Vanmarek sat at his wobbly desk. He pushed a piece of cardboard across the floor with his boot until it stuck under the shortest leg, and then grasped the desk in both hands, shifting his weight from side to side until it didn't wobble anymore. Now it only creaked. Sitting back in his chair, he folded his arms, feeling proud of his achievements. It was a troublesome desk at the best of times. He would take a creak over a wobble any day.
He tidied the two paper clips on his desk on more time. He had already informed General Markov about the protesters, and their very specific demands. It had been no surprise when Markov had told him that he was too busy to deal with the matter himself. Markov had assigned Vanmarek the task of tracking down Henry Willow, and getting to the bottom of whatever Willow had been saying to the guilds. Vanmarek had already made several attempts to open a comms link to the diplomat but Willow had so far remained elusive.
Trying another tactic, he opened a comms link to Commander Beth Pain in the Operations Room of Tower Four. If in doubt, ask an implant, so the saying went, unless you were asking about social skills. Vanmarek chuckled under his breath. Talking to someone with neural implants could be like talking to a food synthesizer.
'Commander Pain,' he said when the comms link opened.
'Pain here.'
'This is Commander Vanmarek, calling from the splendour of the White Spear. I'm trying to track someone down and I thought you might be able to help me out. You seem to have a knack for these things.'
Pain's voice was flat as always. 'Who are you looking for?'
'Henry Willow. He's a diplomat, or at least he thinks he is. He's registered as living in Tower Four. I can't get him to answer my comms requests, and I'm too lazy to walk over there and flatten his nose for him, so I was hoping you could pop him out of his nest. Any ideas?'
'Let me check. Willow did you say?'
'Yes, Henry Willow.'
'You're right. He is based here. His quarters are on level seventy-two.'
'Is he in his quarters now?'
'It looks like it, yes. Our audit logs show that he entered his room an hour ago and he hasn't been out since.'
'Good. I need to talk to him. Could you have him escorted to my office please.'
'Is he under arrest?' Pain said.
'No. Not at all. I just want to make sure that he doesn't accidentally forget to arrive.'
'Okay. A polite escort then.'
'That's exactly what I had in mind. Thanks, Commander Pain.'
'No problem. Let me know if you need anything else.'
Vanmarek leant forwards over his desk with a twinkle in his eye. The desk creaked under his weight. 'Do you have anything planned for tonight, Beth?'
'I'm going up to the research labs to have my implants adapted to accept type 409 and B64 dual Connex interfaces.'
Vanmarek let out a long sigh. 'Good luck with that,' he said, letting the comms link drop. It had been a stupid idea anyway.