Vex Chronicles 1: Infection

Opening shots

Eredius III, maglev 77, transit to Ede Prime

Cassilia Cornellius gripped the frills of her dress tighter. Just a routine inspection, she told herself. Just look inconspicuous and push out the brooch. It had worked the other week. And it will work today.

The disconnect usually happened a few kilometer after train station 77-4. But the Beloved Heart had grown and the Beloved Ones touch now reached all the way to 77-2. A wonderful sign of growing influence. But right now now it was only fuel for Cassilia's fear.

It was painful when the Beloved Ones snapped away from her mind. The delayed disconnect was bad. Loosing the brood mind always left Cassilia disoriented. And 77-2 was the last security outpost before the maglev train entered the spire of Ede Prime. The examinatii always checked the passenger before 77-2.

Cassilia was in pain. "Just breath through it, girl," she whispered. "Just look normal. They will not notice."

Armed examinatii walked through the rows of passengers. Most people were workers returning to the city, wealthy enough to pay for time away from the farms. But there weren't many. And Cassilia would soon be checked...

Cassilia again corrected her dress. Latest fashion, low cut and hand tailored. An expensive gift for her recent promotion into the higher floors of the spire. Her valued job in Eredius Administratum was also a gift. A gift gained by her honorable surname. Cassilia was a Cornellius. But that protected her only so far. The last xenos cult infection was still in many peoples minds, even with the generation that had lived though it mostly dead.

With lots of Cassilia's pale cleavage on display the mostly male examinatii would stare on her sizable mounds instead of somewhere else. And the dress was cut extra deep just for that. Cassilia didn't like how that reduced her to a mere object. But it helped hide the... unusual bits of her proportions.

The missing fingers on her gloved right hand were easy to explain. Work on a farm was never without injuries. Even Tassanda, Cassilia's superior in the Administratum, had only half of her pinkie left. By now Cassilia had read the false medical report of the faked accident so often that she could actually imagine a false pain in her hand.

The arm however was impossible to explain and harder to hide. Cassilia had learned to kept the claws still on her back. The padding on her special tailored dress had a little pouch for her additional arm. And the frills provided cover for that unpractical part of her anatomy.

Cassilia's third arm was pretty. Her mother had always told her that. It was just the other people that did not see the beauty in her pale, armored limb. Many of the others worried that Cassilia still had such an arm. Her generation should look human-like. But it was as if her twin sister had gotten the perfect human looks on top of her psionic skills, leaving Cassilia with barely anything of the genetic blessings of the Beloved Ones.

The examinatii reached Cassilia. Four tough looking men in black armor and guns in hands. An auspex servitor marched in their tow. The sorry thing waved his sensor arms in front of Cassilia, its dead eyes staring into nothing.

The men stared somewhere else. Cassilia's deep cleavage and expensive dress did its magic. One of the men had already opened his mouth for a lewd comment as he finally saw the badge. The metal plate was tagged to the peak of her deep v-cut and marked her high standing in the governors office. And the family crest also showed her Cornellius family heritage. And when their servitor didn't reacted, the examinatii quickly excused themselves.

Cassilia chuckled the moment they were out of sight. She had done this. She had helped redirect the shipment. The sorry auspex servitor was one designed for farm produce. And the guards had no idea. Just a few numbers changed and the wheat was scanned for mutant passengers and the passengers for wheat-rot.