The abandoned information rouses Noia’s sense of curiosity but after what she read on the screen she is hesitant to investigate it – there could very well be cameras around the room. However, as she looks around the room, Noia reasons that the CEO may have debugged the room himself. In any case if Crevan and Deline had not wanted her to look they would have put away the documents.

Perhaps it would be good just to check for anyone around before she went snooping?

Noia exits the office and turns the corner for the reception area to find it dimly lit and empty. Even the two burly security guards are gone. She returns to Crevan’s office and gives the room another apprehensive look over.

Oh, don’t be a coward. I need to know what I’ve gotten myself into with ETHR – and I need to find the jar.

The jar. Over the centuries the humans had named it Pandora’s Box and, from what Noia had read, several false truths about it had been seeded deeply in its mythology.

Noia sits on the sofa first and begins lifting the edges of the sheets. When catching up at the computer it had taken her a while to get used to the modern lettering but now, awake and fueled with the energy from fruit in a bowl on Crevan’s desk, she is able to catch on to key words faster.

There is a lot of gibberish on the loose pages including ETHR preservation locations and visitation logs. The ETHR logo, a lightning bolt across a tree on a diamond field, is at the top corner of every document – except an open leather-bound journal. The handwriting in the journal is neat with straight strokes, most likely Deline’s hand.

Why would she write her notes with such easy access to technology?

The thought trails away when she notices there are small, dated sticky notes on the map that correspond to notations in the journal.

05.05

Arrived in Rome 05:52 (20:52 local)

05.15

Subject found

Noia was on a ledge on ETHR’s Rome mountain preservation 20:14 (11:14 local)

Returned to hotel to refresh and secure flight at 22:45 (13:45 local)

05.16

Landed in Washington 13:28

Arrived at headquarters 14:15

Paper clipped to the top of the map is a plain business card.

DELINE

EXPERT CONTRACTOR

bodyguard – security – hits – retrieval

There was no number, no email – no obvious way to contact her.

With a sigh Noia rises to check down the hallway again. When she still finds no one approaching she sits down at the computer once again.

Not much more of the information available on the desktop or main drive is of interest to her. They seem to only contain folders with meeting minutes, data sheets on nutritional soil experiments, and a combination of flora and fauna population growth charts.

They seem like they are trying to do good deeds and help humanity recover from The End Wars…Wait.

Noia selects an envelope icon and a prompt box for username and password opens. “Crevan.Almira” is already filled in for username. Noia does not attempt to enter a password, however, and closes out the window.

I have no hacking ability, she reasons, and besides, too many incorrect entires could lock the screen…

Noia returns to the sofa and, with another cautionary glance at the office door, picks up the mobile phone Deline had brought with her. To her surprise it is unlocked. The photo album was left open and she scrolls through the pictures Deline took of the site were she was found. The one she took of Noia is last and Noia shakes her head at the perplexed expression on her own face. The rest of the content on the phone is minimal and most of the numbers in what is available of the call log are not identified. She cannot get any of the videos to play but she opens a three conversation list of recent text messages.

The one from “Mom & Dad” is long and the most recent messages are encouragement for Deline to be strong and prompting her to be safe; “Mom & Dad” will be in touch with any new information.

The next log is from “The Ghost” which is fairly curious:

04/13/45

[22:10] Deline: Sector 8 clear.

[22:10] The Ghost: Move on to B Grid. The most favorable sector is: 318

[23:11] Deline: Clear. No damn data.

[23:12] The Ghost: I’m sorry, D. I’ll keep looking.

[23:13] Deline: I know.

04/18/45

[13:56] The Ghost: You have another contract from a new client.

[13:57] The Ghost: download file

[14:06] Deline: Accept at 25% mark up.

[14:20] The Ghost: Client is complaining.

[14:31] Deline: Cite security clearance needed to complete the contract.

[14:58] The Ghost: Client has accepted but shortened the deadline to 24 hours.

[15:00] Deline: Fine.

04/19/45

[12:02] Deline: Done.

[12:05] The Ghost: Ooo, two hours and change early!

04/22/45

[12:02] The Ghost: Payment cleared.

04/25/45

[21:46] Deline: Received another contract from ETHR.

[21:48] The Ghost: Your status is set to unavailable. You bullying for Big Brother again?

[21:52] Deline: No. This one is from The Fox.

[21:52] The Ghost: Ooooo, anything interesting?

[21:55] Deline: Sounds like a girl was running.

[21:56] The Ghost: Woah. Not okay, D.

[21:56] The Ghost: Don’t let him sucker you in.

[22:01] Deline: You know me better than that.

[22:03] The Ghost: Be safe overseas.

[22:04] Deline: Don’t get into too much trouble without me.

[22:04] The Ghost: Haha! No promises~

05/04/45

[15:03] Deline: Tier 1

[15:03] The Ghost: K

05/05/45

[05:55] Deline: Arrived.

[05:56] The Ghost: Yay!

SECURITY SETTING TIER YELLOW INITIATED

05/06/45

[20:11] The Ghost: Check in. Any results?

[20:12] Deline: No.

05/07/45

[20:20] The Ghost: Check in. Results?

[20:21] Deline: No.

05/08/45

[20:01] The Ghost: Check in. Results?

05/09/45

[20:01] Deline: Nothing found.

05/10/45

[20:01] The Ghost: Check in. Results?

05/11/45

[20:01] The Ghost: Deline. Check in.

05/12/45

[08:28] SECURITY SETTING TIER YELLOW BYPASS REQUEST

[08:30] CLEARED

[08:31] The Ghost: D, ETHR just announced their research team found something that could advance our environment recover and health care again. Is this related to what you’re looking for in Rome for The Fox?

[15:05] The Ghost: D?

[22:00] The Ghost: D, check in, please.

05/13/45

[05:17] The Ghost: DELINE! CHECK IN.

[06:20] The Ghost: I’m activating your GPS tracking if you don’t check in in 24 hours.

05/14/45

[06:21] ENCRIPTED SCAN DETECTED

REMOTE ACCESS FROM LISTED PERMISSION SITE ‘NARNIA’ REQUESTED

ACCEPT?

TEXT “YES” OR “NO”

[06:22] OVERRIDE INITIALIZED

[06:24] PERMISSION BYPASS ACCEPTED

[06:25] STATUS DATA CONFIRMED

OVERRIDE ALARM ACTIVATED

[06:26] The Ghost: WHO IS HOLDING THIS PHONE?

[06:27] The Ghost: YOU HAVE 60 SECONDS TO ANSWER.

[06:27] Deline: Deline47804

[06:27] The Ghost: Oh my gawd, D. I’m gonna KILL you when you get home.

[06:30] Deline: Chill, kid. I’ll bring you biscottificcio innocent

[06:31] The Ghost: …

[06:31] The Ghost: I love you.

[06:31] Deline: Enough to give Mr Bark competition?

[06:32] The Ghost: …Maybe.

05/15/45

[20:29] Deline: I found her.

[20:30] Deline: I don’t think this is a lover’s spat. She’s too earnest to tolerate The Fox.

[20:31] The Ghost: Who is she?

[20:43] Deline: I’ll be back stateside by 1400. I’ll contact you.

[20:44] The Ghost: K

The Ghost? The Fox? Mr Tree? Who were they? What was Deline going to tell The Ghost about her? She looks through the texts again but finds no further clues.

The last log of texts is from Crevan:

04/22/45

[07:55] Crevan: I’ve got a proposition for you, my Dear Deline~

[08:06] Deline: Coffee on Korner Kirk’s. 04/25 @ 16:30

04/25/45

[16:29] Crevan: I’m here.

04/27/45

[07:16] Crevan: itinerary

[07:17] Crevan: Here is your flight information. You’ve been upgraded to Tier 5 security for this one.

05/04/45

[08:01] Crevan: May the 4th be with you, my Devine Deline. Have a safe trip.

[08:20] Deline: Thanks.

05/05/45

[06:06] Deline: Arrived. Hotel check in went smoothly.

[07:33] Crevan: Delightful!

05/07/45

[18:05] Crevan: Anything yet?

[18:43] Deline: No.

05/10/45

[18:45] Crevan: Any luck today, Devine Deline?

[18:50] Deline: No.

05/12/45

[18:24] Crevan: There should be something by now.

[18:52] Deline: No.

05/14/45

[19:20] Crevan: Anything today, Dear Deline?

[19:23] Deline: No.

05/15/45

[16:14] Crevan: Send me your coordinates. I need to make sure you’re in the right area.

[20:25] Deline: image file sent

[20:26] Crevan: Oh, she’s beautiful! Call me when you get back to the hotel.

[22:39] Deline: Moved flight earlier. ETA 13:30

[22:40] Crevan: Your time?

[22:41] Deline: Your time.

[22:41] Crevan: You are DEVINE, Deline!

So Crevan sent Deline for her. How did he know where to send Deline? Was it really the research team that had located her?

Noia returns the phone to the photo album and shuts off the screen, placing it back just where she found it. There was definitely more to this…

She is just beginning to dig into the pockets of the rucksack when she hears voices approaching from the hall...