“I thought we weren’t talking about Apoikia yet.” Tham hissed, “I thought-”

“Yeah, well-” Flit’s ears took on an angry flush as they pinned back, “I couldn’t figure out how to explain why I ended up listening to Jason without it-”

“And if those two end up telling anyone about Apoikia-”

“They won’t.” GiDi said, then turning to TO and DH, they added, “Right?”

“... I’m sorry, what?” TO looked from GiDi to Flit, “Chilacians? And they spoke our language?” They shook their head, their mind coming up with a million excuses, “Maybe it’s just a colony of lost synths-”

“That’s what I thought too.” Flit said, “They have an entire history there, and didn’t even know about King Decon until Jason ended up there.” 

“And he keeps talking.” Tham muttered as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

“Well, I had to keep so much hidden from them until now!” Flit snapped, “I had to just to keep them alive! Too many died or got ‘corrected’ before them-”

“Lobotomized.” Pearla said from next to GiDi. 

“- and I didn’t want to see it happen to them. Now that I can tell them things, I want to!”

“With no care if it gets us all killed in the meantime.”

“TO and DH won’t tell anyone.” GiDi said again, then they turned to TO, “Right?”

TO hadn’t had time to consider this kind of situation before. Well, not this specifically. They had considered what they’d do if they found GiDi, and if they’d report it. Before, they had just hoped, wished, that they’d not find GiDi, despite desperately wanting to know if they were ok. 

“... I don’t think I will.” They said after just a moment of consideration. There was no logical reason for their answer, but there was evidence. When they found GiDi working with insurgents, they couldn’t shoot them. It was what they were supposed to do, and they couldn’t do it. More than that, when Kei tried to shoot GiDi, TO had stopped them, and had ruined their position among King Decon’s synths by opening fire on Kei and getting them all captured. They hadn’t even thought of doing that before; there was no consideration in that, only action.

It felt likely then that if it came to it, if they had the option of following orders, or helping GiDi, they’d help GiDi. 

They still loved the small synth, despite how much had changed, and how long they had been apart. GiDi was still like their family. No, apparently, they were actually family. A half-sibling.

Synths didn’t have siblings. That still made them feel dizzy to think of it. TO think that they had a family. That GiDi was an insurgent. That there were others like them who weren’t synths.

Chilacians. Synths came from Chilacians? Synths were Chilacians? 

TO suddenly felt DH’s hand on their shoulder, and realized that their jaw had been tensing, and that their wings had tightened around their arms. They could feel how pinned back and low their twitching ears were. Of course, DH didn’t look like they were doing much better. They pinned as well their own ears, but they seemed more concerned than anything else as they watched TO with wide, dark eyes.

“I think that might be enough for now.” GiDi said, “This… It's a lot. I know it’s a lot. I had the entire trip here to process everything. They don’t.”

“No.” TO said, turning back to Flit, “What else happened? How did you get away from them? Why did you start working with insurgents? Just because they said that there were others like us??”

“Well, no.” Flit said, “I stayed with them for five days while I recovered. Jason was probably the nicest, kindest, most compassionate person I ever met, save for Snout-”

“No, from what I heard, I don’t even hold a candle.” Snout said.

“And he was an ‘insurgent’ because he was getting people away from King Decon’s reign. People who would have gotten killed under him-”

“Because they’re insurgents.” TO said.

“Because they didn’t want to get moved to an environment that’s not good for them, like Lendulin’s parents.” Pearla said, “Or get moved to a place that wouldn’t accept them. Or be forced to give up how they lived before. Some were-”

“Everyone had different reasons.” Flit said, “I met everyone in time and couldn't disagree with why they wanted to leave. King Decon values efficiency and progress over people, and would place someone in charge who thought the same, who would run their planet like a business and get the most out of it with no concern for the people there; Just like what’s happening on Arkane. When they couldn’t fight against it, they fled… and I couldn’t-” They stopped, falling silent as they looked at the ground, “It’s a lot. I know. It was a lot for me then…” They turned away. “It’s still a lot for me some days. But in the end, a group of synths were coming, following my chip’s signal to collect me. The insurgents saw them and evacuated. Jason wanted me to go with them and said I’d be in danger.” They shrugged, “We’re all terrible liars, and I liked Jason anyway. I respected him. So I ended up telling him the truth.” 

“And… He attacked you then?” TO asked, “He attacked you, and that’s how you lost your leg?”

Flit shook their head again. “No, it surprised him, and he had questions, but there wasn't time to give any answers. He gave me a code to access a secret channel. Said if I ever needed to escape Decon, or if I knew anyone who wanted to get away, he’d help.” they chuckled, “Apparently he thought I was alright. Don’t know why he trusted me either, but I guess by then he figured I was trustworthy.”

“... And the leg?”

“... I asked him to shoot it for me.” They said, “I couldn’t hide the fact that the insurgents had been there, and I told him I couldn’t lie… So I told him to shoot my leg.” He shrugged. “He hit something, though, and it got infected. Didn’t expect I’d lose the damn thing.”

“I might have been able to save it.” Snout huffed.

“I know.” Flit said, “But if they saved it, I wouldn’t have become a retiree, and I wouldn’t have gotten to see you again.”

“And… That worked?” DH said, “What about the bandages you had on you? Didn’t they ask why the insurgents healed you?”

“I mostly told them the truth.” Flit said. “I was stuck. That’s true. I got injured. That’s also true. By letting the insurgents ‘help’ me, I learned where their hiding place was, and would lead my rescue party to me thanks to my chip. That’s true too. When they were leaving, I refused, and they shot me and I couldn’t follow them and find out where they were going. It was all technically true.”

“It baffles me how you can lie by omission, but you can’t just outright tell a lie.” Tham grumbled.

“The psychology behind it is odd, and I’m certain if you were in the right mindset, you could lie through other means than prevarication.” Pholi said, “But I’ve been working with GiDi on that, and it’s not working.” 

“Anyway,“ Flit said, “After they sent me back to my original training center, one synth we were detanked with… well, they were strange as well. They weren’t quite like us; their brains were altered, but not quite to specification-”

“I wasn’t lying when I told you some variation is allowed.” Snout added, “It’s good for creating officers. This one was just on the line between acceptable and unacceptable, though.”

“Right. They ended up being ‘problematic’ Medical Officer Assistants. Reported few of the issues in young synths that would have them corrected or repurposed. Their superiors would have sent them off on an exploratory mission into the nothingness of space, and it didn’t seem right. So, I contacted Jason, and they could intercept them and get them somewhere better.”

“... And that’s what you did with Snout.” TO said, “I thought you looked too relieved when the General said that the insurgents took them.” 

“Yes.” Flit said, their ears pinning back, “They probably noticed it too. They knew I was doing things I shouldn’t be doing, but I was very very careful. Synths being sent off to mining facilities and on exploratory missions? That’s easy to manage.” They glanced at GiDi. “Getting a trainee slated for correction is harder. Still, it worked out well in the end.”

“I’d say it did.” Snout said, “If you had stayed behind and gotten ‘dealt with’ by the General, I’d have been so angry!” They put their hand on Flit’s shoulder and squeezed gently. With a light flush, Flit set their own hand atop Snout’s.

“Anyway, I didn’t know if I could help Snout. I never got a response, and knew that Jason was dead at that point, so I didn’t know if anyone would get the message.” 

“Yeah, I found the message.” Vik said from his little corner, “We needed information from Jason’s old communicator, so I had to dig into it. I got your message, but didn’t know who you were, so why would I send anything back?”

“Yes, that was awkward when I arrived here.” Snout said, “They sent the other synths who came with me to Apoikia. I wanted to stay here and work. They were going to send me regardless-”

“But I said hell no.” Vik said, “And I think Goretta wanted them to stay too. I wanted info about their chip, and she wanted medical info.” 

Goretta; TO had almost forgotten about her. The researcher was learning how to reverse the supposed damage done to normal synths' minds either before leaving the tank or after. The one who wanted to test this procedure on Kei.

Well, TO wasn’t as concerned anymore; they knew who was considered the leader around here, and didn’t need to see that argument play out anymore.

“... Is she the one that’s going to poke a Kei?” Avery asked, their voice low as they spoke, “The one who's going to change their brain?” 

Vik stopped typing away, and looked up, “You decided on that then?” They asked.

“No. Nobody's decided on anything yet.” Flit said, “But Kei will not cooperate with us.” 

“Then it’s our only option.” Vik said, going back to his work, “Unless you want them dead.”

“We’re not killing them.” Snout said.

“Why not? They’d kill us.” Tham said, “If they get loose, our position will be compromised, and we might all get killed-”

“Let’s wait for Goretta to come back.” GiDi offered, “Until then, we can piece together what to do about the blockade, and-” They looked at TO and DH, “And maybe you two want to rest? I know you’ve been resting. And you can stay out here with us, but -”

“I think I’d like some quiet.” TO said. They didn’t really want the quiet, but they wanted to have a few minutes to speak to DH privately about everything they had seen and heard. 

“Do we need to go back to the locked rooms?” Avery asked, their wings tightening, their voice shaking, “Please, I don’t want to go back there. I-” They looked at TO, “Can I go with you two?”

Avery didn’t want to be alone. TO was so surprised that they couldn’t answer right away.

“Of course you can.” DH said.

“And we won’t put you in locked rooms.” GiDi said, “Come on, I’ll find a better place for you.”