Yoshida slightly closed his left palm. The membrane sent an obscure signal to the brainscan computer replicating the effect of a correct answer. His palm was well-hidden in the dark, invisible by the rest of his colleagues and the camera.
The screen then projected a truthful answer.
"Seems like you are not as useful as you claimed in the news to be. But I am not surprised. Lying is the profession of all those lowlife tv personalities, and you being one of them."
"You briefly described the structure of the Oracles. I'd like to hear about this in deeper detail."
* he smirked but tried his best to remain serious.. parts of him ached things were still very dangerous right now. this game had to be played correctly or the whole idea would be lost.*
"Well cant say I was exactly thrilled to be on there.. that was more Doc Empties thing. Hes one of the uhh what they call Iconoclast agents and is pretty much tasked with bringing in seekers. I actually never met that man myself.
As for the oracles structure I can only say Thomas seems to be the top of the pyramid from him there are what you call exarchs, Im not one of those.. infact im sure the title they gave me was 99% flattery. Anyone in the oracles who do anything are closer to thomas then ill ever be as he coordinates pretty much everything out of chester. Which is .. I think their main base. "
He gives an expression of thinking...
"The significance of that im not sure but what i've done was apparently so popular amongst the seekers and the faithful that they like my writing, I am compensated.. but I have to say what i wrote or edited of the church's material was just reflections based on healthy mental practices and self actualization.. something oddly the spirits don't seem to possess inherently."
he shrugs.
"Also considering their cardamine distribution network is better than any smuggling network i've ever seen.. well.. I am sorta at their mercy ... a fact im sure is instrumental to my personal cooperation."
Yoshida didn't close his palm. And thus the brainscan showed that the Arbiter didn't say the whole truth.
After he saw the scan, Yoshida didn't turn his head back to Jim. He sighed and slowly loosened his tie before standing up and moving slowly to his prisoner. His expression was much darker this time, his wrinkles and imperfections of his face much more visible. Next to the Arbiter's ear he whispered but loudly enough for all to hear.
"Did you really think that mixing a story with some half-truths would allow you to cheat? I thought you realized the situation here. Do you see those marks, Jim?" He coldly asked pointing to the scratches in the walls.
"These are being willingly made by the prisoners at their 9th day of sleep deprivation. In fact this room contains some more interesting marks which you will have all the time in the world to find out if you lie to me again. The alternative is to get back to your normal life, Jim. To your family. Think about it." A suggestion which sounded so normal as if this was a friendly conversation. The Hacker then moved back to his original position.
"ALRIGHT alright alright.. I was thrilled to be on the net. Im vain i like being a spokesperson. .. Just not right now."
*he strained double think is more difficult than he thought... well these days and their instruments are more sensitive than what he worked with.. *
Honestly I've met three oracles. Thomas. Ishtar. and Liam. Liam is dead.. ishtar is.. just.. gone. And thomas has been running the show. he has a little newsletter that they make me keep up with.
Which by the way do not have a list of agents saboteurs and or terrorists in them they're more like the things your grandma sends you in your mail account.. chain letters quotes from the bible stuff like that."
*perspirations stress was actually mounting.*
"I always meet them In chester in person. there's a lot of strange stuff out there also its close to dublin where I spend time off the radar."
*shook his head*
"Ive seen a lot of strange stuff in my time but what happened to thomas.. over the years.. some of them change.. a lot.. and to be frank at the pit of my stomach im more afraid of them then I am of you."
"I really wish to share your enthusiasm but if two out of the three heads are already wiped, then things are not developing exactly as planned." He amusingly remarked.
"I wish to know the exact structure of the organization in the lower level. The name of your superior who provides you with your orders and anything you know about Chester and Tau-117 systems. The latter is also known as Drake system." He paused for a moment before adding.
"And don't even think of omitting anything this time. We will know if you do."
*he looked at yoshida the instruction germinating a whole host of responses.. he wasn't editing things more figuring out how to present this and not get shocked to death*
"Lower level.. ..well that part isn't much of a secret really the.. concept of the bottom of the churches pyramid is the seeker. seekers are defined in literature and materials spread wide as anyone wanting to find inner truth or balance in their life.
Now i'm sure some of these people could be used to gather information.. I have witnessed on several uh. correspondence where certain people deemed.. I guess interesting or important were called seekers of note where others would be on like.. a scavenger hunt to help them out with whatever problem they're having. This is usually corporate officers of high ranking.. people with influence.
Above the seeker is the faithful or cultist... called them cultists for years since i've met them it isn't a stigma in the omicrons like it is here.. But i suspected cultists are an amorphous term to cover a wide range of activities .. again.. some seem to have authority.. many just seem to mooch cardamine and work the grounds at the visitors center at malta.
They call me a prophet. I edited a lot of text and information given to me to make it.. I guess palatable. But that cup seems to have passed from me in recent years as someone else is doing the writing. some woman on malta. probably a golden chrysanthemum. but thats just a guess dont shock me on that."
he paused for a moment.
"Windcallers. that's what they called him... you know its funny I didnt consider him a superior until you phrased it just like that. Shit. But the guy floats around liberty and is a windcaller or.. well basicly the lowest level of oracle you can get. The name I got was Ecclesse but i looked him up as a synth food guy by the name Hans Campbell. I mean im a nosey person i like to know whom I am dealing with. if i need to get ahold of someone or anything i go through him. and sometimes he would have kiosks and materials to drop off at the stations around rico."
he shrugged
"I figured id give them access to rico while i was looking over stuff least till the real arbiter came back and everyone was done lying low. ... As for Chester? i've been shortcutting through chester for nearly twenty years? That long ago nav maps weren't as updated.. jump gates still had region locks.. and frankly junkers had their own maps then. Times changed.. chester ended up on the maps around new london.. more people started using it. Frankly though.. Like many systems in the sector strange things happen.. people stop using em cause the areas too hostile or.. the police start patrolling the spot. Chester is.. hiding something. that much is certain but i've never seen what. It didn't surprise me though meeting the oracles the first time was in that system. Long long time ago.
I mean you hear about fights with aliens in that system but i never truthfully saw one there. I mean.. id figure they were a little more intelligent then to run back to their base being pursued.. like the usual idiot that runs to rochester when the cops light them up. Rumors though.. too many to track and usually baseless crap.
Drake. man.. i dont even get the fascination with it. I saw that thing you need to use to get there.. Who the HELL pokes an alien zuggerat to enter a space to god knows where? Morons. Ive never been and i never will be going in there i dont give a damn if its in a heavy carrier with fifty billion fighters I aint doing it.and im sorry if that bursts your bubble but while I am a smuggler... with a perfect record... most of that comes with being practical and one step ahead of who might catch you can frankly what's lurking in that system can probably wait all day for some poor fly to enter the trap.
Nope. never. send a probe. or some robot but rubbing my behind on alien gates is out of my job description."
"That is a quite advanced form of group organization. Infiltration of the Oracles will be a rather difficult thing to achieve." He loudly whispered to himself. Then he turned to the female operative who was monitoring the computer screens.
"Anne, can you confirm that this rather elaborate description was a fully truthful?"
"The subject answered the question with no stimulation of the areas in his brain which are accounted for lying or cheating behavior." Hearing this the ranked Hacker nodded to his female colleague and turned his attention back to the Arbiter.
"We are making progress Jim. This will be over soon and no one will even notice your absence." Yoshida coldly added and checked his watch.
"I want you to describe what made this religious figure called Thomas change over the last years. And what he is now. I also want to know all the information about Hans Campbell. How frequently he contacts you, where he lives, even his color of pants if you know it... He maintained his cold, calculating demeanor. Don't worry, we are not judgemental with what we learn. I will be, however, if you refrain from telling us everything you know."
"Thomas Aquintas. He was.. a rather typical jet black haired outcast of italian descent when I met him. His father ran the cult as the teacher of faith on the human side.
Master teacher... or Mar Sarra. There was interest in psychoanalysis to people forcing themselves into cardamine withdrawal in the cult.. They paid well and frankly how many junkers were you going to come across with these credentials.
It was odd.. many of the patients were human.. some were cybernetically enhanced agents.. slaves that.. for better or worse were used in areas jameson has left alone or let die. The cult wouldn't come out and say it but I had the feeling there was an rivalry there... jameson was a staunch atheist and was smart enough to stay out of the way of the families. He kept the sectors troubles from piercing the social bubble on malta.
At that time though i was able to reverse what was implanted manchurian type conditioning in these people.. and I can only hope led healthy lives after.
The next time was about three years after.. Ishtar and Liam contacted me in relation to another strange outbreaks of cannibalism amongst a orbiting colony in omicron 81. The interesting part was I mostly worked with thomas who.. has a strange ability to calm these frenzied people.. As it turned out the cardamine wasn't only contaminated but wasn't really cardamine at all. Syllisiban and and type of muscle stimulant was being fed on purpose to these people.
Thomas has possessed a type of...empathy.. that could calm and cajole those around him.. I had seen this before once in Zoner circles.. I can only guess it was a type of inherited telepathy.
While again never learning the details it wasn't hard to guess that the cult has its enemies on malta and from time to time while many of them had advanced knowledge in many fields.. clinical psychology was a hole I filled in often.
We would keep in contact and.. sometime after jameson's exile I was given the old books of the wyrding way.. or what the cult used to i guess indoctrinate higher members.
It was a mess.. a very very long line of stories written by one teacher to the next.. Well written but lacking substance.
Year later i gave them the Book of the Fading Dawn. the summarised book out of 18 books thomas gave me. he read it. Loved it and he's loved me ever since.
I produced one more smaller book The Way.. that was the first edition the 5th editions is what's out now amongst the seekers and in the bookstores.
It was around the 2nd edition i met Campbell. Campbell is a Dark skinned guy from los Angeles I'm not too sure if the stuff i dug up on him was 100% accurate but he gets the philosophy and is usually vary light handed with me.. though I've seen him straight up order around windcaller like they were cattle. So its hard to place him.. I suspect if they ever learn of this he will be a dead man. ... the Oracles don't hesitate to discard failures... which raises my unease..
I mean sure.. I shoulda known better like 8 years ago but it was always there in the background... never saw the ugly side of it.. fully till these recent years.. And as Thomas is now.. without a nose.. Hes.. well. to say Mutated would be a kindness.. Hes no longer what youd call.. infected.. I've seen some terrible examples of infectees.. this is a whole other level of frankenstein..
Where his little.. parlor trick was innerving enough.. He can convert crowds just by being there.. The indoctrination is.. its.. "
*he struggled to phrase it..*
"Supernatural. "
*he moved on mentally to campbell*
"As for campbell all his informations in my contact book. Password is Hoo Haa"
"We have already cracked your personal computer." He quickly remarked and finished drinking the water on his glass. He then made two steps and turned towards the camera.
"Professor, I think we have extracted all the important intel from the Arbiter. Do you wish to make a question yourself?"
Nicole Hunter was observing the interrogation from her personal chamber on Airdrie Hideout, guarded by her assassins standing outside the blast doors.
The Cult of Sirius, a semi-official alien envoys overtly spreading propaganda of coexistence in peace and harmony with the Nomads, while covertly working on transhuman black research, most notably hybridization and fertility projects. When she first came into contact with their operatives years ago she planned an infiltration of The Cult-run research facility on Corsica Outer Sanctum. She personally met Exarch Liam and Exarch Ishtar. However, due to unknown links with the Ghosts of Razgriz and reappearance of the notorious Angelina Corino, the mission has been cancelled as too risky. Potential damage to the relations with Malta was assessed as unacceptable should the mission fail. Instead all the gathered data was sold to the Order. When over half year ago at the rendezvous point instead of Order agents two infected Wilde appeared it became apparent that her position was compromised and her cover was blown. Her fears were confirmed when suddenly Three Winds, known Cult operative, appeared in Ontario. Suddenly increased Nomad activity in Liberty started to make more sense.
And now a high ranked operative responsible for major propaganda operations of the Cult was captured and interrogated by The Lane Hackers. Finally they had a chance to learn more about what the Cult was up to in Liberty. However, something was wrong. It all looked almost too pretty to be true. McKenna started talking too fast and too willingly. Did they walk into a sophisticated counter-intelligence trap or it is just a her paranoia? If she had time she would have conducted the interrogation in Airdrie herself and undoubtedly learn the truth. Unfortunately, she was occupied with upgrades of the Mactan Network and the Spyglass project. However, she believed in Goro Yoshida's skills. Newest Provocateur of the Lane Hackers was very loyal and well trained. She was confident that if the whole show was staged Yoshida will get to the bottom of it.
![[Image: JAqYDxE.png]](https://i.imgur.com/JAqYDxE.png)
![[Image: DNGyUV1.png]](https://i.imgur.com/DNGyUV1.png)
