MILLICENT: “You’re okay, Tueller. You’re here with me. Alejo and Noma cleared out the other Nikaus. They’re headed down to the basement to get the last one.”
TUELLER: “Oh shit.”
TUELLER: “I just sent the entire security force down to the last one.”
MILLICENT: “…”
TUELLER: “To get here.”
MILLICENT: Millie is speechless
MILLICENT: “Buh buh buh”
MILLICENT: She shakes her head, reaches her hand behind her ear and activates Alejo’s speaker, “ABORT ABORT OH GOD ABORT”
STORY: Alejo!
STORY: You step into the cafeteria on B1 and see the following:
STORY: Manaaki, dead, sprawled on the counter.
STORY: An open deck, still running some kind of program.
STORY: Roughly twenty security guards, who are all standing in this room and in unison turn around when you enter.
STORY: What do you do?
STORY: Oh also, Millie’s yelling in your ear about aborting, and you’re pretty sure you know why.
ALEJO: Alejo does the Han Solo slide to a stop. “Oh, hiya.” He says weakly and waves as he takes a very quick pause to look around for the nearest cover or exit, which he moves towards at top speed.
STORY: There are a few tables just to your right.
ALEJO: He puts it between him and all of them, and assesses what sort of weapons they have.
STORY: All standard issue, they’ve got stun batons that will also hurt a lot if you get hit with one. No guns, from what you could see. You hit the deck behind a table to the sound of most of them removing said batons and powering them on, and then one guy in the back saying, “isn’t that the guy who cleans the toilets?”
Chapter 84
TUELLER: “After your last talk with him, what is our plan here?”
TUELLER: “Are you going to get what you need out of him, or do we need to shift tactics? And get out of here if we can.”
MILLICENT: “I don’t know, maybe. He wants to convince me.”
TUELLER: “I would like to not be here where they kill people for knowing what we know.”
MILLICENT: “I think that’s how we went wrong in our initial encounter. We threatened him.”
MILLICENT: “He wants to know what I would do in his place. What’s the right thing to do here.”
MILLICENT: “It’s a very good question.”
MILLICENT: “The AI are as close to unbeatable as it’s possible to be. They’re taking a price most people would prefer not to know about and the remainder would likely agree was worth it.”
MILLICENT: “Are we right to be so aggrieved about this?”
Chapter 83
TUELLER: “Is your old boyfriend going to talk to you more?”
TUELLER: “Or should we just worry about getting the fuck out of here and figuring it out from not-mortal-peril distance away?”
MILLICENT: “For his amusement, I think.”
MILLICENT: “Here’s my current theory: the AI Collective need sentients to go through the relays.”
ALEJO: “Answers are going to be harder to come by from not-mortal-peril distance.”
TUELLER: “Mortal. Peril.”
TUELLER: “Damn. When did I become the cautious one?”
ALEJO: “We’ve all died like two dozen times, apparently.” He shrugs. “But I see your point.”
Chapter 82
ALEJO: Alejo pushes Manaaki back into his chair and then kicks the chair, assuming it’s on wheels, against the back wall, while watching the door behind us, in case the guard comes in. “We’re going to have a civil conversation, Director.”
STORY: “Oh, for christ’s sake.” He looks annoyed. “GUARD!” He stands and rushes you.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: Alejo hits him in the forehead with the butt of the gun, to knock him out. Then he pivots to fire at the guard’s legs or torso, depending on how armed the guard is.
STORY: The guard enters, in the same body armor and with the taser the rest of them have. As you level the gun at him, a door behind you slides open, and Nikau Manaaki steps out, wiping his hands with a small towel. He surveys the scene with a furrowed brow, then sighs, shaking his head. “Complications, complications.”
STORY: “Hannigan, back into the hallway, please. You’ll be briefed later.”
MILLICENT: Millie groans. “He didn’t even kill you!”
STORY: This Other Manaaki puts his hands on his hips, looking disappointedly at the unconscious one in his office chair.
MILLICENT: “You have backups for your headaches?”
ALEJO: “I really hate your ex, Doc. Have I said that?”
Chapter 81
TUELLER: “So the plan is to put us in the system as new hires, go in, ace our interview, and then take the Director, some unspoken fifth step, and then, profit!”
ALEJO: “It’s been a while, but seems like one of our better plans, honestly.”
TUELLER: “One of the best plans we’ve come up with in at least 18 months.”
MILLICENT: “It has six steps!”
MILLICENT: “I’m optimistic!”