61 First Contac (1/2)

The basement of the house was rather spacious, although the area was mostly occupied with shelves full of useless junk that Joshua had no interest in. The most interesting thing he saw was some sort of power regulator, which connected into the ground to a large network, most likely a central in the city. One thing he noticed, or rather the lack thereof was the plumbing. It was an interesting design. Rather than making large water canals, the water coming out of the faucets in the house was generated via a rune, therefore, the power supply not only provided energy to the house but freshwater as well. If it went down the drain, the water would once again be recycled into raw neutral energy.

Of course, Joshua didn't come down here to examine the power network, even if he was interested in the subject. He took a glance at the corner of the room and saw that the two bodies had been placed there, covered by a drape. He then turned his gaze toward the main attraction of the place.

In the center of the room was the fool they had captured. He had been tied to a chair and was still unconscious. He was also drenched, which made Joshua frown. Next to him stood Eric, holding a small bottle in his right hand.

He looked a bit annoyed and told Joshua: ”Seriously, this guy is out cold. Lord Joshua, you really did a number on him.”

”You can't wake him up?”

”I tried in several ways. Even poured a bucket of water over him. No reaction. I asked Luna for advice and it pointed me toward this bottle I picked up from the shelves,” Eric replied showing the bottle to Joshua.

It was a plastic bottle containing ammonium.

”That's pretty strong stuff, it should work.”

Eric opened the bottle and carefully smelled its content.

”Wow! Indeed, I see what you mean. Well, if that doesn't wake him up, I dunno what to try,” he told Joshua after pulling the bottle far from his head.

He placed it right under the guy's nose. There was an immediate reaction as the guy's eyes opened and he began to cough loudly.

'Finally! Good job, Eric!' Joshua transmitted mentally.

'You're talking via Luna?'

'Yup, that way he can't hear us. Should allow us to talk freely without revealing too much.'

'Makes sense. Anyway, I'll hypnotize him and we should be able to extract anything we want from him. Just let me know if you have a question in particular.'

'OK!'

The man finally stopped coughing and began looking around the room. His expression was, however, not what they expected. He appeared very peaceful and had a smile on his face. Finally, he turned toward Eric and Joshua and said:

”Good day, sirs! How's your day been so far?”

A bit perplexed, Eric replied: ”I'm sorry, what?”

'Lord Joshua, has this guy lost his mind?'

'… No idea. Let's play along for now. At least the instant translation is working properly.'

”My name is Tergeist, Paul Tergeist,” Joshua answered, eternally punny.

”I'm… Vincent … Sumthing,” Eric added, a bit embarrassed.

”A pleasure meeting both of you. I'm a bit in a pickle though as I appear to be tied up. Could you please lend me a hand?”

”Mister Smith,” Eric began, ”Do you remember what happened to you?”

”Hmm, let me think for a moment. No, I don't think I do. I think I was planning to visit my friends, Henry and Clarisse Bloom, but I seem to have had a Wiping. I had several in the past year already, even my doctor can't find the cause,” Lucien replied as it was the most natural thing in the world.

'Is this guy for real? Hi, I'm Lucien, I'm a moron who just murdered my friends Henry and Clarisse for some money, except I don't remember any of it because I suffer from chronicle memory loss!' Joshua yelled internally.

'You gotta admit, he's quite something...' Eric commented.

'He's not screwing with us, right?'

'I don't think so, I'm pretty good at reading people and this fellow seems genuine. I can still hypnotize him if needed, but I think we should continue to talk for now.'

Before they could come up with a relevant question, Lucien continued his small talk.

”By the way, good sirs. Pardon me for being indiscreet, but your accouterments are quite original, I must say. Are you not from around here?”