Chapter Text
Focus.
Just.
Focus.
This was just another job.
Another set of rubes from outside the corporate space were coming with their big ideas into the wolf’s mouth. Big ideas, tiny budgets; they were months away from being crushed by The Company and absorbed into the Rim. And, yes, he would find the information that would maybe make it happen; a critical weakness point that would bring another polity down and into the fold. But he would not be the one to do that particular part, and, thus, he did not need to think about it. Especially not now.
This group seemed particularly marginal - he had never even heard about the Preservation Alliance before - but it was at least important enough to get someone assigned to them, even if it was someone like him. His target was the planetary admin specifically, travelling with a small group of scientists, and he was meant to make a first approach to her and try to attract as much of her attention and hold as many conversations as possible throughout the conference. More instructions were forthcoming.
Sure, whatever.
He was not good at small talk when he was himself, but when he was working, it became exponentially easier. He became a hollow thing that echoed with the required expressions and projected the correct feelings, but not a single one of those was real. With each day, he felt himself becoming more hollow; and soon, nothing about him would be real anymore.
OK, whatever. He could do this. Only three days for the conference, and then he would be able to hole himself up in his bunk and disappear for a few days and not think about what he was doing, why, and especially not about what it would lead to. He could just enjoy the warm, melty feeling of euphoria and have absolutely no thoughts in his head.
This was just another job.
In the times before, so distant as to be inconsequential, he used to come to these conferences for real, even enjoy them, but now they had become loud, bright places that required him to smile and smile and pull from his colleagues whatever he could, whatever drop of data could be of use to anyone else. So he stayed away whenever he could.
This conference was particularly loud and bright. It was the biggest event bringing together several polities, alliances, and whatever else there was outside the Rim. People swirled around the station lobby, producing an endless static that would not go away even with the augment filter. He was starting to get that itchy sensation somewhere between the cells of his body; it would grow in intensity until it became unbearable, but it was not yet at that point.
He pasted on a smile that had been tested in the field and dived into the crowd. A ping alerted him to the presence of the target, and he zoomed into a small group watching the crowd from a balcony, above the glowing blue banner that proclaimed that the Pansystem University of Mihara and New Tideland was proud to sponsor the conference and welcomed all those interested on a debate on the personhood of advanced AIs. Typical filler panels.
Preservation Alliance leader, Dr. Mensah, was standing in the middle of her cohorts, looking somewhat more serious than her companions, who seemed to be putting the typical non-corporate show of cheerfulness and non-hierarchiness; trying almost aggressively to show off their defiance of everything corporate. Hand-dyed clothes, non-synthetic fabrics. Lots of unnecessary physical contact. He could almost buy it, for this group, especially from the laughing guy who looked way too cheerful for an academic conference. But... Huh. The presence behind Mensah was incongruous. While the others were huddled closely together and stood at ease, the last member of the group remained a step behind them and looked not just very tall, but also very serious.
On the feed, he could see their names and forms of address, but ignored them for now, so as not to use them and trip himself later, before he got introduced to them organically. It made sense for him to know Mensah's name, but theirs didn't matter. Still, he glimpsed the feed for an idea (Dr., Dr., Dr., Counselor, and, uh, Security Consultant?).
Oddly specific. Was that Mensah’s bodyguard? Did she suspect something? Did she know...
He halted that particular train of thoughts before it became a proper spiral of anxiety. Probably not. If she knew, then this little party would not be happening here, in the middle of the danger, so close to the Rim, right? It just meant they were somewhat less naive than they appeared. Or that they had been threatened before. As he dug through the feed, he felt an stab of attention, a strange presence that disappeared as soon as it had popped. But the security consultant surely couldn’t be looking in his direction, not from all the way up there?
He was becoming paranoid. Well, more paranoid than before. But if he let it grow, then he would not be able to function. The security consultant was certainly just surveying their surroundings. No way the bodyguard knew about him, specifically, definitely not about the whole operation. Besides, even if the security consultant did know and was getting ready to toss him out of the airlock at the earliest possible opportunity, well, at this point, that did not feel like the worst available option. No thoughts in his head ever again if he went out of the airlock.
Focus.
He checked his pasted smile in a chrome panel. It held. Sure, the rest of him was starting to get worn down, probably from the intense substance abuse he had been engaging in whenever possible. But he had no other available face, so he would have to pull it off anyway. Smiling, he made his way up the balcony.
On the elevator, he felt fully hollow for a second or two; there was nothing left but the smile. Nothing left of the person he used to be. Inconsequential. He willed himself back into reality and passed behind the group, approached the balcony edge casually, leaned over the railing, and tried to keep a couple of people between himself and the targets. His augments picked up the conversation with ease.
They were talking about media, specifically, some show that had been shot on this very station. Or rather, in parts of the station. The tall guy, annoyingly loud and gesture-y, was insistently pointing out to someone named Rin the specific bit of the conference halls that had appeared in something called Sanctuary Moon. ”The rest of the station wasn’t in any of the episodes,” said the security consultant. “But that bit was! So we are almost standing in Planetary Deck Allada, isn’t that cool, SecU…urity Consultant Rin?”
“It is cool,” conceded the bodyguard. Then, without changing tone. “Anything we can do to help you, Dr. Gurathin…? ”
Oh. Shit.