TO half swallowed the mostly unchewed piece of jerky they had been eating, and immediately had to cough violently to get it back up. They felt a tentacle on their shoulder and scarcely heard Leanaran ask if they were ok.

When they finally coughed up the meat, their throat felt raw from the effort. A bottle of water was pushed into their hand and without prompting they drank at least half of it to soothe the burn in their throat. 

“Do you play cards?” Leanaran asked with a smirk, “Let me know, I think I’d clean house.”

“What does cleaning house have to do with playing cards?” TO rasped once they finally caught their breath. Leanaran just shook their head.

“Nevermind that.” They said, “Just tell me what you know about Gyrini.”

“Gyrini? Who’s Gyrini?!” TO said, their ears twitching from both their panic and their deception. 

“Please.” Leanaran said, glancing around quickly. He lowered his voice. “I might have bought that before your reaction there, but not now.” He leaned in. “So. Who is she? I know she’s a security minister, but she’s not from Arkane, so, what is she? Some politician in charge of the Arkanian cluster? The wider solar system?” He leaned forward, “And look, there’s talk that the lockdown is because of what happened in Thalassa. We have never had a lockdown before. There could be a heatwave with toxic gasses spreading across the entire planet, and we’d still go out to work! So, a planetary lockdown, combined with a center lockdown, seems excessive.”

TO was prepared for questions now, and though they weren’t comfortable lying, simulations had trained them for questioning. They said nothing in response to Leanaran’s questions, only raising a questioning brow ridge.

“And of course, while all this is happening is just when Mira, Pearla, and you show up with cryptic warnings and saying we have to get off the planet. You have to agree, that all seems a little coincidental.”

“Perhaps.”

“And to add to that, she seemed to have a communicator with her. Apparently, she’s looking for the owner of that communicator.”

TO’s ears dipped down suddenly, their eyes widening.

“... And I’m assuming it belongs to one of you three, since the three of you came in, but I only returned two communicators to you.” He lowered his voice again, “So, given I got you that communicator, and given I’m involved in this plan of yours, I’d like to know what the going on.”

TO still kept silent, but this time it was because they were thinking. Leanaran was part of this by now, even if he didn’t know everything that was going on. He had helped them a lot! Of course, he hadn’t necessarily done that out of altruism. There were over a dozen names on their list now because Leanaran had demanded that as payment for his help.

Still, they needed him. Well, maybe not for the plan itself, but they needed him to keep quiet about their plans and not to go Gyrini. Besides, even if he didn’t report them, there might be other situations where they needed his help.

“Many people are involved in this, Tio.” Leanaran said, “I’ve gotten many people involved. I need to know that they’ll be alright, if this is going ahead, or if you’re calling off the whole thing.”

“... There have been complications.” TO finally admitted, “But we’re coming up with a plan.”

“Implying that you don’t have one.” Leanaran said, frowning. “... Is it safe to go ahead with this?”

“No.” TO said, “But it’s not safe to stay here either.”

“And I only have your word for that.” Leanaran said, “Who is this Gyrini?”

“You don’t watch the GBA?” TO asked.

“Anyone with a screen in their bunk would be much happier watching shows or porn. Watching the depressing news is not a priority. I know Gyrini’s a security minister, and that she’s not from here.”

TO tapped at the table. They didn’t want to tell people what was actually going on, as it would cause a panic. Still, if anyone watched the GBA more carefully, they’d know who Gyrini was, anyway.

“... Gyrini is Minister of Security for this Quadrant of the Decon Galaxy.”

“Shit.” Leanaran whispered. “This really is bad.” They frowned, “But why is she here?”

“... On Arkane, or in this center?”

“Both!”

“I don’t entirely know.” TO said. “She came to Arkane when the synths went missing, but they’re back now as far as I know.” It was odd to talk about themself in the third person, but TO was just glad that they remembered to do it. “Did you know about that?”

“I think I heard about it, but to be entirely honest I’m not concerned about what the synths are doing. They wouldn’t care about what we do here, anyway.”

“Well... She came here when they went missing. I’m assuming she’s investigating their disappearance.” 

“You’d think King Decon would have sent more synths…” Leanaran muttered. “But I think a lot of them have gone missing, so maybe He doesn’t want to risk losing any more?” He frowned, His brows furrowing and his tentacles twisting. “Something still doesn’t make sense… but I can’t quite place it.” With a sigh, he glanced around again and this time something caught his eye.

“Looks like I’m keeping you.” He said as he waved behind TO. When TO looked, they could see Mira waiting for them, her long arms crossed, her feet shifting on the floor.

“Yes.” TO said as they got up, “Sorry. Thank you.” They stopped, their hand on the bowl “I can take this?”

“Go ahead.” Leanaran said.

“Thanks.” TO took the bowl and emptied the contents into the little bag holding the last piece of fish they had, then turned to leave. They hadn’t even taken a step before Leanaran had a tentacle on their arm, holding them back.

“... Do you have any idea how to get us out of here?” He asked once more.|
 

“... Out of the center you mean?”

“Yes, out of the lockdown. Do you have any ideas?”

Mira had apparently been listening, because at this point she finally stepped forward. “Hey, sorry for listening in.” She said, giving a false smile. “We have a plan, but…” She shrugged, “Have to keep it very quiet for now. You understand.”

“Of course.” Leanaran said, letting go of their grip on TO. “I’m just glad to know you have some plans. I won’t pry for now, but if you need anything; Food, medication, or first aid, let me know.” He glanced around the cafeteria, “I noticed Pearla isn’t with you today. Is she ok?”

“Oh, yes!” Mira said with a laugh, “She’s fine; just didn’t want to be in the cafeteria. I think the food made her a little sick.”

“It can do that.” Leanaran said with a sigh as they looked back at their own bowl. “Well… Good luck.”

“Thank you.” She smiled at TO, and pulled them forward, “Come on, more work to do.” She said with a thick enough that TO could pick up on how cheerful it was. Well, TO could understand how she might be happy! Even they felt their ears perk up and their muscles relax.

TO had no idea what the plan was, or how Mira had come up with one in such a short time, but they were just glad that at least something was sorted out.

======

“What? No! Of course I don’t have a plan!” Mira said when TO questioned her about it later. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to do here!”

They were back in the laundry room, the smell of which was entirely overlooked at this point. TO TO, its smaller size and quieter atmosphere entirely outweighed its other flaws. They had been almost happy given that they could now rest their eyes, that they weren't being bombarded by noise all over, and that Mira had a plan.

“Then why did you say you had a plan!” TO asked, nearly dropping the bag of fish and jerky as they passed it to Pearla, “I heard you right! You said we had a plan! You were smiling! You were pleased!”

“I lied, obviously!” Mira said, “I don’t have a plan! I have no idea what the heck I’m supposed to do! I’m getting all the pieces in place, getting everyone ready, and trying to figure things out as I go!”

TO put their head in their hands and sighed. They thought they’d be able to rest now since they had some time between now and dinner before they had to look for the others. They had most people off their list, but there were just a few left they had to find. The glorious few hours they had to wait and rest in the dim quiet of the laundry room was now a scant few hours to figure out a plan.

“Maybe we need to bail.” Mira muttered after a few agonizing minutes of silence. “I’m sure the shipping crates leaving the center are still moving at least. They’re trying to keep planetary shipping going as best as they had to make it look like things are ok.”

“And you think Gyrini won’t have the crates checked?” TO asked. “She’s probably set up some lockdown procedures. In fact, if it were me in her place, I’d have said nothing leaves the center. At all. Not even garbage.”

Mira sighed, “Call Vik.” She said to TO, “I want to save my battery here, and we need to talk to him. Maybe he and DH have come up with a plan.”

Right! Vik and DH were both working on something, and TO knew that DH wouldn’t stop until they were out of the center, and back safe underground.

The call took several minutes to go through, and longer for someone to answer them. When they did, there was no video, just audio.

“Vik?” Mira frowned at the blank screen floating above TO’s hand. “What’s up? No camera today, or-”

“Busy. working.” They said, “So, I’ve got some reports here-”

“Later.” Mira said, “We need to know if you have a plan for us.”

“A plan?”

“Yeah. The center is in lockdown, and we can’t get out the normal way.”

“Right. Yes. There is progress, but before that-”

“Just give me some hope here, Vik.” Mira pleaded, “Come on, something good. Tell me some good news.”

Vik sighed, “Alright… Where are you? I’m assuming you’re somewhere safe.”

“One of the laundry rooms. We’ve been left alone so far here, so it should be safe.”

“Alright. Well, good news first then, I guess.” Vik said, “The good news; I’m comfortably hidden in their system, and it seems like nobody has noticed me. Right now I’m focused on observing their reports, watching their communications, and tinkering just a little to see what I can edit, and how much they’ll notice. I have a backdoor now, so I can get in and out as I please. We’ll be fine when you’re ready to go. Really, the synth level of authorization makes this so much easier!”

“Good, that’s something.”

“OH!” The one syllable was all TO needed to recognize the excited voice of their mate. Their ears twitched and rose in response to the familiar voice. “And I managed the thing I was working on!”

“What was it?” TO asked. “Can you tell us now?”

“Yes, I can!” DH said, “I have access to their drones!”

“Their drones?” TO asked. “But they don’t have drones in the center, just-”

“Just when people go on assignment, right? And if that’s when we’re getting people out, we can turn off half their functionality, and keep them doing their rounds without actually monitoring anyone! I can also monitor you and use the drones to help you if something happens!”

“That’s useful.” Mira said. “When we can get around the lockdown, things might be a little easier.” She sighed, “Ugh. Two lockdowns to get through. I hate this. Since we got here, it just feels like everything is going wrong!”

“And on that note.” Vik said, “Now that I’ve given you the good news, are you willing to listen to the not-so-good news that I unfortunately must break to you?”

“Shit, you got your polite voice on. Must be bad.” Mira said, smirking.

“It is.” Vik said, “They know the communicator was Pearla’s, and they’re looking for her right now.”