Mira had almost finished deactivating all the chips when Tham showed up, sneaking up from the underground through the hidden entrance off the machinery room. One arm was still in a sling, but he still moved about without issue. He carried a long plank of wood with him, and he had a multi-gun strapped to his waist.
At least if something went wrong here, Tham would use a multi-fun, and not one of the civilian guns, which sent blood and flesh flying.
“Alright.” Mira said, taking on that strong announcer's voice once more, “If your chip has been deactivated, then go follow Tham; he’ll have directions for you to follow.”
“Yup.” He said as he pulled a long wooden plank to the edge of the walkway and set it up so that people could cross over, “Come on over. If you’re in the water, then climb on up.”
“Is it ok to separate the group?” TO asked as people crossed to the other side.
“It’s fine enough.” Mira said as she kept working. “Tham will send them to that clearing, and they’ll wait there until everyone is down there.” Her communicator beeped, signaling that the person she was working on, who was the last person in line, had their chip deactivated. “Alright, you’re good to go.” She said as she gestured to the plank. “TO, bring Beck over.”
Tham ushered everyone else down the tunnel while TO, Mira, and Leanaran waited for Vik to finish remotely copying Beck’s chip. When that was finally done and most everyone else was already on their way underground, TO brought Beck over to Tham.
“Here.” they said as they rested Beck on Tham’s tail, “Keep her safe.”
“Something happened here I guess?” Tham said as they balanced Beck on their tail. “Can we trust her?”
“She’s fine, Tham.” Mira said, “Just… get her down there safe. There’s one more thing we have to do here.”
Tham left, and Mira, Leanaran, and TO stood alone on the walkway. Well, seemingly alone. They all knew there was one more person there. They just hadn’t seen them yet.
TO hadn’t been able to search for Outis with Beck in their arms, but they had kept their sharp eyes peeled for them, and their echolocation had been going nearly nonstop. The waterway was comfortably dim, and while sound echoed off the stone walls, it was still easier on the ears for TO since the area was smaller and narrower than the hallways in the indebted center. Despite how much easier it was to see and here in the underground, TO had failed to locate Outis. Leanaran didn’t seem too concerned by this, though.
“You’re staying here longer?” Tham asked, frowning. His eyes flicked from Mira to TO, and finally stopped to linger on Leanaran. “Can we trust him?” He finally asked with a gesture at Leanaran. Oddly, the fact that Tham was more concerned about Leanaran than he was about TO themself was oddly uplifting.
“Absolutely.” Mira said, “He’s been a tremendous help to us so far.”
“If you’re sure…” Tham said. He glanced at TO, nodded briefly, and then turned to leave. Was Tham asking TO to monitor things? Well, it would be nice if Tham had left the multi-gun, if that was his intention.
After a while, the sounds of all the people heading down the tunnel faded off, even to TO’s ears. Leanaran, his tentacles hanging off the ledge and resting in the water, leaned against the back wall with his arms crossed.
“Outis.” Leanaran’s voice was firm and impassive, like a wall. “You might as well come out. We know you’re here.”
Well, Maybe Leanaran was sure, but TO wasn’t. They were still looking for Outis and in the mostly empty waterway, but their eyes and ears found nothing. A moment later, the reason for that was revealed. The water rippled, and from a crack in the stone deep under water, a tiny figure shot out.
TO realized it was their first time really seeing Outis. They knew they were small since they could get through the pipes at the center, and that they had tentacles, but that was it. Now, they could see Outis more clearly as their mostly boneless body, propelled by ten tentacles, broke the surface of the water. TO couldn’t see a mouth hidden on their spotted black and brown skin, but they could see huge black eyes that seemed far too large for their body.
“I figured you were hiding in a crack or something.” Leanaran said as they leaned forward to get a better look at Outis, “Hiding away from us?”
Outis pulled themself up on the ledge, “Well.” They said once they were out of the water, “I was trying to avoid being trampled.” An uneasy laugh left their mouth.
“Well, you know if you're around me, I’d normally keep people from stepping on you.” Leanaran said. Then, with a sudden, exaggerated raise of his brows and an overly concerned tone, he asked, “Or were you avoiding me for some reason?”
“Why would I be avoiding you?” Outis asked as they edged away from the three. Of course, doing that only brought Outis closer to the bars that separated them from the cleaning system.
“I have no time or patience for this.” Mira said, “And we’re on a time limit, Leanaran.”
“Very well.” Leanaran said with a sigh, “Outis, I know you reported Pearla to Gyrini.”
“Sure, that’s what they say!” Outis said, “You’ve known them for what, a couple of days?”
“I’ve only known Tio for a couple of days.” Leanaran said, “But I’ve heard of Pearla before, and Mira is an old friend who has been monitoring my family for a very long time. I’m inclined to believe her when she says something.”
“Well, I said nothing about you!” Outis said, “I didn’t say a word about you, or any of your dealings!” they jabbed a tentacle at Leanaran, “You didn’t technically do any business with Pearla.”
“I didn’t, no.” Leanaran agreed, “But I’m assuming you don’t know who Pearla is.”
“No, should I?” Outis said, their eyes flicking from person to person once more.
“I’d say so.” Leanaran said with a shrug, “She’s helped nearly every family in the outer ring. If she’s not helped directly, then her actions have spilled over. Extra food, extra medicine, the knowledge of cheap local remedies spreading when outbreaks happen… All that comes from Pearla one way or another.”
“Well, she’s never helped me.” Outis snapped as their tendrils felt the wall behind them, looking for cracks in the stone. Could they fit in a crack in the wall? How big was the crack they had hidden in underwater? TO wasn’t sure, but didn’t want to take the chance. Their wings puffed out slightly, their ears narrowed.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Not that you know of.” Leanaran said, “And honestly, if I had let what I know spread through the center, I very much doubt you’d be alive right now for this conversation. There are people here who owe their lives to Pearla, many of whom just left this place. You’re very lucky.”
“Not that lucky.” Mira said, “You know too much, and you’ve caused us too many problems. You’re something we have to take care of now, and the last person we had to take care of-” she pointed to the bars behind Outis, “Got pushed into the water purification system.”
The image of the waterfall of blood flickered through TO’s mind, sending a shiver ripping through them and causing their wings to tighten around their arms. They pulled their mind away from the thought, struggling with it as though it were some beast on a leash. No, don’t look at that. Look at Outis, who might have caused Pearla’s death. The death of GiDi’s mate.
Your sibling’s mate. That makes her almost family.
That, at least, made them forget the blood for the moment. They had a feeling they’d suffer a nightmare tonight, but at least they’d be in DH’s arms when that happened now.
“But since Outis is a friend of mine, we will not do that.” Leanaran said with a glance at Mira, his brows furrowed, showing that now only did he not know about the ‘loose end’ that Tham had dealt with, but that he clearly didn’t approve.
“Right. Look.” Outis’ body was pushed against the wall now, and they surprised TO with how flat it could appear, “Just do whatever you’re doing to my chip, and I'll take off and hide! I’m good at hiding. I swear, I can disappear. Nobody will ever see me again!”
“Bad idea.” Mira said, “They went to Gyrini once before. What’s saying they won't do it again? If they get caught or picked up and wants to trade some information for their freedom or other favors, I think they’d do it.”
“He comes with us.” Leanaran said.
Mira sighed, “And here I thought you wanted to deal with them yourself.” She said, “We can’t take them, we don’t have enough supplies as it is.”
“It’s fine.” Leanaran said, “We’re going off the planet, so we can drop him off at a mining colony. He’ll be safe, and we’ll be gone.”
“So that’s what is happening.” Outis said, “You’re all going off the planet. Getting out of this shithole, and after all I’ve done for you, you’re gonna leave me here!”
“Everything You’ve done for me has been repaid in excess!” Leanaran snapped. “... And if there was enough space and enough supplies, I would have taken you.”
“Oh, is that so?” Outis said, coming away from the wall just a little. “So tell me who were the lucky fuckers got to go on this little outing with you!”
“People with families, Outis.” Leanaran said, “People who we can reunite with their kids. We can get some whole families off planet.”
“... and because I have no family, I was never on your list, right?” Outis said, their voice suddenly cold, then tentacles twisting about them, “Because I have no family. Because I was in the system basically my entire life, I never even had a chance to have a family!” They gave a bitter laugh. “Even the few years between leaving juvenile care and getting here, I never could have a family because those bastards sterilize any teen who needs a medical procedure! I never had a damn chance!” They stared at Leanaran, their eyes big and reflecting the bit of light that flowed down the hole above them. “If it weren't for that, maybe I’d have a family and you’d have considered me worthy enough to be on your little list!”
“It’s not about you!” Leanaran said, “But people with families-”
“And because I don’t have one, I’m not important!” Outis snapped.
Leanaran looked away. “... I’m sorry.” Leanaran said, “You’re important.. But-”
“But not important enough.” Outis said. “And not useful to you out here.”
“Leanaran is helping many people here today.” Mira said, “We have limited seats, and kids who are missing parents. Now I’m sorry life sucks, but we can’t help everyone and we have to make hard decisions!”
“And you’re sending me to a mining colony to make sure I don’t tell anyone about these hard decisions.” Outis said, “Right?”
“You’ll be out of the center.” Leanaran said. “Once we copy your chip, they won’t be able to track you down. I promise, they will not look for you in a mining colony.”
“They won't find me there. I’ll just work until I die, right? On worse food, and in worse conditions.”
“It’s the only option.” Leanaran said, “You know everything now, and… Mira’s right. We can’t trust you.” He gestured to Mira, “So don’t make this hard, Outis. Let her copy your chip, and we’ll head underground.”
Outis was still for a moment, their eyes flicking about, their tentacles feeling the wall behind them. Finally, they jumped into the water. TO worried for a moment that they’d swim away, but to TO’s surprise they instead swam up to the surface so Mira could reach down and copy their chip.
“Wise.” she said. She leaned down, grabbed Outis by the collar of their tiny uniform, and pulled them out of the water before starting the process. “There’s nowhere else you can go, really. If we didn’t deactivate your chip, they’d find you and bring you back to the indebted center.”
“And that’s supposed to be worse than a mining colony.” He snapped.
“Well, Gyrini would probably question you when you got back, and from what I hear, she’s not exactly gentle when she questions people.”
It took only another minute for the chip to be deactivated, but when it was, Mira gave a deep sigh. “There.” She said as she turned to TO, “Can you take them, or-”
The next few seconds were a confusing and chaotic mess.
Outis moved oddly in Mira’s hands, positioning themself with their tentacles so they could shoot a spray of black ink in her face. She screeched and threw them, away as she wiped the ink away. More ink came out of Outis once they were in the water, creating black clouds in the water. TO went to dive in, but Leanaran shouted at them to stop.
“Their ink will sting your eyes!” They shouted.
With a curse, TO scanned the surface of the water. They could see the ripples on the surface, a result of the displaced water from Outis’ movements. They watched as the ripples led to the bars, then disappeared as Outis presumably made their way out of the waterway and into the water cleaning machinery.