For Vreta’Sori, there was frustratingly little to do at the moment. He was laid back on the couch his his hotel room, his feet hanging off the armrest, while he occasionally reached over and grabbed a handful of…mostly passable chips from a bowl on the table beside him. He had made something of a mess by this point with the crumbs he dropped, which might have been considered uncouth behavior for what was meant to be a high-class hotel. However, even an expensive hotel on this planet felt lacking compared to what he was accustomed to back on Rothia. It lacked as many luxuries, and the computer that managed his room was much less sophisticated. It felt like he had to give every single instruction himself, whereas back home, a Rothian computer would learn the majority of his preferences in a matter of hours. It felt like it had taken that long for this room’s computer just to learn the correct room temperature. Being cold-blooded, he preferred the air to be at a temperature that a Human would consider a bit toasty. 

In any case, Vreta had integrated himself well into life on Outremer. He had been able to tell just by speaking with them that the executives at Zuraxi’Synkuur were nervous about cooperating with the Rahn’Masser on this operation, but so far, he had frankly been quite a boon to their company. Even though being their representative was his cover, he had still managed to secure them a lucrative deal with a local, Human corporation to sell them “export approved” Rothian processors for use in their consumer electronics. It had taken a few days of negotiation, but it was nothing unfamiliar to Vreta. Other species always tried to negotiate for higher end technology that the Rothian government would not approve for export, but he just had to be patient and not give in to their bluffs. 

Vreta might have done well for the company he was representing, but his own mission still had a long ways to go. By his association with the Human corporation, he did at least have limited access to the Cradle, but he was not likely to learn anything substantial from that alone. If he could, the local government would hardly grant the privilege to anyone. He had at least managed to plant sniffer programs in a few different networks, searching for anything particularly interesting relevant to the Cradle. He had already received five different false positives this week, but there was at least some potential for a breakthrough. 

[hr]

Vreta awoke suddenly, having been jolted into consciousness by a priority alert through his neural implant. He had not intended to fall asleep, so he was not sure how long his nap had lasted, but as soon as he came to, he noticed a notification in the periphery of his vision. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and let out a yawn before directing the alert to open with a simple thought. He was being notified of discoveries by his sniffer programs, but unlike the false positives earlier this week, there were [i]dozens[/i] of them.

The lethargy that had overtaken Vreta for most of the day was quick to disappear. Half of the programs he had uploaded were now sending him alerts; he could not imagine this being a false positive. He practically ran across his apartment into his bedroom and grabbed a fairly large, robust metal case from underneath his bed and held the scanner up to his eye to unlock it. For important representatives of major corporations, there was nothing unusual about locking away sensitive materials in a protective case, though it was perhaps uncommon for that case to deliver a massive electric current that would destroy its contents should it be opened improperly. Biometrics were not always terribly secure, but a lock that used an [i]artificial[/i] eye as a key could be made exceptionally safe. Namely, it would only open if Vreta was alive, awake, alert, and willing.

Among other, more mundane materials relating to his cover, there was a small data pad which Vreta grabbed as he took a seat on the edge of his bed. The alerts that Vreta had received through his implants were non-descriptive and masked as personal messages. The actual data from his sniffer programs was sent to this device, which was made specifically to be exceptionally difficult to trace. The program on the device highlighted what it identified as the most important information, but Vreta still spent twenty minutes going through it all. 

Overall, there was no doubt in Vreta’s mind that this was the opportunity that he had been waiting for. [i]Something[/i] had happened in the Cradle, though nothing his programs had intercepted quit told the full story. There was some sort of disruption in a recent expansion in the Cradle, and it was [i]major[/i]. Enough that the Outremer government was getting involved. Communications had been secretly cut off between that section of the Cradle and the outside world and a cover story was already being formulated. Evidently, even the Humans did not know what was happening, as experts were being called in for the purpose of investigation. But, what was most important for Vreta was the fact that the section was not currently being locked down from access. Clearly, they were trying to keep this under wraps, and an outright lockdown would be guaranteed to bring the public’s attention straight to it. This was an area he did have access to, so for now, he had an opening to investigate this himself without breaking any of the Humans’ laws. Though, this was still something he would have to approach carefully. 

From the data pad, Vreta sent the command for his sniffer programs to erase themselves. It would be irritating to have to plant them again if this turned out to be nothing, but he needed to be cautious. His programs were exceptionally sophisticated by Human standards and were highly unlikely to be discovered, but even so, he did not want anything out there which could serve as evidence of his…misbehavior if something did go wrong. To that end, he also wiped the data pad before locking it back up. 

Reaching over to the other side of his bed, Vreta grabbed his belt and searched through one of the pouches until he found a small container holding a clear liquid, which he promptly drank. It would help ensure he had plenty of energy for whatever might be ahead. He put on the belt as well, though as he would be entering the Cradle, he did not expect he would need it. Still, it never hurt to be prepared. His hotel had complementary Cradle entry gear available on nearly every floor, so he would not need to go far.