“And that’s all we have to report.” Maxim and the others were standing in front of Kerilyn in the same room they were in earlier, backs straightened and at attention. Kerilyn sighed and nodded. “Thank you for going to all the locations mentioned, and quickly too. I honestly didn’t expect anything else to be reported, so don’t feel too bad for not unearthing anything. I’d have been surprised if information was so readily available. At least you found one person who confirmed the details of Ziven’s past, but we’ll have to look into this ‘Lirk’ person to confirm if what he claims about his past are true.”
“So you don’t know who Lirk is?” Maxim asked, having a puzzled look on his face.
Kerilyn nodded. “Well…yes and no. We know that he’s the owner of the diner, and that Ziven had come to his diner multiple times in the past before he was under suspicion, but as to his past, we haven’t looked too much into it so far.”
Amanda shook her head. “So I was right…the intelligence agency isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Can’t even confirm the identity of a business owner that has some connections to the suspect.”
Kerilyn sighed and shook her head. “I’m the only agent here at the moment, and the crew that’s assisting me is only a skeleton crew. Our resources are…thin to say the least.”
Kolten tilted his head. “Why isn’t the Intelligence Agency allocating more people and resources to stop a man who could launch an attack on innocent people?”
“I unfortunately cannot say why that’s the case, but we’ve been assured by our top brass that you and your classmates being here assisting us would help make up for the lack of manpower.”
As soon as she finished talking, the door behind them opened, revealing the other half of the class. “Ah, welcome back.” Kerilyn said, shifting her attention to them. “I’ve been told you discovered something of use?”
Aidan nodded. “We have. We went to the used tech shop as you requested, and the computer was indeed there, but the owner wasn’t as cooperative as you had hoped. Thankfully, Brandon found some strange…device that most of us had no idea existed, and made a deal to pay for the device at three times the listed price in exchange for the computer as well.”
Brandon shrugged. “It’s just some antique tech that I wanted to have since I was a kid. The money spent is more than worth it in my opinion.”
Kerilyn nodded. “Well, I’ll see if I can’t arrange at least some sort of compensation for you then. Could you please hand over the device?”
Aidan nodded and grabbed a small laptop from Brandon and handed it to Kerilyn. “Here you go. We made sure to keep it secure so nothing could be damaged.”
Kerilyn smiled and grabbed the laptop. “Thank you.” Looking to her right, she motioned over a brown-haired woman whose hair was styled in a long pony-tail that almost reached the entirety of her back. She had large spectacles, green eyes, and pale skin. “Merri, please be a doll and give this a thorough look over. Please report to me ANY pertinent information you can find. If you don’t know if you should report the information, report it anyways just to be safe.”
Merri grabbed the laptop and nodded, quickly walking out of the room. Kerilyn turned back to the others. “Looks like I forgot to introduce her before she left the room. She’s Merri Eronson, a new recruit of mine, but her skill and love for technology knows no bounds. I have a feeling she’ll be climbing the ranks quicker than she thinks.”
Aidan lightly cleared his throat. “That’s not all. Once we had successfully obtained the computer, we were able to interview the owner of the shop, since he was now much more cooperative. Apparently, Ziven was at the shop just yesterday, wanting the laptop back. Apparently, he had donated it by mistake. However, the shop refused to give it back to him, stating all donations are final. He did offer for Ziven to buy it back, but instead he stormed off, almost breaking the front door off its hinge in the process.”
“Does he know where Ziven went?”
“Unfortunately, no. He hasn’t shown up anywhere close to his shop either after that incident. He said he’d give us a call if he saw him.”
“Oh? You gave him your number?”
Aidan nodded. “I gave him mine, but told him only to call if he spotted Ziven or had any other information about him. I’ll let you know if he calls and what he says.”
“Excellent! You have my thanks for going above and beyond!”
“So what was this laptop that you wanted the other group to find?” Maxim asked, looking at Kerilyn with an intense stare.
“We had received an anonymous tip that a computer that Ziven had used in the past could be at a used tech shop, so we sent the group there to negotiate with the owner for the device. The shop though was quite a distance away, so that was their only assignment so far. The owner isn’t known to be very…forthcoming with the authorities. He has a long track record of conspiracy theories that the intelligence agency is spying on all citizens and using the information gathered to work on a mind-control device. That’s only one crazed theory he’s been supporting, and he’s used it to gain quite a cult following online.”
Brandon nodded. “There probably isn’t a person who’s interested in tech who hasn’t at least heard of him, though you either love him or you hate him. There is no inbetween.”
“Interesting…”
Kerilyn pressed a few buttons on her watch. “Well that’s that for now. It is close to dinner, so I’ll let you all get something to eat then return to me. There’s one last task that needs to be done, but it’s too big for one group to do alone, and it needs to be done during the night, so be sure to eat enough to keep you going, but not too much to where you want to enter a food coma.” She chuckled as she motioned to the door. “The only requirement for dinner though is that you remain separated in your current groups. You were supposed to be on separate planets after all until you came here, so I’ve been instructed to keep your groups as separated as possible. Understood?”
Everyone nodded. “Well, enjoy your dinner then. I’ll expect you all back here within two hours.”
The two groups left the room and went their separate ways. Once the other group was out of earshot, Amanda let out an exasperated sigh. “Is it just me, or was the other group given preferential treatment?”
Maxim glanced over at her as Kolten spoke up. “You weren’t the only one who thought that. Not only were they given only one spot to check, but they were given a clear objective of what to collect, which means they were able to go above and beyond what they were assigned to do. Our tasks had us walking all over the city asking people random questions and hoping for the best. I know Kerilyn said she didn’t expect anything of note, but it feels like not getting anything is going to hurt our grade after we return to the academy.”
Eric nodded in agreement. “Probably Kerilyn was given instructions as to how we would be treated during our trip here. Considering our group placements, the winners of the mock fight being given the easier route as a reward while the losers facing the harder path is probably what she was going for. Most likely she did it under the guise of seeing how much we’ve improved, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, I hate the fact that they’ve helped the agency make very evident progress in their investigation while all we’ve done is confirm details. It sucks.”
As the three of them were talking amongst themselves, Melek glanced at Maxim, who was deep in thought. “Have something on your mind?”
Maxim nodded. “I do. In fact, I have an idea that would show we’re also going above and beyond. Why don’t we pay that diner we were at previously a visit, this time as customers?”
Amanda shrugged her shoulders. “Doesn’t matter to me where we go for dinner, but why would eating there show we’re going above and beyond?”
“Lirk was our only promising lead. Yes it was only confirming information, but I have a feeling he knows more than he’s letting on. Going there to eat, and trying to get some more information from any staff that are there at the same time, kills two birds with one stone so to speak.”
“Wasn’t the only staff we saw was that robot of his?” Eric asked, his arms crossed.
Maxim nodded. “Yes, but I have a feeling that during the dinner rush, he has to have more than just one robot working, and someone might know something. It’s the only chance I think that we have of getting more information and showing that we’re serious about this. Plus, putting this on our report will show our instructor that we are showing initiative, which will hopefully help our grade, even if just a bit.”
Melek nodded his head. “I’m down for that. I’m sure Kerilyn would be surprised if we came back with more information.”
Kolten nodded as well. “Sounds good to me.”
Eric and Amanda looked at each other before both relenting, nodding their heads in unison.
Maxim grinned. “Alright then! Let’s get a move on! We don’t have any time to spare!”
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6CiLqjaSbm
