Chapter 5
The Angel Watching Over You
Marquesal Precinct, Tianjing
The Commission for Peace and Public Order in the Capital, commonly known as the Capital Police or the Peacemen, enjoyed little honor among the Imperial Guard. They were charged with the outer precincts and had little contact with the Imperial Family, which was the only hope of significant advancement of one's fortunes. There were several noble houses who traced their descent to a loyal bodyguard who won the favor of the Emperor or some prince. but the most a Peaceman could hope for—other than a transfer—was to rise high enough to receive the bribes the nobles paid to conceal their illegal activities. Lower-ranking Peacemen might receive payoffs from the merchants, artisans and the like catering to highborn, but if they wanted to live to see retirement, a percentage had to be offered up to each level of the chain of command, as far as the Lord High Commissioner. That did not leave much for the individual Peaceman in the end. This was perhaps the greatest incentive for climbing up the ladder.
The Imagery Division was responsible for processing the massive amounts of video data transmitted from every corner of the Capital. There was not a single square millimeter without camera coverage, often overlapping two or three times so nothing would escape the myriad eyes of the Capital Police. The systems were mostly automated, but there were several technicians on hand to administer the equipment and respond to any trouble that might occur.
The door opened and in walked the Lord High Commissioner. One of the technicians noticed him enter and bolted up from his seat, snapping to attention and shouting, "Attention on deck!"
The other technicians sprang up and went to attention as well.
"As you were," the Lord High Commissioner said.
The technicians sat back down as the Lord High Commissioner approached one of the consoles. Normally, the Lord High Commissioner would be wearing the uniform of a tribune, but the current Lord High Commissioner was a member of the Imperial Family and they could not be members of the Imperial Guard, so he had a custom Army uniform instead.
As he hovered over one of the technicians, the technician stiffened up. It would seem the Lord High Commissioner knew how nervous he could make people and he enjoyed it.
"Bring up the feeds from the loading bay from five days ago," he told the technician. "From the time the cargo shipment arrives to about 1500."
"Yes, Your Highness," the technician replied.
He brought up the feeds as told, but there were far too many to be shown simultaneously on the display and he noted this, saying, "Your Highness, there are over 100,000 cameras in the loading bay. What specifically are you looking for?"
"You can filter based on the authorized personnel, correct?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Then do so. Search for any human shapes other than authorized personnel."
"But, Your Highness, any unauthorized entry would have set off the alarms."
"Not necessarily. Do it."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The technician inputted the conditions and began the search. The results came in almost instantaneously.
"I have something, Your Highness. It appears to be a child. Male. Approximately six to ten years old."
"Eight years old," the Lord High Commissioner said.
"Your Highness?"
"Follow him. Eight times normal speed."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The display showed twelve of the video feeds simultaneously, following the boy as he snuck around workers and climbed all over the containers. Then he stopped for something. Even with the playback fast-forwarded, he stayed in one place long enough to stand out.
"Normal speed," the Lord High Commissioner said.
"Yes, Your Highness."
The playback slowed down just as the boy was hopping off the container. He was not alone.
"Another kid," the technician said. "Female. Approximately fifteen to seventeen years old."
The computer beeped, highlighting the sheathed blade behind the girl's back while several popups made estimates about its properties.
"Female subject appears to be armed. Likely a bladed weapon. Estimated length between 45 and 48 centimeters."
"Run facial recognition."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The technician punched some keys and then said, "The subject doesn't appear in the database. Cross-referencing..."
New camera feeds appeared, all with different timestamps, from the time the girl first emerged from one of the cargo containers to when she entered the maintenance tunnels with the boy.
"Female subject first appears at 1527, makes contact with the male subject at 1539, enters the maintenance tunnels at 1547 and we lose contact at 1609 when they enter... the Royal Precinct. Oh, no. We need to inform the Lord Tribune. He has to know that—"
"Don't you think that Central is already aware of this?" the Lord High Commissioner interrupted. "Why do you think I'm here?"
"Oh... Uh, of course, Your Highness."
"We need to cast the net wider. Cross-reference with surveillance from the surface, then restrict access to me alone."
"Your Highness, I will need special authorization to—"
"I will authorize it."
"Yes, Your Highness," the technician said uncertainly.
First the technician submitted the request to access the master database of surveillance records, which the Lord High Commissioner had to authorize by card swipe, hand scan and retinal scan. Then came the access restrictions, which had to be authorized in the same way. Once all that was done, the Lord High Commissioner clapped his hand on the technician's shoulder, making him freeze up again.
"I expect you to forget all about this," the Lord High Commissioner said.
"Ye-yes, of course, Your Highness," the technician stammered. "As you command."
"There's a good boy."
The Lord High Commissioner gave the technician's shoulder a good squeeze before turning to exit the room.
"Keep up the good work, gentlemen."
* * *
About an hour later, the Lord High Commissioner returned to his office. He sat down at his desk and accessed his terminal. By that time, his request had already been processed and the initial results were ready. For the most part, the surface was monitored from orbit via satellite with camera coverage limited to a few select government facilities. A notable exception was the helmet cameras of the Regulars. The helmet cams were primarily intended to serve as a source of realtime information during combat operations which could then be analyzed later for strategic and scientific purposes. Noncombat operations yielded less useful data except in cases where something went wrong.
The Lord High Commissioner found two helmet cam feeds from six years ago, calculated with a 76% probability of matching the subject. He brought up the two feeds. It started with one of them reaching into a hidden compartment in the floor of some Infernal hovel and pulling out a girl. It was six years ago and her hair was longer, but it certainly seemed to be the same person.
The girl was struggling to no effect. Besides the two soldiers, there was a low-level official and a dead Infernal lying on the floor. The girl was crying out to the dead man and then it happened. She went strangely still and then it was as if she was a different person entirely. With surprising efficiency, she killed the two soldiers, but she took her time with the official, mercilessly beating him to death with a hammer. Even with a flood of adrenaline, the skinny arms of a little girl were only capable of so much, so it was not a quick death by any means.
Only when the official was dead did the demon leave her and the girl started to act more like you would expect, vomiting at the sight of the official's mangled corpse and crying over the body of the dead Infernal. Then she started looking around frightened and confused as a girl her age ought to under the circumstances, but when her eyes went back to dead official, something came over her again. Fear, sorrow and confusion melted away and were replaced with something else. Anger. Hatred. Resolve.
The Lord High Commissioner paused the footage and zoomed in on the girl's face. It was enough to chill the liver. You did not see a face like that often. Any ordinary person would be disturbed, but the Lord High Commissioner only grinned.
"We're going to have such fun, you and I... Yasuko."