When exploration of the new web of nodes began, many aspiring traders made their fortune in ferrying resources from one world to another. Over the centuries, a majority of these eventually accumulated into one corporation- Amaetheon. If there's some odds or ends you need, or just need to feed an army, Amaetheon is probably already there.

-Excerpt from Erodotos’ compendium

Chapter 6 - Naak

Naak regained consciousness as the splash of water hit him in the face, He was afraid to open his eyes. He was captured and tied up, he had already lost.

When working undercover, the secret of your allegiance is most important. Losing it was to lose your life.

He ground his teeth in anger. Somehow, Patli had intercepted his message. It should have been encrypted. It should have only been seen as a hidden file by another Osiris agent in the Erkalon node. When that agent returned to New Earth, the message should have automatically forwarded itself to Amunet.

This was top tier Osiris encryption. The backbone of the entire Espionage Division. Without a reliable way of transferring information, the whole operation was useless.

Either Osiris was severely compromised, or he’d been sold out. There was no way Osiris would sell him out, he was one of their best agents. It must have been a breach. Yes, Osiris would fix the error and send someone to get him out. Naak was sure of it.

“Wakey wakey,” a jolt of electricity shot through him. He kicked wildly as a shriek tore from his throat on its own volition. He finally opened his eyes.

His arms were secured above him. The room was dark, but the cameras swirled around him. Tiny drones with vicious red eyes, watching him from a dozen angles. Broadcasting to who knows where.

He marvelled at the way they floated. Blue jets of light silently holding them afloat. When faced with an impossible situation, the mind distracts itself. It focuses on the irrelevant, the mundane. anything but the starkness of reality.

A man appeared holding a stun baton. Vicious shots of blue fury excitedly danced along its end. The man put a finger to his lips and indicated to the weapon. The message was clear. Be silent.

A bright light appeared from every camera at once, bathing him in their scrutiny. He realised his clothes were gone.

“And here’s the prisoner,” a voice rang out from the unknown. Patli. Patli!

“Patli! Listen to me!” He begged.

The guard prodded him lightly with the baton. The pain was worse than anything he’d experienced. It seemed to reach all the way into his bones, frying his skin, his flesh, even his brain felt aflame, as he became intensely aware of its size, location and weight.

And then, just as quick as the pain had arrived, it was gone. Leaving him cold and naked on the floor once again.

“Can he hear us?” Another voice. Patli hadn’t lied about the board meeting. He was being paraded around like some sort of victory. Just not the way he had hoped.

“Yes.” Patli again. “The information we received was correct. He’s been leaking information for months. Now he’s set his sights on the Harpies. We’re tracking one on Tefnut, a woman named Haloke.”

Naak didn’t know what the hell a harpy was, and right now he didn’t care. He needed to get out of here while the voice connection was still on.

“Remember the night on Desparto!” He pleaded. The guard waited for a response. “I work for Maximon. Patli, what we had was real. I know you felt it.”

There was a long pause.

“We believe he is a high ranking operative. We’ll interrogate him until he breaks, then discard him.” Patli's voice was cold. Profesional.

The holo-call ended. The lights faded. The guard struck him across the chest with the baton again Harder this time. The fire inside him burned just that much longer.

*

Naak didn’t know where he was. The cell was different. Bigger, better lit. His captor was different too. The burly guard was gone. The interrogator wore a white coat and an apron. His bald head reflected the all too bright light of the scene.

His attire was unnecessary, He didn’t hurt Naak. Not physically. There was no chance of blood spillage.

“I’m Doctor Eadritch, but you can call me whatever you’d like,” he explained, “You see, it doesn’t matter what you tell me. You could spill every dirty secret Osiris has, right now, and I’d still torture you. It’s just what we do here.”

The doctor took a cable and plugged it into a socket above Naak’s ear. They had added a neural port. A doorway straight to his brain. There would be no struggle. Maximon, Doctor Eadritch, would extract every thought he had.

*

Every morning - Naak assumed it was morning, there was no way to tell in the room - the man would plug himself into his mind. There were no questions during the first two days. The doctor just watched on in silence as he subjected Naak to every torture program they had on file.

When plugged in, Naak fell into a virtual space that felt every bit as real as the cell. Why wouldn’t it, when the doctor was running the program straight through his grey matter?

Naak was immobilised in a bathtub as a thousand centipedes ate their way through his body. He felt them crawl through his eyes and chew on his insides. They scratched their way into his nasal cavity and cut off his breathing, forcing him to open his mouth. Then they squirmed down his throat.

It usually took him twelve minutes until he suffered enough and his body gave out. Then simulation would reset, and he was brought back to full health. Sometimes the doctor gave him a minute to enjoy the sensation of being whole. Most often he ran another program immediately.

For twelve hours a day, for two days, Naak suffered. He was electrocuted. He was set ablaze. His fingernails were removed and put back in the wrong way.

Naak had wondered how long it would be before he broke. He never wanted anything more.

*

“I’ve got something special for you today,” The calculated voice of Doctor Eadritch woke him. It was the third day. He hadn’t been asked a single question yet. The doctor's round glasses hid any trace of humanity, they just watched him, expressionless. A darkness the held only Naak's nightmares.

This time, Naak was given an injection before they plugged him in. Different from the nutrients they had been forcing into him twice a day to keep him alive. This new mixture made him drowsy. Perhaps the dreams weren’t nightmarish enough for the doctor.

*

“No program today. You’re in charge, and you can show me whatever you like.” Naak was in a dark room with the doctor. He imagined a saw cutting the doctor in half, and It happened. Gore sprayed all over him as serrated teeth carved the mad torturer neatly down the middle. The corpse smiled as the body stitched itself back together, not a seam to be seen.

“I can’t feel pain here, only you can.” The doctor was still expressionless, but for the first time, Naak noticed curiosity beneath the visage. Like a schoolboy collecting insects and dissecting them with mild interest.

“Why don’t we start at the beginning. You can decide where that is.”

*

Naak was having dinner with his mother, but she wasn't there. In her place was a hologram. He was in their apartment on New Earth. She was in orbit, he didn’t know what she did, he never found out.

“How was day ma’am?” He asked, taking a bite. The shrimp was delicious. It always was. There was no response. His mother had muted the call and was yelling with someone on a holo-call. The house was empty except for him and the servant android. It always was.

The holo-call didn't quite capture his mother's uniqueness. Her dark skin was tainted blue by the static. He was beginning to forget the warmth and comfort, even the smell, as he held her.

He was six years old.

*

He was on a rooftop with four others. They were waiting for the sixth.

He hadn’t seen his mother in eleven years. Money still came into his account. Enough for him to live comfortably. But he was bored.

Ardint arrived. The men looked at him, and he nodded. They put on their masks. Digital camo would hide them even from the cameras.

Ardint placed the device on the roof and pressed a button. A perfect circle was cut into the concrete. An alarm blared as they dropped into the vault. It was the third place they had hit that week. They always got away.

*

Naak was at a party. He was twenty-two years old. He was trying to convince an investor to spend twenty-six million into a phoney venture. The deal was already done, he was staying only to keep the man’s trust. Cold feet had ruined more than one mark.

The deposits from his mother had stopped. It didn’t matter, he no longer needed them. He didn’t need anyone.

A woman approached him at the party. She somehow seemed right at home at the party, but also much better than anyone else present. She was wearing a golden dress that perfectly complemented her brown skin. She knew of his crimes and offered him a job, including twice as much as the current score as a sign-on bonus. Her name was Amunet, and she was the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

Doctor Eadritch appeared behind her, sneering as he inspected her form.

"Curious," he said. Naak saw him smile for the first time.