In Absentia (Paragon)

[Legione Sumus]

Ephraim Haart

Ephraim’s office in the Paragon building boasted an impressive skyline view, though it was one he presently ignored in favour of the holoscreens littering his desk. His legs were propped comfortably, his shirtsleeves rolled back, but a twitch in his jaw betrayed his consternation. Rafael Janssen had failed to show for his last eval meeting. So far the subject showed no indication of Sickness, which might have been hailed a full success, except psych seemed concerned for his welfare and had wanted to delay the publication of the paper. Given the revolutionary nature of it, Ephraim was content to err on the side of caution. Not least because the experiments on the tech’s progenitor were thus far inconclusive. As yet, they had not tried to replicate the process.

There was no reason to think Janssen’s depression was because of the experimental procedure, but since the follow-up tests were ongoing, it couldn’t exactly be ruled out either. Crucially, he hadn’t actually used the power since, or at least so far as could be discerned. It was what the team was waiting for, being as it would definitively prove him cured. The scientists all agreed that Janssen’s last bout of Sickness should have killed him – and Ephraim had seen that with his own eyes. But they needed to be sure before they announced something like this to the world.

A sweep of the subject's usual accommodations and a conversation with his boss had revealed he had taken a leave of absence from work. The clean-up team emptied out his tiny box room to ensure no proprietary information had been left where it might be found. Now they just had to secure the man himself.

[[continued from the events in Lyaeus]]