The PCs were escorted to the local teleport station by Helen Pergamon, who mentioned that she had been forgetting things a lot recently. She told them that Personnel's main agent on Cebalrai III was called Clive Saxl and that he might be helpful to them once they got there.
After Helen left, a delivery man wearing Vega ID asked the party if any of them was in berth 17 of the Geleji. This turned out to be Bo, and the delivery man handed him a parcel. It was addressed to someone called Marina Lindberg but the delivery man said that his instructions had been to deliver to the passenger in berth 17. Bo signed for the parcel. It turned out to contain an encrypted memory stick. None of the party's Vega smartcards contained the right key to decrypt it.
On the Geleji the PCs met their official boss, Renee Gillis, who knew that they weren't actually doing to do much in the way of economic analysis. The voyage passed uneventfully. Larzuc tried to find out if there was someone called Isabel working for Personnel and there were several, none of whom seemed to have any obvious connection with Helen or her boss. Leigh chatted to the other people on the trade mission and didn't manage to spot any other plants. Kale drank a lot and Bo read up on Cebalrai and also drank a lot.
On Cebalrai, after a lot of boring hospitality, the PCs set off for the Museum of Xenobiology where Professor Stelios Hobson works. They had previously downloaded his books (all available free) and discovered that his pet theory was that the two alien races originated from the same planet. Most xenobiologists consider this extremely unlikely.
They wandered round the museum for a bit and when in the xenopaleography gallery, admiring the large titanium sheets on which the Tucanae seemed to store important records, they were passed a note by a lady pretending to be a tourist. The note set up an appointment for 12 the next day in the Suzuki gardens. They were to carry a copy of Celebrity Trash.
The PCs then went to see Hobson, pretending to be from an academic publishing firm. He wasn't in, so they saw the department's development manager instead who tried hard to discourage them from talking to Hobson and suggested that they speak to Kate Nice instead. He told them that Hobson's politics were radical and he was considered an embarrasment to the department. The PCs asked about Angelos but the manager hadn't heard of him.
Hobson was delighted to meet publishers and claimed he'd already been approached by another firm, who he named as Gaston Goode. Leigh hinted at a 50K six book deal, and Hobson jumped at it, in between rants about the University. They arranged to meet for dinner. On the way out, Kale bugged his phone.
On the way out the PCs asked the receptionist about Angelos and she remembered his visiting Hobson and several of the other professors to interview them. He had spoken to Dr Nice. Bo made an appointment to speak to Dr Nice.
Dr Nice remembered Angelos and gave Bo his business card. She seemed very worried when Bo mentioned that Angelos had also been talking to Hobson. Nice filled Bo in on a little bit more of Hobson's activities- apparently he had sued the University in the past.
That evening Bo 'broke in' to Hobson's office while Kale and Leigh took him out for dinner. There wasn't much actual breaking required. He found a pad with addresses and phone numbers on it. One of the phone numbers matched the one on Angelos's business card and there was an address next to it.
Larzuc had meanwhile been leaving messages on Angelos's voicemail, pretending to be Hobson having made a discovery about xenopaleography and a conspiracy. Angelos didn't get back to them. He also found Arturo Weaver's publisher and downloaded his (non-free) popular science books. Weaver is also a political activist in the local Liberal party.
The PCs decided to go to the meet at Suzuki Gardens the next day. There was a peace rally there. A man carrying Celebrity Trash approached Larzuc, seemed to be expecting him to hand something over, and when Larzuc asked him for proof of who he was, panicked and stunned him. Larzuc wasn't badly stunned but appeared to suffer a serious allergic reaction. Bo tried to help him while Kale and Leigh gave chase. Unfortunately the man got away. Larzuc recovered after using his inhaler. The police took statements. Kale got the getaway car's number.
The PCs then went to Angelos's address and managed to pick the lock. The place had his stuff in, but was dusty. Angelos appeared to be living with a woman. His computer was there but no notebooks or memory sticks. There was also a copy of a newspaper which contained a report of Angelos Inergman having been sent to jail for drug dealing.