The Cultist's Retreat (The Erik Midgard Case Files Volume 4)

Chapter 7

"I don't suppose you brought one of those mini-teleporters the Pasithea had in the first-class staterooms?" said Cybele. "I could use a stiff drink delivered straight to my bedside right now."

"This isn't an appropriate time, doctor," said Kianda, without looking at her. She turned away and walked up the stairs. Cybele watched her go, her mouth tense.

I was feeling much the same way, along with a strong urge to strangle Mirabi. Claiming that I could be discounted did give me more freedom to move around, but it also put me at the top of everyone's person-you-least-suspect lists. It did not help that I still did not have anything to solid to work on or follow up. Someone had attempted a backstep, but the only new thing we had learnt was that the IP's temporal blocking systems were a lot better than they were supposed to be. Despite the oil wealth, the JI was usually a few steps behind the rest of the Solar System technologically, because so much of the revenue went into maintaining the Solar System's largest military. That they had been able to detect and block a backstep as fast as we could have if we had had a shield in place was - in the long term - worrying.

I sighed through my teeth. If this was a normal undercover operation, I would have had time to study the guests while they thought they were not being observed. By now, I'd have more insights to work with, but I had had other things to worry about. Mirabi was telling me not to waste an opportunity that I did not have.

The only thing I could do right now was . I headed out of the lounge and up the stairs. I would fetch Wayfinder's backstepper and submit that to Jake and Mirabi, to make it clear I was cooperating with the investigation as much as everyone else, and hopefully no one else would notice it was illegally custom-modified with a backstep function.

Thor, Kianda and Cybele were all coming down the stairs, with various devices in their hands. I let them pass, trying to look as embarrassed as possible. The upstairs corridor was empty, apart from the pale grey IP force dome that was covering the professor's body. I reached my room, and then paused as I noticed that one of the Venusian's room doors was open. From the shadows, it was clear there was a crowd inside.

"For Darwin's sake, it wasn't me!" said Orisha.

"You suggested it," said Anemoi.

"Yes! It was just a suggestion."

"It was also the third one you've made," said Balios. "Call the embassy, try to bribe the JI cops, and backstep to stop Adam booking us here. What do you expect us to think?"

"A little trust would be nice."

"Guys, enough," said Agon. "We're still a team. We're in this together..."

"I didn't know that meant doing jail time as an accessory..."

"It doesn't. It means, if anyone does get arrested, the rest of us still support them. Now, has anyone been near it?"

There was a chorus of no's.

"OK. Ben, where is it?"

"In the storage locker - locked in the storage locker," said Balios. "At least, I hope to Einstein it still is."

"Fine. Then we're going down there, right now, as a team, and we are getting it and giving it to Detective Arjuna together. If it isn't there, we'll deal with that together as well. Cool?"

There was a mutter of agreements.

"Great. Come on."

I started walking again and tried to look normal - and not think about how Jake would perform me trying to look normal, and whether this would look plausible or implausible if they had already seen him doing it - as Agon came out into the corridor.