A Sinner's Eden

Chapter 157 - EVO

***Tirnanog, Thich Fortress City***

***Magnus***

The Thich guard ran down the street towards me, screaming for me to stop. For the last ten minutes, they had been tracking me by smell or some other sense. I had no clue how. Worst case, they had some stupid psychic ability which allowed them to follow the path I took no matter where I went.

Whatever they did, it was bullshit overpowered and I was getting tired.

“Curse Gunnar and his stupid plans!” I lamented, hissing as I flash-stepped five times in a row.

Carrying a dead body while doing so wasn’t easy and it made my muscles burn. The spacial distortion field which allowed me to ignore air resistance had some restrictions in size and shape, meaning carrying an unshapely mass as large as myself went with exponentially more effort. And a dead body was an excellent example.

I just hoped Gunnar wouldn’t get too used to me coming running whenever he used the UI to call for help. He was already giving me the feeling that he was using this option much too liberally.

My final flash step brought me onto the roof of one of those living cubicles which looked like the fever dream of an architect from the eighties. Though on second thought, there must have been some serious drug usage at play. Otherwise, I couldn’t imagine how someone could cobble together a setup as disturbing as Thich City.

Dropping the body, I ducked and turned around while narrowing my eyes to prevent the faint glow which was emanating from them to give away my position. It was night and I had skipped approximately fifty metres ahead of the guard, hoping it would be enough to throw them off my trail.

While I watched what they would do, I reached for the axe at my side, firmly intending to dispose of two bodies tonight if I had to. The stupid guard had been on my tail ever since I left the living compound where Gunnar deposited the body whose identity he stole for his next excursion.

Of course, I ran as soon as I left the compound and realized a guard was coming my way. They kept following me with uncanny precision ever since. They just didn’t know when to give up.

The guard ran to the spot where I had been running down the street just moments ago and stopped. For a moment, they looked confused while they surveyed the street. Then the guard made a decision and kept running straight ahead and around the corner of the closest alleyway. A few seconds later they returned and tried it with another side-alley.

I let out a breath of relief and turned to pick up the body which Gunnar wanted me to dispose of. I had it wrapped in a carpet for easy transportation and to not look all too suspicious while carrying around a dead body.

Turning around, I watched the guard for a few more moments to make sure they were just trying random streets to pick up my trail once more. Thankfully, it looked like flash-step threw them off their game.

With the body back on my shoulders, I used Second Sight to check the area for potential witnesses before I flash-stepped to the next roof. It was a blessing that most people tended to stay indoors at night even if the city was supposedly safe.

Despite the short distance, it took me a good hour to sneak the body out of the city where I disposed of it in one of the many crevices which scoured the rocky landscape. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but I doubted it would be found all too quickly. My solution just had to suffice for a few days and it would be fine.

Once I was done, I returned to the Caravaners with haste.

I could have jaunted the body out, having it gone in a second, but that would have taken even more energy out of me. It was power which I didn’t want to waste in case our cover was blown.

While I had already created a jaunt point at Thich City, using jaunts was still something I couldn’t be frivolous with. If push came to shove, I could get Gunnar out and maybe two more people. I was relatively sure I could do two people, I told myself. Three if I pushed it. So if the Caravaners were found out, we would have to leave behind several good men and women.

I could save Gunnar, Elijah and his partner Linda, but that would be it. And if I was too tired and had to leave behind any of the people I cared about because I wasted a jaunt to dispose of a body, that would be just stupid. Well, I admittedly didn’t care all too much about Linda, but there was no way Elijah would leave her behind.

My return trip was blessedly uneventful and once I was back at the saherna where Elijah and Linda had set up the provisional command centre for this operation, I let out a deep sigh and allowed myself to fall into one of the very sturdy chairs.

Elijah turned from the planning table which was littered with documents. The papers had been liberated so far by Gunnar. The man was collecting them like street litter as he infiltrated Thich’s administrate system.

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And he had been at it for only three days. Yesterday, he brought in a genuine trash bin filled with detailed documents on Thich’s military distribution. I think he masqueraded as cleaning staff and just emptied some offices. I still had no clue why the city wasn’t already being searched for a spy, but Gunnar assured us those were stored papers from a double-accounting system. Nothing which would be regularly checked for consistency.

“Everything went well?” Elijah asked when he noticed the deep frown which had stolen itself onto my forehead.

I waved him off. “Just one guard who had a tracking sense like some bloodhound. I believe I lost him, but we should be on the lookout nonetheless. At some point, the Thich will become suspicious no matter what we do if people keep disappearing.”

Elijah let out a grunt and nodded. “Gunnar is careful not to take out anyone too important, but you are right. I don’t believe the Thich will start an inquisition because five or six menial workers and slaves disappear. But once we get to ten I would recommend we stop this mission and pull out.” He gestured at the documents before him. “We already got more than I ever hoped for. Plus, it will become harder to explain any delay in our departure the longer we wait. Detailed city plans, locations for weapons and ammunition depots as well as bunker systems. Defensive capabilities and troop composition. If we had approached with Aerie’s fleet from the get-go, those long-range anti-air missiles the Thich are still holding back would have gotten us cold. I must admit, I didn’t believe your uncle at first, but the guy is good.”

“And more annoying than a zipper that sniffed out a rotting body,” I added grumpily. “He will be insufferably smug if the mission goes just as planned.”

***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Astra***

I winced and adjusted Constella in my arms. My injury was already a lot better, but I still felt the bone fracture when pressure was applied at a bad angle. Maybe I should have allowed Constella to run around around freely, but she had just discovered crayons and if I didn’t pay very close attention to her the living room’s furniture would suffer the consequences.

The twins were growing so quickly. Soon I wouldn’t be able to carry them around as I pleased. Aurora was the more relaxed of the two and strapped to my back, asleep, thank Gaia. And Isaac was… well… he was Isaac, clinging to my thigh. He had been a bit of trouble in the early days, but he was nothing compared to the destructive force Constella was turning into. He was the most well-behaved of all my kids.

“Is there a reason why you requested such an urgent meeting, elder Casey?” I asked, trying to stay polite while I fought Constella’s attempts to escape. “I don’t want to turn you away, but I am on sick leave and slightly stressed because our nanny used my prolonged presence at home as a good reason to bail on us. And my parents are slightly busy with the war, so I don’t know what I could do for you.”

I still couldn’t believe that Kiera simply walked out on me once she learned I would be at home for a week or two.

“That’s fine,” Casey assured me while she watched the squirming child in my arms. “You will be able to deal with the problem from home. Once you go to sleep.”

“I am afraid I don’t understand.” I frowned. There was only one reason why sleeping would be a requirement for this issue. “Did Gaia do something wrong? Why aren’t you using the UI to contact her directly if there is a problem? I am sure Gaia wouldn’t refuse to talk with an elder. We discussed this with her.”

“Then there was a miscommunication. Though she talked to me at first, she isn’t answering my messages now,” elder Casey replied, sounding slightly miffed. “So I decided to send you after her to clear this up. I figure your ‘dream ability’ will not allow her to turn a deaf ear to you.”

“So what’s the problem?” I asked, getting tired of hedging around the core of the matter.

“Gaia began chatting with all our churchgoers and is giving them relationship advice,” Casey grumbled. “As soon as they enter a place of worship, they get bombarded with all those suggestive messages! It’s creating a ruckus, which we don’t need at the moment!”

My expression went blank and my attention slipped away from Constella’s wriggling body, allowing her to slip from my arms. It was fine though, since I caught her with my billowing filaments and wrapped her up tight so she wouldn’t get up to mischief while I was distracted.

“She did what?” Why would she begin messaging random people? The last time we spoke at length, she didn’t want to have anything to do with the general population.

“She is giving our faithful relationship advice once they visit one of our shrines!” Casey clarified the problem.

I gaped at the elder. “She is some unknowable energy entity. Aside from choosing a female name and form in our dreams, she doesn’t even have a gender as far as I am aware. Nor is she interested in such things. How, for all that is holy, can someone like her give relationship advice? She is like some shut-in who experienced human lives from an outsider’s perspective!”

However that wasn’t the true problem. “No! Forget all that. What shocks me more is that people are listening to her! Didn’t they climb on the barricades as soon as the first ‘suggestions’ inevitably went down the drain?”

Casey looked slightly embarrassed. “To be clear, she isn’t giving that kind of advice. Nothing concerning personality, or life experience, or even whether one person would like the other.”

“So what kind of advice is she giving then?” I asked, becoming slightly confused.

The elder waved her hand. “You know… compatibility stuff. Who is the most likely to successfully partner up with who and have babies? She just lists off potential matches with a high likelihood of success.”

I stared at the elder with a blank expression. “While having a near-omnipotent entity like Gaia looking into such a topic may be embarrassing for some, I don’t see how that is a bad thing. Gaia may be the best-suited entity in existence to advise on that particular topic. Now I don’t understand the problem.”

The elder’s gaze swept to the three children hanging off of me before her attention returned to me. “While that may be true, I don’t want our chapels to turn into dating sites! The Church of Gaia is more than who can with who! We are about enlightenment and bringing out the best in people.”

I pursed my lips. “I see the problem and I promise I will talk to her as soon as I fall asleep. Though, I have no idea how to sell this to her.”

Casey brought out a sheet of paper. “I am not only here to complain. I am not blinded enough to deny how much good Gaia could do with this as long as don’t find a way to switch off the nanites. Everyone knows we need to increase the birth rate. Here are a few suggestions on how to manage the situation. Mainly by shifting her ‘service’ to dedicated localities or times so that other worshippers aren’t bothered by those who are searching for a partner.”

“Bothered?” I asked.

“Bothered!” Casey emphasized with a meaningful glance at the kids.

Oh boy! What had been going on in those chapels for Casey to be so upset? I could only imagine the kind of discussion I would have with Gaia.