It was a cold, dark night as I sat in the café watching the people of Ur rush about their business; every passing figure had their own story to tell. As I waited for my assistant to come with our newest client, I couldn’t help but reflect on my own story, the events that lead me to this moment: the heartache, the mystery, and the intrigue that helped me build the Reisartin Agency. I was born and bred a detective of the highest caliber, and my entire life had been one case after another since I first came into this world; no lead was ever left unexplored, no suspect ever left uncaught.
Today, however, the only mystery was when the client would arrive, and what kind of juicy case they would bring with them: what convoluted plot would I have to unravel?
At that moment, she walked over: Gayle —my Girl Friday, my trusted assistant, my investigative apprentice— though, she was suspiciously alone.
“Hey Tess. So, the client is running late; she said she was going to stop by for something to eat after work, and would meet us as soon as she could, so I decided to grab something for us while we wait. Here’s your coffee, with tons of sugar, just like you like it, and I got myself this nice fruit smoothie.”
Lost in my thoughts, I merely replied, “Thanks.” What deeper mystery could this supposed “dinner” entail? Could it be a clandestine meeting with her lover? An information exchange between spies? The air of mystery was palpable.
“You’re doing that thing again, aren’t you?”
Taken aback, I could only respond, “What are you talking about? What thing?”
The look of annoyance on her face grew more intense.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re narrating in your head again, aren’t you? Ever since we gained access to Earth’s internet, you’ve been reading way too many of their detective stories,” she said in an exasperated tone.
“Don’t be silly, of course I’m not doing that!” I said, attempting to reassure the buxom red-head. “Plus, those detective novels are valuable information! Think of all the new investigative techniques we can learn from them!”
It was clear by her look that she was not convinced… and I’m starting to think I should stop because she’s making that scary smile that she gets just before she decides to start punching things. I am terrified to think what kind of damage this tiny, angry woman might do to this café. I can’t risk that right now; there’s no way I have enough meseta to cover the property damage.
Oh, no, she already crushed her drink. Got to act fast. Time to apologize like you’ve never apologized before, Teresa.
“Sorry, sorry. You’re right. I was just having some fun while I was waiting for you. I’ll stop now, though. I promise. I swear. Please, calm down.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Looks like she’s actually calming down. “Between this and your pranks, it’s no wonder your students don’t respect you. You are too immature to be a proper instructor.”
What is she talking about? My students love my pranks! And looks who’s talking about immature, little miss “you gave me a funny look, so I’m going to punch you in the face.” And then she wonders why she doesn’t have a love life…
Though, I can’t say that to her face; I have to keep her relaxed. Think about the meseta. Smile, Teresa, smile.
“You’re right, I’m sorry. It was incredibly immature of me. Let me go get you something to clean up that mess.”
“Please do. Thanks.” Thank goodness, her normal smile. My wallet should be safe for now. “Hold on, Tess. I just got a message from the client.”
“Perfect! Is she on her way?” I’m a really looking forward to this one; I hear this lady is a high ranking official in one of Ur’s biggest security firms. This is bound to be a really interesting case.
“Nope. Looks like she is just going to head home, but she did send over the full details of the job.”
“Okay, that’s weird.” I would expect a job from a client like her to be carefully guarded, with the need to meet in person to pass off information paramount. “Well, what is the job? Investigating some corporate espionage? Does she need us to tail someone?”
“Hmmm. Looks like a courier job.”
“Excellent! What are we delivering? Some top secret documents? Are we going to be escorting someone to a hidden location? Details, Gayle! Details!” Oops. That might have ticked her off a bit.
“Well, she apparently really liked a coat she saw on Earth’s internet, and wants us to go down there and buy it for her. She’ll reimburse us for the cost of the item, and of course pay us for our time.”
“Again?” This is getting ridiculous; this is the fourth one of these in the past two weeks.
With us ARKS still going to Earth to help the Earth Guides quell the occasional Phantom outbreak, it’s just one request after another from people wanting us to pick up stuff for them while we are down there. I guess goods “from another dimension” are a really big status symbol right now. It doesn’t help that our agency is known for fulfilling any request, no matter how trivial, and being ARKS with authorization to head to Earth is the icing on the cake for these people. I just wish they would pay us more to be their glorified delivery girls. No use refusing the job, though; meseta is meseta.
“Okay, so how much is she paying us?”
“It says here that she will give us… Oh. Wow. 20 million with the promise of repeat business if we deliver within the next 48 hours. So, are we… Hold on, where are you going?”
“To get this woman her coat, of course!” That’s a lot of meseta; I can afford to buy whatever I want with that kind of money. No more needing to penny pinch! Just got to load up my normal Human face on the good ol’ projectors, call up a nice Earthling outfit, request a transport, aaaaaand… done. “Come on Gayle, let’s go! The Reisartin Agency takes any client and any job, no questioned asked, right?! No time like the present!”
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