The Gardner File - Part 8

Excerpt from the diary of Jessica Motier

August 27, 2084

It's hard to believe this place used to be a church. The likely once-beautiful stained glass windows are now boarded up, the pews have been replaced by rows of bunk beds and makeshift living areas, and there's none of the classic imagery you'd expect in a church. No crosses, no icons, no paintings of saints or apostles. It looks more like a warehouse than anything else, and it feels like a bus station. New people show up and stay for a day or two, then usually move on. There's only a few people who have been here as long as Michel and I have. I feel somewhat isolated, but safer here than I would anywhere else at the moment. Alistair seems to be a genuinely caring leader, always looking out for those under his charge.

During my time here, I've heard a lot of stories from people passing through. Some are like Michael, outcasts from a vampire house, banished for some offense or another. Some are people who just never could fit into vampire culture, people who couldn't live by the honor-driven ancient rules of proper vampire society. Some are just normal humans who learned too much.

The real lesson I've learned since I've been here is that vampires are just like normal humans. They're not monsters; they have all the same feelings as humans do, they laugh and love like humans do. Some are good like Michael and Alistair, and others are just as evil as the worst humans you could imagine. Too many are slavishly attached to an oppressive society which cares nothing for those whom it determines aren't fit to be a part of it. Just like I was.

It's been over a month since my old life ended... Somehow it still doesn't feel quite real. I keep thinking it's all a bad dream that I'm going to wake up from, but it never happens. I just have to keep reminding myself that I did this all for a good reason. Michael was captured after being harmed by one of the ills of his society, and he needed my help to escape from one of the greater ills of mine. I just sometimes worry I've saved him from one prison, only to deliver him to another.

In the short time we've been shared this unfortunate situation, Michael and I have started becoming close friends. He's told me a lot about his experiences as a vampire, and I've shared my experiences as the daughter of our era's Caesar. But there's still something he's not showing me... He never talks about his life before he was a vampire. There's some part of himself there that he keeps hidden, and every time I think I'm figuring it out, he changes the subject and won't let me in. I don't know if it's my just my scientific curiosity, or if it's a personal interest, but I think I'm going to have to pry a bit further if I really want to know him.

-Jessica
 

Transcript of IBN television 6:00 News, October 10, 2084

[MUSICAL CUE]

[IBN GRAPHIC]

BERTRAND: Good evening, this is the IBN World Report at 6, I'm Richard Bertrand. Tonight's top story: with Jessica Motier still missing after nearly three months, investigators have found what might be a lead. Security footage from at a gas station in Tulsa may show the terrorist operative known as Mad Michael purchasing fuel a few days after the attack on Huxley Pharmaceutical.  Kristine Archer is in Tulsa with more.

[CUT TO EXTERIOR SHOT OF GAS STATION]

ARCHER (VOICE-OVER): It seemed like the trail had gone cold. That is until a chance find brought the search back up to full heat.

[CUT TO OFFICER AT WORK IN POLICE STATION]

ARCHER (VOICE-OVER): Officer Rodney Meyers made the find yesterday, while reviewing footage for another case.

[CUT TO INTERVIEW WITH MEYERS]

MEYERS: I was looking over the video in preparation for the trial of a suspect accused of robbing the station on the same day the footage is from… And I'm watching… And I see this guy and think "This guy looks familiar"

[CUT TO SECURITY FOOTAGE]

ARCHER (VOICE-OVER): Video analysts have compared the video to the footage of Mad Michael from the day of the attack and believe the man in this new video is in fact the terrorist operative believed to be behind the kidnapping of Jessica Motier.

[CUT TO LIVE SHOT OF ARCHER]

ARCHER: Now this new footage is from not long after the bombing of Huxley Pharmaceutical, so investigators don't believe the Mad Michael is likely to still be in the Tulsa area, but the fact that he was seen this far west of St. Rexburg so soon after the attack may indicate that the terror cell he is affiliated with is based somewhere in the southwest. Imperial police have released a statement that they are expanding their search for Motier, and are now focusing their efforts in the western half of North America. This is Kristine Archer, IBN News, reporting live from Tulsa.

[CUT TO BERTRAND]

BERTRAND: Thank you Kristine. The imperial government has not issued an official statement yet; however the reward for information regarding Jessica Motier or the terrorist Michael has been raised to 50,000 credits, Most likely in response to this new development. In other news, worker unrest on the asteroidal mining colony of New Shanghai continues to grow as threats of a strike mount…