The notification popped up on my data slate. New Audit for Kar Ulonix Auditor Seraphina Lyra, I close the pop up windows that keep advertising Purity Tests and Festivals. When I finally reach the actual message.
Auditor 24.8719 Seraphina Lyra
You are assigned to perform an audit of the finances for the Ship Class Repair and Parts Shop, located on Level C2 in the technocrat levels of Caer Aeternum. We have received reports that the owner, a Molari, has been using non-Varkh parts and is reporting income where there should not be.
You are to compare his financial records against the returns that he has declared for the business. You are to find evidence that will confirm these charges.
If you have any difficulties performing this audit, please refer to your local Ulonix-Kar representative.
Varkh Etern!
Ulonix-Kar
I roll my eyes–they seem confident that the owner is cheating–wonder if I actually will find anything. I begin my walk to the nearest transit station that will take me to the Arkelos-Tharn districts of Caer Aeternum. I look around waiting to see when the next transit car will come, as people walking past go out of their way to say “Varkh Etern”. I mumble out the half-hearted response, and begin my search into the repair shop itself.
Ship Class Repair and Parts Shop, the pictures and reviews of the shop seemed fair, though the review section of the Caer Aeternum maps also gives weight to those with a higher metric. I see plenty of reviews giving five stars but their metrics are under 50. Prices seem fair, but then I see a picture of the owner.
Typical of Molari , his augmentations were glaringly visible, the Varkh had strong feelings about augmented colonials. He had a visible cybernetic arm and leg, as well as augments over the back of his skull that peeked out, all combined with a glowing green light where his right eye should be.
The car came and I stepped aboard and pressed my LM band to the screen. When the automated response let out “Ninety-two. State your destination.”
“Arkelos-Tharn Districts, Level C2” and I walked back to take a seat as the people behind me followed my lead. As the vox-caster loudly proclaims everyone's Metric score for all the riders to hear.
We all watch as a man frantically tried to run onto the bus and swipe his LM band when the vox-caster loudly proclaimed “Fourty-one. Access Denied.” and the entryway onto the bus closed and we remained stationary until he left. Dejected and trying to figure out how he could get where he needed to go–I hate the LM system. It's the same thing that kept my mother docile and my father angry.
The car eventually moves on and heads towards the Arkelos districts. I go back to my research. The man appears to have owned the shop for his entire life, before he became a Molari. I also decided to look into the surrounding properties. All of which appear to have been recently purchased and leveled to make way for something.
BING– the automated system announces “Arrival in Arkelos-Tharn Districts Level C2” I stand up and head off the car. The buzz of the artificial sun brings me back to my childhood as I walk towards the Ship Class Repair and Parts Shop–A long name that seemed to fit among the Varkh while also giving the explanation of what the shop did that was so common among the Ascendancy.
I approach the shop and see that almost every area has been fixed up to appeal to a higher caste of colonials and there stand his shop six large neon letters overhead SCRAPS. I just gaze at the name of the shop which had eluded me when read out loud. Audibly I laughed to myself before walking into the shop to begin my audit.
The smell of grease and electricity was immediate and nearly knocked me backward as I made my way through the snaking path between the hundreds of piles that were kept around the shop. When the man from the pictures finally caught sight of me, he noticed my obvious Ulonix-Kar uniform and straightened up his posture. “Welcome to Ship Class Repair and Parts Shop, how may I help the wonderful citizens of the Ascendancy? Do you have a transport ship you need me to repair?”
“Oh no, I don't own a transport vehicle.” I attempted to continue but he spoke again.
“Hmmm, do you need some parts to repair an appliance? I’ve gotten pretty good at repairing nutrient paste dispensers.” He adds in, a smile forming on his face, as he’s clearly spent years building up his facade of a salesman.
“No, nothing like that.” I reply, just looking around his shop trying to figure out how he operates.
“Oh, well, how can I help one of the workers for our great noble houses?” He says with a hint of fear now starting to peer into his voice
“I’m not a noble, I am Auditor 24.8719. You should have gotten a notification that an audit had been planned? I’m here to go through your records.” Trying to sound as official as possible.
“Ohhh, you're the latest poacher. Yeah, I’m not selling, so now they want some other way to get me out.”
“I am merely an auditor for the Varkh, I am not making the decisions.” I say back using the many defense methods that we are trained in to defend my position.
“Well, follow me to the back office, I will show you my books. You can get to work, I’m sure you wouldn't want the grease to stain your uniform.” I walk back with him and hear his metallic leg clang against the grated floor of his shop. He walks me into his office, which has clearly been the least used room in the entire shop.
I sit down at the little-to-never used chair and he goes into a large closet and pulls out an enormous logbook. “Thank you, sir. I can assure you that I will be completely impartial, my goal is merely to resolve this audit in the simplest way for all parties.”
“Just call me Vorak. State doesn't want you to call me ‘Sir’. Hell, they barely want us talking. Am I just supposed to call you Auditor 24.8790?” He laughs, and I just smile.
“It’s 24.8719, but you, uh, can call me Lyra.” I say back and stare down to begin my work. We both hear a bell go off at the front of the shop.
He walks back to the front and begins to have a conversation with a customer. What I overhear is an interesting conversation. “Trina! Great to see you! I think I managed to fix your vox-caster! Just had a failed resistor!”
I hear a quiet elderly woman speak in response, I peek out the door and see it is an octogenarian gravari-umbric covered in a thick layer of fur, dirt, and grime. I immediately get yanked back to my childhood, and that loose thread that I promised myself I would pull again.
I head back to the desk and continue to analyze the book. Everything seems to match with what he has reported. But then he comes back with a tray of some kind of freshly cooked food. “You want some casserole?”
“You have real food? How? I thought only nobles could get real food?” He could clearly hear the shock in my voice.
“Now you’re not gonna report me are you? Trina, was a chef for the upper levels. She still gets ingredients and can do wonders with a little.” He sets the casserole down and lifts the cover off. The scent is so vivid that I completely lose my focus and just stare down at it. He comes back with a plate and slops some down with a fork for me.
I grab both and start eating some with him. “How much do” The taste is transcendent, compared to the nutrient paste that we normally get that I immediately forget the initial thought.
“You can have as much as you want.” he laughs, “Trina is great! Glad you know now.”
“No, I meant to say, ‘how much do you typically charge for your services?’ but the food is delicious.” I see his face change.
“I charge what people can afford. Not everyone has enough for what the Varkh wants me to charge. I wouldn't want Trina to not be able to eat just so she could hear through her vox-caster.” He is rubbing his head with his human arm.
“So, how did you fix her vox-caster without using Varkh approved parts?” Still shoveling food into my mouth, as he sets his plate down and shuts the door.
“I have always enjoyed technology. Just because Arkelos says I shouldn't fix parts myself doesn't mean I have to listen to them. So if someone brings in a broken machine for scrap, then I can use those to fix up somebody else's. The Varkh has been very unkind to umbric’s, I didn't really notice until I got forced into a molari."
“How’d you get your augments?” I ask, trying to remember the kindness I buried down long ago.
“Well, I lost my leg when I was working on a ship and the crappy lift gave out. Crushed it!” He smiles, “Raised my GAI up to 10. Got me some stares and a lower LM, but who really cares about that anyway.”
“Yeah. It's certainly something. Ruins a lot of people.” I say, as I finish the casserole and set the plate down.
“Ooooh, careful Lyra. That kind of thought might affect your..” he looks at my wrist and sees the number “Wow! Ninety-two!”
I cover the wrist tracker, now feeling embarrassed at it. “I’ve seen it throw lives into chaos. It teaches people to only care for themselves. I learned to hide who I really am.”
“I don't mean to poke fun. Just that, being a molari ripped down those walls. I no longer have to care about a society that doesn't care for me. Neither do you.” I feel the allure of my youth, I could be who I want.
“You’re right though… this will affect my score…” now getting sullen.
“Don't worry. They can’t hear us… This building is very special. Doesn't really allow for transmitting unless it's using my receiver. I’m not gonna let them know how it works.” He holds up a remote and gives a wry smile.
“Well in that case, I don't think my audit is legitimate. And I think it’s great that you are kind to umbrics.” I blurt out, feeling free for the first time since childhood. I cover my mouth, shocked that it all came out. He just laughs, I can't help but join in.
“So, how am I gonna be able to keep my shop?” he asks.
“Well I’m going to put in for a hold request” I pull out my data slate and realize that it isnt connected to the Varkh network. “Or… I could when I get back to the office.” Then I remember the orders I received. “No… You’re going to need to be the one to do this.”
“Lyra? I’m not following.” He’s trying to piece together what I’m talking about.
“You are going to need to be the one that puts in these orders. Otherwise, they’ll just replace me…” I’m getting very serious now. “I’ll walk you through it”
I have him pull up his Varkh network console and we navigate to the civilian section. “Alright, now you need to navigate to the Ulonix-kar homepage, then scroll to the bottom. There's a link there for ‘individual petitions’. So if you click that it will bring you to a page where you can submit for a hold action.”
“Oh, is that all?” He laughs going through the actions. A full three metrics pass as he tries to get to the page. “It’s loading…”
“Alright, so once that loads we will be submitting a Form 11-161.121P Holding Action for Property.” We just wait for another Metric as a customer walks in.
“I need to take care of that. Can you watch this? It could happen any second!” Chuckling as he walks away.
I sit for almost a full segment as the page loads one line at a time. Once it does, I pull up all the necessary details for the form to clog up the system long enough for a more long term plan. Vorak walks back in and sees me typing focused almost entirely on this form. “Alright, I need you to mark this one and we can submit it. This should buy you a couple Deca-cycles.” I stood up and let him sit in the chair. He presses the return button and submits the form, and we watch as the page seems to freeze.
“Wow! Talk about efficiency! Do I submit it again?” He says, sounding incredibly sarcastic.
“We just have to wait. It's designed for people to give up.” He grabs his plate to continue eating his casserole, now cold from the recycled air..
Eventually another segment passes and the page finally displays the result. ‘Request Denied on Caste Status.’
“Vekk!” I shout. “Alright, maybe we can put in a 13-682.472R for a Remittance delay.” I pulled out my credit tracker–it would cost about 20 Karn Marks. “The payment site is usually always quick. Go to the Kaedrys-kar home page, and they click the big link on the homepage that says ‘submit a payment’” The page loads almost instantaneously and we can do nothing but laugh.
“Alright, I’m there. You said it was a, what?”
“13-682.472R.” I chuckle out
“Okay, I don't have 20 Marks on my tracker.” He looks at me confused. I just tap my tracker to the reader and watch them transfer over. “Why? Who am I to you?”
“A decent being. Now just submit the form.” He presses return and the screen changes to say ‘Thank you for your payment. Your delay request is being analysed.’ “This should buy you a Deca-Cycle.”
“Yeah, but now they know you're helping me at best. At worst they’ll think I stole your tracker. I’m gonna lose this place eventually. I cant keep giving them 20 Marks a deca-cycle just to keep the place going.” He’s now no longer the jovial man I’ve gotten to know.
“We’ll figure something out.” Defiant for him to have the same attitude when I came in earlier.
“Lyra, look at your wrist.” I see my LM drop to 85. “Any more and you’ll be the same as me.”
“And what’s so wrong with that?!” I grab my data slate and head towards the door “I’ll figure something out. And I’ll be back. Now I gotta go grab a transit car.”
“Wait. You’re serious about this?” He stands up with pneumatic precision and speed. “Follow me.” He begins to walk to the garage portion of his shop. “I don't know if you’ve heard of the Severed Fold?”
“They’re a rebel organization.” I vomit out the words so reflexively that I cover my mouth. “I’m sorry. Programming really sticks.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Well they’re also experts at living outside the Varkh.” He pulls a sheet off of a freighter painted with vibrant colors that are so unusual in Caer Aeternum. “This is my backup plan. You can let Ulonix rip down my shop. Tell them I stole your tracker. I’ll join the rebels and you can have your life back.”
“I’m not letting you go.” I say looking at the ship and seeing the colors bring me back to my childhood again.
“Oh? You want me to keep paying the Varkh more than I earn just to keep open another 10 cycles?”
“No…just…if this is your plan, the ship seems big enough for two.” I smile at him.
