When the glimmer of light overhead broke through the murk, TO put their helmet back on. They knew Thalassa had civilian emergency vehicles overhead, picking up and processing anyone that was rescued, and they didn’t have time to go through that. A civilian would have to go through all the proper documentation and let the Thalassian authorities process them correctly; synths did as they pleased. 

 

“Tio..” Lendulin reached out, setting a hand on TO’s forearm. “Just… stay with me for now.” She said, “Come to my place, I’ll help. I’ll take care of you-”

 

“I have to find DH.” TO said. They had to get back home where they could properly read the logs and maps that would show last known positions and which would have backups of messages that DH might have tried to send. Any information that would have gotten lost when TO’s suit was down would stay in their backups, and TO had to get at it. They had to act fast if they wanted to save DH. Hopefully, it wasn’t already too late. 

 

“… Could you take off the helmet?” Lendulin asked, “You sound weird with it on.” 

 

TO sighed, and a moment later the helmet dissolved from around their head. They’d rather have it on; their eyes were still blue-ringed from sobbing, and the space around their eyes was speckled with blue dots; veins that burst in their face from how violently they had cried. They had done their best to wash their face off with the salty water trapped with them in the pod, but had been less than successful. 

 

“I’d rather keep it on.” They said. 

 

“You sound different when you have it on.” Lendulin said as she put a hand on TO’s armored forearm. “You sound… Well, when you have the helmet on, I can understand why Petra thought you all were robots.” 

 

“It’s designed to translate from our own language.” They admitted, “And DH and I speak a little differently than others. That’s probably why.” 

 

“Maybe.” Lendulin said, “Doesn’t matter. Look, just, Come with me.” She tightened her grip on TO's arm. “I’m kind of worried about you, and I don’t think you should be alone right now. You can stay with me-“ 

 

“Even though I’m a synth?” 

 

Lendulin looked away, her tail lashing, “… Yes, even though you’re a synth.” She frowned. “You said you’re supposed to ‘deal’ with me, because I saw you… but you’re not, because you don’t want to hurt a friend, right?”

TO nodded, their ears flicking back. “Well, if you're a friend before you’re a synth, then you’re my friend before you’re a synth.” She looked up, her eyes big and her tail flicking. “We… are still friends, right?” 

 

TO felt their eyes burn and closed them tightly to keep more tears from coming. They had cried too much, and felt they’d be sick if they cried more right now. “Yes. We were. We are.” TO put an armored hand over Lendulins, gave her a squeeze, and then gently pulled her hand from their forearm. “But DH is my mate. I have to find them.” 

 

“Maybe I should go with you?” She said, though even as she spoke, her face paled, “I mean-“ she gave a nervous laugh “It’s not like you’re arresting me, so I wouldn’t just disappear if I went with you… right? I’d be safe?” 

 

“No.” Even without the helmet, TO’s voice was sharp, “The other synths are coming. They’ll be here soon, and one of them will… deal with you if they think you know who I am.” 

 

The remaining color drained from her face. She backed away from TO, rubbing her hands as they did. “And the ones coming, they’re not your friends, right?” 

 

“One is. The other one is…” Their words caught in their throat. The other synth was Kei, the one who reported them to their officer. “They aren’t my friend, no.” 

 

“Will you be ok?” 

 

A strangled laugh escaped their throat. “No.” They said, “Not until I find DH.” They put their helmet back on, grateful to have something hiding their face, something covering the pained look in their eyes and the dip to their ears, something to compensate for the crack to their voice. 

 

“… When you find them, just run.” She said, “Come to me, I’ll help you. We’ll figure something out, but just run away!” She reached out again, but stopped as she looked up at TO’s helmet. “… You’re not one of them.” 

 

“One of them?” 

 

“One of the synths. You’re not one of them; you’re not like them. So, just run when you get DH.” 

 

“… You don’t know what I am.” TO said, their fists clenching. “I am a synth. I’m a good synth. Excellent, in fact. Before I left for my placement here, they even considered me for-“ 

 

“But you’re not one of them!” She said again, “You’re different. You care about us. I don’t think that any other synth in the entire Galaxy would have given me a brand new chair just because they thought it was unfair that I couldn’t get a good one.”

 

The light overhead was getting clearer. Soon, they’d break the surface, and then Lendulin could open the door. 

 

“You’re… you’re better than they are.” She finally said.

 

The pod broke through the surface. They were a little way away from the main cluster of pods, most of which were being picked up by emergency vehicles. The door beeped, and a light that had been blinking red turned green. Lendulin reached out, hand on the door, ready to open it. She turned to TO. “Ready?”

 

They put their suit in underwater mode, just in case. “Ready.” they said. 

 

She opened the door. Water rushed in, throwing TO off their feet for a moment, but once the pod filled up, they could swim to the surface. Now that their suit was active again, it was giving them all kinds of information; The temperature of the water, pollutants, and the oxygen supply that they had available. The helmet adjusted their screen so they could see clearly in the water. It also interpreted sounds and fed them to TO so that it was as though they were hearing things properly; as though they were still above water. 

 

So much easier, and so much less claustrophobic. 

 

Though they could swim, Lendulin grabbed them and brought them to the surface, breaking through and pulling them up after her. Once free of the water, TO spread their wings against the surface, letting themself just float on the waves as they gained their bearings. They sent the command to their helmet to get directions to their ship, and a moment later a red arrow on their visor pointed towards the north. 

 

“Let me know when you get them.” Lendulin said, “And… and please, come find me when you’re safe. I’ll help you. Even if you don’t want me to get Pearla involved, I’ll help you! I’ll figure out something! You don’t deserve to be like this.” 

 

“You’re probably right.” TO said, “But not in the way you think; there is no greater privilege than serving King Decon… and it’s a privilege I probably don’t deserve.”

 

They flapped their powerful wings and thought it was a struggle they could pull themself from the water. They circled around to gain some height, and then took off to the north, and towards their home. 

 

======

 

For the first time, TO took no joy in flight. The freedom to fly where they pleased over the expansive sea held no pleasure for them today as every second in the air was a second wasted, a second more where something terrible could happen to DH, where the insurgency could hurt them. 

 

“... Or some synths defected, and they’re just working for the insurgency.”

 Lendulin’s words lingered in TO’s head; an idea so ludicrous, so insane that it clung to their thoughts and refused to be forgotten.

Maybe it stayed because it gave them hope; maybe DH wasn’t in danger. Of course, each time they thought that, they reminded themself that synths do not turn against King Decon. It was nice to have the hope, but they couldn’t let that keep them from fighting, from looking for DH. 

 

The insurgency was dangerous, and they would hurt DH. They had to remember that. 

 

They ignored messages from Praetor Sally, and even one from Ark-1 as they rushed to get to their ship. When it finally appeared on the horizon, they pushed themself to fly faster, knowing they’d likely end up hurting themself in the process or straining something in their wings.

 

It didn’t matter.

 

They landed before the door, almost punching the security panel in their rush to get inside. Scanning in to gain access to the ship at the main door, then again at the elevator, stole precious seconds from them. It would be faster to rip open the maintenance hatch in the elevator and climb up, but they refrained from doing that. 

 

When they got to their living space, they plopped down in front of the console, still in their armor, and started searching for the information they needed. 

 

They were too slow, and they cursed on their fingers for lagging behind how fast they wanted to move. Of course, their mind was no better, no more adept at coaxing information from the console. If DH was here, they’d already have the information pulled up and analyzed. But DH wasn’t here. DH was with the insurgents somewhere. If they had shared duties more, if they hadn’t been content to just let DH do all the computer work, then maybe they’d be a little faster at all this. 

 

Finally, they got their messages up. There was only one message sent from DH to them, caught in the network, and left unsent because their suit was down. 

 

“I’m fine. Get into a pod.” 

 

The data for DH’s chip said offline, and when TO traced it, the last known location was back in Thalassa. Once their chips went offline at the party, DHs never went back on. 

 

They had nothing. The information in DH’s chip provided nothing but a message that told TO to get the safety. There was no further tracking information, no more messages. Even the data regarding vital signs had gone offline, so TO didn’t know for certain if DH was alive or dead.

Nothing. No information, and no idea where they might have gone with DH. 

 

No, they did have one idea. Lendulin said that the insurgents sometimes abduct the indebted, and situate them off planet. If they wanted to do that, then the only way to get off of Arkane was from Okoia.

Maybe they didn’t go to Okoia; maybe they were going to other islands on Arkane, but Okoia was the only lead TO had or would have until DH’s chip came back online.

They jumped up and prepared their ship for takeoff. Thalassa was no longer their concern, and could get crushed by the massive weight of the sea for all TO might care.

The insurgents took DH, and they were heading to Okoia. That’s all TO cared about.