It Takes .58 Seconds For A Travelling Bullet To Fall 65 Inches To The Ground
22 Aug 2021User319792
"I can see him again. I think he might be using some form of cloaking. He's showing up on my system registrar but he's invisible to my sensors, and followed me from Phekda to Chelmen, taking a route through Amber, before following me to LP 131-66 and then disappearing from my system registrar and he's been sending me invitations to wing with him repeatedly." I was having trouble keeping track of my trading routes and price-points with me having to constantly scan my radar for any sight of Atlas Corp. Having to double-check my internal panel to see if I'd left my location-beacon on every time I got into my ship was beginning to fray my nerves and I think the man in the black suit could tell.
"Maybe its a coincidence, Cadence. You're trading and you're making really good money on the routes you've been working with. You're not the only pilot in the galaxy that's interested in making money."
I hadn't heard from Coral since she took off into internal space and she wasn't answering the comms. The man in the black suit continued studying me intently. I looked fine, I always do, but I was beginning to wonder if this was a test that he cobbled together with another one of the suits, in preparation with a partnership with Atlas Corp.
"If it were a coincidence why would he be pursuing me through the galaxy all the way to Lembava from Mbutsi, then through every trading route I've used while sending me invitations to wing with him after I made clear to him that I wasn't interested in partnering up with him and Atlas Corp?"
The man in the black suit squinted at me and looked away before asking about Coral.
"I haven't heard from her since we last spoke."
He nodded, shrugging his shoulders,
"Maybe she's still taking a look at Keystone."
"What's your call?"
The man in the black suit looked away briefly, furrowing his eyebrows, his eyes losing focus, before looking back at me,
"About Romeo?"
I mirrored his expression.
"Who's Romeo?"
He looked away and his chest bobbed up and down once.
"Its a... It's an old myth from Sol, Cadence. I figured you'd know about i-"
"I know the story. The way you said it made it seem like you know the guy. Are you sure this isn't just some test one of the suits is putting us through before calling us in on a deal with Atlas Corp.?"
He straightened up, turning his head slightly to the right, squinting at me and jutting his chin. We sat like that for a good amount to time.
"No. No I don't, Cadence."
Coral's face popped up onto our holofacs and without looking up she began speaking,
"It looks like there's something going on and I won't be able to get over to Terra Mater, much less off of Trapezium for a while, Dad."
Me and the man in the black suit looked at Coral, both in silence, for a few moments before she looked up. She looked back and forth between the two of us before asking about what was going on.
"Cadence thinks her secret admirer might have been hired by one of the other suits without giving us the need-to-know. He's been following her around her trading routes and sending her invitations to meet."
"He's been showing up on my system registrars repeatedly without making a blip on my sensors and radar."
Cadence looked back at me, squinting and licking the back of her teeth. Her mouth slowly opened and her lips formed a tight circle before her lower lip curved over her teeth and she began licking it, slowly, back and forth, returning to the backs of her teeth over and over.
"What if he's working with The Minutemen in Mbutsi?"
"Why would Atlas Corp. be working with The Minutemen?"
"Who's Atlas Corp.?"
"The guy's company, Coral."
"Why would Atlas Corp. be working with The Minutemen and why don't you just torpedo him?"
The man in the black suit looked at Coral, glaring for a moment before lowering his chin to his neck and shaking his head.
"Don't do that, Cadence."
Coral looked at the man in the black suit, opening her invisible box with a look of disgust on her face.
"Why not!?"
I looked directly into Coral's contempt and looked back at the man in the black suit.
"She does have a good point. I should just torpedo him."
"That's not a point, Cadence, that's just a call to commit violence. We don't know who he is beyond his association with Atlas Corp., his interest in bringing you over to Mbutsi, and his potentially following you through your trading routes without you leaving any tracks for him to follow- which, again, may be completely coincidental."
"Screw that!"
Coral's anger surprised me and I looked at her in shock.
"If your location beacon is off, you aren't providing any information about your whereabouts to anyone, and he's showing up in your system registrar without showing up on your sensors and trying to coax you into linking up with him, its a safe bet the guy is trying to find some way to dominate you, Cadence. That's gender relations 101. Put a torpedo into his cockpit and deal with the suits later."
The man in the black suit looked at Coral and his mouth slowly opened wide. He quickly turned his head toward me,
"Or you can not, Cadence. I'll check with the rest of the organization to see if they might be working with Atlas Corp. to try to broker an agreement, ok? Coral stop filling Cadence's head with your nonsense, she's spooked enough as it is."
Coral looked at the man in the black suit with a sneer.
"Hit him with a Torpedo, Cadence."
I looked back and forth between the two of them and I realized I'd completely forgotten about how unnerved I was by the reappearance of this invisible presence.