The Science of Spying (Erityian Tribes, #4)

Chapter 32 : Variables

"I see. That's a critical information," Ulysses said.

I returned to our base since the zweites said they needed to attend to their personal commitments. Ebony said he'd just alert us once Midnight tells him what to do. Nagmadali akong umuwi at naabutan ko si Ulysses sa basement habang nakatingin sa malaking hologram sa harapan niya. I immediately told him what transpired and he looked perturbed after learning the real purpose of zuersts.

"We must not let them use those Erityians for wars," I said, still shaken by the fact that Mom might also be put into that kind of situation.

"I must inform Commander Priam about this, as well as this," sabay tingin niya sa hologram.

Hindi ko masyadong pinansin 'yon kanina pero ngayong nandoon na ang atensyon ko ay napanganga ako sa nakita ko.

"W-what are those?" I asked even though I already had an idea.

He flashed a subtle and calculated smile. "One of the keys to our success," he said.

The hologram flickered and hummed, expanding until it occupied half of the room. Hallways and closed doors were projected. It looked like a hotel or a luxury residence but I couldn't find any characters or signs indicating its name or location.

"This is probably where they will negotiate with the country's representatives," he said, verifying my suspicion. "I was ordered by Onyx to prepare for a 3-day journey and I came across this data by chance."

"Where did you get this?"

"At one of the zuerst's headquarters. The dritte tasked to copy some files dropped one of the memory cards and I looked into it. At first, it wasn't making any sense but I reconfigured it and this was the result."

"Wait, what if they noticed that there was a missing card?"

"This is just a copy, so don't worry."

Muli naming tiningnan ang hologram at malaki ang chance na dito nga gaganapin ang auction. Wala kaming ibang information tungkol doon pero sigurado akong hindi iyon magtatagal, lalo na't kumikilos na sila. They would auction those Navis and different countries would surely buy them since they would be a great asset in a war.

"All the pieces are slowly coming together," he said.

"Yes," I agreed. "The real goal of Nox is not just the domination in the underground community but the whole world. They will have the world at their mercy if the Navis are deployed."

Nagsimula kaming magplano sa mga dapat naming gawin. Ulysses had to leave an hour after that to update Dad and to devise a strategy in order to prevent the Nox from their schemes.

Naiwan ako sa basement at pinagmamasdan ko pa rin ang hologram. Nilabas ko rin ang restricted folders at journals ni Ulysses.

"This has become big," I murmured, thinking about how the Nox managed to establish itself while putting several intelligence agencies off their scent.

I tried analyzing the chain of events, starting from Mom's disappearance but there were too many unclear motives and discrepancies. First, according to Nigel's logs, they were tracking down a Black named Onyx but they got sidetracked. Besides that one entry, I couldn't find anything about Onyx anymore. Second, Mom and Zeno were together when they encountered the Blacks. Among the members, they were the strongest so it was a bit suspicious that we didn't hear anything from both of them. They disappeared without leaving any tracks. I mean, Blacks were mostly humdrums, unless it was the zuersts whom they had came up against.

"Intruder alert. Intruder alert."

Nagulat naman ako nang marinig ko ang warning alert at lumabas sa malaking screen ang radar. Two dots were walking toward this abandoned town and they were only 850 meters away from here.