I did not dare let slip any detail of our plan previously, not even in a personal journal entry. But now that it's all over, I feel safe to disclose everything openly and freely.
So Iona followed through with what she said she would do. She sent a message to Robert Tims. She claimed that we had supposedly established a business this month called Minnos, with an agenda to follow through on scientific theories and construct submarines, as well as numerous detection devices, in order to search for henshale deposits under the East-Central portion of the Meredythian Islands. Accordingly, we were supposedly a startup with loans from abroad; however, we were willing to invest in high-quality products from West Horizon owing to confidence that such a venture would pay off. We also said that we were staying at a very nice hotel called The Commencement, located in Three Points (and this part was true; we decided to indulge a little), and that we were open to meeting with him on the First Floor in the Dining Area for an informal dinner conversation over an inquiry into what West Horizon had to offer.
Tims replied, saying that while he did not normally do such informal meetups but that this time, he happened to have a schedule cancellation, and that he would be willing to provide us guidance in our business growth as well as West Horizon investment advice.
So last Friday, we traveled to Three Points. We woke up at 4:30 am, as the flight out of Gentry County left at 6:00 am. But it was a very short flight. And when we arrived, we took a mesh-train shuttle from the Three Points Airfield to the Commencement Hotel. Along the way, we say how upper-class the region appeared. Very large houses here, even larger than at Cabotton University.
The Hotel Commencement was very modern, very spacious, and very comfortable. I guess it was designed for those distinguished alumni of the Three Points Academy, but there were seemingly limitless conveniences around every corner and hallway of that place. The First Floor had a vast lobby, known as the Atrium, as well as numerous dining halls, ballrooms, auditoriums, public baths, and an indoor mesh train platform, from where we disembarked. The other four floors, reserved for the numerous bedrooms and suites, were traversed by numerous elevators and ramps. And the Top Deck of the building was home to an outdoor pool and observation deck, closed right now for the season. We took tram-shuttles from the mesh train platform to our suite, which had two beds each containing its own bathroom, OCEA console, miniature library, refrigerator, and a small oven.
We spent Friday touring everywhere inside the Hotel Commencement, the Three Points Academy, and then the numerous shops and places of the Three Points Municipality. We slept in our suite that evening. And on Saturday, we did largely the same, only this time, going through the Library at the Academy.
That evening, we had our informal dinner with Robert Tims.
"Karyanna? Iona?" he introduced himself, shaking our hands. "Dr. Robert Tims here. And very nice to meet you." He walked us back to the table and sat us down. He seemed full of energy. "So. Curious question. About Minnos...have you been to the Meredythian before?"
"Oh yes," I said. For a brief moment, Iona glanced at me. I was improvising at this point, as I had not been there, truthfully. Nevertheless, I went on about my imaginary trip, with the imaginary tram rides and air cruises, and dining on the deck next to the sea and so forth. And he seemed to be eating this up.
During the course of this, we had ordered the same item: honeyed chicken with buttered broccoli, a sweet dinner roll, fruit salad, and water. Then we ordered the wine, the one Tims preferred. He finished his well before we finished ours. In fact, we each only took several sips.
"Don't you like it?" he asked us.
"Of course we do," I said. "We just prefer to savor each sip."
For a moment, I feared that our cover would unravel. But then he shrugged and said, "More for me." He ordered another round for himself.
Now it was Iona's turn to speak. "The Meredythian trip was a memorable one, almost as memorable as our times in university."
"Ah. You went to school together as well..." he asked.
"We saw each other in passing," I replied.
And so began the conversation of our backgrounds, with us exchanging stories while we watched Tims exhibiting more and more signs of drunkenness. Before long, he mentioned his time in the Pageturner Guild, why he joined, and what he did, including promotions to assist their leadership board.
"I am sure it is honorable, what you did," Iona said. "I have too many marks on my record to join such an organization, let alone West Horizon or getting promoted or anything like that."
"You wanna know something?" Tims said, his speech now a bit slurred. "All of us do. Even everyone at the top, way above me by the way...in fact, I have a secret."
We both leaned in but it turned out not to be too obvious. "What is that?" I asked.
"You know how the Williard Kent Initiative is trying to sabotage us..."
"I read your article."
"Well...I placed something called a kernel in their plane. I didn't sabotage it. Don't worry. But made a real subtle change there, ... but regardless, it was enough to delay them and give us more time. I bet they're trying to reverse and remove it. But I made sure neither could happen. Usually a kernel has a kill-switch like that, but I redesigned it so that it simply repeats the process. Either they have to give up or rebuild from scratch. Don't worry. They'll see it as glitch."
And so the dinner finished out with no further incident. After we parted ways with Tims, however, I had an urgent question: "How are we do document this? I didn't think of that."
"Don't worry," Iona said, pulling out her comm tab. "It has been recorded."
Back at the suite, we played the recording, which lasted an hour and seventeen minutes and played Tims' voice loud and clear.
The next morning, we checked out and flew back here to Cabotton.
It is now a matter of presenting this to the Admins and a delegation, most likely, on further action. Iona contacted them on Monday. And we are due to meet with them in two days.