A Drop of Corruption
by Robert Jackson Bennett
Contents
Chapter 16
Overview
Ana and Din travel to the Apoth advanced fermentation works to confront Ghrelin, and Din immediately notices a suspicious absence of engravers in the facility. Their meeting introduces Commander-Prificto Kulaq Thelenai, the true authority over Ghrelin and the site, and shows that the Apoth leadership is prepared, controlled, and unexpectedly cooperative. By preemptively supplying access records and agreeing to broader theft reports, Thelenai advances the investigation while also signaling that the Apoth intend to manage how it proceeds.
Summary
The next morning, Dinios Kol escorts Ana by carriage through dreary, rainy weather to the Apoth advanced fermentation works. On the way, Ana talks at length about the complexity of fermentation facilities. When they arrive at the fenced, hive-like complex and are admitted inside, Din studies the workers and notices many Sublimes and augmented people but no engravers at all. Ana suggests that may mean the Apoths do not want anyone preserving memories of what happens there.
While waiting for senior officers, Din and Ana are brought to a meeting room with a central percolator that dispenses various mood-altering steams. Ana immediately samples the stimulant and relaxant options, treating the device casually. She pressures Din to try the stimulant as well, and after he does, he becomes sharply alert and physically energized, making the room and its details seem unusually vivid.
The Apoth delegation then enters. Ghrelin appears exhausted and anxious, and Din quickly reads the hierarchy: Ghrelin seems subordinate and nervous around the woman who follows him, Commander-Prificto Kulaq Thelenai. Thelenai arrives with three commanders, Biktas, Nepasiti, and Sizeides, and presents herself as the calm, commanding authority of the facility. As everyone sits, Din notices that Thelenai’s eyes and even her lips are strongly stained green, more like a native Pithian than any other imperial official he has seen.
Ana opens the meeting by saying the investigators currently see the Apoth as victims whose systems were breached, and that they need information to understand the crime. Before Ana can press her requests, Thelenai reveals she has already prepared a list of all living officers with access to the Apoth safes in the Yarrowdale Treasury bank. When Ana also asks for summaries of all reagent and precursor thefts from the last two years, explaining that the severed head suggests a criminal with longstanding smuggling ties, Thelenai agrees without resistance and promises to send the records to their quarters. With those preliminaries settled, Thelenai formally authorizes Ana to begin questioning Ghrelin about the theft.
Who Appears
- Analead investigator; visits the fermentation works, presses for records, and prepares to question Ghrelin
- Dinios Kolnarrator and investigator; observes the facility, notices the lack of engravers, and reads the room’s power dynamics
- Commander-Prificto Kulaq Thelenaisenior Apoth authority at the works; calm, commanding, and unexpectedly cooperative with the investigation
- Immunis Rava Ghrelinanxious Apoth official whose compromised safe links him to the case; awaits questioning
- Commander Biktasone of Thelenai’s accompanying commanders, present as part of her watchful entourage
- Commander Nepasitione of Thelenai’s accompanying commanders, present during the formal meeting
- Commander Sizeidesone of Thelenai’s accompanying commanders, helping reinforce Apoth authority in the room