The Mech Touch

Unlike Ves and Nitaa, the middleman did not don any disguises. The man's messy brown hair fell from his head like a mop. The stubble on his jaw and neck hadn't been shaved in days.

Ves bet that the man's entire appearance and demeanor had been altered. With a judicious application of surgery and psycho-programming, transforming someone into an entirely different person was not as hard as it sounded!

"Are the two of you my clients for the day?" The man casually asked as he pushed himself off the shuttle he was leaning against.

Ves wordlessly withdrew a data chip from a pocket of his robes and slowly deposited onto the middleman's waiting hand in an unnaturally smooth motion.

The middleman frowned as he inserted the data chip into a slot on his secure comm. "Are you some kind of bot or something?"

"No." Ves answered with a monotone, distorted voice.

Nothing else followed, leading to an awkward silence.

Ves didn't care. The mask he wore dampened all of his outward expressions. He could never be too careful with obscuring his identity in this extremely risky meetup.

"Fine. Have it your way." The middleman shrugged. He encountered stranger people during these jobs. "At least the two of you are better prepared. You can't imagine the amount of idiots I've guided to the Circle who have done a shoddy job at disguising themselves. Nobles especially tend to be bad at it. It must be their huge egos."

"We did not come here to chat." Nitaa stated. "Please verify the contents of the data chip and bring us underway."

"Patience, patience! I can't simply roll up to the entrance of the Circle with the two of you aboard my shuttle! They'll blast us into pieces before we get close!"

Ves and Nitaa waited impatiently as the middleman began to send some codes to different addresses over the galactic net. Then he removed his secure comm, dropped it to the ground and crushed it with his boots.

"Alright, they know we're coming. Take a seat."

The shuttle's interior was extremely basic and barebones. The two sat down and strapped to their uncomfortable seats before the vehicle lifted off under the direct control of the middlemann.

They soon navigated deeper into the seemingly-abandoned tunnel network. Actually, Ves had no idea where they were heading to, because the shuttle did not offer any windows or projections of the outside terrain.

In addition, the inertial dampeners of the shuttle were surprisingly good. Cheaper shuttles tended to make use of shoddily-optimized and incorrectly configured inertial dampeners.

Each time a cheap shuttle accelerated forward, Ves would get pressed into his seat. When the vehicle flew downwards, then Ves experienced the sensation of falling or lifting off from his seat.

That wasn't the case this time. The entire interior of the shuttle was completely geared towards keeping its occupants clueless of their route.

Ves couldn't even talk to the middleman as a solid hatch blocked the way to the cockpit.

The cramped and fully-sealed passenger compartment of the shuttle was no different from an isolation cell.

The only reason why Ves did not panic was because he possessed the means to break out of the shuttle. Along with the weapons that he procured from local sources, he could also rely on the Amastendira to break out of a sticky situation.

Of course, it would be better if he didn't whip out that distinctive and extremely flashy weapon. Ves could practically kiss his anonymity goodbye if he showed off his trump card weapon.

A speaker in the compartment started to transmit the middleman's voice.

[We're approaching the first checkpoint. Don't be alarmed when the exit hatch opens and a pair of inspectors come inside. They'll be probing the shuttle and inspecting your credentials.]

The hatch opened up soon after that. Two figures garbed in striped blue-and-white patterned robes entered the compartment.

Though Ves and Nitaa both tried to remain calm and seated, inwardly they were both on high alert.

The pair of inspectors did not bother with them at first. One of them entered the cockpit to speak with the middleman while the other inspector began to sweep the passenger compartment with a handheld multiscanner.

Even when the inspector pointed the device at the passengers, Ves did not make a move. The multiscanner's model was far too weak to penetrate the layers of protection of his shadow attire.

After the inspector put away his multiscanner and inspected the credentials that Ves handed over, he reunited with his colleague and departed the shuttle without speaking a single word.

Ves believed the shuttle started moving again, but the vehicle's incredibly effective inertial dampeners prevented him from knowing for sure! For all he knew, the shuttle had already entered a starship that was on its way to a completely different star system!

[We'll be doing this routine a couple more times. The Circle wants to be sure that we aren't bringing any trouble at its doorstep.]

The dance repeated several more times. Though the entire ride quickly became tedious and repetitive to him, he bore with it without any complaint.

He diverted all of his attention to absorbing the immense amount of knowledge continuing to integrate with his mind.

After an indeterminate amount of hours, the middleman finally spoke up for the last time.

[We're here. Don't be surprised when you step out and don't gape at the surroundings like a stupid fish. Move to the other end of the path and don't bump into anyone else. If you violate any rules set by the Circle, they'll shoot you before you can say a word.]

As soon as the hatch opened up and the two disguised figures stepped out, Ves understood why the middleman warned them not to gape.

They had emerged in the middle of a parking zone situated in an enormous excavated underground cavern!

Not only that, but rivers of magma flowed along the sides of the platform, following the carved-out paths that threaded through the entire temporary marketplace!

The enormous heat began to heat up their robes. If they didn't want to get cooked, they had to reach the other side of the path as soon as possible!

Ves and Nitaa quickly stepped across the narrow path leading to a massive entrance situated at the end of the cavern. They adopted the same pace as the other robes and disguised figures who were entering or exiting the premises.

No railings or any barriers lined the path. If he wanted to, Ves could easy turn to a passing bystander and shove that fellow a few meters to the side until the unlucky fellow fell into the river of magma!

Of course, the imposing guards would quickly shoot him afterwards, so he didn't entertain the idea any further.

Overall, he found the arrangement of this site to be clever. The natural flow of magma formed a natural and very effective shield against surface scans. Combined with other methods, it should be virtually impossible for the planetary authorities to find this site in a short amount of time!

Once they reached the massive, highly-guarded entrance, they offered their credentials one more time.

Under the watchful eyes of the pair of mechs standing on each side of the entrance, Ves waited patiently as the guards finally approved his entry.

"Please head inside."

As soon as they entered, they escaped the heat. A small underground city built from prefab modules entered his sights. Each structure hosted various shops, workplaces, storage sites and even living spaces to the people visiting or working at this bustling marketplace!

"Welcome to the Circle of Mota." A pretty guide greeted the pair of newcomers. "Do you require some guidance?"

"No." Ves curtly answered and walked away.

The less people who paid attention to him, the better. Even though the marketplace seemed overwhelming, he decided it was better for him to explore the place on his own.

Nitaa followed at his side. Different from his worries, her immense shadow attire did not attract a lot of attention. A fair number of visitors wore similarly imposing disguises.

While Ves immediately encountered a large variety of disguises or the lack thereof, the majority dressed like himself. With so many people wearing the exact same hardsuit and the exact same robes, it became very challenging to keep track of specific individuals without electronic assistance.

Shortly after they headed inside, Nitaa momentarily halted. Through his spiritual senses, he sensed some alarm from his bodyguard before shifting into vigilance.

A solitary robed figure who was walking on the other side of the street halted as well. Both of them turned to each other and peered at each other's disguises.

"What is the matter?" He whispered.

A surprisingly large amount of visitors frequented the underground marketplace. Despite the traffic, not a lot of people spoke to each other or generated a lot of noise.

Nitaa replied with a code that they formulated and memorized beforehand.

"Code 23."

Ves grimaced underneath his helmet. Code 23 was a serious case. Nitaa eventually signalled to him that she detected someone of her own kind!

What was worse, the other person sensed Nitaa as well! Both of them appeared to share the same extraordinary smelling abilities and managed to spot each other!

This meant that the other person was definitely tied to the Five Scrolls Compact!

Of course, since everyone donned disguises, Ves didn't immediately panic. He waited patiently as Nitaa and the other figure exchanged brief hand signals to each other. The exchange only lasted for a few seconds before the other figure and Nitaa moved away.

Ves struggled to keep up. "What was going on?"

"Situation resolved."

"Anything else?"

"We detected each other's presence. The stranger detected you as well, though that is mainly due to your diet."

"Any problems?"

"Don't think so. Our ways are secretive and incomprehensible."

The Five Scrolls Compact and its splinter organizations tended to do a lot of crazy stuff. The researchers among them were also highly possessive about their personal research. Sharing was not in their nature.

"We still have a problem." Ves spoke.

"It depends."

"Inform me if another Code 23 occurs."

In hindsight, it might have been better if he came alone. He may have taken a lot of measures to obscure his identity, but it didn't do anything to block the damned extraordinary sense of smell developed by the Compact!

He became more urgent than ever to find a solution to the distinctive 'smell' he carried as a Holy Son!

One of his hopes for visiting this illicit marketplace was that he wanted to try his luck and see if he could find the source of geril space. He hardly knew anything about it even after adding it to his regular diet for several months.

What kind of plant did it grow from?

Why couldn't it be grown outside of the Nyxian Gap?

What was the reason for its overpowering stench that was effective enough to overwhelm the Compact's extraordinary noses?

Visiting this marketplace was the closest he would get to the Nyxian Gap. After he learned how dangerous it was to enter this perilous territory, he became more determined than ever to find a better solution to his predicament!

If some random Compact associate already smelled him out, then how much worse would it be by the time their bloodhounds deployed en masse?

"Is this a Code 1?"

"Uncertain." She replied. "Not enough information."

Code 1 applied when the Circle of Mota possessed active connections to the Compact. If that was the case, their visit here was like playing with fire!

Since Nitaa was still on the fence, Ves did not divert from his plans.

Both of them headed deeper into the marketplace. After orienting themselves a bit, they headed towards the section where all of the exotics and raw materials were being sold.

Ves immediately came into sight to an immense variety of exotics. Not even the Peacekeepers sold that much at their branch at Cinach XII!

Despite his emotion-dampening mask, a burst of eagerness encompassed his body as he slightly hurried towards the closest shop!