Lugh hummed to himself as he stepped into his office while the Gateway crackled behind him as it closed. His internal chronometer confirmed how close he’d cut it this time, but he’d still made it. A glance at the silvered panel hidden within a small alcove confirmed his security. He could have guessed as much with the slight hum of his office’s passive defenses, but he checked anyway.

Even being back at work, he couldn’t help but feel happy. In less than a dozen hours of work outside the Association’s time-dilation bubble, he’d caught up on many of the vital projects and experiments he’d left running. On top of everything, his harvests had increased his energy capacity by over 1% - not bad for ten years of Lurran-subjective-time or less than six months of greater-infinite-standard-time. Even better, Banshee could very well lead to impressive returns with a few decades of additional investment.

Playing along with the role he’d assumed, Lugh took a seat, immediately reclining while a large mug of dark fluids appeared in one hand. He pulled up his last active file, still paused on the Redux Cluster’s proposal. Before leaving for his break days ago, he’d read through the highlights and executive summary, all 2,000 pages. It was a bit of a slog to work through, but Peja had personally requested his analysis.

A flashing flag notification in his display’s top corner immediately snagged his attention. Hiding his internal grumbling at likely another “emergency” from his boss, Lugh mentally pulled up the message. He frowned at Sera’s note, holding in the choice words that wanted to erupt. There was already more than enough crappy work to keep him busy, let alone a rush job because some asset went rogue. Still, he pulled up the attached file to start his review.

A tiny beep interrupted him before he could really get started. Mentally accepting the call, a beautiful woman with silver hair styled and held in place by precious bruadari-encrusted clips appeared within the crystal surface. His drink vanished before he bowed his head towards his display. “Lady Peja,” Lugh began, careful to control his tone. “It is my greatest pleasure to assist you today. What are your wishes?”

The woman in the crystal frowned, briefly marring her otherwise divine features. “Open the door. Now.”

He kept the scowl off his face with great willpower – he hated guests as a general rule. With the nature of Lugh’s work, he was isolated from many of the Association’s systems, and anyone who wanted to visit had to essentially ‘knock’ so he could open the Gateway for them. It was another reason he’d been shocked by Enigma’s recent arrival inside his lab; something he’d have wagered was impossible. Lugh still didn’t understand how the man had managed it, and he’d have to find some time to research that mystery someday. Sadly, there were always more pressing matters. He’d at least bought himself more time by throwing the guy into the prison world for the time being.

Bowing his head again, the red-handled lever on his desk shifted itself into the off position, and the green-colored light above his door changed to red. “Of course, Lady Peja. I have opened access to receive your radiant presence.”

His display shut off without a response, and the red light changed to black, stark against the lighter-colored surface. The wall disappeared as a Gateway opened into a grey and white sheet of light, stabilizing only moments before Peja walked through.

Lugh stood up and walked out from behind his desk to greet her, but without even a nod in his direction, she started pacing his office while her Gateway crackled quietly with small sparks of light behind her. Five meters in each direction, her shiny high-heeled boots almost stomped as she stalked back and forth with the same scowl he’d seen in his display. Clack-tip, clack-tap, clack-tip, clack-tap. Swish. The sounds repeated along the hard-surfaced floor while her long dark blue dress added a swishing sound as she made her turn.

Lugh bowed to her. With his best neutral expression, he tried to keep the coldness from his voice. “My Lady Peja, how may I be of assistance?”

Peja finally stopped in front of him with eyes full of accusation. “Where have you been, Lugh? Just what are you up to?”

He hesitated, holding his expression still while he thought furiously, but couldn’t think of any way he’d screwed up while away. Anything he’d done was untraceable with how isolated his lab was – he’d been far too careful. Relatively confident he’d covered his tracks, he continued with the same helpful tone. “I’m sorry, my Lady Peja, but is there some problem? I was simply taking care of some personal matters that arose over the past work period.”

“What amazing timing,” she responded, her nearly perfect features almost growing ugly beneath her fierce scowl and dripping sarcasm. “I’ve asked Gomon to look into it.”

Lugh couldn’t help but flush as Peja spoke of her personal enforcer, the monster of a man that took great delight in his work. Bowing at the waist to hide his expression before it could betray him, he thought quickly, unsure what had upset her. “My Lady Peja, if there’s something specific I can help with, you need only point me in the right direction. As to my personal time, I requested my break nearly a century ago, Lurran-subjective-time, which you approved decades ago.”

“Hmph,” Peja said, though her scowl relented slightly. “Maybe that’s true, but we’ll see soon enough. That’s not why I’m here, though.” Her dress swirled as she turned with her usual dramatic flair to resume her pacing up and down his office, in no apparent rush to get to the point.

Clack-tip, clack-tap, clack-tip, clack-tap. Swish.

Bowing his head a bit more as she stalked past, “My Lady Peja if I knew just a hint of what has caused your ire, I might be able to serve you better.” He detested his groveling but needs must at times.

“Boruta Dunmaru is dead,” she snapped, not bothering to stop her stride, and the anger in her voice matched the scowl while she made another dramatic turn. “All of our models,” she said as she finally stopped to point at Lugh again. “And your models too, might I add. None predicted this going back for centuries in LST!”

He didn’t bother hiding his shock, as he was honestly surprised, but used the brief moment to consider if he could have missed something. Lurra was essentially a closed system, with only minimal contact, which allowed for incredibly accurate forecasts and his boss knew this just as well as he did. What could have been introduced with such severity that it could throw off his projections by such a wide margin?

His recent uninvited guest suddenly sprang to mind, especially Lugh’s personal involvement in the matter. Holding his expression neutral even as sweat started trailing down the middle of his back, he tried to think of any way he could have exposed himself. There should be no way Peja, the Association, or the Council could know about it since he’d completely separated his actions from any detectors or sensors. Outside stuffing Enigma on Lurra for safekeeping, there should be no connections to anything else. In addition, while he’d sent the man into the prison world, Enigma shouldn’t have been involved with the asset’s death. He would have appeared within Gealidesh, weeks away from Boruta and his dark forest.

Even knowing he probably wasn’t involved, Lugh didn’t quite relax his guard. With the stakes he was playing at, the Association, let alone the High Council, would have him screaming for centuries as an example for any who thought to step out of line. Even death wouldn’t be enough to escape, as they’d just bring him back to start again. No, if they had even a hint, they’d have already hauled him in for an Inspection. He was likely still safe, but he needed more information.

“My apologies for not having a better answer ready, Lady Peja. I will work with Sera to create a detailed report for your review as soon as possible.”

As if not hearing him, Peja turned and began her march again. Clack-tip, clack-tap, clack-tip, clack-tap. Swish. “Everything was perfect. WAS perfect!” She emphasized this with a yell, like a little spoiled child warming up for a tantrum, but it made him nervous enough to recheck his personal defenses. “I was reviewing the forecasts for the upcoming cycles when there was a deviation from our expected parameters when that stupid creature left his domain. It was far outside our models, but I wasn’t too concerned. Weird things can happen, and only a concerted effort by those little family heads would have any chance against him. But then he went and died. Fully dead – I can’t even feel his spirit!”

Stopping in front of him, she jabbed Lugh with her finger, shoving him hard against his desk. She poked him harder a second time as his desk’s hard edge jabbed painfully into the back of his thighs. Faster than his senses could track, her finger stopped right in front of his left eye, and he focused his considerable energy on controlling himself, holding himself still.

“I want a full report!” Peja said and dropped her finger. She leaned in close to almost whisper with a voice full of threat and promised violence to match her scowl. “Take all the readings. I don’t care that we haven’t run them in ages – just get it done!” She didn’t bother waiting for his acknowledgment but waved a hand and stomped right back through the open Gateway, which immediately collapsed behind her.

Lugh didn’t move or even breathe as his eyes watched the light over the door, waiting as it changed from black to red. Stepping lightly over to his desk, he physically flipped up the red lever this time, and the light went green. He took a deep breath and then let it out while thinking through the exchange. This situation would require careful handling with too many variables to calculate easily, but there was also an opportunity here. Did he dare go for it? So much risk, but the reward could be high as well. Still, he’d have to take immediate steps since Peja would expect some results soon.