"Then you should do your best to get some results," the man replied calmly, but there were notes of steel in his voice. "The main thing is not to be negative."
Very soon, a lone "Lynx" arrived at the spaceport of the De Lusignan's citadel. Juliette plucked up courage for several minutes before leaving the cockpit of her ship. A ladder was brought to her ship by the personnel on duty at the landing site, and she slowly descended it. She was still wearing the same Royal Navy flight suit, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Now she was much more confident than during the last visit. Stepping off the ladder, she looked around for the meeting convoy.
- Like I never left this place... - she commented on her surroundings.
The convoy arrived within minutes after her arrival - one officer in a grim blotchy Security Bureau uniform, accompanied by two military-style robots, held rifles in their arms, unfit for use by anyone but them. If anyone had tried, they would have been simply uncomfortable even holding the rifle, and the recoil would have easily dislocated the arm of even a trained soldier.
"Agent Nymphe", the officer greeted her. "Marechal is waiting."
* * *
The room she was taken to was no different from the room where she had spoken to Antonin the previous time. She was left alone, but soon the door opened and a man in a white uniform entered. He nodded to her in greeting and told her to follow him.
Nymph smiled enigmatically at the man and followed him to the elevator. She seems to understand what he wants, you don't even need to read his mind to understand. The escort was courteous to her, and Lusignan looked as if he had spent more than one night in deep thought. The elevator moved down to the sublevels of the Citadel... There, from where prisoners rarely return and where access is denied to ordinary military personnel. She closed her eyes, waiting for the elevator to finally stop.
As their way went down, Lusignan described a new Agent of the Gallic National Intelligence, Nymphe, previously known as Juliette de Lorraine, what personal matter he meant. "Experiments the Royal, Confederal and now Union Intelligence was conducting has always been on edge with human morality, however what was discovered on abandoned GRI object needs a specialist's look - someone directly involved in alien research."
"You will see what I mean," Said Lusignan before she even had a chance to ask. Rest of the way they spent in silence, until the lift's door opened when they reached one of the most low levels of the Citadel, introducing a simple hall with checkpoint and several well-armed military droids, accompanied by agents of the Security Bureau; once it was passed, they entered one of the side corridors - it was cold here, almost like in refrigerator.
They finally stopped near one of the locked doors, the table on it had two words and numbers - "Morgue Chamber 17". At the door there was a palm print scanner, Lusignan pressed on it and waited for access conformation. When the door moved away, he was the first who entered the room with a several surgical table and a bunch of chambers, built in the wall - no one else in the room, only Lusignan and Nymph.
Antonin opened one of the box and took the inner table out, with a body covered by white cloth on it. "It seems your kin is not fresh to our domain," said him, removing the cloth and showing wounded remains of the GRI agent. "Take a closer look."
At first she was a little surprised, but once she stepped in to the morgue, she unceremoniously approached the corpse and began to inspect the autopsy areas.
- Well, well, I assume his injuries are your doing? Don't take it as impudence, Lusignan, but where did you get it? It's definitely not "Our". I see him for the first time.
The Nymph put on medical gloves, a medical gown, and armed with a surgical laser, began to expand the autopsy zone, exposing the incubus attached to the spine of the unfortunate carrier in all its former glory.
- He won't come back to life. Unfortunately for me and fortunately for you. I can try to extract the residual memories, however, if the brain is already heavily decomposed, I am powerless. I suppose you expect me to answer "what is it"? This is the Infiltrator. "Incubus".
"Yes. They were found on GRI station that according to recordings was abandoned years ago. They already were dead." Lusignan didn't lie her but neither told full truth, a moment later he covered the body with cloth and put it back. "I will believe that they are not from yours; the body was kept it cold, the decay should be crucial. Try to extract its memories."
- You'd better turn off the cameras. I'll be quicker that way.
A purple glow enveloped her eyes, and the lights in the room flickered. The glow engulfed the palm. She spoke to Lusignan in a distorted voice.
"The host's name is Arnaud Leclerc. He was a captain in the Royal Intelligence. Responsible for the security of His Highness Charles during a certain period of his life. In the same period, he was exposed to an infiltrator. Received orders to watch the king... He practically ran wild. Merging with the incubus was forcible. He strongly resisted, from which he almost lost himself. His memories are cut off... Everything is too fragmented by decay. However... There is one more. He was transferred to the facility you mentioned after the death of the king. He was waiting for orders. Yet, he didn't have time to get them... Someone killed him. Who and how, I can not determine."
The light ceased, and the Nymph turned back to Lusignan.
