Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
“So warned, tell me,” Aleksei encouraged.
“Through a lot of trial and error, which means not a small number of deaths of observers and trainers, it seems these creatures have two basic instincts. Eat and kill. They don’t even copulate unless they’re bored.”
“And this is why the numbers are so small after eight hundred years?”
“That, and it takes resources to keep them contained. The barracks they’re in are extensively fortified and cost a fortune to maintain. But it’s essential. For the first few hundred years, they kept getting loose and wreaking havoc. Though, another reason they aren’t prolific is because, with nothing else to kill, they kill each other.”
Aleksei was stunned. “Fucking hell.”
“Yes,” Tanyn agreed. “They tried repeatedly to create some kind of tactical unit with them. Nothing worked. They have no language, though they do communicate, mostly through frequencies of grunts. Nor do they have the mental capacity to be organized. Not even something as simple as taking formation or marching. This was discovered after most of their trainers were maimed or killed over decades of trying. Somewhere in the early 1500s, they gave up. They tried again in the 1800s, and early 1900s. No joy.”
“Did they harvest the skin?”
Tanyn nodded. “Yes. We have a warehouse full of it. They also experimented on it, and unbeknownst to the general public, back in the day when weapons used bullets, our bulletproof armor was made of troll skin.”
“It isn’t stream proof,” Aleksei remarked. “Did Arnaud know that?”
“Absolutely. And this is the important news I have to share. There are recent records about using the trolls for experiments on upgrading the PR60. And before these experiments started, the inventory of trolls was six hundred and fifty-two.”
Aleksei couldn’t hide his shock. “They put down seventy-nine trolls for their experiments on the PR60?”
“Another way they contained the population. These weren’t the only experiments they conducted on the trolls.”
“Fucking hell,” Aleksei repeated, feeling sick to his stomach.
It seemed they weren’t fully cognizant and they were violent, but they were still living, breathing creatures.
“I’ve made a recommendation to the UTC of rendering them infertile,” Tanyn shared. “Allowing them some sort of natural habitat where they can live as they will, which will likely mean they’ll kill each other off, and then go extinct on their own. But even if it’s clear they aren’t quite sentient, we treat animals better than they’ve been treated.”
As Aleksei saw Spikeback getting closer, he nodded and asked, “Any news on Tatra?”
“After blustering through her presser about her son being unfairly accused, there’s been no word from her.”
Aleksei found this suspicious. “So she’s fine with being exiled to Snowy Ridge?”
“Tatra is a master of lulling beings into a false sense of security. Ask my mother. Tatra was her best friend before she stole her husband.”
Aleksei grimaced at the reminder.
But the good news was, this meant Tanyn was keeping an eye on her.
“Any word on the tech used during the Masque?” Aleksei asked.
Tanyn shook his head. “Arnaud’s followers scurried like rats when he was taken into custody. Those in his closest circle disappeared, and they didn’t leave much behind when they did. They were so thorough in this, it’s clear there was a failsafe in place. We do have the docs on the PR60 experiments, which we’ll provide to you for the assassination case. I’ll also be sharing all that was gleaned through centuries of working with the trolls. But it’s early days, Lex. We’re still digging and interrogating those we think might have been involved. I’ll keep you informed if we find anything further.”
“Appreciate that, Tan.”
“How about your techs?” Tan asked. “They get anything?”
“The self-destruct on the disk eliminated anything of use. And as far as they can tell, all traces erased themselves in the system within milliseconds of the code doing what it was written to do. They’ve exhausted all efforts and haven’t found anything.”
This didn’t make Tanyn look happy, then again, Aleksei felt the same.
“More from Arnaud?” Tan asked.
Aleksei shook his head. “He maintains his innocence. Says he had nothing to do with the trolls, didn’t even know they existed. Says he was framed for the murder, and he’s heartbroken at Longshot’s loss.”
“I saw the vid on that, Lex, and it fucks me to say this, but his grief seems genuine,” Tan remarked.
It fucked Aleksei to think it, but he agreed.
“He says he found her like that, noted his detail had disappeared, realized something was very wrong, and took off,” Tanyn shared something Aleksei knew. “Denies any communication or knowledge of an agent embedded in Errol’s orbit. Stated he came to Night’s Fall to go to the Masque, found Tula as she was, tried to get in touch with his detail, they were gone, so he saw the writing on the wall, took the only one left, his aide, and headed back to Sky’s Edge.”