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“I spoke to him just now. He is faring well. He thinks he needs another rotation to complete his investigations, but so far all seems well with the girl.”
“That is good to hear. Let me go prepare myself, for I am sure our first visitors will be here very soon.”
No sooner have I lit the incense burner and sat down on my mat to chant a prayer than I hear the door open. “You have a caller,” says Floritela. “It is Denishar.”
“Send him in.”
The leader of the northern sector, in which I live, strides into the room and places a hand to my chest, then bows to me. “Blessings, sicortar.”
“Blessings, Denishar. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
He settles down on one of the floor cushions before speaking. “It is about the boral crystals that were stolen by the Saraxians.”
“They have been recovered, have they not?”
“Yes indeed, they are safely returned. However, I cannot help but wonder how the Saraxians got hold of them in the first place. It seems to me likely that they had assistance on this side.”
“I thought this had been investigated and that the crystals had been stolen from our cargo ship on one of its missions.”
“Something did not strike me as quite right about that story. Firstly, why would our cargo ship have been carrying the crystals? We do not trade them.”
“I understand they were on board the ship not to be traded but because our representatives needed them to help establish the credentials of some new trading partners they were to meet.”
Denishar’s tail leaps up, a sign of his frustration. “If that is the case, then they would only have needed one or two crystals at most, not a whole crate of them. In fact, there is no mention on the ship’s manifest that it was carrying such a large load of crystals. I have spoken to its commander, and he claims he only had two crystals in a pouch with him that were stolen. That does not tally with the large crate of crystals which has recently been returned to us by the Venorians.”
I nod gravely. “No, it does not. I take it you have investigated this further?”
“I have, and I think I have enough evidence to suggest the boral crystals were stolen here on Krovatia, and not on board the cargo ship. It has taken some time, but I finally uncovered reports of boral crystals that went missing from a small temple on the outskirts of Krell, right near the border to the eastern sector. They were stored in a crate that was placed inside a locked room at night—not the most secure of systems. Anyone could have got to it.”
“Did the local sicor check the energy signatures of those around him?”
“He did, as soon as he got some replacement crystals, but he could not find the culprit that took them.”
“Is it possible that it was Saraxians who took them. Perhaps they flew in on a cloaked shuttle?”
“Doubtful. Our force field acts as a shield. No craft can land on our planet without it being lowered.”
“If you are right, and it was a Krovatian who stole the crystals, have you established how they managed to pass them to the Saraxians?”
Denishar’s craggy face frowns in concentration as he gives his tail a soothing stroke. “The crystals left on our cargo ship, of that there is no doubt. They must somehow have been smuggled on board. I have looked at the logs and shortly after the crystals were stolen from the temple, the ship had a consignment of medicines to the planet Flix on the other side of the quadrant. I imagine that the crystals were handed over at that point.”
“Well, that should narrow things down surely. Either the commander of the ship or one of the crew is a likely culprit. Do you have access logs for the cargo ship?”
“I do. There are twelve Krovatians who could potentially have stored the crystals on the ship. I have sent you a file with information about them. Would you be able to do an energy scan on all these individuals?”
“Of course. I am in the temple in two rotations’ time and will make it my top priority.”
“Thank you, sicortar. I appreciate it.”
He stands to leave, bowing once again. “Go in peace.”
“Go in peace,” I respond.
With Denishar gone, the rest of the morning flies by with a steady flow of visitors coming through my doors, each seeking help on some problem or other. I listen as attentively and patiently as I can to each one, yet it is with a sigh of relief that I finally bid farewell to the last of them. I stand, thank Floritela for her assistance, then head home to my family.
Chapter 9
Melinda
