It turned out that all of their protocols and arrogance notwithstanding, the key to unlocking the Synifex business world was the same it was everywhere else—money. As soon I’d mentioned it, the Initial Official had become—well, hardly warm, but he’d certainly become welcoming. And as soon as I agreed to pay his five thousand bond, cash-only “administrative and permitting fees,” he’d become downright friendly. So friendly, in fact, that he offered to share some of the good cheer he’d imbibed during his recent “sustenance period.”
But of course...
