Shadow of an Angel

Interludes

Maria looked up from the little book.

"So, is this a cautionary tale I'm supposed to be learning something from?"

"You might say that," offered Tom, shrugging ever so slightly.

"And what does that mean?" Maria pressed, her natural aversion to vagueness triggered.

Nicole rolled her eyes, "It means save the questions for when you're finished."

Maria's professional face was sufficient, she hoped, that her companions wouldn't see the worry growing inside her. The world, as she knew it, seemed highly consistent with the enforced Utopia outlined by Biofutora  . Sure, no one was fitting her for concrete slippers right this moment, but it hadn't been exactly the shoot-out at the OK Corral for the Prof either.

They did kidnap me, and try to wipe my memory. Sure, lethal force isn't their go-to, but they aren't winning any ethics awards anytime soon.

She eyed them both suspiciously. It wasn't that she felt capable of doing anything should her company turn hostile, but she didn't want to hold them in undeserved regard.

Am I a missing person now?

For their part, it seemed they were quite happy to ignore her. Though, with fully function neural laces, they could be bypassing speech altogether.

Sneaky sods.

"If it wouldn't make you a thousand years old, I'd be quite suspicious that you're a Nicole too." Maria tossed the words into the air, just to see what would happen.

Nicole shifted her eyes to regard her, "That'd be those investigative instincts shining through again I suppose?"

Maria just nodded, attempting to look as safe as possible.

Nicole snorted, "Just keep reading, it gets worse."

Maria barrelled on, "Of course, who knows if you've even given me your real names. Maybe you've just taken it as some sort of joke."

'Nicole' simply raised an eyebrow.

Returning her attention to the journal, she couldn't deny the elephant in the room. It was a struggle to imagine a happy ending in which the name Melchior ended up front and centre.

Perhaps the nutso hacking CEO genuinely wanted a chat?

She struggled to believe. She, like the Professor before her, found it hard to imagine a powerplay on such an epic scale being the work of an ethical agency. You didn't blackmail the world into becoming a better place.

Though isn't that precisely what Angel Industries did? They didn't exactly leave countries much choice.

She regarded her captors once more.

Tom looked up from his book  , "Having imaginary daggers shot at me every few seconds is a little distracting,"

"Is your name really Tom?" Maria discovered she really did want to know, even as she asked.

"Ok, no, my name is not Tom. Sadly, actual names will have to wait until we've decided precisely what we're doing with you." He had the grace to look apologetic.

Maria blinked, "Because that doesn't sound ominous?"

Tom-who-was-not-Tom laughed, and, thankfully not in the evil villain sort of manner, "Maria, if we wanted you to vanish, we could have just pushed you out of the plane when we were above open waters."

Way to put a girl at ease!

"Way to put a girl at ease, not-Tom."

He shrugged and went back to whatever he'd been reading before, leaving her to sit and brood.

None of this makes much sense. Wasn't this meant to be in code? Did someone else write out a translation by hand?

The more she thought about it, the more confused she grew. Ultimately, she just wasn't going to parse anything till she had more information.

It was time to do a little more reading of her own.

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