Noss led them to a collection of vehicles after their brief introduction, and while the soldiers and security that had come with Noss had their own vehicles, TO and DH rode with the security minister in a very large luxury hovercraft. Hovercrafts were common on Arkane as they were on most planets; roads took up far too much land. Most people used public transportation, anyway. 

 

“Of course we’ll have your vehicles brought to your residence before tomorrow morning, but we had to keep them away during the landing procedure! I’m sure you understand!” Noss said from his seat across from TO and DH. He reached into his front breast pocket, and pulled out a wad of tissue which he pressed against his shining head. 

 

“Our thanks.” TO said. They didn’t think they needed a vehicle as they could fly where they needed to go, but of course if they had to go somewhere further away, then a vehicle might be better. The weather here was also a concern, and what would they do if they had to apprehend someone? They couldn’t just carry them to their ship. 

 

“Not one like this.” DH added, looking around and the large, ornate interior of the craft. 

 

“Not unless you want one!” Noss said, looking suddenly nervous, “I mean, of course I can have one brought to you; you can have this one if you like!” He gave a laugh that lacked any humor, and the digital ears that the helmet superimposed around his face lowered in a submissive gesture. TO noted the way he wouldn’t make eye contact, of how small he was trying to make himself seem, and of how he was picking at the thumbnail on his left hand. Hopefully, they’d pick up on these little gestures soon enough and would be able to more easily read these gestures in all civilians. 

 

The movies and shows they had watched with DH helped, but the gestures were so exaggerated there. 

 

“It just seems needless.” DH said. It still unnerved TO how empty DH’s words sounded when they came from the helmet, “The hovercrafts outside seem to carry far more people, even though they’re smaller.” 

 

“Well, yes, but of course I wished to make sure we showed you the respect that your rank deserves!” Noss said while attempting to melt into his seat, “I-is that alright, honored synths?” The still low ears that TO’s helmet showed around Noss’ head twitched with anxiety. Was trying to make himself small a sign of Noss’ fear? Well, it made sense; it was like how synths wrapped their wings more tightly around themselves at times. 

 

“I guess it’s like with the suite.” TO said over the communicator to DH, “It must be like how we got that giant room to ourselves as a sign of respect.” 

 

“I guess excess is a civilian form of respect then.” DH said, “They’re really all about excess, aren’t they.” 

 

“Most likely.” TO said. They switched back to speaking to Noss, “A small, efficient car is perfectly fine!” TO said. 

 

“That would be acceptable.” DH said through their helmet. Idly, TO wondered what DH had actually said.

 

Noss released a long, deep breath as the ears flicked forward slightly; relaxed- or at least more relaxed than before. He took a drink of what TO assumed to be the same bubbly alcohol that the civilians gifted them back at the portal docks. “I do apologize for not offering you some as well.” They said, gesturing to the glass, “But I understand, it’s against your code to eat in public, correct?”

 

“Something like that.” TO said. TO wouldn’t have called it code as much as it was a safety precaution. When acting as synths, they were essentially prime targets for the insurgency; eating in public would present the insurgency or any other enemies of King Decon an opportunity to poison them. They’d have to remove their helmets, and their helmets organized information for them, gave them alerts to help keep them safe, and also protected them physically. If they removed their helmets, the civilians would also know what they really looked like and that would make future espionage problematic. 

 

“I apologize in advance then.” Noss said as he took another drink, “I wish to bring you to meet the other Ministers at the government house, but of course they went and made it into a… celebration, of sorts.” He took another sip of his drink, his hand shaking and his eyes flicking about, “We’re just so grateful to have you here… To have this opportunity to make things right for King Decon.” 

 

“We will need a couple of days before we can really get to work.” TO said, “But yes, after that we’ll of course find the insurgents, and deal with them.” 

 

“We will deal with the insurgency in a manner befitting those who would turn against King Decon.” DH said, the voice sharp and hard.

 

TO frowned, and flicked over to their private line, “... What did you just say?” They asked, 

 

“You didn’t hear me?” DH said. 

 

“I did, but the translation was… Well, it didn’t sound like you at all!” 

 

“Oh… I said that we’ll deal with anyone who works against King Decon. Why, what did I say?” 

 

“… I suppose that’s right.. never mind, it’s fine.” TO frowned, their ears flicking back under their helmet. They supposed it was the right translation, but it just seemed odd to TO; the translation seemed oddly formal and lacked any of DH’s personality. 

 

“You know… Your translations don’t sound like you either.” DH said, 

 

“Maybe it’s... compensating for local colloquialisms?” TO said. Yes, that made sense, but it was still strange, and TO didn’t like it.

 

“Well, of course, we have every faith in you and of course we’ll provide you with everything you need; personnel, weapons, technology, information; whatever you need!” Noss said, “And of course, we know that you’ll likely leave this little gathering after you’ve met everyone; we wouldn’t even suggest you stay!” Another nervous laugh. TO watched a bead of sweat drip down Noss’ face and absorb into the too-tight collar around his neck. “You’re so busy, have so much to do, and I’ve been told before that you synths have no interest in such things as parties or celebrations, right?” 

 

“I wouldn’t mind seeing a local celebration.” DH said to TO, “But... we can’t really enjoy it like this as synths in our armor.” 

 

“I know.” TO said, then to Noss, “Yes, we’ll be leaving after meeting everyone we need to.” 

 

Noss nodded, his head bobbing up and down over and over as though he wasn’t sure what else to do. “I’ll have one of my assistants come to you during the party and get your information; we’ll send you all the extra information we have on the insurgents. I’m sure you have everything we do and more, but I wouldn’t want you to think we’re hiding anything from you!” Another laugh. He took the wadded up pile of tissues and dabbed at his face once more. “Of course, I know there're suspicions about our leadership, but I can assure you-“ 

 

TO listened, but their interest waned; Noss wasn’t telling them anything that hadn’t been covered in the briefing, but he was so anxious that TO just let him continue babbling on. Were all the civilians like this; anxious and simpering? It’d be a long placement if that was the case.

 

======

 

The government building was like something out of the simulations back in the training center; an overly ornate, giant building that seemed designed more as a piece of art than as an efficient government building. A notice popped up on TO’s visor, telling them that there was more information about this location. They opened the information and skimmed through the lengthy history of the building before they came to a date for its original construction. 

 

“This thing has been around since before king Decon unified this solar system.” TO said, “It’s odd that they didn’t bother to tear it down.”

 

“I guess if it’s still a solid building, they wouldn’t.” DH said, “Besides, civilians have a thing for physical history; maybe they kept it because of that. “

 

“Maybe.” TO said. Though they didn’t have the same fondness for physical history that most civilians seemed to have, even they wouldn’t have wanted to tear this down. Yes, the government building was too large, too inefficient, and a testament to how civilians had once spent so much time and money and energy building something for aesthetics, but it was beautiful; The white-faced building had six massive columns running up along the front, each one with intricate carvings around the base, showing a variety of what looked like sea creatures. Over the columns was a triangular frame that held within it a relief carving of a group of fishlike people hunting some massive creature; TO didn’t know what it meant, but it was likely some kind of old Arkanian myth. There was a garden before the house, filled with flowers and shrubs. TO’s helmet told them that everything was either inedible or worse- poisonous. 

 

Aesthetics over purpose; something that TO had known was true about civilians, but they hadn’t expected it to be so prevalent; especially among the politicians on planets that King Decon had already unified. Maybe the building was just a leftover relic, but the garden had clearly been carefully tended to. 

 

There were what appeared to be guards or soldiers there as well, but they seemed to be more decoration than function as well, given how fine their clothing was. They stood at attention on either side of the path leading up to the building’s giant doors, bowing their heads as the three passed. Could these civilians even move properly in their uniforms? How did they keep their uniforms in such good shape if they got into combat?

 

An alert popped up, and a noise played in TO’s ear. They followed the tracking arrow superimposed over their vision and found the source of the noise; a drone which hovered around, circling them. TO’s helmet provided a projected path of the drone, observing it.

 

“Apologies.” Noss said as they noticed TO watching the drone, “News Drone for local broadcasts. We want everyone to know you’re here, and that you’re going to fix things.” he suddenly paled. “Of course, I can have it removed if you like! If it bothers you-“ 

 

“It’s fine.” TO said, “But warn us next time.”

 

Noss flinched, and started nodding again over and over, “Yes, of course, my apologies. I promise it won’t happen again. Of course, the news crews wanted to send a bunch of reporters, but I thought that given the situation, the security risks would have been too much.” The ears  in the helmet were down and twitching again. He was backing away with tiny backwards steps. His wet forehead reflected the nearby lights in perspiration.

 

“He sweats a lot when he’s nervous.” DH said through their helmet, “You noticed that, right?” 

 

They didn’t know about Noss, but they could feel their ears brushing against the inside of the helmet as they worried. TO wasn’t scared, but the wide open space all around them was worrying to them. There was too much space, too many opportunities for people to come at them. Sure, they had their armor on and they were relatively safe, but anything could happen!

 

“I just want to get inside.” TO said, “I don’t enjoy being out here.” 

 

“It puts me on edge too.” DH admitted. “Enemies could be anywhere.” 

 

There were more guards by the doors, but these looked more functional; their sleek figures broken by the larger guns at their hips, and the pouch that hung off their back. As Noss approached them, they picked up something from a desk behind them. One gestured for Noss to stand before a line, the other waved a long stick over Noss. As the rod crossed past Noss’ waist, the rod beeped and turned red. Noss paled, then quickly reached into his pocket and took out a communicator; it looked just like TO’s, but of course it connected to the galactic network directly, and not through a chip. He gave it to one of the security guards with a laugh. 

 

“Always forget that one.” He said, laughing a little too much, “So sorry, I forget all the-“ 

 

The security guards didn’t bother waiting for him to finish before they started scanning him again. This time the rod didn’t light up, and the guards gave Noss back the communicator as they gestured for him to move forward. As TO and DH approached the guards did the thing that most of the civilians seemed to do–the slight bow before they backed away. Clearly, they weren’t interested in scanning the two of them. 

 

The obscenely large double doors that loomed before them opened automatically as they approached and revealed a vision of excess like TO had never seen before. Inside was a large room with double doors on either end, decorated with a tremendous amount of blue gems and flanked by service AI bots - ServAis- in matching formal, elegant uniforms. Another servAi in a similar uniform stood at a podium with a book before them, and another two more stood nearby; one was empty-handed, the other held a tray of drinks. On a round table in the center of the room was a gigantic bouquet of tropical flowers, which TO’s helmet said were not native to Arkane, not edible, and had no healing properties. They did have a lovely assortment of colors that seemed to play off one another, though. The ceiling arched almost into darkness, but overhead were tiny lights that glittered like stars in the shadows, illuminating a dreamy mural of naked people playing in a nebula as though it were water. 

 

The empty-handed servAi went up to Noss and helped him take off his coat as the one with the tray and offered another drink. The one at the podium opened the book, and wordlessly held out a pen to Noss. Once his coat was off and his drink was in hand, Noss took the pen and wrote something in the book. 

 

An actual book, and real pens; who used that for data storage anymore? Who needed so many drinks, or so many ServAis, to do so many minor tasks? Why did a house that was used for work and not living have so many useless, decorative additions? TO thought it was beautiful, and just wanted to sit and stare at it all, but it made no sense. “This house is obscenely beautiful.” TO said, forgetting to turn off their communicator. It didn’t matter. The helmet didn’t translate what they said and instead brought up an alert. 

 

NOTICE: This area of the building is the entryway only. 

 

 

=====

note: did you wonder what happened between chapters just after DH and TO -FINALLY- confessed to one another? Well, Superfan Patrons of Synth know -exactly - what happened now! ;)