The alarm that sounded for their meal was a harsh, blaring alert that permeated even the thick soundproof curtains from the speakers overhead. The sound made TO yelp in pain as they covered their ears. Beck, on the other hand, acted like she hadn't even heard it.
“You... actually think you can get people out?” She asked in a low whisper, “And you seriously trust the insurgency to get us out?”
“We do.” Pearla said. She had entirely skipped several important details when she told Beck what she had planned; primarily that they were with the insurgency, and that TO was a synth, and that there were so many more synths coming. It was likely wise to keep these things from her for now but they were still just important factors that they felt bad keeping them secret.
“And what, the insurgents just pulled you off the streets and threw you in here to-” She suddenly lowered her voice down to the faintest of whispers, “To break a bunch of people out of the system?”
“Specific people, if we can find them.” Pearla said, “We can get a bunch out, but we can only take another thirty off the planet.”
“I know I don't pay much attention to the news and stuff, but if you haven’t noticed there is a blockade.” Beck said, “I don’t think anyone is getting off the planet.”
“We have ways.” Pearla said, “Look, if we get our communicators, we can make it so your chip won’t track you. If you help us find people, I’ll get you off the planet, but we need help, and we can only take a few people with us.”
An alert sounded again, this one shorter, sharper, and sounding in two quick blasts instead of one longer one. TO covered their ears again, wincing.
“Is that an alert we have to be worried about?” They hissed.
Beck snapped their head to TO, “What?” They asked, then she realized what they must have meant. “Oh, no, that’s the supper alarm.” She leaned forward, “Did you know about all this too?” She asked, “Did you come in with her, or did she get you in on this afterwards?”
“I came in with her.” TO said quickly. “If that’s the supper alarm, shouldn’t we go? That’s where we can see your friend to get our communicators back, right?”
Beck blinked twice, once with her eyelids, and the other with a thin membrane that gave her eyes a clouded look for a brief second.
“You’re actually serious?” She asked. “Well shit. I mean, if you got off the planet, where do you think you’re going?”
“Not sure yet.” Pearla said, “But anywhere is better than here.”
“Is it?” Beck asked, “What if it’s a planet with even fewer resources than here? Or what if it’s a planet that looks less fondly on outsiders than Arkane? Also, leaving the planet doesn't magically wipe away your debt-”
“That’ll be taken care of.” Pearla whispered. “You’ll have a new name, new IDs-”
“So fraud then.” She said, “If I get caught I end up on a worksite in some dangerous mine on a moon somewhere.”
“Would that be any worse than this?” Mira muttered.
“Of course it is!” Beck said, “I mean, if I’m here, at least I have a chance to get out, right? At least I’m working towards clearing my debt, not working for nothing until I die.”
“If you don’t get sick.” Pearla said, “And if you don’t get injured, if they don’t increase prices-”
“And if I don’t leave the planet, then what? I get arrested and then I’m not just indebted, I’m a criminal.”
“Like there’s much difference.” Mira muttered, but only loud enough for TO to hear her.
“So I either live in hiding, get arrested, or I get off the planet to who knows where, in a place I’ve never been, away from anything I’ve ever known!”
TO wanted to tell her that the synths were coming, and that there was every chance that they’d destroy the planet with her on it, and all the indebted would die along with everyone else. Of course, they couldn’t; revealing that would reveal a level of knowledge that would be questionable to anyone.
“... So you don’t want to get out then.” Pearl said as her tail coiled around herself.
“Are we sure she’ll help us then?” Mira asked. “Or will she draw unwanted attention to us? Maybe get us caught?” She leaned forward, bringing her face up close to Beck’s, “I heard that if you sell out others for misdemeanors, you can get some of your time reduced. How much time would you get off for turning the three of us in?”
As Mira leaned in, Beck backed up and into the curtain behind her, just catching herself from falling backwards. “Not enough.” She said, her voice low, “There’s lots of people here hoping every single day that they’ll go out for a job and get caught up by the insurgents; like what happened in Thalassa.” Her eyes narrowed, “Some of us are a little more careful. I don’t trust that they’d just grab us and let us go. Maybe they are trying to ransom us, maybe they’re not. Maybe they’re asking ‘favors’ of the people they ‘rescue’ and if they are, well, I’m not interested in getting into a deal when I don’t know the terms.”
“And what about a deal with debt authority, hmm?” Mira asked, “Report us for a little off your debt.”
“Not worth it.” She said as her tail coiled around her ankle and her hands grasped the blanket beneath her, “Too many people want the insurgents to take them. If it got out that I stopped something like that? Let’s just say that life would get very hard for me.”
The alarm went off again, this time it was three short rings.
“Final alert.” Beck said, “If you don’t go to eat now, you don’t get to eat.”
“Mira, it’s fine.” Pearla said as she gently pushed Mira away from Beck with her tail before putting herself between the two, “Look… We don’t want to force anyone.” She said, “We just need our communicators, and we need to find some specific people.”
“Let’s go then.” Beck muttered as she reached for the zipper, “Come on.”
“Wait... you’ll still help us?” TO asked, certain that she’d refuse after all that.
“I said I would.” Beck said, “And I keep my promises. But I can’t help you find people… and If you get caught, then all I ask is that you don’t tell anyone I helped you, or I did anything for you, ok?” Her pupils widened, her clawed hands dug into the curtains, “Can you promise me that?”
“We promise.” Pearla said, “We won’t tell anyone that you knew anything.”
“... Alright, let’s go.” Beck said. She lowered the zipper, letting the harsh light of the room flood in. TO’s eyes had relaxed in the dim of the bunk, but now they groaned as they held a hand up to shield their eyes.
They hoped that the rest of the center wasn’t so bright; they’d have an awful headache when they got back to DH.
======
As soon as they entered the cafeteria, TO knew they had no worries about being overheard. The cacophony of noise that assaulted their ears from all directions made them suddenly long for the oppressive silence of the cafeteria back in the training center. The room was too big, the ceiling too high, and there was no soundproofing on the walls so noise from all around bounced about and struck TO, making their head spin and their stomach lunge. They couldn’t even rely on their eyes since they were still hurting from the glare of the light.
An arm hooked into theirs, and it took TO a moment to realize that Pearla was now at their side, leading them forward.
“Sorry.” She said, loosening her grip slightly, “I know GiDi hates places like this, hates bright places and echoey places.” She smiled as she suddenly seemed to look past TO, “I remember, we were out once, in this little illegal temp market near the docks set up in this giant old set of shipping crates. The echo was awful, and there were so many people, it made GiDi kinda sick. When we got back home, I put blankets over all the walls to make my place less echoey, and I got a few smaller lamps so we didn’t have to rely on the overhead light; I made a little dark nest for them.”
That did sound nice, actually; a small room, walls that didn’t bounce sound everywhere, and nice dim lights. TO and DH had managed in the cement rooms so far because there were fewer people about, but even so doing that to their room would make it more comfortable.
“That can’t have been easy.” TO said, holding on tightly to Pearla’s arm, “It’s hard enough for you to get supplies-”
“Well..” A flush crossed her cheeks, “I was happy to do it. I mean, this was back then there was nothing romantic between us, but they were my friends and I liked them. I wanted them to be comfortable.”
Was it like with DH and TO before they became a couple, even far back enough when there was nothing between them except the friendship that bloomed fast and strong?
“... They’re precious to you.” TO said, speaking more to themself than to Pearla. Still, Pearla heard them.
“Exceedingly.” She said, “I loved them before they were my partner, and I love them even more now.” She grinned at TO, “And because of that, and because I know they love you too, I won’t let anything happen to you. You just hold on to me, and I’ll get you through all this noise.”
TO nodded and set their free hand over hers.
“... And because I love them, and they love you,” They said, “I’ll get you through all this.” They looked at her meaningfully for a moment before letting their eyes flick to her neck. “I’ll get you out of here.”
Her smile faltered for just a moment, and she squeezed TO’s arm, “... We’ll get out of here.” She said, “We’ll be fine. This is just a small little trip up. It’s no big deal.”
“Well, I’m not leaving without you.” TO said.
“Don’t be a moron.” Mira said beside them. “If we get a chance to run, one of us should. We can tell the others what happened, and they can make a plan.”
“You run.” To said, “I won’t leave Pearla alone. I won’t return to GiDi without their mate.”
Pearla’s face flushed deeply, “It’s so strange to hear other people call me GiDi’s mate.” She muttered, “I’m used to partner-”
“Hey.” Beck stopped, and turned around to them, “Look, over there.” She pointed to a nearby table where a small stature male with a set of eight tentacles instead of legs was sitting, eating an unidentifiable substance from a bowl. The strangest thing was that though most seats around this area were taken, leaving people standing up along the wall or sitting on the floor eating, the seat next to that person was empty.
“The seat on his left is only for business.” She said, “One of you go take it; whoever’s doing the talking.” She nodded, “Well, good luck-”
“Where are you going?” TO asked, “When we’re done with them, we can find you-”
“I don’t think that's wise.” She said, “When shit goes down, I think I’m best having as little to do with you three as possible.”
“If you change your mind, tell us.” Pearla said, “We can help… and it’s best if you do.”
“No, thanks.” She said, “I’ll take my chances with what I know.” She nodded quickly before turning and scurrying off to disappear into the crowds.
“We should have told her.” TO finally said once she was out of earshot. “She doesn't know.”
“You’re right, she doesn’t.” Mira said, “If she knew, best case, she’d agree to go with us. Worse case, that would open up a lot of questions that we’re not ready to answer. And of course, if word got out…” she glanced around at the hundreds of people in the room, “Well, we can only take thirty, right?”
“Right.” Pearla said with a sigh.
“Come on.” Mira said, “Let’s go talk to this guy; we might just be in luck here.”
“How so?” TO asked.
“Because I know that guy.” Mira said, “Not only is he trustworthy, but he also owes me. Big time.”
