In the lab facility they were met by a middle-aged lady with a large security escort. She identified herself as Carla Bynes, the chef scientist of this lab.
After thoroughly scanning them and making sure they had no hidden weapons, security allowed them to approach.
“So gentlemen, I hear you are the best couriers in the system. What did Diane send me?”
They passed the cube to her and were invited in to rest. The lab was very high tech, nothing like they had ever seen. There were a lot of computers and a lot of fine machinery making small parts but they couldn’t tell what. On a far away assembly line, through one of the glass windows, Derek spotted a prosthetic limb.
However, they were not allowed to get too close, only lead to a decontamination chamber and then to the cafeteria.
Carla, came to their table smiling. “You brought me a gem, gents. Do you know what’s inside?”
“No madam, Derek spoke, we are couriers and we’re not supposed to know anything. Perhaps it would be best if we didn’t know any other details.”
“Exactly. But now you know our location” she said thoughtfully, eyes half closed. “Look, you come highly recommended. We will need to take away your mobiGlass devices, including the extra one you carry. When you leave, you will take one of our high-tech ships and we’ll give you pills to confound the coordinates in your memory and only that.”
“You… have the tech to do that?” asked John.
No answer, just a smirk.
“Get some rest here overnight, then tomorrow morning once the ship modifications are ready, we’ll see.”
Back in their room, the pair tried to make some sense of the situation.
“What do you think, Derek? We managed to get here in one piece, but Mark is dead. This is getting very dangerous and we haven’t been in contact with Helena yet about this new development. Perhaps we should have got the exchange package immediately and left. I don’t like that forgetfulness pill at all.”
“Me neither, you’re right about the dangers. Still, we should lay low for now, Carla’s calling the shots here and we can’t rush her. This is a highly secure facility, so one thing we know for sure is that we’re safe.”
The next day, Derek and John were invited to Carla Bynes’ office.
“Good morning gents. Unfortunately I have bad news for you. The exchange package I was supposed to give you is not ready yet, only data on the project we have developed here. Your rushed delivery was scheduled to coincide with another courier team who had to bring back a similar cube to the one you provided me with. I fear they have been intercepted.”
“What can we do?”
“You are not bound to accept the next mission, but if you do, you will be handsomely repaid and do a great service to our project which we’ll not forget. We lost contact with the couriers we commissioned for the other delivery during the night. They are very reliable so this is not a betrayal issue. Our last communication from them was a secure distress signal with coordinates which match the lawless GrimHEX and the destroyed Gundo station. Which means they split up. We’d like to see if they are still alive and save them, but the real priority is the package. It’s very likely they were attacked by pirates.”
John looked at Derek who sat there lost in thought. “As the old saying goes, in for a penny, in for a pound”, said Derek. John nodded.
“Thank you, I was hoping you would say yes to this. I will inform Helena on a secure channel so you are covered. All our lives depend on the success of this project and unfortunately some have lost their lives for it… The new ship we’re giving you for this mission is a heavily modified RSI Phoenix with prototype stealth tech that masks its signal and provides extended long range comms. There will also be special mobiGlass devices that have better encryption and comms. The Archimedes class ship attached should come in handy since very likely you will need to split up.”