Chương 54: Chapter Forty-Seven - Cult

Alexis walked alongside Vena who seemed more than happy to keep to herself. Alexis did not like this. She wasn't what a normal person might call particularly extroverted, but within her order she might as well be the town gossip. She liked talking, and getting to know people. Even servitors and weirdos.

"So, you're a junior medicae," Alexis said, starting with the obvious.

"What's that like?" Vena hummed.

"It's not all bad," she replied.

"The work is challenging, but the education you receive for it is very good. And the pay is exceptional. There are plenty of medicae that studied on The Broken Scale that have gone on to work on some of the planets we visit as full medicae. The licenses you gain are accepted on most Imperial worlds. At most you need a year or two of additional formation."

"That's nice," Alexis said.

"Is the Scale a school, then?"

"Yes? A little. There are training and schooling facilities on board for medicae. Did you not know that?" Alexis shook her head.

"No? I mean, I don't think I've ever really spent time on the medicae deck? Once a few years ago because I was very sick, but that was only for a day."

"I suppose that's fair. The deck has been my entire world for several years now, so it's hard to think of the rest of the ship as being just as great. At least in terms of scope," Vena said. Alexis nodded along to that.

"Yup! It's a little weird. But I think you get used to it. Did you always plan on being a medicae?" Vena made a quick so-so gesture in the air before her.

"Yes? My parents are both medicae as well."

"Oh? They are? Are they on the ship?"

"No, they both live on the station over Caducia. My father is more or less retired, and my mother works as a specialist. Like I said, the pay is exceptional. A thirty-year stint as a department head is enough to buy a small mansion on a garden world."

"You were born naturally?" Alexis asked.

"Yes? I take it you weren't?"

"Oh, no, I was born from an exo-womb," Alexis said.

"You could say that my mom was a test tube." Vena laughed, and Alexis felt herself standing a little taller. She'd made the woman laugh! She was getting a good grade in Friend, something that was both normal to want and possible to achieve.

"My dad is actually an Arch Magos," Alexis said. Vena's eyebrows perked up.

"Truly?"

"Mhm! Or, he was? Arch Magos Dailith Omnicron. He donated his genetic material to give birth to several thousand children! So technically I have a lot of siblings across the Mechanicus. Though it's hard to tell. We don't put much emphasis on that kind of thing."

"Interesting. The culture of the Mechanicus has always felt rather obscure and strange to me," Vena said.

"Why? We're just people? We want to get rid of the inefficiencies of our weak flesh, just like anyone else." They continued to talk a little, and Alexis found herself nodding along as Vena explained some of the more complex parts of her education as a medicae. She was getting the impression that Vena really cared about the subject she was being taught, but also that Vena wanted more. As in, she wanted to be more than just a healer.

Eventually, they made it to the Medicae Deck, and Alexis found herself feeling rather awkward as she walked down halls that smelled faintly of antiseptics. These were noticeably less decorated than the corridors of the uppermost decks, but they were nonetheless very clean.

"Alright, we need a way to find these daemons," Vena said.

"Searching the entire deck could take days."

"We know they're near the rear," Alexis pointed out.

"Which is mostly where we have our storage and medicine production facilities, but also some rooms for the higher-ups, vehicle garages, emergency expansion rooms in case of mass-casualty events... there are dozens, maybe hundreds of rooms just in the rear of the medicae deck," Vena said.

"Hmm," Alexis hummed.

"Vyper, is there anything like that remote I bought but for finding daemonic stuff?"

"There are some tools like that, yes."

"I could pay for it," Vena suggested.

"I have a decent number of points banked."

"It's okay!" Alexis said. Spending more hurt a little, but it was to find more enemies, so it would all pay for itself in the end. Plus, she liked buying things for friends. It was like a gift?

"Ah, something like a short-range auspex, maybe? For detecting warp... stuff?" This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"Very well. I can provide you with a tool that functions that way for twenty-two points." That wasn't too bad!

"Thanks, Machine Spirit Vyper!" New Purchase: Warp Anomaly Detector Points Reduced to: 124 The machine she picked up was basically just a handle with a boxy device on the end. It had a small screen with a sweeping array on it, and when she pointed it around, it made little beeps and boops. The knobs allowed her to adjust the range and scope. It wasn't unlike a radiation-detection auspex, or one used to find surcharges of motive force, though it bore the usual quality of gear made by Vyper.

The best part was the little clip that allowed her to fit it on her belt without any issue. With the detector in hand, they started to canvas the medicae deck, walking from starboard to port until, about halfway down the length of a long bisecting corridor, the detector picked up something.

"It's a deck above, I think," Alexis said as she pointed it upwards.

"That would be... close to the private chambers used by some of the directors," Vena said.

"Or one of the storage areas? I'll admit that I haven't exactly explored this area very much. My sense of direction is fine, at best."

"We'll find a way up, then," Alexis said. That didn't prove to be too difficult, but they did run into an obstacle soon enough. There was a gated section at the rear of the ship, a wall with a door that was guarded by a man standing at attention next to it. Alexis glanced at the edges of the gate and could tell that it was new. The weld marks weren't rusted over yet, and there was a faint tang to the air that she associated with recent metal work. Someone had built this recently.

"Can you let us through?" Vena asked without preamble. She towered over the guard, looking down her nose at him.

"Ah, no ma'am," he said.

"Do you have permission?"

"From whom?" she asked.

"Director Bennick?" he tried.

"Or any of the other directors."

"No, I don't," Vena said in the casual, bored tones of someone who was above such trivialities. Alexis almost shrank away. If someone looked at her the way Vena was looking at that guard, she would have shrunk into a ball and given them whatever they wanted.

"I'm here with this Magos on a task. There is a capacitor bank that needs replacing or some such. I was pulled away from my own duties to play escort. Now, will you let us through or not?" Alexis could have come up with a more plausible lie than 'a capacitor bank' but she supposed that was fine. The guard frowned, then looked back.

"Uh, I don't know," he said. Alexis frowned, then sniffed the air. There was something... it was faint. Someone had sprayed something around here, like a strong perfume. It was covering up another scent, but... no, was that truly a scent? She licked her lips, then, while Vena and the guard still argued, pulled up the auspex and aimed it at him. It beeped alarmingly.

"What's that?" he asked. His arm moved to his side, towards a laspistol. Alexis was just starting to send a warning to her friends through her MIU when Vena moved snake-fast and wrapped a hand around the man's throat. A kick to his chin had him falling forward, and then she was wrapped around him, arm entirely around his neck.

"Don't resist," she said.

"Just go to sleep... yes, that's right..." Vena lowered him to the ground.

"We have a few seconds before he awakens," she said as she reached into her jacket. She pulled out a syringe, then stabbed it down into his back.

"And now we have hours." Alexis pointed the auspex down, then waved it around; it was coming from somewhere specific, on the man's back, near his neck.

"Move his shirt down," she said. Vena did so, and revealed an ugly mess of scars on the nape of the guard's neck. A tattoo, of three circles and three arrows, but the edges were reddened and swollen and it looked infected.

"Vanguards, I must warn you, you may be in the presence of active cognitive hazards. I would advise taking certain precautions."