K-056: Live Session Summary Part 6, Gateway, Toran City, The Government Building, Interrogation Room

Many interviews later, Commissioner Justine meets with Oliver, says that Willard Argyle has agreed to meet with him, if he would still like to do so.

“Yes.”

Commissioner Justine says, “He’s a little nervous. So I apologise if the meeting might be a little impersonal.”

“That’s fine.”

“Would you like a coffee or anything for the meeting?”

“No, I’ll be alright. Thank you.”

She leads Oliver to a room on a different level of the building. This one this is not an casual interview room like the ones he has been in so far. This is a detention visitation room, an interrogation room. It is divided in half with a transparent screen, probably bullet- and beam-proof by the look of it, with separate entry doors either side and chairs bolted to the floor.

He sits on one side, and Commissioner Justine leaves him alone in the room.

Willard Argyle enters through the door on the other side of the room. He stops in the doorway and looks at Oliver, a hard glare. Then enters the rest of the way and sits down.

    

  

“You,” he says, a dark under current of rage in his voice.

“Me… and also you. How was your trip?”

Argyle ignores Oliver’s question, “You know, I was so angry at you for finding me. Mostly your clown leader boy, but all of you.”

“He got mauled by an Alpcow in your lodge,” Oliver says mildly.

There’s a twitch of a smile at the corner of Argyle’s mouth at that news.

“But on the other hand,” he muses, “maybe I should have left kiloCycles before I did. It’s not so bad here.”

“What changed your mind?”

Argyle doesn’t seem to be listening to Oliver, he spews forth angrily, “They tried to kill me! That bastard, Bronze-Stepping, murdered the entire project team.”

The name Bronze-Stepping triggers Oliver’s memory – a vision of the sick, old man he interviewed in a dingy apartment at Snow Lake on Zargonia, took a train across the planet to meet him.

“He’s living in some crap hole in Zargonia, dying slowly,” Oliver fills in for Argyle.

With real malice in his voice, Argyle snarls, “couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”

“Do you know why? Just ego again, or secrets?”

Actually responding to Oliver this time, “We upgraded the Black Palace security system. We were too dangerous to be allowed to live. Just necessary collateral damage, part of the project cost.”

“Yeah, they do that.”

“But it felt personal.”

“I get that.”

In Oliver’s memory, his comrade Richter’s head explodes in a wet splat, the way it always does.

“So fortunately for me,” Argyle says, “Ohare found out about it and warned me. He had someone else drive my car back to the Black Palace that Cycle. I don’t know who that was. Anyway, they’re dead. I’m not. Ohare didn’t have to do that, but he did, and I’m alive.”

“No.

“Ohare’s dead, too,” Oliver reports blandly.

“We had a way of secretly keeping in touch,” Argyle says, beginning to engage, perhaps in spite of himself, “nothing sophisticated, and when he stopped responding, I thought that was probably the case.

“So, I got out, made a home of Pristine – icy hole. It was peaceful in some ways, interesting in some ways, beautiful in some ways, but I was lonely and in a bit of a mess.”

“A little paranoid, right?”

Argyle, slowly, nods, “So, were you guys going to kill me?”

“I wasn’t told to. Frederick probably would have.”

“Who?”

“Vizier,” Oliver fills in, “sent us to buy the Notebook off you. Despite trying, I don’t really know much about him.”

“They,” he gestures around, indicating the Electorate, Commissioner Justine and their hosts in general, “said you found my notebook, the one with the Black Palace schematics.”

“I did.”

“How? Where was it?”

“Sundown on Star Mist, the vid. It was in the entertainment system of the ship that brought you on the first stage of the journey from Pristine.”

A twitch in Argyle’s face could almost hint at a smile, “Ah, damn it. I got drunk and watched the vid on the trip.”

“Nice people, but their security sucked.”

“Yeah, they were. I liked the Felline.”

He continues, “So, yeah, that’s why they tried to kill me. I hope the Separatists make good use of it.”

Oliver nods, says lightly, “So, what do you do here?”

“Well, on the one hand, I’m pleased it’s been found and handed over to them. On the other hand, I think you’ve just cost me my job of reconstructing it,” Argyle shrugs in punctuation.

“Surely you’ve got other things you can do with your skills, whether privately or for the Separatist- Electorate – Government. It wasn’t easy getting into all of your stuff.”

“You’re their cyber specialist.”

“Yes.”

“Where did you train?”

“Russell’s World, turned down Legion and Vizierate academies. Then I learned that a bunch of protesters were mowed down because they were inconvenient and joined… a protest group to do something about it.”

Argyle studies Oliver speculatively, “You were with The Insurgence?”

“Yes.”

“The Dominion is very insistent that The Insurgence is a myth.”

Oliver shrugs.

“I worked Black Palace security, I know better.”

“It might be a myth now, they got most of us a while back.”

Richter’s head; Oliver ignores it.

“That’s sad, but I’m guessing that was just one cell. Still, you’re still here…” Argyle trails off, then changes the subject, “I asked for the screen,” he gestures to the shield between them, “I thought you might be here to kill me.”

Matter-of-factly, “I thought about it; you did light me on fire, though indirectly.”

“You were a Dominion bully boy, come to wrest me out of my hidey hole.”

“I was.”

They exchange long, silent, looks.

Hesitantly Argyle asks, “Did you ever meet Lyanna on your investigations?”

“No, never met her. Last I heard Ohare dropped her off at Saman in Octant Four.”

“I wanted to get a message to her just one last time, but couldn’t risk putting her in danger.”

“Why didn’t you bring her over?”

“Ohare was willing to help me but was limited in what he could do against the Household. I had to go. He split her up from me, kept her safe. It sounds like she’s safe. That’s good. I worked on that message tunnelling protocol thing for years trying to get it right so I could send her a message without anyone knowing.”

Matter-of-fact again, “Yes, I saw that. You were almost there. But hey, it works. You could send a message. Though from here, you’d need to get it onto a Trade Bureau ship or something and it would bounce away and eventually find its way through the network.”

Oliver doesn’t stop to let Argyle respond, “Are you still going to work in security and military stuff over here?”

“I’ve been mostly working on recovering the Black Palace schematics. But I suspect there’s plenty of things that I could help them with. You think we could send a message?”

“Probably. It works.”

“Have you told the Separatists?”

“It hasn’t come up yet,” he glances around the room at the speakers and microphones through which they have been communicating, and the obvious cameras in the corners, “though I believe that I just did.”

Oliver continues, “I get the feeling I’m not going to want to be here much longer after they’re done asking me questions. Not doing this sort of government stuff anyway.”

Argyle, sounding interested, perhaps in spite of himself, “What do you want to do?”

“I’m over the war and the sneaking and the political subversion. Maybe I’ll see if I can help work on stuff that makes quality of life better here, whether that’s through the government or through private people. I don’t know where I’d best be situated or if I have to start something up myself.”

Argyle says, “There are places you can do that here. I’m happy to work for the government here, because really, anything I can do to hurt those bastards back over the border, I’m happy to help. But if you want to strike out on your own… it’s easier to do that here than back home.”

“I think I’m just sick of being part of the people who hurt people on either side of the fence. Even when I was with The Insurgence, we were trying to hurt people, and then that got everyone shot.

“So maybe I’ll start helping instead.”

Argyle nods, “Well, good luck, I guess. Me, I want to hurt the bastards! But… I’d like to get that message out.”

Oliver studies his quarry, his nemesis, this man he’s tracked over dekaCycles and Lights, “Sure. Sounds like helping.”