GiDi made lunch; a kind of soggy, greenish salad, which GiDi said was actually a kind of seaweed. There was, of course, a plate of those awful bugs, and despite protests that they didn’t want any, DH insisted on peeling a few for them.

“You need protein.” DH whispered as they dropped a few pieces of the meat atop the salad. “Just eat a little.” 

 

“I’m going to turn into one of these awful things.” TO groused as they popped a piece of the meat into their mouth.

“Thank’s GiDi.” Goretta said as GiDi put a plate in front of them. TO couldn’t watch as she took a bug from the plate and just snapped a segment in half. “Enjoy these while we can, by the way.” She said as she held up one half of the bug, “If this lockdown lasts very long, the ‘finer classes’ will ‘discover’ them, and it’ll be damn near impossible to find them when they’re paying kids to trap ‘em.”

“Maybe we should breed some in the tunnels.” Tham said, “A little bug farm.” 

“... Can we not talk about that?” TO asked as they felt their stomach lurch. Eating the bugs was bad enough, but they didn’t think they’d manage if they had to think about these awful things laying eggs.

“Of course.” Goretta said, “Instead, we need to talk about your friend; Kei.”

“Not our friend.” TO muttered as they picked at the soggy salad. Surprisingly, it had an odd crunch to it despite its slimy appearance.

“... They’re not bad.” Avery said. They had wandered out of the common room after a brief nap, to see TO and DH again. The lack of medication was still having a poor effect on them, but at least they could sleep.

Even if they slept too much.

“They’re not bad.” Flit said from the other side of the table. “They’re exactly as Decon programmed them to be. Their minds altered so they can’t really consider things past a certain level of logic-”

“Like Ai’s.” Vik said from their computer, “With checks in place to make sure they don’t think too hard.” 

 

“Something like that.” Flit said, “If you want to think about it as a program, what they’ve done, then the first ‘rule’ is that King Decon is always right, always just, and serving him is the highest honor-”

“Bullshit.” Tham said. TO felt their ears pin back as they narrowed their eyes.

“See, look.” Flit said, pointing to TO. “Their minds are normal, and hearing King Decon disparaged still has that effect on them. It’s one part mind alterations, one part intensive conditioning.” They looked at TO, “Thankfully,we interrupted their conditioning and the process that might have altered their mind. They can change. Kei can’t. That’s why they are as they are. It’s not their fault-”

“Which is why I think we should attempt the repair process!” Snout said. They seemed about as interested in the bugs as TO was, but had eaten at least a third of one. “With their minds altered as they are right now, they can’t change. With my insight and Goretta’s expertise, we have a process that can reverse that damage. We can give a synth like Kei their free will again!”

“Or we can drive them to insanity.” Flit snapped. Their tone startled TO, and they flinched to see how Flit’s ears pinned back. “If they were younger, still in the tank, or even if they were fresh into their training, maybe. But you’ve seen what ‘correction’ does-”

“That’s not the same!” Snout snapped back, their ears also pinned. “That’s creating further damage. That’s removing what’s left of the ability to reason, and creating near mindless automatons for basic labor! This is repairing! This is giving back the ability to think.” With a huff, they tossed their fork onto the table. “If it works with them, it could work for others.” They added, “Other synths who had actually been ‘corrected’ could have their minds back-”

“Which doesn’t entirely matter, as we can’t get to the ones that have been corrected already.” Flit said.

“Jason was trying to ‌infiltrate a training center.” Tham said, “He said that if we could, if we could interrupt the creation of synths-”

“But he didn’t find a way in.” Flit said, “The closest you got was that ship you tried to send to the engine room of His flagship, and that got stopped at my training center.” they nodded at TO, “Nearly killed TO and another synth so thanks for that.”

“It was a good idea!” Snout protested. “I let them use my identification to send that cargo ship, and it might have worked if there wasn’t a backlog.” 

 

It took TO a moment to figure out what they were talking about, but when they did, it felt like so many puzzle pieces just falling into place once more, “The explosion in shipping and receiving! You sent that!?” they leaned forward, “I nearly died! Another synth lost its wings entirely!”

“That wasn’t the point of it.” They muttered, their ears flicking down as they focused intently on the salad before them, “And I ended up hurting you…” they glanced at Flit as they trailed off.

“It was my fault.” Tham said. “I insisted they prove they were going to help us by letting us use their ID for something.” They straightened up, their shoulders squaring. “I wanted to make one of Jason’s plans work. With a synth’s code, I thought we could have done something, work on a plan-”

“A plan to kill a bunch of synths?” TO snapped. 

 

“That is all besides the point!” Snout said, “We can make things better for a single synth right now. We can fix Kei’s mind and give them the chance to think for themself for a change instead of just blindly following their conditioning. We might help the others!” 

 

“Or we could make it worse!” Flit snapped. “Worse than it already is. But all that aside, Kei doesn’t want their mind changed.” 

 

“Kei can’t make that decision.” Snout snapped back, “They can’t make a decision that would contradict King Decon’s will right now, so-“

 

“I hate to interrupt the lovers' quarrel,” Tham said, “But our choices are limited, aren’t they?” He drank the last of his tea - he had finished his meal before most everyone else had started eating- and slammed his cup down on the table. “You don’t want to keep him in isolation. If we let him out, he attacks, or worse, escapes. If he escapes and tells that security officer where we are, then we’re all screwed.” He looked at Flit. “We have two choices, don’t we? Kill him, or do the procedure.” He turned his gaze to a scratch on the table, reusing to look any of them in the eyes, “And from what you’re saying, I almost think killing him would be the kinder option-“ 

 

“No.” TO said. Their stomach launched as they thought of a synth - any synth- just being slaughtered, like that one in the tank, like the civilians that fell to their deaths, their bodies twisting unnaturally.

 

“I thought you didn’t care.” Avery said, their quiet voice piercing through the sudden silence that rose in the wake of TO’s single, barked word. 

 

“I.. I don’t want anyone killed.” TO said, pulling their mind from replaying images of people falling to their deaths. DH didn’t know. GiDi didn’t know. The only one who knew so far was Tham. 

 

 Would DH hate them if they found out? No, DH would never hate them. 

 

That made them stop. That thought stopped all other thoughts in their mind. How easily, how quickly, that certainty that DH could never ever hate them was surprising, comforting. 

 

“So while I think it’s the best solution for everyone, if you want an alternative solution without getting most of us captured or killed, then the only choice is to do the procedure.” Tham glanced up at GiDi. “Maybe he’ll be a half-decent Chilacian if given the chance.” 

 

“You think so?” GiDi asked, their ears perking up. Tham just shrugged in response. 

 

“So far, most of the ones that haven’t had their brains fucked over by some weird program have been alright.” His eyes narrowed suddenly, his tail twisting on the floor. “Though, if we do this, you can be damned sure I’m keeping a closer eye on them than I did these two.”

 

“That’s fair.” GiDi said, their ears twitching as they chewed on their bottom lip. “And we don’t have many other options-“ 

 

“GiDi!” Flit stood up. “We don’t know what it’ll do to them. It could drive them mad, or make them entirely braindead-“ 

 

“Or it could free them.” GiDi said, “And give them a chance to live a real life, and not just be a servant- a tool. We’re not tools, and if I could fix the mind of every synth just like this?” They snapped their fingers. “I would, but I can’t. We can’t. But this might be the first step to helping a lot of them.” 

 

“So, you think we should do it?” Snout asked. 

 

Everyone was watching GiDi. GiDi didn’t even notice it. They were so deep in thought, but TO did. They were paying closer attention to how the others treated their small friend, how they listened to GiDi’s every word, and how much value they put in GiDi’s opinions. 

 

“I do.” They said finally. “The best thing we could have done was to get TO and Avery without Kei getting involved–”

 

“Well, I didn’t think you could bring any of them down here.” Goretta said, “But it’s too late for those concerns now.” 

 

GiDi nodded, their ears flicking down. “I know. And I know you didn’t want them here-”

“No offense.” Goretta said to TO and DH, “I just thought it was too much risk.”

“–Then, in that case, I think it might be best to do the procedure.” They looked at Goretta. “Sooner than later. The sooner we do this, the sooner we know if it works, and the sooner we can get them out of that room.” 

 

A sudden noise made TO jump to their feet, their hand going to a multi-gun that wasn’t there. Flit’s stool lay on the floor, knocked over when Flit jumped to his feet, radiating rage like a fire radiating heat.

“Fine.” They said, “Do what you like. I tried to help enough and saw enough of the damage that did.” 

 

“Damage?” GiDi frowned, “Flit, what-“ 

 

Flit jerked their head towards TO. “They’re right.” They said, “I knew they were right before they said it; I knew it before I left the center. The moment some of them came out of the tanks and got scheduled immediately for correction or repurposing. Each one that they killed is partially on me. I did what I could for the ones that survived, but that wasn’t much, and the ones that survived hate me for it anyway-“ 

 

“Flit–” Snout got up and put a hand on Flit’s shoulder, but Flit shrugged it off. 

 

“Do what you like.” They snapped as they turned. “I’m done.” With that, they stormed out of the room, Snout following closely behind, trying to talk to them, to get them to come back. 

 

TO’s ears sunk low. This… this was their fault. They were angry at Flit, yes, but now that anger felt almost childish. If they had been Flit, if they had tried to help other synths and ended up just causing most of them to get repurposed, how would that make them feel?

 

How would it feel to have one of those synths throw those losses in their face?

 

GiDi sat down beside TO with a sigh, “They’ve been fighting about this on and off since you got you.” They said, “It's not your fault. This was going to happen, eventually.” 

 

“It’s more than just this.” Goretta said, “You can tell. It’s not my business, but-”

 

A sudden, startled yelp from Vik cut her off, and the rapid sound of clacking keys punctuated his next words. “There’s a new newscast.” They said, “Damnit, where’s Pholi when you need him?” 

 

“He’s making excuses for how he escaped from Thalassa without being recorded by search and rescue.” GiDi said, “He said he’d be away for a few days to get in good with the Security General.” 

 

“Well, we could use him to see what they really have to say here.” Vik said. They looked at GiDi. “Should I just play the translation?” 

 

GiDi nodded, “Yes, go ahead. We might learn something at least.” 

 

Vik nodded, turned back to his computer, and pressed a button. The GBA - this time looking like a brown-feathered woman with large wings and a narrow beak. 

 

“In a setting with a variety of species, it defaults to the planet's most common.” GiDi explained before falling silent to hear what the public news had to say about the events of the day.