Fabian doesn’t waste any time going to one of the screens. This time he ignores the keyboard and what looks like filaments of fibre optic cable extend from his fingertips and plug directly into the computer. I can’t tell if it’s a Power or some very expensive nanite implants, but whatever it is gives him the ability to call all of the video images and still frames he wants to his screen and flick through them at the speed of thought. I watch intently as he goes through footage from the last few minutes. I have no idea how what I’ve been doing is going to look. How good are my ‘taking a casual walk’ and ‘not absorbing Geraldine’s soul’ acting skills?
“Whoever it was might still be here,” Fabian says to nobody in particular as Bart whips behind the desk with him to look over his shoulder. Bart’s eyes dart around checking for movement in between watching the screen Fabian is controlling. Bart’s a burly caretaker with a role similar to Lucy’s, except his Powered approach is all muscle and speed instead of force fields. All the staff are still running around to make sure the other residents are safe and I don’t see any strangers.
“There,” says Bart, and despite myself I tense up as he jabs his finger at the screen. His concentration level is super high and his aura is frankly pretty intimidating right now. There’s something about the massive power and precision behind every motion that makes me watch with a heightened sense of awareness, like when I spar against experienced opponents. I want to be open the notifications flashing at me to see how many Soul Sparks I’ve received and might be able to bolster my physical Attributes with, but there’s no way I can leave if there’s a chance to deflect any suspicion that might fall on me right now.
“Where?” says Fabian. “I don’t see it.”
“Play it back and forth slow, maybe ten seconds back from where you are right now,” advises Bart. His strong jawline flexes as he bears down with even more concentration. I shuffle around to see the screen a bit better and expect to be told to get lost, but they’re too busy to worry about me for now. I can’t see anything when Bart jabs his finger at it again.
“There, and there, and there,” he says. I don’t see it and clearly neither does Fabian. “There’s a frame there where the door sensor triggers when it looks like nobody’s there. I bet our automated defences detected them before they could do any real damage!”
Fabian glances at Bart and as he does he sees me and frowns, but returns his attention to the screens which start flickering with stylised blueprints of Saint Marianne’s. Heat maps pop up with no meaning I can see. There are markings for defences that have been put in place, and lists of things that fly by on the screen too fast for me to read. Most of their statuses read green but I see a few ambers and reds flash by. Clearly this is all very familiar to Fabian who leaps out from behind the desk again. Practically before he’s even motioned to Bart, the big man is right beside him. With reluctance he gestures to me too.
“Walk the floor with me. Eyes on anything that’s not how it should be, especially something someone might have left behind. We’ll have to do a full, thorough check when we have time,” he says to Bart and I. What choice do I have? I’m ready to help and want to know if some kind of saboteur has ended up killing Geraldine. I’m 99% sure it wasn’t me. And maybe someone is trying to set a trap for when Auntie V arrives. It’s the only thing I can think of, but I don’t know the history of all the residents here - maybe someone has enemies.
We move room by room and I don’t see anything unusual; I think it all looks the way it has while I’ve been checking for things I can fix up. I focus on trying to find equipment that I haven’t seen before that might have been left behind, in case they’ve left a bomb or something that’s going to cause us further trouble. Maybe Bart or Fabian has a clearer idea of what they’re looking for. A few rooms in, it’s apparent they’re just as unable to see any changes as I am, which hopefully means everything is ok. I think Fabian realizes the futility of a minor surface inspection of the rooms and we return to the reception desk.
“Stay here,” he says to me, and motions Bart to follow him into one of the secret rooms. At least, what’s inside is a secret to me. I’m not sure if Fabian means I need to stay here, or I need to not follow him where he’s going. I decide his statement was more about not following him, so I race to my room then close and lock the door. I know it might end up looking slightly suspicious, but I need to look at the notifications I’ve received in case they have any information, and to see how many Soul Sparks I’ve reclaimed.
Soul Sparks Reclaimed: 4
Soul Spark reservoir: 4
Such a simple notification with big implications for the future. I don’t hear any noise outside my room and I feel like the right thing to do is show my face, but screw that. I will get back out there, I promise myself, as soon as I allocate these Soul Sparks. I call up the descriptions of the Attributes again to look at them. Some of them are pretty self-evident but others are less so.
Soul Spark Allocation
Soul Sparks can be allocated amongst a set number of options.
Strength - ability applying physical force through action
Constitution - ability to resist physical damage, heal, and regenerate stamina
Agility - ability relating to quick and dextrous movements, coordination, and speed
Perception - ability for mental processing, sensory input, resisting mental attacks
Charisma - ability to influence people’s perceptions, beliefs, feelings, loyalty
Luck - ability to consciously or subconsciously influence events and outcomes
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Mana - ability to manipulate stored ambient Mana to create effects
Aura - ability to fill Mana pool and increase Soul Spark absorption distance
It’s tempting to allocate all 4 in Luck since it seems like I could use some of that right now. Bart’s also made me slightly jealous since he is such a physical specimen and he still makes me want to apply my Sparks to Strength and Agility. It’s Constitution and Aura that keep drawing my eye though. Increasing my Soul Spark absorption distance is a key to me not getting myself in trouble by creeping around, and the ability to stay alive with Constitution… well, I’d be stupid not to look at it. Once I start looking at Mana I’m also curious. Even if I put all 4 Soul Sparks into Mana to bring it up to 14, would it help me much?
Considering I want to give Dungeon runs a go I should up my physical Attributes, but Aura is the one that gives me more Soul Spark reclamation range. Is it better to put all 4 into something or spread them out?
I’ve got more questions than answers probably, but I decide I do want to at least try out what it’s like to drop some Soul Sparks in Strength and Agility. First, I place 2 Soul Sparks in Aura to increase my Reclamation range. I’m not yet used to the feeling of my Aura increasing, but immediately I can feel my reach increase around me like another sense I’m not used to using. Then, I place a single Spark in Strength to start with and confirm it. A notification flashes by as a smaller, more focused surge of changes rips through my body followed by a warm feeling that suffuses me. It’s over fairly quickly and I look at myself. Going from 16 to 17 in Strength has definitely done something. I feel a bit more powerful, more stable on my feet. Ever so slightly more explosive in the arms and chest and legs? That gives me pause, since if I drop a whole bunch of Soul Sparks in Strength in the future and my body’s musculature swells up in response, how am I going to explain that?
I drop my last Soul Spark into Agility this time and it’s a similar feeling that surges through me. After a second or two the warmth flows out of me and I do feel lighter, more agile, and maybe a bit more coordinated. Everyone doesn’t get increases in Strength and Agility when they get their Powers like they do in Constitution, unless they have a Power that specifically enhances them. So if I keep putting more Sparks into those Attributes then eventually I’ll have capability beyond human norms that replicates physical Powers.
With no immediate need for anything else in my room, I decide I should get back out there after I check my notifications.
Soul Sparks Allocated!
Strength +1 (17)
Agility +1 (17)
Aura +2 (12)
Stamina Regeneration +1 /min (117)
Mana Regeneration +2 /min (12)
Soul Spark Reclamation Range: +2 meters (14)
Slightly nervous about how much time I’ve spent in my room and now a lot more confident I don’t have to be on my own when I make small allocations of Soul Sparks, I step back out into the hallway. As expected, it’s a lot quieter. Everyone seems to have calmed down and the hallway is pretty empty, at least here. I wander with no hurry whatsoever back to the reception area.
“Corvin!” calls Fabian as I enter the reception area. “Been looking for you. Bart and I think we might have found something, can you take a look?”
“Of course!” It’s the only allowable answer in a situation like this.
The two of them take me back to one of the secret doors and Fabian opens it without using any locks or passes or anything, making me wonder if it’s not locked, or if it has some kind of biometric locking mechanism. Something to find out later, if I can. The room is full of machinery of all shapes and sizes. Some of it is so advanced or alien that I’ve never seen anything like it before and that’s saying something since I’ve seen a lot of stuff. I peer at it with interest.
“This is where the equipment for your Aunt’s room is,” Fabian explains. “Our sensors and equipment have detected an unauthorized entry which shouldn’t be possible, but there’s too much circumstantial evidence to ignore it. Bart and I aren’t sure what half of this stuff does and there’s not enough time to get a technician out before she arrives tomorrow. She’s your responsibility, so can you take a look at everything and report back if there’s anything wrong? We had it serviced under a week ago so it should all be functioning perfectly in preparation for someone else’s arrival, but we haven’t changed anything since we found out about your Aunt.”
He stares at me for a few seconds to make sure I understand, which I do, and then they leave. I wonder if it’s a test, and if so what kind of a test it might be. I wonder if it’s an attempt to deflect responsibility or liability if something goes wrong when Auntie V arrives. I decide no matter what, the best thing to do is take it all at face value and try to make sure Auntie V isn’t walking into a problem. That’s definitely not wasted effort.
I take my time and work through everything in the room methodically. About half of the stuff in here is something I can figure out to a level deep enough to potentially find out if it’s been messed with; at least, that’s what I think until I really start getting creative in my thinking on all the ways everything in here could be messed with. My ability to spot things others don’t notice has always been really high, which is probably reflected in the borderline superhuman Perception of 20 that I started with, and now with it up to 21 the details are that much finer when I focus.
I pour over everything looking for signs it might have been altered. I look for signs of tampering, open things up, and trace the components and electrical parts. Then I use some nanite repair kits and detectors to try to find out if anything unusual has happened that the nanites can spot that I can’t. Where it’s possible, I fire up the system’s diagnostics and computer programs and, after some reluctance from Fabian, get access to some of the admin rights so I can perform scans and hunt around to find any tampering in the configurations. There’s no chance I can get into any of the systems, but I do manage to look at some of the integration code bases to see if a malicious command has been injected or a service is being re-routed for exfiltration or remote operation.
After spending a few hours on the stuff I know how to do, it’s clear that if there’s been some tampering it’s beyond my ability to find it. Hours exploring all the ways this stuff could be messed with has only led me to the conclusion that I don’t feel any safer after doing some checks than I did beforehand. There are so many ways someone with a specific kind of Power, or a really expensive nanite implant, or the right kind of tools and experience, could mess with this setup. It might even be hard for an expert to detect. And… there’s still half of the things in here that seem to operate based on Mana and a Power-based infusion at construction that I can only guess at. There’s alien tech that seems to be organic based I have no understanding of whatsoever. No doubt this mix of technology and Mana-based protections are combined on purpose to defend a resident of room 300 from outside threats, and to defend the rest of the hospice from whoever is in room 300. Without a specific Power that really helps me detect these kinds of problems, or maybe Perception that’s an order of magnitude higher, I’m just not able to penetrate their secrets.
I report back to Fabian that I haven’t been able to find anything and he seems unsurprised. Maybe me finding something was a long shot. I don’t know how much time I’ll need to spend settling Auntie V in once she arrives and I need to take care of some things, so I excuse myself and he doesn’t object.
