[[About 2 hours ago.....]]

Lefo sifted through the catalog in Karl's shop and quizzically looked at each item while cocking his head to one side.

"Karl, what's the word on the streets about these spatial condensers?"

Karl popped up from underneath his desk and his wrinkled face made the spectacles on the bridge of his pudgy nose squirm.

"Not worth it. A sham. There's a bloke who used it trying to go through Ice Hell quickly. He never did."

"Ahhhh....," Lefo remembered his last expedition to that pace. He came out alright but it wasn't pretty at all. In fact he was very much near death at the time. Luckily the gate that he took wasn't a hunting gate. That would've been disastrous indeed. Ice Hell was always known to be strewn with these horrors.

Lefo popped another crumb of his precious nutrients in his mouth and munched slowly while turning the page again.

"I don't know why you keep looking at those catalogs Lefo. More than half of it is shite and hoaxes to get your cares and shills anyway."

"Perhaps, but then less than half of this would be true, yes?"

Karl simply shrugged and went under his desk again, evidently working on something. Lefo closed the catalog and got up, peering to whatever Old Karl was doing.

"You really should get a vench assistant Karl. They work faster and it'll be good on your bad back anyway."

"Bah, vench hires are expensive. Besides, they don't stay alive long enough for my tastes."

"True... well I must be off then."

"Delivery?" Karl's voice came muffled from under his desk as the clink and clangs of machinery was worked on.

"Always the case. Professor Salarishkay of Sub 2 West University has agreed to help me distribute these at his colony, makes my hard job simpler."

"Well go on then.... you might pollinate my shop if you stay here any longer."

Lefo made a small laugh and stepped outside amidst the chaos and the strange coloured sky that everyone here calls home.

[[50 minutes ago...]]

Lefo rang the buzzer in front of EV's door many times. Yet, there was no answer. She was no doubt wide awake, he could hardly remember if the vench had any sleep lately. Still, she always requested the latest edition of the gate running guild's catalogs from him and he always delivered while she always ignored the buzzer, much less open the door for him.

Lefo opened the mouth piece guard and spoke into the steel pole, the sound should reach her basement perfectly as always.

"I'm going to drop this into your chute EV, and goodness inviting me for biscuits at least would be nice for a change!"

He rolled up the catalog and dropped it into the plastic tube besides her door. The catalog was sucked in like a vacuum and made its way towards EV's basement.

"Well, I must be off then," Lefo spoke under his breath and kept on going.

[[Around 20 minutes ago. A good measure after Jordan left and on route to Center Piece.]]

Lefo finally reached the University and walked up the steps briskly. He knew where Sal's office was by heart, being there countless times already. He was worried that Sal was getting old fast. It seemed that with every visit he seemed more haggard than before. He surmised that it might be the emerging effects of stagnant colonization, but he had no solid proof other than his own existence. He's as old as Sal was yet Lefo looked half his age.

The synchronicity fields on this part of Ruin seemed odd to Lefo today. It appeared to be more disjointed than usual. He wondered what could've caused it but could find no more logical answer than that's the way Ruin goes. Life in Ruin has always been unpredictable, so this phenomenon shouldn't be any different. Yet it bothered him all the same.

He opened the door to his office and found that Salarishkay was slumped down on his desk, a knife portruded from his back.

Lefo immediately went to his friend's side and shook him up.

"Sal? Sal???!!!? Cubes, no....."

Green sap dripped from Salarishkay's corpse and pooled on the floor beneath his chair. What exactly have happened here? Why did Salarishkay die? These were among the foremost of what filled Lefo's thoughts at the moment as he buried his face in his hands. Finally he got up and called for help outside the hall.

[[Present.]]

Lefo readjusted the bag that was slung over his shoulder and was on his way to the Center Piece. The authorities were already investigating the murder and Lefo's testimony was already taken. But there was something in the mannerism of those that investigate the case that seemed off to Lefo. It's as if they didn't care at all. Center Piece officials could hardly be trusted at the best of times, but the nonchalance stroke a nerve in Lefo. Something was not right. He had to get an answer from one of his informants from within Center Piece. Getting in would be difficult, as always. But he always managed.

He accidentally bumped into a running human boy, a tack by the looks of it. The box the boy was carrying accidentally dropped at his feet.

"Sorry about that."

Lefo bent over to pick up the box to return it to the boy when he noticed part of the seal of Center Piece on it. He looked at the tack in fear and whispered silently to himself.

"Cubes....."

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