The boat continued down the underground river with no one saying where exactly they were going. The other insurgents in the boat, most of which TO hadn’t yet seen, were silent save for the odd time they’d mutter in a language that TO couldn’t understand. The insurgents must have taken their translator, and even if they had their communicator they’d not be able to access a translation as their chip was gone.

It was much like when their communications were down in Thalassa. They could almost still feel the path that went from their mind to the missing chip. Vik simply scampered away after taking their chip, leaving GiDi to bandage up their hand.

“Avery, are they ok?” TO asked as the silence between them drew out.

“They’re alive.” GiDi said, “The other one too-”

“Kei. They were 55H70.”

“They’re strange too? They gave themself a name?” 

“You say they’re strange.” the high-pitched voice muttered from out of sight, “I say, ‘resistant to cult brainwashing.’”

“Not now, Vic.” GiDi said, sighing.

“They’re not like us.” TO muttered. “They told us to have civilian names when we came to our planets. They choose Kei because it’s very common around here.” 

“They’re both alive, and you’ll all be fine, I promise.”

“That’s really up to them.” Vik said, “I have no issues turning on the Subsonic Scream again.”

Subsonic Scream; was that what that awful noise was that knocked them out? 

GiDi finished bandaging TO’s hand, and sighed at their handiwork. “It’s not perfect, but it’ll do.” They said. “I wish I could do better.”

TO turned to see GiDi, but the way they tied their hands behind them kept their wings in place, and caused too much pain if they put weight on their arms. Still, they glimpsed GiDi, their ears low and twitching with worry as they watched TO.

“... what happened to you?” TO muttered.

“You know what happened.” GiDi said, “I failed my examination. I couldn’t shoot you, and then Flit took me away.”

“After that.” TO whispered, “After that, you were just gone. I couldn’t find any records, and C12-”

“Flit.” GiDi corrected, “They don’t like being called C12 anymore.”

TO’s ears perked up, “They’re alive? I saw their files! It said they had a heart attack.”

GiDi hummed behind them, “Interesting.” They said, “Of course, they wouldn't say that a Retiree ran away, would they? That wouldn’t look good.”

“Where are they? What happened?” TO asked again, “How did you get here?” 

“Don’t tell them anything.” Vik said behind them, “We don’t know if we can trust them yet-”

“They shot Kei. I think we can trust them.”

“Is that really a sign that we can trust them?” A deeper voice huffed from the other side of the boat. “You said they didn’t even like this one, and you two basically grew up together, right? Not a hard choice to make there.”

“It is for a synth.” GiDi said, “It has nothing to do with liking them or not. They shoot another synth. They can’t go back now.”

“That doesn’t mean we can trust them!” Vik snapped. TO felt something tiny jump over their leg, and then a small, rodent-like creature with feathery fur, a long tail, and huge ears landed in front of them, looking at GiDi. “They could still choose to go back and report on us-”

“They won’t.”

“You haven't seen them in how long?” Vik said. They shook a hand at them - a hand that was holding a chip about the size of a coin. “First, they passed that thing - the test or the examination you talked about, and they’ve had more time since you last saw them to be brainwashed by King Dick’s cult-”

“Have some respect.” TO hissed, their ears pinning back. Vik bounced back as though startled, the fur sticking up all over their body as they eyed TO. When they remembered that TO was bound, they looked back up at GiDi.

“See what I mean!”

“Right. Because I wasn’t just like that when I first got here.” GiDi said.

“That’s my chip.” TO hissed, eying it as Vik brandished it around. “Give it back.”

Vik looked at the chip, to TO, then held it to their own face. “What, this old thing?” they made a point of nuzzling it with their cheeks. “No no. It’s my chip now. Finder’s keepers and all that, and I found it in your hand!” They jumped up on TO’s shoulder, flickering their face with the furred part of their long tail. “So sorry. Can’t be helped. It’s mine now.” They jumped off TO’s shoulder and went back out of sight to the other side of the boat. “Look Gidi, I’m just saying, watch what you tell them for now, alright?”

GiDi sighed, and went back to TO, “I’m sorry.” They whispered. “I’m so sorry. This will make sense, I promise! Just… just trust me for a little, ok?”

“... Tell me what happened. Tell me how you got here.”

“I suppose I can tell them that at least?” GiDi hissed at Vik. 

“Sure, that’s no issue to be; at worst you’re gonna implicate more synths.”

“Alright.” GiDi stepped over TO and knelt down in front of them so that they could see each other clearly.

“Here’s what happened.” 

====== 

C12 ran down the hallway, dragging GiDi behind as they rushed to the stairs.

“Elevator’s faster.” They said as C12 rushed, “If we’re hurrying-”

“They can stop the elevator if they want.” C12 snapped as they ran down several flights of stairs and burst out into a narrow hallway on a floor that GiDi had never seen before. They looked around, checking to make sure that nobody else was around before they dragged GiDi to a nearby washroom. 

“This is going to hurt.” They said as they pulled GiDi to the sink.

“What is?”

C12’s only response was to draw their claws. At that moment, GiDi felt certain that C12 was going to kill them right there. Maybe ‌they found GiDi’s actions, their words, to be so insulting to the retiree that they couldn’t allow GiDi to keep living. Correction wasn’t enough. They tried to pull away, but C12 was stronger than they were.

“No! Stop! Why!”

C12 dug their claws into the back of GiDi’s hand, digging into the flush and muscle to pry out the chip from the back of their hand. When they were done, they dropped it into the sink, and ran the water, pulling GiDi’s wound under the flow.

“They track you with the chips.” C12 said, “They track you, they listen in, they can see who you talk to, and what you look up. They’ll find you as soon as they realize you’re missing if you have your chip with you. Once it’s out of range of the one in your head, they’ll think you’re dead.”

They took GiDi by the hand once more and rushed out the door and back into the hallway and to the stairs. The last few flights bright them down to the wide open space of the shipping dock. There were a handful of other synths working, but none of them looked up from their work as C12 walked by. 

“What are we doing here?” GiDi asked.

“Just keep walking. Act like you belong here.” C12 said, their voice low and quiet, “They won’t interrupt me; I outrank everyone here.”

“Alright, what are we doing here though?”

“Getting you out of here.” he said, “The noise here echoes too much, they won't be able to hear us.'' They rushed down the hallway and got to a section where a transport was sitting, waiting to be sent off. C12 pressed their face to the glass so that they could read the code on the side.

“Yes; This one.” they said. They pressed their chip to the reader at the entrance to the shipping bay, but it gave a sour note and refused to open.

C12 cursed and slammed their fist against the door. “They shut me off already. The commander must have figured-”

“What are you doing here?”

Both synths jumped as they turned around to see who had caught them, though when their eyes landed on a wingless synth, they couldn’t help but stare.

No wings, just stumps where their wings should have spread out from their shoulder blades.

“That’s the one TO helped!” GiDi said, “They almost got ripped into space-”

“You.” C12 pointed at the door. “Open this.”

“Do you have authorization-”

C12 just pointed at the badge on their uniform, “I am a retiree, and your current superior officer, and the superior officer of everyone on this bay! Open the door.”

They jumped then and hurried over to the door. A simple press of their chip made the door slide open.

“Now go back to the main console and prepare that vessel for transport.” C12 snapped. The wingless synth nodded and rushed back.

“They’ll get in trouble-”

“No, they won’t.” C12 said as they pulled GiDi to the ship. They opened the door, and set them inside. “they’ll report that they helped a retiree, which is true.” They turned back to the synth in question, who was now working at the console.

“Launch this thing in one minute!”

They pulled the door closed. For a brief few seconds, GiDi was alone on the silent ship. Somehow, it seemed even more quiet than it should have. The absence of their chip made them feel so disconnected, so lost.

C12 jumped into the other side and closed the door behind them. They scrambled around under the seat, and their ears lifted in relief as they pulled out two boxes. They passed one to GiDi.

“First aid kid. Patch up your hand.” They ordered, then they opened up their own and revealed several high-density rations. “Enough food for a few periods if we’re careful.” they said. “Good, that means the maintenance on this is up to date.” They closed the box and put it away. “In an emergency, these little ships are self-sustainable for at least that long.”

Once they put the box back, they activated their own chip.GiDi watched as they bandaged up their own wound as the familiar screen flashed before them, showing what looked like personnel files. They hastily added a few notes before they drew their claws once more, and with stifled whimpers of pain, dug the chip out of their own hand. The sudden dip in their ears, and the way they looked at the chip in wonder, made GiDi realize they could feel its absence in their head just as much as they could.

They opened the door or the vessel, held their hand outside, and hesitated. Their fingers gripped around the chip, their ears sunk, and then finally they let go.

They closed the door before the chip even hit the ground. 

“Why are we doing this?” GiDi asked, their voice soft and scared. What were they even doing? Where were they going?

“Do you want to get corrected?” they asked, their hands shaking as they gripped the steering, the blood dripping from the fresh wound. 

“No.” GiDi said quickly, “but.. that shouldn’t matter? What I want shouldn’t matter, right? Even if I get corrected or repurposed… a synth should only serve King Decon. Right?”

“Synths are tools for King Decon,” C12 said as they finally found what they were looking for, and pulled out a mess of wires and connections, ripping them apart as they pulled them free. “You’re not a tool, remember?”

They fell silent, idly rubbing the bandaged back of their hand.

“... Retiree, I can bandage your-”

“I’ll be ‘N’ soon enough, so don’t call me that.” They said, “Flit is fine.” 

Warning lights flashed, and the vessel shuddered to life as the bay gate opened, pulling anything that wasn’t tied down out into the void of space. 

“Why though?” GiDi asked again, “I don’t want to be corrected, but why are you doing this?” 

“That is a complicated question.” Flit said, “Is it enough for now that I want better for you than I’ve had? Then you might have otherwise? When we find Snout, then I can explain it better.”

“Snout. Your mate… they’re still alive?”

“They have to be.” 

GiDi didn’t understand, not at the time. They didn’t understand how a Retiree could defy King Decon in such a way, stealing His property and running off into space. It went against everything they had taught GiDi about synths, their duty, and their prestige.

At least for now, they would not be corrected, or worse. 

“… I’ll never see them again, will I? TO and DH, I mean.” 

Flits' hands tightened on the steering as they gave a shuddering sigh, and GiDi could see the way their ears flicked back and down, a sadness that they couldn’t understand. 

“They passed.” Flit said, “They could pass. They’ll be safe.” 

The ship’s engine fired up, and the holds were released. They burst from the shipping bay into space, and away from the only home and only family GiDi had ever known.