• Ghosts of Eden
• Diary of Events
• The Tale of the Deceitful Monkey - Steve M's version.
• The Kurita Experimental Ship

Session 34

Given they have been asked to interview Seymour Greenberg's friends the team discusses the pros on cons of reading their minds during the interview. Robert objects on the grounds that if they have psionic powers they will both be able to block any attempt to read minds and be able to tell it is taking place. However it is finally agreed that the attempt should be made none-the-less.

Miho attempts without success to produce a picture of the woman she saw through Seymour's eyes. She recognises the woman's accent as being European and vaguely familiar. After some thought she decides it is something like Andi's accent.

The team draw up a list of questions they wish to ask Seymour's friends: What did they talk about; what kind of mood was he in; what did they do afterwards; was there a woman he might have been afraid of or one particular relationship they remember; did Seymour do anything involved with Thisbee early in his career; can they think of anyone who might have done it. It is agreed the friends should be interviewed in order of importance: Antares, Dallas, Xu (who is a "second tier" executive"). They agree all interviews should start with condolences, in particular this will let Robert detect any particular spike of emotion.

The crew check Seymour's employment history via Komiko. He spent most of his life on Trixie and involved with asteroid mining in that system. He was sent home to earth for education and began his career in the Sol system but there are no real records of what he did. On the off chance Andi sends an email home asking if Seymour or Elmer ever visited Thisbee.

They sent requests for interviews to all three men suggesting interview times. Guillaume replies that he is happy to be interviewed in his chambers. Robert decides to wear dark glasses to disguise when he's concentrating. Mostly he'll just monitor Guillaume's surface thoughts but if he picks up anything interesting he'll go deeper.

A woman shows the team into Guillaume's quarters. There are a couple of heavies in the corner of the room, which is, unsurprisingly, quite spacious. Chairs are laid out convivially. Guillaume is a rather large, almost burly, man. He rises to meet the team. Andi thanks him for agreeing to see them and extends condolences. Robert cranks his up mind-reading and realises that Guillaume can shield his thoughts largely because he is good at self-deception (in fact he never lies). Robert will only be able to tell what he really thinks by reading under the layers of his mind. He decides to rack up only if anything interesting seems to be going on. Guillaume's surface thoughts are mild curiosity and he assumes the interview is a mere formality, investigating poor Seymour's death.

Andi begins with the standard questions they have prepared about the evening of Seymour's death. Guillaume says it as a monthly meeting. The three men treated it as a time for relaxation and didn't let business intrude. They had a light meal and drinks. He is vague about the topics of discussion: "old men tend to ramble" but he does reveal that they discussed "old memories".

Andi asks if previous relationships were mentioned. Guillaume says there had been lots of women in Seymour's life. Andi persists, "was there any significant woman?" Guillaume says there were lots of significant women and offers refreshment which the team, taking cues from Andi, refuse. Robert picks up that he's hiding something at this point and intensifies his mind probe and looks more intent. Andi rephrases the question to ask about recent women. Robert gets the impression that women did come up in the conversation between the three men.

Andi returns to the standard questions,

"What mood was Mr. Greenberg in?"

"Maybe slightly quieter than usual"

Andi then asks about his early career and in particular whether he might have had any connection with Thisbee. Guillaume had known him "in excess of 50 years" but didn't know much about his early career and had never heard of Thisbee. All three men initially met up in Xi Ursa Majoris. As far as Robert can tell this is all true.

What did Guillaume do after the meeting? He says he went back home and had a light supper and warm milk. He slept soundly. Robert realises this last statement is a lie. Guillaume didn't sleep soundly, he dreamed.

"Can you think of anyone who would wish to harm Seymour?"

"Roughly 1/3rd of the Trilon board!" Guillaume had been rooting for Seymour who was a "fine executive officer". He says that there was currently a lot of realignment going on. Robert picks up that Guillaume was a little bit jealous of Seymour's success since he started from a position of strength, but he is also grateful since Seymour's mother helped his own rise to power.

Andi asks if there is anything else he thinks the team should know. "Nothing else occurs to me. Be gentle with Dallas, he's not very well."

Guillaume rings a little bell and the team are ushered out.

Robert relays his findings. The team agree they should ask the other men about their dreams.

The crew discuss the implications of a second high-level telepath in Trilon, in particular one not afraid to use their powers for promotion. Could this be the person responsible for Elmer's demotion and M'Dinka's murder? Who else, apart from Komiko, benefited from those events? Andi checks official website and unofficial blogs on time of Komiko's ascension to the board to see what Seymour and Elmer were doing then and who else got promotion. Seymour was already top notch senior board, and had been for a couple of decades. He was already running Xi Ursa Majoris. Seymour wasn't in the Sol system when M'Dinka was murdered. Marika got Daisy's job. Beyond that it wasn't clear who else benefited from the general reshuffle. Seymour was recalled from Xi Ursa Majoris to manage the crisis. Since Marika may also benefit from the current crisis this information is interesting.

The team go to see Komiko who offers them a light meal which they accept. The crew report their conversation with Guillaume and, in particular, the fact that there appears to have been a significant woman and the fact that he had bad dreams. Komiko says she needs a name for the woman. Komiko also says that bipolar politics is more simple than tripolar. Several neutrals are realigning themselves.

Robert suggests monitoring entire station for an hour at some point in order to pick up active skills.

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