Branch
Doors crowd you, stacked upon each other. Behind one of them -- your former asset, ESTOC, draped in a see-through cloak.
Eszti Newitz. Competent. Unlikeable. Ultimately invaluable.
It's good I'm here. We should talk.
Talk, yes. Then spy.
Call her a 'frigid bitch' also, if we find an öpening!
One of these apartments belongs to ESTOC. You just have to discover which.
How?
There appears to be a resident's list on the wall. You could start there.
Better start knocking, then.
One of these apartments belongs to ESTOC. You just have to discover which.There appears to be a resident's list on the wall. You could start there.Ramses was white lithium grease and hash. Vespar: leather, salt, sour pear. Karolina, often up programming…Tempo smelled of tarry tobacco and the expensive aftershave he rubbed on his bald head, and HOLOCENE smelled…Not perceptibly. But there was something at a base pheromonal level that pitted you against each other from…
You must be subtle in your approach. Your asset is still living her cover. That will make her unpredictable... and desperate.
Eszti keeps a special mental calendar marked 'Critical Phone Call from Hershel?'. The calendar has been counting for five years.
Branch
End of this branch
No need to stress, she's almost definitely forgotten about that phonecall you promised her.
Could try and sniff her out.
Probably not the move. There was nothing distinctive about ESTOC's scent.
An equal mix of 'old people' and 'immunity to fun'.
Ramses was white lithium grease and hash. Vespar: leather, salt, sour pear. Karolina, often up programming all night, wafted coffee wherever she went.
Tempo smelled of tarry tobacco and the expensive aftershave he rubbed on his bald head, and HOLOCENE smelled overwhelmingly of old book, a meticulous diet and deoderising rituals neutralising his natural scent.
Not perceptibly. But there was something at a base pheromonal level that pitted you against each other from day one.
"Eszti! I'm here! I'm sorry!"
SHHH! What is wrong with you?
I'll keep it strictly professional.
Like her. Cold, well connected, and in her native element in the grey rooms of the city's bureaucratic and political ventricles.
Also: Frigid, judgmental, and eminently punch-able.
Can I just skip this one?
No. She is the Head of Human Capital. You are here to remind her of a fundamental truth: once an asset, always an asset.
She is a cold moon in your eternal orbit. Trust the invisible geometry. It will hold.