Page 241 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

practiced at this he swallowed the pill as he knew it was meant to speed up his reactions, then came
the same bitter sweet liquid. He imagined in his mind’s eye the table with the pills and potions that
some of the “inmates” jokingly called the “Suicide Kit”…

… A member of a firm of
Solicitors and Attorneys was
present. The company had only
recently been allowed to handle
cases in the Unity. They were based
in The Sonoran Trust. They were
called “Hatpin, Needle & Thread”.
He was junior partner in the firm;
Mark Thread, his two superiors and
partners were Jane Needle and
Simon Hatpin. He held out his
business card to Lance who took it
and examined it.
“I’m sorry it has to be like this; but the Central Unity Legate wants the “Abductees” rights to be
upheld. Forgive me for being a little slow on the uptake; I’m new to handling Unity cases and my
partners want me to get a handle on the differences between the Legal systems. I’m the junior
partner so they sent me. They reckon I need the experience” he smiled
“It’s OK; all of us are a little new to this. I understand you handled a case recently of a recovery in
the Gorza Region. A Buraxin freighter found a similar Stasis Chamber. The occupant was a Genovan
female who had been missing for around twelve millennia; you and your firm found out that she had
a vast fortune and estate left in legacy and seized by a corrupt official. You proved right of
succession by some deft means. If you’d had the knowledge we are now finding it may well have
been easier. I suppose it’s only right that these people have some kind of legal representation. The
Unity prides itself on being fair and just. I hope that your records from your original corporation on
Terra before the Economy Wars help us find out who this person is” Lance commented as they
walked into the recovery centre at Lunaris Central Medical. Hatpin, Needle & Thread had their
origins in the great legal organizations of Earth’s past. When the first tentative expansion had begun;
the original founders of the Company of Hurt & Brannigan decided that they needed to have
“Outreach” franchises in the new colonies and regions. When the areas that were absorbed into the
Dark Empire fell out of the Unity control; four of the “Outreach” franchises, theirs among them,
ended locked away from the rest of the great Law houses. They adapted their practises to suit the
“Negative” regime. But now that the Sonoran Trust was on trading and treatise terms with the Unity;
it seemed only right and proper that the Legal practises and the Legislature of the former Dark
Empire be brought “up to speed”. Hence Mark Thread and juniors from the other Law franchises
were sent to learn the Unity Legal system and act as ambassadors of trust.

Sandra was looking over the finds that had been placed in the Sarcophagus with the man.
There was a shorter form of those Wand devices; what looked like some of the Kryst Data Crystal
Disks, but these were hexagonal. The other items were an eclectic collection. A chess piece made of
a form of ancient plastic; a medallion that had been around his neck, some coins of a long since
defunct monetary system, an ancient digital watch which was now a collectable item, it was also in
mint, working condition. Some writing materials including a fountain pen similar to the ones found in
Fort Knox; the “Note Pad” had some written pages that were in a condensed form of English
originally known as “Shorthand”. They would have to wait till the Hive decoded this as it was no
longer used except by some primitive rim colonies that had decided to regress to a simpler society.
There were some squares of a material that seemed to be based on a plant fibre. Other coloured
fibres had been used to create some kind of Monogram in one corner consisting of three characters.