Everyone was looking at her. Did they all know? She thought her brothers and sisters probably did not, but the Inner Circle? Simon? How could they not know? She was a spy. Her job was to destroy these people. To help the Census Office. A Census Office that was experimenting with Infusion. A taboo, a place one did not go. Something the enemy used that made us better than them.
Simon was quietly happy. It didn't take long to analyze the man's blood. The body was fresh, had only been there a matter of hours. The body was broken from the fall and wracked by element sickness, but the blood was still usable (TK check on this timeline, maybe tissue samples is better). The results of his work were clear: pure tralaticon was needed for reliable Infusion. The impurities in the mined tralaticon, while a non-issue for forging metal items, caused severe problems at the cellular level.
The First Servant came into their lab, which was unheard of. Simon, or anyone else, was always summoned, but he wanted to see for himself. Simon was explaining something about the history of astronomy and the ever increasing complexity of models until gravity was discovered. With pure tralaticon, everything fell into place.
Clarissa thought about leaving. Head back to the Census Office, escape this and face the consequences. How long had it been since she checked in? Her memory of those details was fuzzy. What were the consequences of failure? She had let the cult get to her. She looked back at the First Servant and felt a twinge of pride following a man leading them into the future. What about the ark? The coming deluge?
Simon was saying he knew pure tralaticon was hard to obtain, nearly impossible, but that the Pool's wisdom could be consulted. Perhaps there was a way. He didn't need a lot. Pure tralaticon was potent.
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Clarissa sat down next to Malcolm. He was talking excitedly. Word had already gotten around that a big discovery had been made and she had known what to do. Had connected in some way with the situation that others couldn't understand. She didn't really hear any of it and finally he paused, noticing the blank look on her face.
"Clarissa, what's wrong? You should be glad! What is..."
"I knew him!" she blurted out. Not knowing what else to say, not knowing which emotions were real and which false inside her.
Malcolm looked confused. "What do you mean? You knew he was there?"
"No, I knew him. He was a Census Office agent. I was too."