Gyrini glanced away from the crowds, her enormous eyes scanning the crowd, seeming to linger on each face she saw for seconds before moving on. Would she recognize them from the footage of them from the tunnels? From their brief encounter the other day?
TO ducked, kneeling back on the floor next to the woman, a chill running through their spine. ‘No, she wouldn’t recognize me from the other day; I had my armor on.”
“Well? What’s going on?” Piscijin asked. For a moment, TO just stared at her, their ears twitching, their wings tightening around them. Lots was going on, but most of it was about stuff that TO shouldn’t have known about.
“Some kind of… police officer?” TO muttered, their ears twitching with their lie “I don’t know what she wants but she’s talking to one of the security guards.”
She rolled her eyes, “Great.” She muttered “They’ve been absolutely anal about security here since the incident in Thalassa. I guess someone messed up.”
“Probably.” TO muttered. Yes, someone had messed up; Several people had messed up, and it led to Pearla getting a chip implanted in the back of her neck, and having her communicator confiscated! Now, Minister Gyrini had the communicator. What did she find on it? How did it get to her? They must have found something on it to worry them; maybe they found the programs that let them deactivate chips? What if they found something that could lead them to the underground?
Whatever she found, the problem was that Gyrini was here now and somehow TO didn’t think they could rely on her being more focused on their disguised wings than their face. She seemed far more careful than that. How clear was the video, anyway? What details could someone make out from the footage? Was it clear enough to see the shape of their ears, their eyes, the clawed hands and the subtly digitigrade legs? What about the tone of their skin, or the tiny claws that stuck up from the upper point of their wings?
All the spiraling thoughts in their head - the chance of being recognized, the chance of her knowing everything that was on Pearla’s communicator, the possibility that she might even be able to trace the signal from the communicator back to the underground- Created a current of panic in them. However, it was a current that was hidden deep under fathoms of water; the part of TO’s mind that remembered their training, remembered all the simulations they had run and all the situations they had prepared for took over and pushed the panic down deep.
They could panic later, when there was nothing for them to do. For now, they had a job.
Objective: Contact allies, warn them of the new threat, and reassess the standing plan while continuing the search for Mark.
Resources: All TO had was their communicator, their chip, and a few of the dried fish they had leftover from the other day.
Time limit: TO had no idea. They couldn’t hear what Gyrini was saying, and they didn’t want to get closer to find out. They could have days, hours, or minutes. That, really, was the biggest issue; they lacked information.
“Where’s the infirmary?” TO asked again. They didn't want to risk wandering around with Gyrini here, so they’d get their directions now.
“It’s on 3U; that’s the third floor underground.”
“And do we need special clearance to go there? Permission from one of the security guards?”
“… No?” She looked at TO, confused, “I mean, you’ll get charged for each visit, but you can go to the infirmary anytime you like-”
TO nodded and left before she could finish what she was saying, slipping through the crowd crouched over so that they wouldn't stand over everyone else. Once they turned a corner and detangled themself from the crowd, they stood up and walked as quickly as they could in their search for a private place to contact Mira and Pearla.
There were cameras everywhere, so TO couldn't be suspicious. IT was so important to just act like nothing was wrong. They had to be aware of all the cameras around and had to keep from drawing attention to themself. They had to walk down the hall as though they already knew where they were going and as though they were in no rush to get there.
This was all just like when they were back in the training center; their absolute knowledge that they were being watched, and the undercurrent of fear that rested in their body at the chance of being caught and dealt with were familiar things.
Oddly, it made TO feel far calmer than they felt before.
======
Unlike synths in training, the indebted center afforded the indebetted some privacy in the toilets. They set the cameras here in the corners of the room but once TO slipped into the stall and closed the door behind it they couldn’t see the lense of any security cameras.
They were safe; at least for now.
They activated their chip and sent off messages. Their first message went to Mira.
==Minister Gyrini is here. I saw her in the assignment room. I’m certain that she has Pearla’s communicator with her. If she spoke to the guard who confiscated it, she knows what Pearla looks like. Pearla needs to get out of sight and in disguise.==
TO knew that Mira probably couldn’t check their message right away, and they had no idea how long until they could check. Pearla still didn’t have a communicator, and To had to rely on either finding her, or Mira finding her. They wanted to think that it would be fine; that Gyrini wouldn’t find them before they got the message but TO was taught to never take unnecessary chances, especially when there was something they could do. If they checked their messages that was great, but TO had to act as though they wouldn’t, and plan for that.
The next message was to Vik.
==Gyrini has Pearla’s communicator. I have no idea what she saw on it to make her come to the indebted center, but she’s here. I need any information you can get about what she might have, and I need Pearla and Mira’s current location. They don’t know, and may not be able to read their messages. ==
Finally, they sent the most important message of the day
== Good morning, DH. I miss you. I love you. I can’t wait until I’m back. Gyrini is here, but I saw her before she saw me, so I think I can avoid her. ==
Now they had to wait for responses, but even then they weren’t idle. Their mind raced, reorganizing the plan. They’d have to take more risks, they’d have to just give Vik the list of people; the original one, and the one that Leanaran gave them. The safer plan would have been to contact each person individually, confirm that they wanted to leave, and that they were willing to run, but now they didn’t have the chance to check people like that.
Now, they had to get out as soon as possible.
How soon was that though? They went through their limited knowledge of the indebted schedules in their head, trying to figure out their earliest opportunity. There were already people gone on their assignments for the day and it was likely that some people they needed to get were already gone on a job. They wouldn’t get put on assignment again today so the earliest they could leave was tomorrow morning.
Maybe Gyrini would be gone by tomorrow morning. Well, TO could hope that was the case, but they didn’t think so. Gyrini seemed competent to them -she was the security minister for this section of the galaxy, so that was to be expected- but she also seemed oddly keen. They still couldn’t shake the feeling they had when she spoke to them last time they met, when TO and DH were in their armor, heading to their ship. The sensation that she was looking through their armor, that she could see them hadn’t been easy to forget.
For now, best to assume they were at least as smart as TO themself was; that was safest. If TO was in her place, and they found something in a confiscated communicator, they wouldn’t leave the center until they found something. It was much like how they themself had pursued the escaped criminals in the holding center until they had ‘proof’ they were dead. They always knew back then that there was something odd about how the escaped criminals had disappeared, but with nothing but limited DNA and signs of an escape plan gone wrong, TO had no choice but to pursue other lines of thinking.
The insurgency had fooled them, a synth. Well, there were other synths involved, of course - GiDi, Flit, and Snout. What had once been a source of shame now was a source of hope. Even If Gyrini was as smart as TO was, they could still decieve her.
An alert flashed on their hand, alerting them to a message from someone. TO checked it almost instantly.
It was from Vik.
== I planned for the communicators to get taken at some point. That’s why I wasn’t too worried about Pearla’s being taken. Your communicator linked to your chip but Pearla and Mira’s are unlocked with a fingerprint. If there is a single failed attempt at unlocking the communicator, then a passcode will generate randomly, but the communicator will go to its default settings. It’s less suspicious if there’s an actual code to crack and if it just looks like a normal communicator.
I know, I’m brilliant.
With Gyrini being there, she’s either being very cautious, or she found something worrisome on the communicator. Maybe going back to all default settings was odd to her. I can confirm that the communicator has gone to its defaults as I can no longer communicate with it.
I can give you tracking for Pearla and Mira.
The others are discussing what they can do now. In about twenty minutes we’ll contact you with an update; be ready to access a private location to check your message.==
It was a relief to know that the communicator had basically been erased, but Vik was right, something made her suspicious, and that something brought her here. If TO was in her position, how would they go about trying to get information here?
There wasn’t much time to consider this, since seconds later their communicator pinged again showing Mira and Pearla’s locations. They were both in hallways not too far away from TO so that was lucky.
With a final look at the map, they memorized Mira and Pearla’s locations before they deactivated their chip and slipped the communicator into the hidden pocket of their uniform and slipped out of the stall with as much of a casual stance as they could, making a show of washing up before they left the washroom.
Up ahead they could still see the crowd of people waiting for their assignments, impatiently shuffling around as the ones in the back strained to see what was happening ahead. If they were still waiting, that meant that Gyrini was likely still there, talking to the guard. Good. TO could slip away and try to find Pearla without the risk of bumping into the minister. They strained their ears to hear something, but with all the echoing around them their efforts only made them dizzy. Well, at least their eyes still worked despite how they throbbed from the fluorescent lights overhead.
Still, the ability to hear what she was saying would have been a tremendous boon; some hint as to her plans, or to what she knew. Of course, in this environment doing that meant getting a lot closer than was safe.
TO was halfway down the hallway when the crowd dispersed, but not into the assignment room. They filtered through the hallways, some grumbling, some looking oddly relieved. A few of them were heading towards TO, towards the washroom at the end of the hallway. One was a gray-toned Nagarajin man, and the other who slithered beside him was an eel-like person wearing a specialized mask over their face.
“Excuse me.” TO said, keeping their voice low as they ran up to the two, “What’s happening?”
The eel-like person with the mask signed quickly at TO, but they were signing with a dialect that confused them, and signing so quickly that without their helmet TO had no chance of understanding.
“Apologies.” TO said, their ears dipping, “I don’t understand your signing.”
“What, you’re only good with standard?” Their friend asked.
“Yes, sorry.” TO said, “I have had little chance to practice here…”
The eel person rolled their big black eyes and gestured to their friend, who nodded.
“Right. Well, they turned us away.” The Nagarajin said, “Said to go back to our dorms.”
“They ran out of jobs?” TO asked. The Nagarajin held back a snort of laughter as his friend just shook their head.
“They never run out of jobs.” He said, “Nah, apparently we’re in lockdown for some dumbass reason.”
“Lockdown?” TO felt the chill go through their spine, their ears pinning back.
“Yeah; anyone who left is coming right back after their jobs, and nobody else is allowed to leave.” They stretched their arms up and gave an enormous yawn, “I mean, sucks, because if we’re here and not working that’s basically growing more debt, but I could use an extra day of sleep. No idea what's going on, but I’m going to enjoy it as much as I can.” He nudged his friend, “Hey, maybe we’ll have a couple of days with this!”
“You might.” TO muttered, their voice low as they turned the corner and rushed down the hallway towards their friends.
A lockdown. Upon thinking about it for just a moment, TO realized that yes, this is exactly what they would have done.
