Quote Originally Posted by Ramil
7

During rare/the few minutes when another dose of viral phage had lowered the toxin level in his blood and his senses were returning to him Kay was thinking in the sterile cleanness of his empty ward. His delirium ended; his consciousness was clear albeit sluggish. At this point he could only recover or die if the viral phage that was administered in huge doses would have mutated and confused his flesh for virus. Soft manipulator paws washed him, changed his bedclothes, injected drugs and turbid liquid nutrients.
When a woman wearing a green medical suit entered the ward with a raised visor he understood that he had survived.
“My name is Isabelle.” she said as she was sitting on the bed.
“A beautiful name.” noted Kay moving his disobedient tongue with difficulty. “You’re a blond angel.”
“What is the name of your wife?”
“Karin.”
“A pretty nice/A pretty name too.” the woman nodded. “I am your doctor. Are there any gaps in your memory?”
There was ice in the blue eyes of this woman. There were/They showed a long life and a long service for the Emperor. In some way, she was a doctor indeed, a surgeon that cuts off unnecessary cells of the social organism.
“No… I think not… I can/Can I lose my memory, miss?”
“We’ll see.”
And they had seen. Kay told her about his childhood, about Uncle Raul that had left him a small inheritance, about the Endorian climate, about him evading taxes time after time, about his meeting with Karin and about Arthur’s birth.
“He’s a good boy… he didn’t desert his father… Is he all right, miss?”
“The Emperor doesn’t leave his subjects in distress.” informed Isabelle with dignity. “How did your ship perish?”
“We started from Endoria in/on the evening of the thirteenth, on the sixth decade of eastern winds…”
“… interphasers don’t usually play pranks, but …”
“… Arthur was torn to pieces, Lord! One wouldn’t want to see things like that again.”
Isabelle’s face remained straight. She had seen things much worse than a boy torn to pieces.
“…the aThan did work, after all. I didn’t believe it would till the end, to be honest…”
“…we found this shed and there was a dead old man and some tractors in it…”
Isabelle put her palm on Kay’s throat and said without any emotion:
“It is not good to lie to the servants of the Emperor… We want the truth, the whole truth… Kay. Your life is still too fragile… and you’re lying.”
“Miss…” Kay was wheezing, “He fired at us, what could I do? God, they are all nuts here…”
Isabelle wiped her hands on the bed sheet and smiled:
“It’s better now. The Emperor doesn’t get concerned about the deaths of insurgents and bandits, but he likes sincerity.”
Kay started nodding hastily.
“You wiggled out of trouble pretty slick, Kay Ovald. The whole harvester is covered with blood from wheels to roof, as if it had gone through a slaughterhouse.”
“Miss, I couldn’t think coherently when I was driving it. There were attempts to stop us… I didn’t hurt the Emperor’s people, miss, did I?”
“You were lucky you didn’t.” Isabelle replied coolly. “You are a very lucky person. A mere merchant… and such prowess … People that go beyond their profession always stir my curiosity. Your business is commerce, not military deeds.”
“We, the Ovalds have always been serving Emperor Gray hand and foot!” said Kay raising his voice. “My grandfather Arthur whom I named my son after fought in the Feud War…”
“Drop it, Kay. I’ve heard enough about your grandfather’s deeds from the boy. They don’t concern you. Have a rest.”
At the door Isabelle added:
“We will report to Endoria about your lucky escape. Shall I tell something to your wife?”
“Tell her that I love her… and tell her not to worry.”
“The latter could be a bit premature.”
The door closed and Kay lowered his head on a pillow. He could only hope that the old sly fox Curtis had envisaged everything. That he was smarter than this old woman from the Imperial Security Service.

Sitting in her office, which was furnished plainly as was proper for an Imperial serviceman, Isabelle Kahl was preparing the weekly report. She took pleasure in a routine job that according to tradition was unloaded onto the Deputy Regional Commander. There were simple figures about civilian casualties, expenses of the Service and the numbers of recruited agents. But there was so much work, so many lives and even more deaths behind them.
There was so much power!
A message from Endoria came only by the evening. Isabelle browsed through the official information, watched the video that was shot by an agent in the Ovald’s house. Karin Ovald, a tall thin woman broke into tears after seeing Kay’s peaked and half-mad face on the photograph. But she quickly put herself together and pressed the agent with questions: “How to get in touch?”, “Why didn’t they pass on information earlier?”, “We’re not the last people on Endoria!”, “Will the Service pay for a flight to Incedius?”
“What a gaunt bitch” concluded Isabelle as she stopped the record. This trader had no taste whatsoever. There is more to a woman than a beautiful face. It is clear now at least whom his son had inherited his features from. “Arthur Ovald. Surveillance.” she commanded.
The screen came to life again but Arthur wasn’t in the small room.
“Search.”
Arthur Ovald was in the shower. Isabelle was eyeing the boy closely leaning her head sideward. A handsome whelp. His father was not bad too but he was ruder and simpler…
Meanwhile the boy sat on the bottom of the shower and started doing things teenagers sometimes do, for which shower had always been a perfect cover.
Kahl felt herself as she started to get excited. Work had been leaving her little time for sex.
Isabelle turned on the screening and took a dildo from the bottom drawer. Still looking at the screen she put her legs onto the desk…
Arthur had been taking the shower long enough so that Isabelle Kahl could get all the emotions she desired. She brushed herself up, turned on the automatic secretary and said:
“The Ovalds family. Cancel the red mode. The yellow mode for a week. Field supervision… Luis Nomachi. Video surveillance… video surveillance remains on me.
She liked the recent sensation. The things she had to do with the Service Director Kurt brought little satisfaction.