House of the Morningstar: Chapter 6
Created | Updated Mar 17, 2023
House of the Morningstar: Chapter 6
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The caravan has moved all through the night at its slow and steady pace. Mountains have appeared in the distance in front of us. We had another bland breakfast of energy bars and something like coffee. In the morning we played card games and listened to music while watching the landscape pass by. In the late afternoon we reached the mountains and suddenly there was a road, which entered what I can only call a gorge between two cliffs. There was even a large blue sign and white letters 'Eldorado, 6km'. The constant shaking we were used to from the last days of travel stopped as we reached the road.
The space between the cliffs was narrow at first, but large enough for our caravan to pass through. It was dark and I imagined seeing caves and even movement in the deep shadows between the rocks. After a while the space got wider and the bottom of the canyon got brighter.
Finally, we seemed to reach the end of the canyon. There was a huge arched gate blocking the way in front of us. The bright friendly letters which were fixed on the gate said 'Welcome to Eldorado'. As we approached, the gate opened slowly. It was like being swallowed by a huge mouth, just instead of a monster's stomach we arrived in a rather large airlock. Once pressurized, we emerged at the other side into a huge storage hall, filled with crates and various equipment. We were happy to finally be able to leave our vehicles. When we had unloaded or bags and said our goodbyes, the caravan crew started to unload their cargo.
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Working Lunch
It was a grey day. The clouds were piling up in the sky like lengths of cloth on an old painting. The wind was chasing dry leaves through the streets, which it ripped off the already half-bare trees. Even the most stubborn people had gotten their warm jackets out of their wardrobe. Flocks of children in colourful wool hats and scarfs made their way back home from school, as Harry left the front entrance of the central police station. He had spent all morning in a boring office writing reports and doing research about Henry Morgenstern. He was prepared for an afternoon of more of the same. Harry gave a short wave up to Mr Cooper who lived in apartment 4C across the street. He used to watch the people from his window. Then Harry quickly moved out of the way of a street cleaning bot.
Harry walked briskly as he went to the square in front of the railway station just a few minutes down the street, where he was supposed to meet Elanor for lunch. All the eateries had their outside furniture stacked at the walls. Nobody wanted to eat in the street in this weather. Harry jumped out of the way of a cyclist, shouted after him, then hurried inside the building. As he entered the building, Harry was hit by a wall of warm air filled with a large number of different scents of spices, frying fat and other aspects of food.
He looked through the room, which was still full of people on their lunch break. Elanor waved at him from a small table at the window near the back of the room. He sat down with her, hanging his jackat and scarf over the bright red chair, then quickly flipped through the holographic menu. He ticked the box next to the lunch pizza special and a glass of jucie, while Elanor was already served a plate of pasta.
Elanor had spent the morning at the pathology. Dr. Nadolski had made various scans of the body and found out nothing new of importance. As expected the hedge clippers were the cause of death. Henry Morgenstern had been of exceptionally good health for his age. There were no indication of any medication of untreated medical problems - which in itelf was astounding but not a reason to worry.
Harry took a bite of his Pizza, then conjured up some of his research on a pad, which he had lying on the table next to his plate. He read, swallowed and told Elanor what he had found out.
'Before dedicating his time to orchids, Henry Morgenstern was the owner of Star Med. You may not have heard about them, because they are not FluxTec or anything, but the family made quite a fortune. It's a family business. About 120 years ago Dr Andre Morgenstern invented the so-called 'nectar', a crazy expensive substance used in medicine but also cosmetics. Also crazy expensive, of course - which probably is the reason why we have never heard about it. Only very small amounts are produced due to 'technical limitations', as they say on their info page. Well, as we can guess Dr Morgenstern made a fortune from this business. It is still in family hands after all that time. After Henry Morgenstern stepped down it is now his daughter who in charge. We were so far unable to reach her, by the way.
Harry reached into the pocket of his jacket to get out a pen for his pad, when he made a surprised face, then pulled out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it, then put it down on the table and laughed.
'Look what I found!', he said to Elanor, who chuckled.
In the center of the paper was a strange oval shape drawn in golden crayon. It had four lines sticking out at the bottom and another, smaller oval shape with a purple eye on the left. There was also glitter and two stickers with fairies. Harry thought about throwing the drawing away but then folded it up again put it back into his pocket.
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