TO didn’t like the morgue. As the camera flicked to show Gyrini entering the room along with the two guards, Dr. Nycht, and Leanaran, TO felt like they were in the room again. They could feel the chill in the air that kept bodies from decaying, the emptiness of the bagged bodies around them, and the smell of medical grade disinfectant that sent TO out of the room, shivering and shaking as their mind replayed the sounds of cracking bones and showed them deep blue blood on plastic gloves.

There was no blood, and thankfully the bagged bodies showed no sign of their contents aside from the vague shapes underneath. Still, it was eerie that the only sound in there had been the hum of the overhead lights and the whir of the air conditioning that kept the room cold. 

“Which one is her?” Gyrini demanded as she looked around at the trolleys, each one holding a bagged body.

“Let’s see…” Dr. Nycht muttered as he skimmed through his notes on the communicator. They could hear him far more clearly than they could Gyrini, but of course they were listening through his communicator, so it only made sense. “She is in bag 7854.”

Gyrini glanced at the nearest bags, and took in what TO themself had noticed earlier. The careful numbering and placement of the bodies had a certain order, a pattern that organized them. The security minister followed the pattern of numbers back until she found Pearla’s bag; it was so much longer than the others because of her tail, and it looped under the trolley to keep out of the way.

“This is it.” Dr. Nycht said from the guard’s shoulder. “7854. This is her-”

“Open it.” Gyrini said.

“Let me check…” The doctor said, skimming through his notes.

“I said open it.” Gyrini said, her voice colder than the room itself. “I expect my orders to be followed.”

“Of course, Minister Gyrini.” Dr. Nycht said, “But I just have to make sure there’s no issue, no troublesome potential biohazard issues before we open it.” After a moment, he nodded and turned to his guard, “Would you?” He asked.

The guard grunted, stepped forward, and unzipped the bag.

Even on camera, TO wasn’t used to seeing Pearla like that, and they were just grateful that GiDi wasn’t watching this. Pearla’s eyes were dark and sunken, her cheeks were drawn, and she was just so unnaturally still that it sent shivers through TO’s spine.

“What if they cut her open?” TO whispered. It wasn’t so bad now that they were away from the room, but seeing her unmoving on the slab sent horrible pictures of dissection through TO’s head.

“They won’t.” Mira said. “They didn’t take any tools with them, did they?”

Gyrini stepped up and looked down at Pearla, her large eyes flicking over her face and taking in the details.

“Coloration seems correct.” She muttered, “The hair, the size… Unzip the bag more so I can see the tail.”

The guard nodded and unzipped the bag further, exposing a flash of iridescent purple scales.

“Is this her?” Dr. Nycht asked.

“Seems to be.” Gyrini said. She reached out with a thin, claw-like hand and pressed chiton covered fingers to Pearla’s neck.

“No pulse.” She muttered.

“I’d hope not.” Dr. Nycht said, “Not really a place for people with a pulse.” He shivered, “Us included.”

“Check her chip.” Gyrini said, “Make sure it matches what’s on file.”

The guard nodded and took out a scanner from a holster at his hip. Even from the video, TO could see the large man steady himself, and could still see how the rest of his body seemed to lean away as he slipped the scanner under the neck and scanned the chip. As soon as the scanner beeped, he pulled away as though he was pulling his hand from a fire.

“Does it match?” Gyrini demanded.

“Let’s see…” Dr. Nycht said as they looked at the scanned numbers. “Yes. Yes, it does.” Her chip matches that on file. Pearla Faros.

Gyrini’s antenna bent back, her mandibles twitched and tightened as she glared at Pearla,. It was as though she were angry at Pearla’s audacity to be laying there in the Morgue.

“She only came into the center recently.” Leanaran offered. “Got pulled in after that raid in the Outer Ring.”

“And within a couple of days, she died?” Gyrini snapped.

“Well, you know what they say about the outer ring.” Leanaran said, shrugging and not looking directly at either Pearla or Gyrini, “Slackers and addicts. I guess she was desperate for a fix when she came in, and took what she could get.” 

“It pisses me off that we gotta go with this bullshit.” Mira grumbled next to TO.

“It fits their narrative.” Vik said. “I’m perfectly happy to use their stupidity as an exploit.” 

“Are you certain she’s dead?” The guard who had Dr. Nycht on his shoulder asked.

“I just said she has no pulse.” Gyrini said, her voice flat and cold.

“I very much doubt I’d put someone in here when they’re still alive.” Dr. Nycht said, “Though, to be fair, a lack of pulse in these environments isn’t uncommon for Nagarajin. They hibernate in the cold, so a pulse would be exceedingly slow and weak.”

“... Fascinating.” Gyrini said as she leaned in to look more closely at Pearla, “And how would you test for life then?”

“Outside of hooking her up to a monitor? Well, you basically did it.” Dr. Nycht said, “You touched her. She didn’t move.”

Gyrini eyed Pearla for a moment longer, then without warning she slapped Pearla across the face. They easily heard the impact over Vik’s communicator. TO held their breath as they watched the scene unfold, as they watched Gyrini watch Pearla, looking for any hint of movement.

Nothing. 

“I have a terrible memory.” Dr. Nycht admitted, “But I’m not negligent. I wouldn’t mistake a living Nagarajin for a dead one.”

Gyrini fell silent, her eyes never leaving Pearla.

“Minister Gyrini?” The guard next to the Gyrini said, “This is who you were looking for, isn’t it? She matches the description.”

“Yes, she does.” Gyrini hummed, “And if she’s been here, it would explain why nobody’s seen her today.” She finally turned away from Pearla, looking to the guard that was with her, “But it wouldn’t explain why we can’t find her on the security tapes.”

“Thank the seas.” Mira breathed, “Yes, get onto another topic and stop staring at Pearla.”

“There’s lots of people in here.” The guard said, “Respectfully, Minister Gyrini, our computers can track her but we need to find her in the video first and then we can track her. I assure you, I have people combing over the last week of footage, looking for her-”

“... Check the footage leading to the morgue.” She said as she turned around to leave, “We know where she is now, so follow her backwards.”

“I knew she’d check that!” TO said, “See Vik, I said she’d think of that!”

“You did.” Vik said, sighing, “And I suppose I should be grateful for your insight.”

“Minister Gyrini, a question.” Dr. Nycht said, “You have your target now. I mean, she’s dead, but you found her. Does this mean we can leave the center now? I’ve technically been off shift for a few hours now, and I’d like to go home.”

“Not until I’ve checked the security footage.” She snapped. “Once I’ve found her, then I don’t really care what you do.”

“Well, TO, I suppose I owe you.” Vik said, “Your paranoia paid off for us.”

“I just know what I’d check.” TO said as they leaned back against the wall.

“Still, she’s absolutely insane.” Mira said, “I mean, she has a body matching the description, she has the reports from Dr. Nycht, so that should be enough!” She glanced back at the projection, watching as a guard zipped up Pearla’s bag before they all left. “She even slapped poor Pearla!” I was so scared she was going to wake up.”

“Nah.” Vik said, “The strong Sea Berry juice, the homemade stuff, that makes you numb all over. That, along with the hibernation Nagarajin go into when it’s cold, would make her pretty still and lifeless. Though, really, I think your makeup skills pushed it to that extra level of realism! Those sunken eyes, the gray-toned skin…”

“Yeah, well, it didn’t take much.” Mira said, “There was plenty of black gunk left on TO’s wings that I could scrape off to use.”

“I was more worried that she’d see bruising with that slap, or that she’d break the skin.” TO muttered. “She’d probably have questions if Pearla started bleeding like a living person.” They took a breath, and stood up, “Vik; keep watching the Morgue. Don't take your eyes off Pearla. Nothing can happen to her, understand?”

“Of course.” Vik said, “You think GiDi would let me take an eye off this for a second? They’re a mess right now. They couldn’t even be here to watch this because they couldn’t stand to see Pearla looking like that.”

TO didn’t want to think about how GiDi might be feeling right now. This was TO’s idea, and if anything happened to Pearla, it’d be their fault. “She’s going to go check the tapes now, and so long as everything works out, she’ll lift the lockdown.”

“It’ll work out.” Vik said, “I got footage of Pearla going into the washroom there, and I dredged up footage of maintenance wheeling a body out of that washroom from a few months ago. Splice them together, and we have a perfect little story.”

“I hope so.” Mira said, “We don't have footage of her entering that hallway-”

“We have footage of a crowd going through that hallway after dinner. Easy enough to imagine that Pearla broke off from them and went to the washroom.”

“Right. And if she just has a suspicion on that communicator and nothing solid, then there’s no reason to track Pearla down further.” TO said. “Official story would be that she picked up the communicator while on a job and the guard confiscated it before she could use it. Then, she was drinking some bootleg seaberry juice, got poisoned, and died.” 

“And that’s enough to throw her?” Mira said, “You’ve been right about everything so far; she’s thorough, so what if she looks deeper?”

“I’d be worried if I thought this was her only task.” TO said. “But it’s not. She’s probably trying to do a dozen things on top of her investigation here. She’s also most likely being hounded by the Arkanian government over two lockdowns.” 

“She can do what she wants though.” Vik said, “Just like Synths-”

“And just like myself and DH, she’s probably got people complaining to her about the lockdown. Without something solid, she’ll lift the lockdown.” They shrugged, “I would.”

“Hey, you’ve been right so far, so I’ll believe you.” Vik said, “Once lockdown is lifted, I’ll trigger the automatic transport for the bodies in the morgue. A brief detour before the final destination and we’ll have Pearla back here safe and sound.” Of course, then you still have to get your part of things done.”

“Just get the work orders ready for tomorrow morning.” TO said. “Everyone on that list goes with us, as well as Outis.”

“Outis?” Vik said, “The little asshole who caused this problem in the first place?”

“It’s at Leanaran’s request.” Mira said, “Just do it. If they cause issues, I’ll deal with them.”

“Alright, on it.” Vik said, “You lot be careful and if everything works out… We’ll see you tomorrow.”

If everything worked out, TO would be with their mate by tomorrow. They felt so grimy at this point that even the makeshift showers underground sounded good. A hot bath, a good meal, and their mate by their side….

For that, that was a good enough reward for getting through this.