Intelligences Report

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

12/06/98:

Relaxing against the door frame, I looked into Moriya's
office, watch her as she went about her work. There seemed
to be a calculated grace to everything that she did, as well
as in how she did it.

For instance, as I was watched her, she was in the progress
of skimming over two stacks of papers, one head focused on
each stack. Another of her six heads were focused on her
terminal, the fourth was starting at a pile of notes,
occasionally making a new one, the fifth was busy talking on
the phone, and the last one was resting in her free hand,
and reading a book.

Somehow she keep all of this up, all the time, without ever
having a problem; at least that I had seen. She was
absolutely amazing, balancing all six of her heads with both
hands. I was quite happy that Oria had hired her as the
office manager.

Finishing her phone call, she replaced the handset and
looked up at me. "Fox, this is a surprise," she said with a
slight smile.

"I know, I need to come in more often," I answered,
returning her smile as I steeped inside the office. "I hope
you don't mind my watching you, it's quite a show."

She lifted her head a bit, "many people do that, I get used
to being stared at."

I blushed, "sorry."

"No offence taken," she answered, flipping the pages she was
reading. "So, how was your vacation?"

I was happy to have had her change the subject. "It went
well, though was quite interesting," I smiled, looking down
at the pendent, resting against my chest. I had got it back
a couple days ago, and was eager for the next cycle.

Ken was also going to make a copy of Thrysten's gem for
Rhea. Which has made her happy, she was also very eager for
the next time. Oria was also happy, she had gone in for a
checkup and the news about the twins were very good. Both
were very healthy and should be born about March.

"The new set of specs for the Nautilus Class ship is on your
desk." he told me, ignoring my pause for thought, "and we
had a dozen more orders move to different shipyards that
offer the power system.

I shrugged, "Not a great loss, we still have about ninety
contracts left."

"Ninety two," she corrected.

"Anything else of interest?"

"Nothing that calls for your immediate attention. I'll be
brining in some documents for you to sign in a couple of
hours," she answered.

"Ok, well then," I searched to see if there was anything I
should bring up with her. I came up blank. "I've taken
enough of your time," I concluded, stepping back out of her
office.

"Not at all," she said with a wave of her hands.

I smiled as I left her office, looking around the lobby. It
was pretty much an empty room, there was no receptionist, so
it was just a pair of tables and a dozen chairs.

There were three office doors, one on each wall, with the
last wall possessing the door out. On the left side was
Oria's office, but since she never came in, it was used
mostly for storage. The right side was my office, which was
used about as much. The center door was Moriya's office,
which she normally left open so she could see who came in.

Opening my office door, I went in, closing it behind me. The
office wasn't very large, room enough for a desk and it's
chair, a visitors chair, and a bookshelf along one wall.

Walking around the desk, I sat in my chair, looking over the
piles of stuff stacked up on top of it. Picking up a cup
that was left from the last time I had been, I glanced
inside. Signing, I set it on the floor next to me, and
pulled of the top PADD from the stack.

Pulling up the data on it, I scanned it over, it was the
specs for the new ship class we were working on. Most of the
major bugs had been worked out with docking the two Red
October Class ships to it, but other problems remained.

Taking out a notepad, I started to make some notes on what
had to be changed. I didn't get more then a few words down
before a knock came at my door.

"Yes," I called out, sure that it wasn't anyone I knew, they
usual just walk inside instead of knocking.

There was a short pause, before the door cracked open
slightly. "Uh, are you Fox Cutter?"

Setting my pen down on my desk, I stood up and walked over
to the door. "That would be me," I answered, pulling the
door open. I was surprised to find a dragon waiting for me
on the other side.

It wasn't a dragon like Ken though, it was on four legs,
though with a foreleg raised up to about the level of the
door handle. What shocked me though was that I recognized
the breed. It was from Elena's world.

"Good," it responded, seeming not to notice how startled I
was. "My employer wishes to speak with you today."

I nodded slowly as I parsed that. It had to me Elena, sie
did say in her letter that sie and some people from hir
world would be moving to Prid.

"I can do that," I told him, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Do you have a telepad? It's quite a long journey to our
office."

I shook my head. "No, in fact I've never actually heard of
that technology. We can take a fold though."

It sighed, shaking it's head slightly. "We do not like to
use folds. We'll have to use public transit. You may call me
Anthony by the way."

"Ok."

"Will you be needing anything for this journey?" He asked,
shuffling back a bit from the door. "A lunch bag perhaps?"

"Nah," I answered, shaking my head, "at least nothing for
right now."

"Very well then, let's proceed to the tube station then."

"Just a second," I told him as I stepped out of my office,
closing the door behind me. Steeping around him I ducked my
head into Moriya's office. "Sorry, looks like I'm not going
to be in today after all."

She nodded all six of her heads at once, and continued doing
all that she was dong.

Stepping back out of the door I motioned to Anthony to lead
the way. We left the offices and walked to the tube station
in silence. It wasn't that long of the trip, no more then
ten minutes at a brisk pace, and Anthony rolling lop took a
little work to keep up with.

Once inside the station Anthony led me over to the ticket
counter. "A round-trip ticket to Praxis please," he
requested to the young vulpine that was sitting behind the
glass. Passing him a debit card from a satchel that was
slung around his neck. It blended into his skin color so
well it was very hard to really see.

We waited for a few minutes as the vulpine made up the
ticket. Finally he passed it back to us with Anthony's card
and informed us that the transit would be leaving in about
seven minutes.

Plucking his card from the counter, Anthony gave me the
tickets, and we went off to the loading area. He fished out
a second ticket from his satchel, and handed it to the
attendant as we boarded.

As I settled down into a seat, Anthony sprawled himself out
onto the floor. "I suggest you try and occupy yourself," he
told me, "it's a long trip." After that he quickly drifted
off into a light sleep as we lurched into motion.

Leaning back in my seat I let out a sigh, rubbing at a pair
of sore spots on the top of my head. They had been bothering
me for almost a week now, and I hadn't been able to do
anything about them. At least the pain seemed to have
started to go away.

It had began a few days before Ken got the pendant back to
me, so I was relatively sure that it didn't have anything to
do with the spells on it. Still, it it keep up I was going
to have to see a doctor about them before to much longer.

As the trip progressed, I took the opportunity to look over
my guide. He wasn't that impressive as dragons go. Mostly
green, with a lighter shade covering his underbelly. The
wings were of a darker color, but that appeared to be caused
by how they where folded up close to his body.

What really attracted my attention a tattoo on his left hind
leg, right above the hock, where it 'reverse' knees was. It
was a mix of colors, woven in such a way that looking at
caused my eyes to hurt. I was able to tell that it had at
least two main colors. Two primary strands in the weave, one
black and the other white. They twisted and snaked around
each other in a series of complex and mind-numbing patterns
and swirls that seemed to suggest other colors. Highlighting
there presence, even though they where not there.

I rubbed my eyes, which were starting to ache from staring
at the pattern. For a second I could swear I saw some kind
of letters floating at the center of my vision. I couldn't
read the language, but the letters themselves seemed to
shimmer softly from a pure white to an empty black.

With the suddenness of a cold wind, I was now looking at a
different scene. A beautiful landscape, made from a series
of tall mountain peaks, backed by a startling clear blue
sky. Dragons filled the image, dragons of every conceivable
size, color and form where flying though the air or sunning
themselves on the bare rocks.

There was more, much, much, more, but I twisted my head
away, severing eye contact with the tattoo, and breaking
it's hold over me. Leaning back in my seat, I rubbed my
eyes, then the back of my neck.

"What kind of magic was that," I asked myself as I felt the
transport slowing down. A friendly, female, voice chirped
over the P.A. that we were arriving at Praxis.

Checking the time, I was shocked to find that three hours
had passed while I was enraptured with the tattoo!

Next to me, Anthony jumped a bit, his head looking up as he
awoke. "We're almost there," he observed, turning to look at
me.

"Yes," I muttered, rubbing my eyes again.

He smiled as the transport came to a stop, the doors outside
opening with a hydraulic hiss. I think he understood that I
had been caught in the magic that was part of his tattoo for
the whole trip.

I followed him again as he led me out of the station, and
into the small city. We walked along for a few blocks before
he turned towards an office building. It was quite large,
sprawling out along the street, though only raising up three
stories into the air. The front was almost all windows, each
one polished and set in such a way to reflect the afternoon
sun directly into my eyes.

A small stone sign sat in the center of the building's lawn,
proclaiming it to be the offices of 'Data and
Troubleshooting Services of Kenterra'.

Stepping though a pair of automatic doors, we entered into
the lobby of the building. It was vast, rising up all three
floors to a glass ceiling above. Filling the room with
natural light to such an extent that it was the only light
needed. It reflected back up from the marble floor, adding
to the light, and showing every vein in the marble in start
contrast to the rest of the floor.

We walked though the lobby, towards a reception desk, which
was staffed by a falcon of some kind, about the size of a
young child. The desk was framed on either side by a part of
marble statues. One was of a two-headed dragon, the other a
raccoon Theriamorph, holding a spear in hir left hand. I
assumed it was Khur, Elena's god.

"Nice place," I commented as we stopped in front of the
desk.

Anthony turned his head to look at me, "Thank you." He then
faced back to the receptionist, "Mr. Cutter is here to meet
with the Director, Jo-Ann."

The falcon, Jo-Ann, spread out her left wing and pointed
down a hallway. "Good, sie has been waiting for him. Mr.
Cutter, hir office is at the end of the hallway, please
follow it there."

I nodded, then started down the hallway. It appeared to
stretch the length of the building, with rooms of cubicles
and offices seemly grown out of each wall. There was a sense
of organized chaos with people of different species running
past and around me, holding stacks of papers, disk and data
crystals.

I did my best to avoid the chaos as I worked my way down the
hall, but still had the occasional collision with someone.
There were some quick apologizes exchanged, and we each went
on our way.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour working my way
though the tide of people, I made it to the end of the
hallway. There I was greeted by a simple wooden door with
something written on it in what appeared to be Elena's
language. Which would make sense considering.

I opened the door a few inches and peeked into the room. It
was mostly dark, little by the flickering of a double bank
of monitors that covered the two back walls. They were tuned
to half a dozen news cast, and maybe three times that from
what looked like surveillance cameras.

Stepping inside the room, closing the door behind myself, I
looked around for a chair. Finding one sitting near the far
wall I settled down into it.

The center of the room was dominated by a semicircular desk,
held in darkness, a light from a monitor sitting on the
desktop giving the surface an dim glow, just enough to show
Elena sitting behind it. Just sitting there, looking at me
with a half-smile on hir face. Waiting for me to see hir
first. "So glad you could make it Mr. Cutter."

I shrugged. "Well, I had to see what you wanted now didn't
I?"

"True enough, there's something I think you should have, and
we also have business to discuss."

I nodded, folding my hands in my lap as I relaxed into the
chair.

"I am offering to provide the services of my organization to
the Consortium, and your IMF." Sie paused, then gave me a
full smile. "All for the proper fees, of course."

"Of course," I said with a slight chuckle. "Though the fact
that you know about the IMF is interesting enough to warrant
consideration. What exactly are your services?"

Sie waved one arm towards the video wall at hir back. "There
is very little that escapes our notice. So I am offering you
just that, our data-gathering talents."

I nodded, rubbing my chin slightly. It was an interesting
proposal.

Smiling at me, sie stepped around the desk. I was shocked to
find that hir form had changed. Sie was still a vixen, but
not bipedal, a kind of fox-taur, but both the upper and
lower body being clearly vulpine.

"Nice change," I commented, taking off my glasses and
cleaning them on my shirt.

"That you," Sie responded, bowing hir head slightly. "It's
the future for my people."

"Really?" I asked, sounding some what skeptical as I
replaced my glasses on my nose.

Sie nodded, taking a few steps around in a circle, showing
off hir new form, which I had to admit was quite nice.
"We've had some problems with arthritis and the like as
bipeds. When we contacted tauriform species, we immediately
saw the benefits inherent in the form."

I nodded. "Sounds quite interesting."

"Times are changing," sie explained to me. "Planets that
have been comfortable in there near-isolation are turning
outwards."

"Speaking of which," I said, leaning forward in my chair. "I
assume you can prove that you and any staff that is native
to your world came here by approved channels."

"You mean, will a search of the companies history turn up
anything that would invalidate the agreements the Council
had with me people?"

"Yes."

"This company has been around for a long time." Sie said,
walking over to stand in front of me, hir new form giving
hir an imposing height. "First on Mydisia, now here. The
company moved because the board and I agreed that Prid would
actually be a better place for the home office."

"Good," I said, leaning back in my chair and looking up at
hir. "That's all I would like to know."

Sie handed me a small paper wrapped package. "I would like
you to read this," sie said, giving me no more explanation.

Taking it from hir I looked it over. "Yes, I can do that."

Crossing hir arms over hir chest, sie settled down onto the
floor. "Did the former Council head get my message?"

I chuckled softly. "Yes, he did."

"Good, the wheels have been set in motion."

I nodded. "Well, I'll get back to you on your offer in a
couple of weeks, and look at this when I have some time." I
motioned to the package as I said the last part.

Sie shook hir head. "I have more to tell you Mr. Cutter."

I raised an eyebrow. "About?"

"The assassination attempt on you at the zoo."

If I had ears that could move, they would have shot up at
the statement. As it was I nearly jumped out of my chair.
"What do you know?" I said, almost demanding to know, "the
assassin hasn't spoken a word, and even the Guild doesn't
know about her."

Sie nodded. "That is because she is not with the Guild, but
I gather you already knew that. She can not talk because her
mind dose not allow to, it has been changed to keep her
mute."

I whistled softly. "By who?"

"Cain," was hir answer.

I thought for a few seconds, trying to think if I've heard
the name before. I came up blank. "Who is Cain?"

"I do not precisely know," Sir answered, an annoyed look
crossing hir muzzle. "I'm having a hard time tracking him
down, or finding anything at all about him. It's like he
exist and doesn't exist at the same time. A ghost of a
shadow."

"Sounds nasty," I muttered.

"He is, I've been able to track him some. Primarily from the
trail of bodies he leaves in his wake."

I frowned, scratching at the back of my neck. "Would it be
to much to hope that you know why he wants to kill me?"

Sie nodded, hir ears twitching in annoyance. "I know nothing
about his relation to you."

I sighed, this wasn't good news. "And why are you
investigating this in the first place?"

Sie laughed, a deep hearty laugh that seemed to echo though
out the room. "Because Mr. Cutter, I do not wish to have my
associates kill before I am finished with them."

I shook my head, though smiling softly. "How about the
curse? Any idea who planted that?"

No reaction was forth coming form hir, sir seemed to be
thinking about it though. "No," sie finally answered.

"Fine then," I said, standing up. "Bill me for it."

Once more sie laughed, not as deep this time, but more
joyously. "Of course, I shall do that. For now though you
may go home. I hope to receive an answer within a short
time." As sie said this sie stood back up, padding slowly
back to hir desk, hir large feet quite on the stone floor.

Rubbing my head, I picked up the package, and started back
for the tube station. I was not sure how yet to react to
this news, but I felt that it wasn't at all good.

-----

This story is (c) 1999 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.
Elena is (c) 1999 by Chris Bradford.