Tristan (Tristan book 1) (Draft 1)

Chapter 10

Tristan walked through the city. He didn't have to hurry; Alex believed that Jack's interview would take most of the afternoon.

He made a stop to buy memory chips. He was going to need them for the programs he had to create over the next few days. After that he headed directly for one of the worst neighborhood. He didn't worry about being accosted by the city's unwanted, the first time he'd been this way he had sent a clear message that he wasn't someone they wanted to mess with.

He arrived to an old office building in the middle of the afternoon. It wasn't much to look at. Most of the windows had been boarded over and the brick work was falling apart. No one who looked at it in passing would guess business was being conducted inside.

He walked in, and went up to the second floor. The receptionist at the top of the stairs was an old human female; she looked at him and then indicated the door at the end of the corridor with a nod. The previous time Tristan had been here she had fawned over him, making unveiled advances. He had made certain she knew they were unwanted.

Behind the door she indicated was Harry's laboratory. Tristan closed the door and stayed near it. The only thing he recognized in the room was Harry's computer, a Celaran, not quite top of the line. He knew the rest were equipment he used for the bio-genetic work he did, but Tristan couldn't even hazard a guess as to what they did.

The wall opposite where he stood was a glass partition, behind which Harry was working. Tristan waited for him to look up and see him. Harry was an older human, almost completely bald and so thin he looked sick. The man saw him as he reached for a beaker on shelf. He indicated he would only be a few moments more.

Tristan nodded, he didn't mind waiting.

In his youth Harry had worked for the Wandering Medics, a fleet of medical ships, which went from one catastrophe to another rendering aid. Harry had excelled at creating serums to help the doctors, but he'd quickly discovered that there was much more money to be made by coming up with various illegal substances and selling them on the black market. When his superiors got wind of this he was kicked out. It didn't stop him; he opened this laboratory and immediately sold his services to the more powerful criminal organization in the area.

Tristan had found him going through the files he'd copied from Mitch's computer. Mitch had compiled the human's extensive history, with indications as to which areas were the most apt to blackmail. Tristan wasn't surprised Mitch had employed blackmail to get what he wanted out of Harry. He hadn't used the same tactic; he didn't see a need to earn the man's anger when he could pay for his services.

Harry stepped through the decontamination field before opening the glass door. "How did the pheromones work?"

"They performed as you said they would," Tristan answered. "I'm here for the other order I placed."

Harry took out a vial from a locked cabinet. "I hope you realize how much work it took to find the right virus for what you want."

Tristan watched the man carefully as he turned and displayed the vial. "Are you looking to renegotiate the price we agreed upon?" he asked with a noticeable edge to his tone.

"No, no!" the human said quickly enough Tristan could tell that was exactly what he had been planing. "I just thought you'd appreciate the effort this took."

Tristan's gaze didn't waver. "I do." He said flatly. "What did you use?"

"I started with the Ourobora Flu, it isn't indigenous, but it's close enough to something local that no one will question it. It can incubate within your body, but you won't suffer any of the symptoms since your specie is immune to it."