Lords & Ladies of the M'Verse: An Ooorah Anthology

Day 46 - angerbda's National Treasure

National Treasure

by angerbda 

"Libenter homines id quod volunt credunt."

―Julius Caesar

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And one more time, he saved the day. And no one would be the wiser.

Who would know? It was as if he was invisible.

He had protected his Nation. He worked in the shadow.

Remember, these days were the sombre part of the Nation's History. Even darker than the last leg of the second millennium of the Old Era.

It was a time of unrest and strife, people needed to believe in something that would have put them together. They needed an ideal, a utopia.

To unfold the coup had been a tricky matter. How one went about identifying a terrorist when everyone looks so similar? Henry had pondered the question for quite some time before he even tried to get to it. The mugshots the Service had provide him with had been of low quality, what with the crisscrossing lines of greenish mould and the pinkish splotches from a leakage in the storage rooms that had found their ways on the small pictures of the most famous terrorists on the Nations. The only pictures, as it appeared. Henry had had such a hard time determining whether they had been of the manly sort, or of the ladies' specie...

Few days of observing and devising, Henry succeeded in identifying at least two of them, a couple known as the Honeymooners, so much dangerous, so much disturbing with their show of sweet and passionate love. They had mastered this cover to perpetrate their attack in the most unsuspicious way, though their sweet love was as true as xylitol was sugar, and their passion often erupted in deadly fireworks.

Henry had been tipped about the Honeymooners presence in New-Venice beach two weeks prior. It had been has long as he had needed to convinced the Service to send him to the location for some field observation. He took him no less than three days to succeed in getting his superior to agree. The fact that his last assignment had proved to be no less than a huge scam on his part, having requested a surveillance position on board the pleasure spaceship 'The Meadows', had dampen seriously the agreement on this new mission.

Nevertheless, Henry had found passage on the Blue Whale, a cruiser as ancient as his maiden great-aunt, and as marked by the ravage of time as she was. Obviously, the Service did not allocate a huge budget to this mission. Obviously, he would not have any extra for some side fun either. It was a bummer; Henry would have to be serious, after all, although, under the circumstances, he had not many objections to the chore. The menace had been quiet serious, and the opportunity to apprehend the Honeymooners had never been as present.

Due to the obvious budget restrictions, Henri had had to make without his usual gizmos. No hearing amplifier, no ultra-focus contact lenses, no camouflage field, not even the basic appearance modifier. He had to do with antediluvian technology, sunglasses with camera integrated, some props, and change of clothes for his appearance. For the hearing part, he would have to be attentive and focused. Combined with the low tech, the more than approximate mugshot he received, Henry had wondered if the Service was not attempting to get rid of him, to give him a mission that was not one and expect him to resign. The tip on the imminent tragedy in New-Venice could have been planted by his superior who never had hidden he wanted to give him the boot.