruvesh said sarcastically.

'I'm only doing it for the Empress,' Urja replied. 'You wouldn't find me here of my own volition. Like the Day of Benefaction, avoid anywhere swelling with boisterous idiots. And, to be perfectly honest, another pennill of you screaming over metal-wrapped daredevils doesn't entice me with any satisfaction.'

'Metal-wrapped daredevils? All part of the celebration of life, Urja! You've got to relax and enjoy things sometimes. Or at least let others enjoy life rather than suffering your misery.' They exchanged a knowing glance. Thankfully for Dhruvesh, they knew each other well enough not to take their words too seriously. Special Detective Urja Thakur wouldn't mind clobbering him with her superior privileges sometimes.

'Get your head in the right mode, Noorani. I want your technical savvy ready for the investigation. Who knows what we'll find.'

'Ashes most likely, as I keep telling you. I heard the explosion destroyed everything in the vicinity.' A minor change in direction caused him to lose his grip on the holographer, and it crashed to the deck, out of reach. 'Oh shit!' Urja almost lost her professionalism as she watched him flail about in his oversized spacesuit, leaning forwards and backwards to find an angle or contortion that would allow him to somehow retrieve it. In the end, he relented, sighing petulantly.

Noorani Dhruvesh was an unlikely character to bring along for a cover investigation on behalf of Empress Chao. As thin as a bamboo stalk, disorganised and regularly clumsy. He was generally preoccupied with his various fictitious interests, easily distracted and difficult to supervise. However, what he lacked in common sense, was vastly compensated in his observational skills. He could pick out a misaligned stitch just as well as name every competitor in the Kinārā Cosmic Velocity Championships. She could not have picked a better investigator. Nevertheless, he appeared thoroughly out of place, with his chin barely protruding from his air-sealed collar. Urja wondered whether the outfit was given to him as a joke.

The ship - a combination of a rusted husk from a dumping shipyard and a semi-functional transporter of Mirai Industries design - lowered itself into a docking bay. The only setback had been an underwhelming acceleration, meaning it had taken three times as long to complete the journey. Urja was thankful to have something inconspicuous in which to leave Kinārā's spaceway. Pro bono investigation was not unheard of, but the Cunniculum Asteroid was a notorious location, and word had spread of the rampaging bounty hunter with her pet robot. Any hint that they might be performing a little favour for the Calan would not be without its denigrators. The Empress was very insistent on secrecy.