What the Tower Knows - Part 1
Date Posted: June 22, 2024
Amon had lost all sense of the time he’d spent deep in research within the Tower. Had it been weeks? Months even?
While this didn’t matter to him personally, not once his mind was locked in and focused on a project, he knew this affected those around him. He was distantly aware of Tad coming and going, often stopping to bring food and making sure the Technologist ate (and sometimes slept).
However, for all the amount of work he’d put into his searches – you’d think having the Tower database at his fingertips would make it easier – Amon found himself no closer to reaching his answer than he had been the day he stepped foot in his old chambers. There must have been something he was overlooking.
Of course, he didn’t expect knowledge of Ascian involvement to be right out there in the open, or even squirreled away within top secret files. Whoever had been pulling the strings of the operation had been extremely skilled in covering up their manipulations.
But even in scouring everything that he managed to unencrypt, there was hardly a thread to follow. Those he did discover usually ended up fizzling out, leaving him disappointedly paddling about in a pool of wasted time.
Amon wondered, in fact, if these hints and possibilities were meant to be just that. Red herrings to mislead those who might try to pry to dead end after dead end.
But then, thinking back to when Tad first approached him with the knowledge of the Ascian Fandaniel, he remembered something of note. His cousin had brought up Clio, Amon’s childhood sweet heart and once technical partner, and said that she might have had some inside information he could glean.
That was what brought Amon to where he stood that day – in the dark underbelly of the Tower’s security cells. Though now the doors hung ajar in disuse, this was where high-security prisoners were once kept. He had every suspicion that this very cell in particular was the one where Clio sat awaiting her execution.
Amon dug up as much information around Clio as the databases would provide, to unsatisfactory results. This on its own was quite suspicious. It felt as if there were chunks of data missing, or purposely removed, which caused him to focus on it all the more.
For one, there were records that Clio had requested a final statement, as more valuable social prisoners were often able to do. This was usually something sent to family or business associates – whatever the prisoner needed to say before their execution.
While Clio was granted this statement, the fact that there was no recording of what she actually said on file, was… curious. And so, Amon had returned to the site of her last-spent night, hoping something there would lead him to answers.
Despite steeling himself against his emotions – it was not easy for him to face the memories of her betrayal which he’d carried out himself – non-research thoughts were invading his mind, and his body was responding in like. As much as Amon fought to keep himself under control, he sensed that he needed to make this initial investigation as brief as possible.
He could always return to look for more hints if he needed to.
Of course, Clio hadn’t been the last prisoner this cell had served, so it didn’t obviously display anything that would point to her use. Amon knew Clio well enough, however, to remember her clever mind and subtle approach. She acted as his rival in the midst of the Allagan Resistance, and he had been completely unaware of her existence for a very long time.
She was good at what she did. The fact that she had gotten caught should have been a red flag for him. A red flag that he should have investigated at the time, but was too strung out on his own station and pride to follow up on.
Until now.
Behind him, Node was already at work scanning the interior of the cell for anything that Amon’s own eyes might miss. Node had been an invaluable asset to the Technologist through all of his research – though this was no surprise as Node had always been a steadfast companion and trusted assistant.
Between the two of them, it didn’t take long before Node sent out an alert.
[Curious script detected, Master.]