Sen Lang had just thought of the case that had stalled when someone contacted him. The caller turned out to be his immediate superior, Callahan, Deputy Director of the Boundary Curtain Regional Police Headquarters.
For a moment, he felt an absurd twinge of guilt:
Was his case closure rate dropping lately enough for the higher-ups to start putting pressure on an old fellow nearing retirement?
With that rather ridiculous thought in mind, he answered the call.
Callahan's voice came through clearly. The man was about ten years younger than him, yet had already reached the top of the Police Headquarters' technocratic hierarchy. He was someone with real power.
Their personal relationship was nothing special, but they had always worked together smoothly. Callahan respected veteran experts like Sen Lang. Of course, he had not called to criticize his case closure rate, but to raise a somewhat informal matter:
"Someone would like you to give a lecture as an expert, on how to defend against contamination by evil cult elements."
Sen Lang frowned at that.
Unless they were professionals, people in other fields were better off staying as far away from evil cult elements as possible. The less they knew, the better. Ideally, they should never come into contact with them at all.
Even attending a class purely to learn could expose someone to contamination once their understanding deepened.
Callahan had a technical background himself and had worked with him for so many years. He ought to understand Sen Lang's stance. Yet he had still made a point of calling, so there had to be a reason.
Sure enough, Callahan immediately continued, "The request comes from the Fei Family in the Main Star System. They're a god-favored family of the God of Pivot. You both belong to the great thoroughfare system, but