Chapter 54: Chapter Forty-Seven Gathering Clues

 

Qei walked down the hall of the apartment building. It had been a few days since they first arrived. May was currently checking back on the mother she had observed on day one. While Kiru was out tracking down another courier. They had been spending the last few days locating and tagging the couriers so that they could track their movements. Those movements themselves would show a pattern, and patterns would reveal points of interest. Points of interest would lead to more clues on what the Iniri were up to.

Speaking of the couriers, the one that she had personally tagged in this building on day one had come back. Right now she was in the elevator, and Qei was heading for the apartment she had visited that day. As Qei had a feeling that she was heading there at the moment. The woman who lived there was also someone they were monitoring. Her ‘appointment’ that the Irini had arranged had been just two days ago, and it had been at the very same strange clinic that Kiru had found.

Since it was at the clinic they had not been able to personally visit, but a cloaked drone had observed her visit to the clinic. It had been a rather strange visit. The initial arrival part had been normal, right up to meeting with the Iniri receptionist. It was after that it got weird. As she was led into a waiting room and requested to remove her clothes. A bin was provided for them.

Once she was completely naked she was allowed to sit in a chair until the Iniri ‘doctor’ was ready for her. The waiting room was not set up like the waiting area in reception which was designed to look normal. It had a bunch of chairs for people to sit on, but nothing was provided for people to do. It seemed that the Iniri really did just expect the people there to simply wait until they were ready for them. 

When the doctor was ready for her, she had been led to a small room not unlike the one that Kiru had seen those two girls being examined and brainwashed further in. It even had the same strange chair. The woman was ordered to sit down, and had sensors attached to her for an ‘assessment.’ It had apparently been deemed that she was lacking in potential.

After that, she had a programming session and was then ordered to come back for another ‘appointment’ next month. The woman was to check in with reception for the details on when. She was also ordered to forget all details of the appointment, and to think it was merely an ordinary check-up. Then she was let out. The woman promptly headed down to the receptionist still naked, and relayed that her appointment was finished. She also reported that the doctor said for her to come back in a month. The receptionist smiled, and handed her a paper saying that it contained details on her next appointment. Then she produced the bin with the woman's clothes. Before she let the woman go, she informed her that they would be sending her a bill in a couple of days.

Qei turned the corner, and noticed the woman in question standing in her open door. Just as she had expected to see. She was waiting for the courier. This seemed to be a pattern with them. Qei closed the distance to the door, not worried about being seen. She had taken the opportunity to cloak earlier when she was out of sight. 

A moment later the familiar sight of the naked Neku courier slipped into view. Once again holding her clipboard.

She smiled as she stepped up near the woman, “Thank you for waiting.”

The woman said nothing, as the courier produced a sheet of paper, “Here is the bill for your last appointment.” She paused, pulled out a second, and said, “Also we have finished selling those items you had us sell for you.”

As the woman took the papers, Qei peaked at them. The medical bill wasn’t all that big. It seemed like an ordinary charge. The strange part about it was the instructions written on it. As for the other item, it listed a long list of mostly girls’ clothing. Shirts, dresses, skirts, socks, panties, bras, and shoes were all listed. Also in the list were a few girls’ toys. Next to each item in the list was its sale price. Down at the bottom was the total sale, and more instructions.

The courier reached into her pouch, and pulled out a credit transfer chit. “Here is your cut of the sale.”

The woman took the chit, and pocketed it. The courier smiled, and said, “That is all I have for the day. You may return to your normal routine.”

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The woman nodded. As the courier turned to leave. Qei then watched the woman turn to go back into her apartment. Already Qei had an idea of what she was going to be doing, and it wasn’t returning to her normal routine. She was almost certainly going in to pay her new bill, and then she was going to the bank. The instructions on the clothing sale told her that she had a new account and its details. She was to transfer the chit there, and then she was to close all of her other existing accounts and transfer the money to that account. Once she was done transferring all her money there and closing her current accounts she was to then contact someone. The contact details were included. 

Qei waited by the door. She figured following the woman to the bank might be in order. This seemed like it might lead to something interesting. As it was, Qei was wondering what was up with these new instructions.

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May arrived at her destination just as a familiar truck was landing at the house. She wasn’t too surprised since they had been tracking the truck. They had observed this particular courier in this neighborhood a few times over the last few days, and May had observed her doing ‘collections’ a couple of times. Not every visit did she manage to spy on though.

 She was already cloaked, so she simply closed the distance to the house, and the open door. The mother she had followed and observed the other day was once again standing in her open door. It seemed the Iniri were quite consistent with how these strange meetings played out. There was an advantage to that, but it also made their activities easier to find. Then again they probably didn’t plan for cloaked spies. With their abilities, they could likely control what information the usual spies were getting and even spot them as they came in. 

She was almost to the open door, when the familiar naked courier she had tagged the other day clambered out of the vehicle. This time she had a clipboard with her, and like before she sauntered over to the door. She smiled, “Thanks for waiting!”

The woman didn’t reply, and the courier pulled a paper from her clipboard. “This here is your service bill hardcopy, and your storage location. Again the Iniri thank you for your cooperation. Save this for your records and follow the payment instructions.”

May glanced at the paper. Qei hadn’t done so when she observed a similar encounter, but May was curious about the storage location. There was also the question, were they actually storing those items? The paper itself really did include a bill for services rendered, along with payment instructions. As for a storage location, there was in fact one listed on it. Along with more instructions. They were telling her not to visit the location or to remove the items stored until instructed otherwise. She was allowed to send items there to be stored, however. It seemed it was a black box type of deal. Made sense, these were items they didn’t want her to be able to view. Thinking back, she remembered how every photo that included her daughter had been packed into that storage box. They were removing memory triggers. So that the woman wouldn’t look for her daughter while they had her, but this indicated that they did eventually plan to return her. Then again they could still be destroying the items, but that also seemed to clash a bit with her own memory of the instructions slapped on the storage box.

The woman thanked the courier, with a smile. The girl pulled another paper, “The Iniri have also arranged an appointment for you don’t be late.”

Since she was well-positioned May took a look at the paper. It detailed the appointment, telling her where it was, and when. Naturally, it was once again that strange clinic. A number of leads kept going back there, so it was no surprise. The date was in three days. What was more interesting were the additional instructions here. It told her exactly when to arrive and that she was to wear an outfit that was easily removed.

The mother nodded, “I’ll be there.”

The courier replied with, “Good. You may go back to your normal routine and forget this encounter. Just remember to pay your bill, and show up for your appointment.’

The woman nodded and turned back into her house. While the courier made for the truck. May smiled, spying on this meeting had allowed her to get the clues Qei had missed with her lucky break. Now she had a storage location to check out. She needed to visit it to confirm either theory on what they did with the stuff.

As the truck lifted off, May started walking. The storage location wasn’t too far. A bit long of a walk, but she had no problems with the exercise. She had a feeling this would be a helpful little side trip. The tail she had grown wagged behind her. It helped her blend in with the Neku as one of them, but sometimes she wondered how they dealt with them in the first place. In her opinion life was so much easier without one. She used her hand to still it, just so it wouldn’t knock something over while she was cloaked.

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