"Busy at the moment. I will reach back out to you within the next day or two."
That was Findor Quotus' response over the past five days.
Today, I finally got fed up and went up to his Office Door, in person and on the fifth floor. I knocked on it, softly at first and then quite loudly after the fifth attempt, all to no response. I went back to my hotel room and messaged him again, saying that I was at his Office Door needing to speak to him urgently. Again, he replied that he was busy but would get back to me in a timely fashion. I told him he had two hours to do so. Usually I would not deal intimidation like that in a situation like mine, but time was of the essence after all.
After three hours, I went back to Findor Quotus' Office Door and pounded on it again. For a second, I feared that having frustration getting the best of me would ultimately draw unwanted attention from either the Custodians or even the Combrian authorities. But nothing happened. Instead, I suddenly felt compelled to put my ear up to the door and listen. I could hear him typing away in there. Again, fury got the better of me as I pounded the door and shouted his name.
Again, there was no response.
My thoughts drifted to my talisman which I had stowed away in my right sleeve. I initially had it for use in self-defense if needed. But I've been well-versed in other forms of spellcasting, including concealment and...door access. I pulled my talisman out and cast a specially-crafted spell which functioned as a lock-pick. Much to my surprise, the door swung open with ease.
The Office Chamber, as I found out immediately, was not occupied by a human being. Rather, on the Office Desk rested some sort of metal box inside of which I heard some sort of typewriting mechanism, whatever it was, pushing out of a slot in the front of the device a roll of paper with text on it. I looked on the paper and saw some of it containing dialogue from messages I sent as well as the messages of others.
At that very moment, I realized that this was a trecholator, the kind that existed from before the days of visual dymensional planes, back when all dymensional planes were conveyed in the form of written text. I had not been communicating with Findor Quotus. This entire time, Fehn and I had been communicating with a character-avatar.
"Jax! Come here!"
The sudden voice gave me a fright, for not only did I think I was the only person in here, the voice itself seemed angry...or frightened. I turned and saw that a part of the wall had opened inward as a secret door, and out emerged the Custodian from earlier. He grabbed me roughly by the arm.
"Who are you!?" I demanded.
"Call me Pete!" he said through gritted teeth.
Still roughly by the arm, Pete dragged me through the secret doorway and down a flight of stairs. At the bottom was a dark corridor lacking the fancy facades of the upper levels, and the end of which was a dim light into a small, dank chamber. Before long, we arrived at that chamber. Inside was a raised table atop which stood which stood a rectangular, transparent glass box, which Pete indicated contained a vacuum inside.
Inside that vacuum-box was the deceased but perfectly-preserved body of Findor Quotus.
I was at a complete loss for words. Looked at Findor's body and then back at Pete, who grabbed me again, this time by both shoulders.
"Kara Martins' shadow. It was Kara Martins' shadow that killed him!" he said.
"Very well, makes sense," I said, shaking but otherwise calmly and gently taking Pete's hands off my shoulders. "Was it also, then, another one of Kara's 'shadows' that made an attempt on myself and my colleague? Would you know anything of that?" I took the charred badge out and showed it to him.
Pete snatched the badge out of my hand and threw it on the ground. "Pointless evidence! I already know what happened before it happened, Jax! But there's nothing I can do other than tell you to piss off before they find you! You were a fool to message Findor's avatar, let alone use spellwork to open that Office Door! A fool!! Now they know who you are and why you're here!" Pete violently dug into his pocket and pulled out a sealed envelope. "Want some useful information Jax? Take this! Get the hell out of here! And don't let anyone see this till you're back in Kindol! Now go!!" Pete walked quickly to the left side of the room and threw open a side door.
Carefully I followed suit. But just before I walked out, I asked the man a final question: "Are you Peter Quora?"
"Dammit! Just go!"
So I went, and I used spellwork to conceal myself, though I felt this would not help. I couldn't see anyone else on the premise but I had a growing sense of "shadows closing in around me." And it was a sense most definitely not created by my own mind.
Nevertheless, I escaped.
***
I boarded the mesh train and arrived back in South Masonia without incident. I was hoping to get a gyroplane flight back to Furthing but the last flight of the evening left an hour ago; so I will have to wait until 7:00 A.M. tomorrow.
I just hope that I don't get stopped on my way out.