The Interesting Times Gang does not stick around for long once on French soil. Authorities complain about young people joyriding in a hyper-tech jet without asking for flight clearances, but on the other hand an Airbus full of South American tourists landed safely at Brest Bretagne Airport and will be treated to the full complement of French hospitality (billed to the airline), so little indiscretions like that can be overlooked.
Charles the Hammer, of course, takes over the rescue operations. He doesn’t actually do much, except inspire scared passengers via his heroic presence, and often that’s enough.
“Change of plan,” announces Alycia. “We got a lot of curious eyes on us now. Agent M moves from current location to Nice. 1337, provide logistics for the move. SNOWMAN and I will take the jet out to sea, get off radar and satellite optics, then rendezvous with you when it’s safe.”
“I should point out that I need to relieve myself,” the Polish chemist points out. “Soon.”
“I don’t,” announces SNOWMAN, smugly.
Alycia wants to scream at them both. Instead, she takes a breath. “There’ll be plenty of time, just… just be patient.”
Alycia and SNOWMAN said goodbye to Ducky in the Baie des Anges and swam the remaining few hundred meters. Now they’re resting in a relatively comfortable hotel room. The buildings on the street outside are cream-colored, with occasional reds. Window shutters tend toward darker blues and violets.
Alycia has a laptop and camera set up, and Agent 1337 is operating it remotely and coordinating the connection with Nono. SNOWMAN and Hot Mess are playing bodyguard. Once everything is ready, they get down to business.
Alycia puts on her game face. “Mr. Borys Bazar. We’re not the police. We’re not with your former employer. Think of us as, ah, an interested third party. We’re going to talk about what you were doing in that drug lab near Mactun. Cooperate with us, and we’ll put you anywhere on the planet you want, with some cash to keep you going. If you don’t cooperate, well, you’re still a wanted man in Poland.”
Bazar nods, and licks his lips in apprehension. “I understand.”
Alycia knows he’s been through a lot. They’ll be lucky to get anything actionable out of him without some work. But it’s work that needs to be done.
Hot Mess presciently secured a whiteboard and markers earlier, and Bazar starts drawing on them. “The chemical process we are using is very experimental. A new drug. The basics of ΔFosB overexpression in addiction is understood, but addiction to what? The stimulus is…”
The writing on the whiteboard grows like kudzu. Nono, on her end, is taking notes - Alycia can’t see it (because nobody wants Bazar seeing her), but can hear it in her voice, and from the occasional noises that come across the satellite audio hookup. More and more she asks questions. When she doesn’t know enough, SNOWMAN intervenes, guiding Bazar through an explanation using his own mastery of the brain.
For her part, Alycia understands enough to formulate hypotheses, and to ask intelligent questions if she needs specifics that are beyond her. Shockingly, she recognizes what’s happening here.
“Agent M, secure Bazar in another room. We need to have a talk here.”
With the chemist gone, she slumps down on one of the hotel beds and exhales in long-suppressed agitation.
“He said they took existing neurotransmitter distributions. Found ways to synthesize them, get the same effect. And then make it addictive, in pill form. But I know where they’re from. The Menagerie called it the Sepiaverse.”
Alycia looks at SNOWMAN, and at the camera where Nono and Alex are watching. “My father. He’s taken the absolute intrinsic hopelessness of another dimension, the place the Vyortovians are from, and he’s weaponized it. He’s created a drug that addicts you to despair.”