Raemus read data as it blinked across his Unabox screen. There were energy readings from just outside Neptin's gravity field. He was looking for anomalies to present themselves the way they did ten years before. It was difficult because there wasn't a triangulated location and the scanning satellites weren't meant to identify the data he needed. In other words, he was looking for an anomalous energy reading in a sea of white noise. Raemus' face was tinted blue by the glow of the Unabox screen as he sifted and searched. After resigning to yet another failure, Raemus switched off the Unabox and leaned back in his chesk. He signed heavily and chewed on his lip as he ended another fruitless search for Sanchez. His thoughts drifted for a moment, then he rose to resume his duties for the day. While walking down the silvery hall, he looked out a plasma window and took in the view as he did every time he finished this futile task. He watched empty space above the icy, Nitrogen-covered horizon. It was more desolate as Titan, if that could be believed. There weren't even lakes to watch. It was completely boring and dissatisfying. Raemus had been stationed on Triton by The Council after his failure to apprehend Sanchez. It was his mistake, after all. He defied The Council and pursued Gellar Elias, whom Raemus perceived to be the larger of the two problems. Although, he did not count on Sanchez piloting a shuttle into deep space and disappearing. The escape of Sanchez sent The Council into an uproar that Raemus hadn't seen in a long time. Deviations like Emilio Sanchez and Gellar Elias were unheard of despite the occasional cellular breakdown in the Drivers, as you would expect with any clone. Raemus thought back to 50 years before, when a Driver's DNA started to break down and his instinct to procreate overcame him. After finding this Driver's post deserted, Raemus facilitated a search of the entire outpost. After a few hours, the Driver was found in the Noman resting facility forcibly mating with a Noman male. The Noman didn't protest, as he had no way to understand what was happening. The image of the two heaping bodies crashing into each other was sickening,but Raemus remembered their faces more.: The Driver's face was twisted in confused pleasure and the Noman's as blank as brushed stilerium. That was the last correction Raemus had to perform and he did it gladly. Raemus shook the memory from his mind and returned to his view of space as he kept walking. The mining operation on Titan had been a labor of love for Raemus and this assignment was meant to be an insult as much as a chastisement. While mining methane from Titan, Raemus dreamed that he would finally be installed as a human by The Council. He hoped that he would be allowed to come home to take his predecessor's place in the Commandery as Polemarch. However, Elias and Sanchez destroyed any chance of that happening. He looked down and shook his head, ashamed and frustrated. 10 years of searching for that son of a bitch and nothing. Nothing except white noise and fatigue. After Raemus and his Officers corrected Elias, all his thoughts were bent towards retrieving Sanchez. Unfortunately, Sanchez disappeared while Raemus was en route to Titan. Somehow, Sanchez had fooled him. Somehow, Sanchez kept his secret hidden while Elias burned hotter than the sun. Raemus' thoughts snapped to the present and he turned away from the frozen landscape of Triton, continuing to his quarters. "I was wrong about Sanchez." he said to himself. "I was focused on Elias because I thought he was the bigger threat. The Council was right to direct me to apprehend Sanchez and my judgment was clouded by hubris. I deserved to be punished. I won't make the same mistake again." he thought to himself. Raemus arrived at his personal quarters and laid on his cot just in time to hear a message alert from his personal comm-station. "Elite Officer Raemus, you have received a communication from Central Core." it said in a flat voice. "Shit." he said. He got up and walked over to his comm-station. "Lieutenant Raemus: Elite Officer of Triton Communications Bunker Alpha requesting comm-link with Central Core." he said flatly. A woman appeared on the screen with porcelain skin and eyes whose color didn't match. "Lieutenant Raemus, please provide a status update regarding the search for missing deviation Emilio Sanchez." she said. Raemus gritted his teeth and gave his empty report.
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Chars exited the magnetovator and stood still as the door closed and left him in the dark. He scooted across his study and bumped into his sofa while his eyes were still adjusting. "Shit!" he cursed. Chars always turned his lights off whenever he left his study. He made it to his end table and tapped his lamp to illuminate the room. It cast a warm and inviting glow upon his quarters. Chars tied his robe tightly, sat down at his desk, and placed the papers he was carrying on it. His desk was covered with books and papers but the occasional deep brown could be seen peeking through. There were picture frames and trinkets half-submerged in the disarray. The only object on his desk that wasn't drowning in paper was an a greenish, bronze bust of Charles Darwin. Chars leaned back in his wooden chair, sighed lightly and began reading. Chars barely started reading when he squinted, blinked his eyes, and moved the paper closer to his face. He pulled a pair of reading glasses from his shirt pocket, polished them with his breath and put them on. In the dim light Chars looked roughly 60 years old, though he'd forgotten how old he was anymore. Chars' skin was pale, but still maintained some of the fleshy tone of his youth. The hair that he still had was a rich color of brown and combed close to his scalp. Chars swiveled around in his desk chair, reached for his radio and turned it on to fill his study with Franz Schubert's "Death and the Maiden". Chars swiveled back to his desk, arched his back slightly, and returned his attention to the papers he was holding. He hunched over his desk while reading aloud. It was his preference to read this way. He liked to keep his brain in good working order. "Lieutenant Raemus: Elite Officer of Triton Communications Bunker Alpha reports no new data readings in sector N1A74-2. Entry has been digitally archived in the Central Core Comm Database. Report is consistent with all previous entries. No new data regarding the disappearance of Deviation #10983, Emilio Sanchez. Requesting orders." he said to himself. Chars opened the center drawer in his desk and removed a metallic tablet. He placed it flat on his desk and tapped it once with an index finger. The tablet lit up and displayed a keyboard. He typed a brief sentence and sent his response. The old man rose from his desk and walked over to one of his bookshelves. The books on this shelf were older than Genetia but looked almost new. Not only were his books ancient but they represented most of the Old World's knowledge of Religion and Philosophy. Standing 9 feel tall and 14 feet across, it had a commanding presence. He reached out for a book titled The Secret Teachings of All Ages and tilted the book towards him. A click was heard followed by a whirring sound. He returned the leather bound book to its normal, upright position and another click was heard. Chars backed up and watched the face of the bookshelf shudder, sink backwards, and away from him. The bookshelf slid a foot and then lurched sideways into the wall, where it soon disappeared. Chars entered a dark corridor that stretched out away from him and used his hand to guide him as he walked. He continued, confidently, down this metallic hallway for roughly 20 paces then stopped, turned to his right and tapped rhythmically on the wall. His knuckles cause deep, hollow pangs to call out from just past where he stood. Chars butted his shoulder against the wall and it opened inward like a door. He walked inside and, after a couple of paces, approached a desk that was chest-high with a small box on top of it. This alcove was small and barely large enough to hold him and this desk. The box on the desk was narrow, long and it had an inverted triangle design on its top. There was a circle and a square on either side of the triangle. He opened the box, took out two white tapered candles, and placed them on each side of the desk. Chars fitted them neatly into carved divots and stood them upright. Again, he reached into the box and pulled out a metal -colored cylinder with a small, grooved wheel at the top. The cylinder was almost as long as his hand was wide. He placed his thumb on the wheel and pressed down hard which caused a spark that momentarily lit up the entire alcove. A small orange flame rose up out of the cylinder and he used that flame to light the candles. The soft and fluttering light of the candles grew into confident flames and caused shadows to dance around the alcove. He looked up and fixed his gaze just above and behind the box. On the metal wall was a bright red tapestry that hung from the low ceiling to the floor. It had a large, inverted triangle whose outline was embroidered with yellow and orange thread. The inside of the triangle contained three vertical stripes that were individually colored blue, green, and purple. On the right side of the stripes was a dark black square. On the left side, a solid white circle. The old man untied his robe, let it fall to his feet and stood naked in the candlelight. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, then exhaled. He repeated this a few times and then raised his arms up towards the tapestry, palms turned up. He continued his deep and rhythmic breathing and began to hum. The metal walls of the alcove gathered up the vibrations from inside his chest and reverberated it all around and through him. Back in Chars' study, the end table lamp flickered and cut off suddenly. After a few moments passed, a white light oozed into his study and lit it softly. Then a humming sound followed and grew in intensity until the sound almost shook the ancient tomes from their shelves. It crescendoed, blowing a few loose papers to the floor and blinked out leaving the study in total darkness. The bookshelf was returned to it's normal place and Franz Schubert's music was silent. On the desk, the tablet still shone brightly, like a beacon in the darkness. On the tablet, Char's response glowed in bright blue text. "Continue searching. Do not deviate."