Starborn: Origin of the Stars

The head of historical research didn’t try to haggle with Robin. She could see that he really wasn’t in the best condition right now and the museum was well funded anyways.

Mankind's thirst for power resulted in the allocation of quite some finances to all research facilities run by the government, that were investigating old influential races, unknown technologies and the history of political landscapes. As the major museum and history-research institute in Rucasur's system, Hutton had access to deep, well filled pockets - and she really wanted to see this case closed.

It wasn’t made public for now, but another team found a second facility on Ruca I. The loot they brought back was way more important and interesting than some dead data storages of unknown origin.

Leading her guests to the inner parts of the building, she asked them to wait and relax in the staff room on the second floor for an hour.

Calling for her assistant, she roughly explained the situation and let him prepare the needed documents.

“Set up a standard contract for freelancers but double the normal payment. Also explain the rules and regulations concerning the execution of governmental jobs to him.” Hutton briefed the small Mohait at her side.

“Yes Ma’am, anything else?” he asked, his tail twitching.

“Ah right, please hand him three Mind Refreshs. He should use one now and keep the others for later.”

“Shall I deduce the stims from his payment? They are pretty expensive on the free market.”

“No, it's in our best interest that he can concentrate on his job and get it done quickly.” the institute's head reasoned.

Stims are used a lot today. Some decades ago, a scientific breakthrough allowed liquid medication to become much more efficient than pills and such. Since then, dozens of different stims had circulated the market, mostly cheap ones with questionable reagents and effects, some even being outright hallucinogens. But if you are willing to pay the right price, you can get your hands on the real deal. Lifesaving stims for emergencies, heightened senses and reflexes and even temporary enhancement of mutations.

While Mental Refresh was not cheap, it was no rare sight in a house full of researchers that often work all night.

“As you wish, Ma’am” her assistant bowed and left.

***

After being dropped off in some kind of lounge, Robin was happily relaxing on a plush orange couch. Mr. Ragweed decided to stay a little longer and was reading some journals and reports about the Wuranger, which the museum had lent to him.

Robin had just injected one of the high-quality stims the fluffy assistant delivered earlier.

It wasn’t his first time to meet a Mohait, but they were certainly a rare sight. Not reaching one meter in height, spouting a long fluffy tail and dotted with patches of fur here and there, they would probably look kind of cute. Unfortunately, their slightly longer faces were formed in a way that made one assume, they just bit into a really bitter lemon.

‘A highly disturbing sight, how can the people around them read their mood, when they always make such a grimace?’ Robin wondered, while the drug took effect and slowly soothed his mind.

He didn’t know much about the Mohait. If you could find one, then most of the time they were wearing a researcher's coat and tried to minimize social interactions.

‘Are they even a member of the UAS? I can’t remember reading about that…’

Forty relaxing minutes later, the assistant came back with a datapad in his hand ‘Or are those paws? Hard to say… whatever.’

“Mr. Tulward, I brought your contract and will inform you about the most important rules and regulations.” he said, pushing the datapad over the table towards Robin.

Picking up the tablet, Robin skimmed through the long document and listened with one ear.

The lengthy explanation that followed, continued for five minutes.

“That should be all, Mr. Tulward. Do you have any questions?” the Mohait asked, after his report came to an end.

“So, since the objects are not some national treasures or top-secret technology, everything boils down to ‘Do your job properly and don’t report bullshit about eventual discoveries’?” Robin summarized his duties.

“...” the researcher looked at him for a moment, “Uh, please just confirm on the last page, that you’ve got your legal briefing and sign the contract at the bottom.”

Shrugging, Robin pressed his thumb on the datapad and handed it back.

“When can I start?” he asked.

“Madam Hutton will take you to the laboratory, please wait a moment” the assistant stiffly responded and left the room.

“Did I annoy him? Impossible to say with such skewed facial expressions.” Robin questioned, after the Mohait had left.

“Can’t tell, but you definitely tried very hard!” Ragweed came over chuckling and sat down beside him.

“You don’t like researchers and scientists?”

“No, I don’t have a problem with them.” Robin clarified, “It’s just those overly motivated and too deep in their own worlds to get the stick out of their ass, that get under my skin!” he exclaimed, forgetting for a moment that he was talking to his client.

“Ahm…”, he coughed slightly, “Sorry, no offense, Mr. Ragweed”

“None taken and please just call me Hestor”, the Ommih lightened the mood “At least this trip is now giving you a proper payout. The mandate with me was a little underpaid in relation to the distance you had to travel” Hestor admitted.

“No worries, Hestor. The additional payment is great, but I had an enjoyable time as your contractor today even without it.” smiled Robin, ‘But he is right, the additional money comes in handy. I’ll get 300 credits for his job and 800 credits from the museum. Quite the haul for one day.’

When Ms. Hutton came to pick him up, Hestor prepared to leave.

“Robin, it was a pleasure to meet you. Your analytics gave me some new insights and ideas.” He took out his own datapad and tapped some buttons.

Getting a notification for the completion of his assignment, Robin stood up and shook his hands.

“Thanks, keep my contact in case you need my services again. I also want to invite you to visit me at Jim’s Broken Wing, if you someday find yourself in Quantum Forge District.”

“I’ll keep that in mind!” he said and turned to the woman to give her another bow. “Ms. Hutton, thank you very much for the hospitality and this wonderful opportunity to learn more about the Wuranger. It was really inspiring!”

“I’m always happy to be able to help a fellow researcher satisfying his thirst for knowledge.” she said, escorting him to the door, where her assistant was already waiting for him.

“Feel free to come by again if you get the chance.”

After he was gone, she led Robin through many corridors to a modern laboratory. On one side of the room were different machines that Robin assumed to be for material- and energy analyzing. From the windows on the other side, he could see an artificial garden that was located at the back of the building.

Robin stepped in front of the table in the middle of the room and stretched his hand to pick up one of the many orderly placed and numbered pyramids there.

“May I?” he asked.

“Sure,” she confirmed, “please take a deeper look with the help of your mutation. You can use this datapad to report all your findings. Anything you feel and learn about the objects as a whole and especially if there is anything, that stands out.”

Giving him the datapad, she walked back to the door.

“I’ll leave to not distract you. If you need anything, touch this panel and me or my assistant will come over.” she motioned at a little touchpad near the exit.

“Thanks, I’ll give it a shot” Robin said, already playing with one of the pyramids in his hand.

‘Lots of cameras and non-visual sensors in the room.’ he observed, taking a second look around the laboratory after she was gone.

‘They will probably be used to analyze my behavior to check if I’m hiding some discoveries. No intention of doing that, so... let them watch.’ He shrugged.

Closing his eyes, he began to feel for any energy in the object he was holding.

"I better get started or else I’ll be stuck here the whole night."