Page 99 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

met with the old man in the Arboretum. He was frail and wheelchair bound. His attendant
was a young acolyte from Nova Thule on Sabbatical. He was also trained in Medical therapy;
hence he was placed in charge of the Old Man’s care. He had been reluctant to allow the
procedure, but had been overruled by the Abbot and the Old Man himself. Morgana had
prepared a sample of the concoction and offered it to the patron. He sipped the drink
smiled and downed the whole glass “I always liked Pure Mescal, thank you young lady…” His
eyes glazed over and he slumped forward in his chair. At first they though he was dead; but
he sat up and it was obvious that the brew was having a hallucinatory effect. His pupils were
dilated and his demeanour one of relaxed bemusement “Wow!” was all he kept saying. The
Acolyte called the Abbot and the three of them quizzed the Patron as to what he was
experiencing.

“I haven’t felt this good since I accidentally got stung by a Visma Spider, only this is much
better. I’m not worried about the tripping, what’s more amazing is the pain, my constant
pain is gone.” And he giggled. The three others looked at each other bewildered. Then the
Acolyte noticed something else.

“Look at his skin and his legs!” the young man yelled. The old man’s wrinkles seemed to
soften before their eyes, his leg muscles seemed to swell and firm up. The Abbot grabbed
the glass and drank what was left of the brew. He coughed and he too slumped down onto a
nearby bench.

“Morgana If my hunch is right we have a rejuvenating brew that could make us millions!” he
said followed by the same “Wow” that the Old Man had said. Morgana took out her
communicator and called Marco and Josiah to the Bio Lab.

Back in Force HQ; the investigators had narrowed down the invoice trail, but had
come to a dead end at the Unity Border Control the machine had been loaded onto a
freighter headed for the Delos System, unfortunately though, the freighter had been
destroyed enroute, or so the records that they could access said. The records they couldn’t
access were in the possession of The Order and they were sealed to outsiders.

“Damn! That means we have no way of knowing where the heck it went or
even if the thing was on the freighter. The Order and their Secrecy Accord”
Krank pounded the desk and went for a Klipka.

“There has to be a way to finds out more. I really thought we were on to a route to clear this
investigation” Hurden voiced what the others were thinking. Krank had got his Klipka and
was in the Chief’s office bringing him up to speed. The Chief looked like a thundercloud
about to explode, then he calmed and smiled. He said something to Krank and the Detective
nearly dropped his Klipka. Krank turned and headed to Dispatch. The others looked at each
other in stunned silence. Jason and Jenna arrived back from lunch and the others filled them
in as to the current state of affairs.

“Isn’t the Chief’s nephew an Acolyte in the Order?” Jenna asked

“Oh yes: though what can an Acolyte do he isn’t…” Dreck answered but Lomax interrupted

“He works in their central register offices and is only in the order on a “Freelance” licence.
He’s not bound by the Order’s Secrecy Accord. And the records he’d access would be done