A field.

  It was always a field.

  It could be grass, or dirt, like this one. Sometimes it was crops, ranging from ankle height to double his own.

  There was always wind, not the violent turbulence of Garant’s climate, but gentle, musical. It felt like it was cupping his face by his cheeks and planting a kiss on his lips.

  There was never anyone else, only him.

  He always told himself he didn’t recognise this place, but something in his mind told him he did. The sky changed colour every time he looked at it, the air smelt sweet, then like burning, then of nothing. Somehow, his mind told him it was familiar, but how could it be when it was so rarely the same?

  “Nivas?”

  A voice echoed; it didn’t belong here. No sound but the wind belonged here. He felt his heart quicken as it faded into the distance. No… Not faded. He could hear the echo coming back, reflecting off a surface that extended beyond the orange horizon.

  “Nivas!”

  He jerked up at his desk, wincing as muscle pain began pulsing at the base of his neck. He rubbed it with his right hand, using his left to roll the syringes into an open drawer.

  “What?” He groaned loudly.

  The door to his office opened widely, light from the hallway cutting through the comfortable blackness of the room, highlighting the dust particles in the air. His ‘guest’ flicked the light on, it made him wince silently, blinking away the pain of being ripped out of the blanket dark he had wrapped himself in. As his sight adjusted, he saw who had rudely interrupted his session; Tae Dimos, the woman who he had ‘inherited’ his office from.

  She outranked him in experience, but not in position, not anymore. Her hair, which had been tied into a painfully tight looking bun, was greying at the edges. Wrinkles had started to appear at the edges of her mouth and eyes, which were a piercing steel, her optical implants visible if you looked hard enough. Not that she would enjoy someone looking that deeply into her eyes, Tae was standoffish when she was in a good mood, downright insulting in every other. People tended to avoid her when she was having a particularly bad day, injuries wouldn’t always warrant time off.

  “You shouldn’t be doing that on duty.” She stated coldly. Somehow, she knew what he’d been doing. To give her credit, she had been a detective once.

  “Report it then.” He mumbled, rubbing his eyes with a finger and a thumb.

  Lakma Nivas didn’t like his job. He was perfectly comfortable with the position he’d had before his promotion, his work was simple, had structure, and he didn’t hate it wholeheartedly. Now, he actually had work to do, cases to personally submit for approval and investigations to attend personally. Was it too much to ask to be unimportant and comfortable?

  “I might… but I think I’ll run this by you first.” Every word Tae spoke implied she knew more than she was letting on, which was the case most of the time.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  She strode up to Lakma’s desk, casually throwing a thin folder onto it. He sighed heavily, folders meant work he didn’t want to do, again.

  “What is it?”

  “Murder case, big one. Promotion worthy maybe.”

  Lakma sighed with a dissatisfied moan, “Look, I know you want your office back. Gods know I don’t want it, but why me? Surely one of the other Secondaries is better for something like that?”

  “The others don’t really want to be promoted.” She argued simply.

  “I also don’t want to be promoted Tae-“

  “Dimos.”

  “-They may like their position, but I was happy where I was! Surely Falke would take it, I hear he’s attempting to climb that proverbial ladder.”

  “Falke’s dead.” She shrugged.

  Lakma stuttered for a second, “No shit? When?”

  “About 5 minutes ago when he pissed off the wrong person.”

  Lakma hesitated, scowling at Tae.

  “You didn’t…”

  “Nope, not me. But the person who did needs a Secondary on this case, you were my second recommendation.” She finished with a smile that didn’t suit her face.

  “Tae-“

  “Dimos.”

  “Whatever.” He waved a hand at her dismissively, “The fuck is going on?”

  She shrugged again, “Open it.” She gestured at the folder.

  He slowly flipped the first page open, keeping eye contact with his ‘subordinate’ until he had the file on his lap. His eyes widened silently, he pursed his lips.

  “Ah. That uh… that complicates things.”

  “Does it? I feel like it simplifies it quite neatly.” Tae couldn’t help but let a grin tug at the corner of her mouth, this one suited her face much more, it was filled with an opportunistic malice.

  “Why ask me if I want to take this case if I didn’t have a choice?” He asked, his tone becoming serious.

  “I think you will find I never said you had one.”

  “Why not open with that?” Lakma found himself shouting.

  “A test, probably.”

  He knew Tae hated him for what he had accidently stolen from her, but she also seemed hell bent on punishing him specifically for it. For what reason he couldn’t begin to guess, but it was getting pretty damn annoying.

  “So, you’ll take it?”

  “If I refuse to take it?”

  “The information on this case is highly classified, they would have to ensure you aren’t even tempted to leak it.”

  “Did Falke know that?”

  Tae shrugged, “I thought he would read the fine print, I know you won’t so that’s why I’m telling you, two secondaries dead in one day is a bad look.”

  Lakma thought for a second, “Remind me, what would my responsibilities be if I were promoted to Primary?”

  She faked a deep thoughtful sigh, “Why I don’t know, I think you would never leave your office for the rest of your career. It’s a much less… entertaining, position. Most folk enjoy the intensity of a Secondary’s and Tertiary’s work, rather than the constant paperwork Primary’s enjoy.”

  He raised his eyebrows as he looked at the paper again, paperwork was one thing Lakma didn’t hate, mainly because he could stay inside all day and if he was behind, all he had to do was crunch at the last minute. Plus, he found he was actually naturally pretty good at filling out papers. There were rules to them, and if he got shit for his work, then he could blame the rules.

  He placed the folder on his desk, and began filling out a surveillance request form on his workstation. The green monochrome of the screen highlighted the header for the case.

  CONFIDENTIAL - PLANETARY ENFORCEMENT AGENCY RANK TERTIARY AND ABOVE EYES ONLY

  VIEWING OF THIS DOCUMENT WITHOUT VALID AUTHORISATION WILL BE ENFORCED WITH SUMMARY EXECUTION

  REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATION INTO THE MURDER OF CHAIRMAN YANNICK CLEMENT OF EARTH, U.R.O REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE GARANTHIS SECTOR