Chapter 2


We had been on Pacitus for nearly six months when the messenger arrived. When Hadrian had told me he had a home there, I had imagined a townhouse, or perhaps a series of grand appartments in a hive. Agesola House was far beyond that. Nestled on a hilly bluff that overlooked the sparkling Amaranthine Sea it was formed by a series of terracotta tiled buildings connected by covered porticos and interspaced with carefully tended gardens. The weather on the Sarnis Peninsula was warm, though I was told that gales occasionally blew in in the winter months that could lash the place with cold rain and, occasionally, sleet. Agesola had a main house, a guest house and a library building, as well as a covered amphitheater that served as as a training field and target range. There was a ring of stables and outbuildings including a hanger in which several speeders and aircraft were secured and a barracks for servants. On the landward side the grounds fell down in a series of terraces which contained ploin trees, olives, figs, and a sour type of seedpod which was much prized in local cooking. At the base of the hill stood a fence of warm stone which marked a perimeter. As a physical barrier it lacked authority, but it was set with sensors and auspex receptors that made crossing it without notice all but impossible. Beyond the fence stretched several hundred square kilometers of forest, in which game of all sorts could be found. The nearest human settlement was the Universitariat of Sycathrace, a hundred kilometers away on the far coast of the peninsula. It could be reached by a winding track through the forest, though aircraft or taking a boat around the point was a much more practical option.

Hadrian told me that, though tastes varied, most Inquisitors maintained such a property as a safe place to rest and recuperate between operations. It seemed a lot of luxury to me, though as I was to learn, Ordo work meant years or decades would pass between visits. I found that swimming in the clear lilac waters and walking through the gardens were a balm to my spirit. The hours I spent in training with small arms and psychic disciplines less so. I also learned a deal about the structure of the Imperial Inquisition. Hadrian considered himself a Monodominant and I didn't disagree, I was yet too knew to the whole business to consider my own philosophy. By his authority I was granted the rank of Adept and presented with a rosette of my own, though plain and lacking in the rank insignia that Hadrian had earned. It was the only rank that I could hold within the Inquisition. As an unsanctioned psyker I couldn't become an Interrogator as this required approval from the Ordos themselves. Approval which wouldn't be forth coming unless I was granted a Sanction, which meant assay and transport on the Black Ships. I think it bothered Hadrian more than it did me, I didn't have ambitions in that direction.

I spent hours at psychic exercise too, absorbing what Hadrian could teach me in long sessions in the amphitheater. The psychic connection I had forged with the soldiers back on the Necron world seemed to have been broken by our voyage through the Immaterium, though I occasionally awoke from dreams of standing picket duty or with the taste of counterseptic in my mouth. My real work, if you could call it that, was with Lucius Raj. We spent hours together going through psychic communions. My impression of the Emperor as only a man grew stronger, though my certainty that he was a remarkable one went someway to allying the existential dread that caused me. Perhaps it was possible for a 'mere' man to ascend to Godhood. If Keeler and others who had known him felt he was divine, I could keep my own skepticism at bay. The contents of our sessions was recorded and passed to Hadrian who, I assume, passed it on to his own superiors in the Ordos. 

Hadrian was not home bound while at Agesola. He took me to Primogena, the capital, a two hour trip by aircar and we spent pleasant evening at the theatre or enjoying the museums and restaurants. He had a cover identity as a local landowner with no reference to his official station and we blended in easily enough. We also visited the Universitariat and its surrounding town, which was a charming place with many book shops, eateries, antique dealers and other pleasant diversions.

When I wasn't otherwise occupied I spent time in the library. Hadrian's library was well stocked and I supplemented it liberally from our trips to the city and universitariat. I had little in terms of formal education and it was very patchy, largely focused on blending in to the semi-legitimate underside of the Imperial aristocracy. These months gave me a chance to read broadly, especially in history, which was brought to life to me by details provided by Raj. I started to keep my own journals, of which this writing is a one. Hadrian had a number of works of psykana lore also, some of which were proscribed. I read these eagerly. Most of my craft I had learned by instruction or by trial and error. Some of the works were restricted to members of the inquisition in a void shielded vault in the basement of the library. Hadrian allowed me to read some of these, though only with his supervision. He politely but firmly refused to grant me unfettered access. Although I spent weeks searching the library, I was unable to find any mention of anything called the Cognitae. 

I was returning from a swim one warm afternoon, climbing the gentle curving stairs from the beach to the main house, when an unfamiliar flyer circled over head and landed. I didn't take it as unusual until I reached the patio where Hadrian and I took our meals in fine weather. Hadrian was in the process of signing a slate and taking a cylinder from a man in the livery of one of the private Astropathic guilds in Primogena. It struck me as strange that our own astropath, a pimply faced apprentice who went by Trasic, had not received it directly. Hadrian nodded and the courier hurried off, presumabley heading back to his flyer. I strolled up, draping my towel over my shoulders like a ladies shawl, a white contrast to my dark blue one piece bathing suit.

"Is it a dinner invitation or something?" I asked as he cracked open the wax sealed cylinder.