Into Thin Air - Part One [lmr]

(((This is per the Ina’s father/Ina kidnapping plot discussion thread [here]...
I figure we can do one round of ‘setting the scene’ and then get on with the action starting with the second set.)))


Late afternoon slipped into evening over the world of Arkania, through Asdasacopolis. A lab on the fourth floor in the Research and Development building of Veridian Technologies was dimly lit from security glow panels inset in the ceiling, as was the tower as a whole. Except for one corner, which was lit brightly from a desk lamp focused on a workstation on which various machinery parts and tools lay. It was like a glowstick shining as a beacon through the darkness in the back of a cave, the large manmade space filling in for what only nature usually created.

All was quiet throughout the laboratory, and indeed, throughout the entire building, though not entirely silent. Various support and heating systems hummed and whirred in the background, barely noticed by those who were used to their presence. Somewhere nearby, perhaps in another lab or an office on the same floor, an Arkanian Offshoot with a limp pressed into janitorial duty since he had been able to hold a mop was slowly going about his rounds. A dull thud or bang here and there the only indication that he was even there.

An elderly Arkanian man sat bent over the worktable highlighted by the bright lamp in the otherwise empty, darkened and silent lab, white eyes focused in front of him. His long white hair, a color more evidenced of his species than his advanced age, lay limp against the back of his lab coat, only the sides tied back together in a partial tail to keep out of his way. The man’s pale four-fingered hands were busy, one of them holding a piece of machinery, the other a soldering tool against the small part. Though in his early 70’s by now, the doctor and scientist—for who else could he be, based on his location?—worked deftly and expertly.

There was a brief sizzle and a puff of smoke as the required fuse took place. With a satisfied smile and after a cursory check of his work, the man unbent and sat up straight on his stool. His smile turned into a grimace of pain as his sore muscles complained at being pressed into service again after so much idleness. One of his hands moved around to press against the small of his back as he stretched out even more, the creaking of his body almost audible.

The scientist looked down at his chrono and was surprised at the late time displayed there. Absorbed in his work, the Arkanian had lost more hours and days than he could remember over the decades. Something that if he had had a conventional family would have been a problem. He hadn’t allowed himself the luxury of such a family. Such a family would have likely deserted him long ago, unable to come to terms with his workaholic lifestyle. Still, though, he had ended up adopting an infant daughter through strange circumstances and decisions about 25 years prior. It was a choice he never regretted, though it had been a struggle.

However, she was off on Coruscant now, leaving him alone once again. And now he knew he had been getting too old for continuing this kind of work, but he didn’t know anything else, wanted anything else. Retirement was not an option for him. Oh, he had plenty of credits stored away and invested; his job and status at Veridian had afforded him that. But he felt, as long as his mind was sharp and his body allowed him to keep coming into work every morning, he would continue to do so.

Lips pursed as he considered his next options. The other scientists and researchers on this floor, in the other labs, had left hours ago, but most of them had families to go home to, social lives to fulfill. This man didn’t. There was a brief consideration of attaching a couple more parts to his current project, but in the end he decided to just check his messages and head home afterwards. His body was aching extra today and needed a hot and soothing soak back in his apartment refresher. He no longer had pressing deadlines at this stage in the game, and his work could wait till the morning.

Standing slowly and regaining his feet, he reached for the carved wooden cane leaning against the table. Most days he really didn’t need its assistance, but it had been a gift from his daughter a couple birthdays previous, and he felt an obligation to keep it with him at all times. The doctor made his way to the computer console in the middle of the lab and relaxed down into the plush chair, letting his cane fall to the ground, his back to the doorway.

Quickly he scanned through various company memos and messages. But then he noticed a familiar frequency—his daughter’s. He smiled again as he pulled up a video message from his daughter. They tried to speak to each other once a week, but the time difference and his losing of hours at a time meant that they were playing comm tag most of the time. The aging father got pulled into the silent monologue, absorbing all the events of his daughter’s life from the past week. Everything else faded away except her beautiful face and hands.