10 Minute Tales

Feb 24 (Untimed)

Queenson's list was slowly becoming complete. He had secured a safe route to Sinis, assuming Avo could keep his word. Next, he needed to secure Alyssa's co-operation.

"Sentinel, I'm heading back to the station."

"Oh? Your business is already concluded in Geoco Tower?"

"Yeah, Avo's given me the answer I needed."

"Very good. How may I help you next?"

"I'm heading back to the station, need to ask Alyssa something."

"Certainly. Shall I attempt to connect to her communicator?"

"Nah, I'll talk in person."

"... if I may be so bold, inspector, I am sensing that you harbor some animosity towards my services. Am I correct?"

"Nah, it ain't you, it's your boss at this point. You're doin' what you can to help me." Queenson reassured him. He wasn't sure what Sentinel would make of the truth; better to have this white lie serve. As long as Queenson didn't have a G.A.T.E. chip, he would be safe. His last sanctuary would remain secure.

"Thank you for your understanding." Sentinel replied. If he had a face, he would definitely be smiling. "I shall arrange transport immediately."

"Thanks." he nodded briefly, heading towards the shuttle stop. A shuttle was quick to arrive and he got into it. He was soon heading back to the office, staring out over the crystalline spires that stretched towards the dome's surface far above. "... why did we even choose crystals?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"They hardly seem like the most logical use of materials. Earth humans used rectangles everywhere, right?"

"Originally, architects of biodome 32-A did utilise the rectangular structures native to Earth's architecture, in homage to those very structures. However, as we started acquiring resources from this planet, most were far easier to fashion into the crystalline structures you see today. It would not surprise me to see other planets with human inhabitants utilising their own general shapes."

"Hm." he thought on this for a while. "So, what, couldn't melt the crystals down? How did we reshape them?"

"They are unusually reactive to a precise sonic frequency. This biodome is the third successful attempt to shape a large quantity of the mineral into the correct shape."

"I'm guessing it can't be reproduced by humans."

"Indeed not. Even with vocal chord augmentations, the frequency in question is forbidden for human use."

"And you?"

"I have no access to the sound file used to shape the crystals."

"Right, so you can't either."

"Indeed."

"Good." Queenson was worried, though. If Sentinel had been told to withhold information before, he had no way to know that the frequency had been safely deleted. The only bright side to the scenario was that there was little motivation in destroying the biodome. If it was the president going on a power craze, he'd want someone to lord over. No sense in destroying it yet. He just needed to keep the investigation subtle, still. Better not to give the man with the power to destroy the city a reason to do so.