Interlude: Conception
"Your thumbprint here," he said, holding out the dataslate.
The room was cramped, no bigger than a hive city overnighting pod. After so many months on board this vessel where everything was grandiose as if to cow any observer into submission with its ostentatious display of glory, I wondered what sin the adept had committed to warrant this punishment. And how long ago. Still, the aged gentleman sitting on the other side of the desk seemed in his element. All the tools of his trade were nearby. Autoquills, reams of parchment, stacks of dataslates, and open tomes lay scattered across any available surface, the floor included. Perhaps I had interrupted some of his research with this errand.
"Come now, I don't have all day."
I hesitated. This was it. The thing I had been working for since before the Inquisition got hold of me. I pressed my thumb on the dataslate, and the edges flashed green.
"There you go. Lt. Cromwell's body was found by a reclamator crew and has been marked as killed in action. You are Arathis Fairfax, only son of Henrietta Fairfax, a Loian seamstress of little talent in Aro hive. Father unknown. You left home when you were young due to financial difficulties, and fell off the grid." He paused, as if remembering something fondly. "She was one of our finest agents, I'll have you know. Highly dedicated. But you, young man, are now nobody. This data update will be part of the regular synchronization as we reach Calixis, and so should arrive ahead of you in your travels. Your DNA re-sequencing treatments are nearly complete so that any scanners that have not yet been updated will reveal an unknown citizen instead of anything else, and ..."
I stopped listening for a moment and sighed, years of stress feeling as though they were lifted off my shoulders. I was free! Or at least, as free as I could be.
"... and he'll never eat tomatoes again."
I shook my head suddenly. "I'm sorry, what?"
The adept pursed his lips, obviously annoyed by my inattention. "Is there anything else you need? I have other assignments." He gestured at the literature scattered around the office.
It was now or never.
"The other request I had. Can you tell me what happened to Carlotti?"
"Are you sure you want to know? Thaddeus is dead. The news will reach her before you would, or before our masters would ever let you near her. I am sure she will weep at the funeral."
"Just some closure. It's been so long since I heard anything."
He tapped on another nearby dataslate and peered at the contents. "Yes, here we are. Last scion of your former household. Married into the Whitstone family. Hmm. It appears that she was expecting when we received the last update."
Whitstone, eh? I knew them. It sounded terribly unlike her, She was always better at the political game than me, though. And I was to be an uncle! Or would have been. No, I had to start thinking like a new man.
"One last question," I ventured.
"Of course."
"Did you really need my thumbprint?"
"Of course not," he grinned. "Emperor's blessings to you, young man."
Arathis, now. The name had grown on me over the last year and a half. It felt right that I kept it.
Thaddius's Journal Ordered oldest to newest
-
6: Disconcerted
20 Mar 2021 08:34:43
-
5: Vulnerable
29 Mar 2021 12:13:09
-
7: Fully Operational
23 Apr 2021 07:17:54
-
Interlude: Cursed
06 Jun 2021 07:29:35
-
Interlude: Coward
07 Jun 2021 06:52:32
-
Interlude: Conception
10 Jun 2021 06:20:59
20 Mar 2021 08:34:43
29 Mar 2021 12:13:09
23 Apr 2021 07:17:54
06 Jun 2021 07:29:35
07 Jun 2021 06:52:32
10 Jun 2021 06:20:59
The major events and journals in Thaddius's history, from the beginning to today.
Session 12: weird old ladies and astronomers
04:45 pm - 09.07.2021Session 12: weird old ladies and astronomers
04:45 pm - 09.07.2021Interlude: Conception
"Your thumbprint here," he said, holding out the dataslate. The room was cramped, no bigger than a hive city overnighting pod. After so many months on board this vessel where everything was grandiose as if to cow any observer into submission with its ...
06:20 pm - 10.06.2021Interlude: Coward
*Thud* *Thud* *Thud* I threw the covers aside and sat up. Six months into the latest journey through the warp and sleep didn't come as deeply as it used to. Truth be told, I felt that the monotony of the voyage was eating away at the edges. Days spe...
06:52 pm - 07.06.2021Interlude: Cursed
I burst into the captain's tent, dropping to my knees. "Mission complete, Sir!" I panted. Captain Gresham looked down at me, the bedraggled mess that I was, before looking to the officer at his side. "Major, set the next phase of the offense in motio...
11:47 am - 05.06.2021Session 11: ghosts and weird shit
04:52 am - 14.05.2021Session 11: ghosts and weird shit
04:52 am - 14.05.2021Session 10: caves and cathedrals
06:34 pm - 07.05.2021Session 10: caves and cathedrals
06:34 pm - 07.05.2021Session 9: gilded cathedral and food grinders
08:55 am - 26.04.2021Session 9: gilded cathedral and food grinders
08:55 am - 26.04.2021Fully Operational
I heard Braxton's screams of agony. There had been an initial thought that perhaps he had been a plant, sent to spy on us and bring back the real story of how our adventure on Luggnum had proceeded, but it turns out that that was just paranoia. A parano...
03:43 pm - 21.04.2021Session 8: Cathedrals and fortresses
07:36 am - 19.04.2021Session 8: Cathedrals and fortresses
07:36 am - 19.04.2021Session 7: Not so noble families
08:03 am - 09.04.2021Session 7: Not so noble families
08:03 am - 09.04.2021Disconcerted
Everyone has their own paranoia. Yarn's decision to drug Braxton into a stupour on our return journey was questionable, but ultimately inspired. All the best crews I had been a part of over the last four years had had a wild card in them. A certain s...
08:23 pm - 20.03.2021Vulnerable
I let them know who I was. For weeks, they had known me as Rat, or some variation of it. Arathis Vanderbilt was a decent enough pseudonym when out and about, even if I possessed no cognomen with that upon it. But then, out in the middle of nowhere ...
08:00 pm - 20.03.2021Session 6: and many happy returns
09:50 pm - 19.03.2021Session 6: and many happy returns
08:02 pm - 19.03.2021Session 6: and many happy returns
08:02 pm - 19.03.2021Session 5: Monsters and men
06:31 am - 17.03.2021Session 5: Monsters and men
07:21 pm - 12.03.2021Session 4: Scribes and insurrection
09:30 pm - 04.03.2021Session 4: Scribes and insurrection
09:29 pm - 04.03.2021We're all gonna die.
07:03 pm - 04.03.2021Session 3: Strangers and Scribes
04:59 pm - 27.02.2021Session 3: Strangers and Scribes
04:59 pm - 27.02.2021Session 2: Luggnum, strange events and stranger people
10:10 pm - 19.02.2021Session 2: Luggnum, strange events and stranger people
07:30 pm - 19.02.2021The list of amazing people following the adventures of Thaddius.
Social