Occasionally, TO reflected on the fact that the Overseers and Kei were right. In terms of what a synth was supposed to be and how they were supposed to act, such feelings as love and affection could only distract and hinder. Of course, there was nothing that TO could do about this now and even if they could, they wouldn’t. Still, they wondered If that feral, pained scream had come from anyone other than DH, would TO have moved or reacted faster? The sound itself made them stiffen, made them freeze in place for seconds that felt like tiny, agonizing eternities as DH’s unrestrained scream echoed through their covered ears and bounced around inside their head. It took too long, in TO’s mind, to unclench their muscles and turn to see what had happened. Over where the others were, DH had their hands stuck in the trap, flailing as they tried to get it off.
It was an accident, that’s all. DH was in pain, and the scream had been sharp and sudden, but there didn’t seem to be any blood or any serious damage.
Next to them, Tham gave a heavy sigh. “I told them to be careful.” He muttered. “These things close quickly when triggered, and they’re painful when they snap down on your hands. They’ll have some decent bruises-”
The next few seconds happened in a blur, with the focused precision that only a synth could possess.
While DH was struggling with the trap Kei, who was standing next to them, swept DH’s feet from under them. DH fell forward, their bound hands leaving them helpless to rebalance themself. DH’s training kicked in though, and their wings wrapped themself quickly to protect both the thinner bones and DH from getting hurt in the fall. Avery lunged forward to catch DH, but Kei grabbed an old pipe, and swung at Avery. Thankfully, stepped back, avoiding the careful swing.
TO finally got their leg to move, taking only a few steps forward before Kei dropped to their knee on DH’s back, and grabbed the prone synths’ multi-gun from the holster at their hip. Multi-gun in hand, Kei then grabbed DH, pulled them up, and held the multi-gun to their head as they turned and faced TO and Tham. Confused, and breathless from Kei knocking the wind from them with their knee, DH could only stand there on shaking legs as Kei knocked the cap from DH’s head, and roughly grabbed their ear.
Another pained cry from DH. This time, TO could only think how much they were going to hurt Kei when they got their hands on them.
“Stay away from me.” Kei hissed, the words shaking out of their mouth.
TO stopped mid-stride. A hostage scenario. Synths didn’t deal with negotiations in hostage situations; they let the civilians do that while synths worked on retrieving the victims, and apprehending the target. The only time one would expect a synth to deal with the negotiations in such a situation would be in a case much like this.
And synths didn’t negotiate.
TO looked around, looking for something they could use to get DH away from Kei. There had to be something they could take advantage of, or some opportunity they could exploit. They considered the few hostage situations they had seen in shows where a clever officer talked down the culprit. Could they do that? TO knew they could lie at least, since the cap covered their ears, but could they convince Kei to let DH go? What were their options? There had to be an option.
Maybe there was an option, but TO wouldn’t find it. They felt their muscles lose all their strength, as they collapsed in a heap on the ground. Had Kei had shot them? What setting was this on the multi-gun? They hadn’t even seen Kei aim at them! Another moment told them that wasn’t the case; DH, Avery, and Kei had fallen to the ground as well, so something else had to have happened, and had to affect all of them. TO struggled to get up, but their body simply would not respond to them. What was this? Had the planetary authorities caught them? Was it Gyrini? Was this some kind of specialized weapon or-
======
The next thing TO knew, they were on their back staring up at a dirty sheet of thick tarp, illuminated by a comfortable Where were they? One moment they had been working to get up, trying to figure out what happened to them, and the next they were laying on their back, looking up at a grease stain in the dirty fabric.
“-Let’s try again.” Tham said. TO’s body finally responded to them, and they could turn to look at Tham. They sat before a transparent container, filled with filthy, cloudy water. Atop the container, the flashlight sat upside down, its light diffusing through the murk and turning into a soft glow which was just the right brightness for TO’s eyes. TO tried to sit up, but a weight on their chest kept them down.
“Not yet.” Tham said, “Can you repeat back to me what I said?”
“You said let’s try again?” TO said as they struggled again to get up. It wasn’t working; they lifted their hand to see what was on them and felt cool scales.
Tham’s tail. Well, that made sense; Nagarajin tails were heavy and powerful. If Tham didn’t want TO up, then they weren’t getting up.
“Is that TO!” DH’s voice was clear and worried, “Where are they? Let me up-”
“Calm down, DH.” Tham said with a sigh. “And TO, I mean before that. What did I say before ‘let’s try again’?”
“I don't think you said anything before that.” TO said, giving up their struggle and laying on the ground.
“We’ll try again then.” Tham said. “Berries of blue are great in you. Berries of green make you scream. Berries of black and you won’t come back.”
TO frowned; what was this gibberish? A rhyme? A poem? “What are you talking about?”
“What, is that TO!?” DH’s voice echoed again, with the same surprise and worry as it had the first time. What was wrong with them? Whatever it was, Tham didn’t seem concerned as they chose to just ignore them.
“Yes, it’s TO, and they’re fine, DH.” Tham said. They turned to TO, “That’s an old rhyme from my parent’s planet.” he said, “they used to have these berries there. Blue were good to eat, green were too bitter, and the black ones were poisonous.” He shrugged “It was a little rhyme to remember which ones were which.”
“Ok?” TO frowned. Was this important? What was really important was DH and Avery. Were they ok? And where was Kei? Did they get away?”
Stolen novel; please report.
“So, can you repeat what I said?” Tham asked.
“Berries of blue are great in you. Berries of green make you scream. Berries of black and you won’t come back.” They struggled again, “Tham, what does this have to do with anything?”
“Well, You’re back anyway.” The weight lifted from TO’s chest as Tham’s tail slid away. TO sat up immediately, taking in where they were. Someone had used a large tarp to construct a makeshift tent within some broken down infrastructure. Laying right next to them was DH and Avery, both pinned under Tham’s tail. DH was awake and looking around frantically while Avery was still unconscious. Kei was there too, Tham wasn’t holding Kei under their table; they had instead tied Kei up. Kei’s arms and legs were bound in tight knots, their wings bound in a scrap of tarp and a length of rope. Another length of rope bound them to a large metal pole which held up much of the tarp up. Their hat was off, and as they caught TO’s gaze their ears pinned back dramatically and their eyes narrowed. They tried to say something but a cloth gag in the mouth prevented any of their words from escaping. Still, the movement of Kei’s ears got the nasty intention across.
“TO!” DH saw their mate, and their eyes lit up, their ears perking up at the same time. “You’re ok! Where’s Avery! Kei tried to hit them with some kind of pipe-”
“There’s right here.” TO said as they crawled up to the still unconscious Avery. They knew to check their pulse, and were happy to discover that it was still there and still strong, but aside from that they couldn’t tell if they were ok.
“I’m keeping them held down so they don’t move for now.” Tham said, “They fell kinda weird on the ground, so I just want to be sure they’re ok. Once DH is better, I’ll get them to check on them.”
“Better?” TO turned on Tham, “DH is fine! Let them up!”
“They’re not.” Tham said. “Give it a minute.”
TO had no idea what Tham was talking about, but before they could question them further, DH spoke again.
“TO! You’re ok!” TO looked back at DH, and saw the same relief and surprise in their ears as they had before. “Where’s Avery? Kei tried to hit them with some kind of pipe, and I don’t think it hit, but I didn’t see anything. Are they ok? Where are they?”
“Yeah, they’ve been like that.” Tham said, “It’ll wear off in a few minutes.” he looked at TO, “You were the same until just now. I’m keeping them pinned down so they don’t wander off and hurt themself.” He glared at Kei, “And they’re tied up so they don’t try shit again.”
TO looked over the three, the enraged Kei, the relieved DH–who once more expressed their joyous relief at TO’s presence, and asked where Avery was–and of course the still unconscious Avery.
“I don’t think Kei would have hurt Avery out with that pipe, by the way.” Tham said, “It was a plastic one. It looked real though, and the way Kei swung it made it seem like it had a lot more weight behind it than it actually did.”
TO sat down heavily between DH and Avery. When DH asked again about their friend, TO simply put their hand to the back of their head and scratched at the base of DH’s skull. Moments later they were chirping happily, their ears flickering with contentment despite how badly bruised one ear was, and despite the occasional winces of pain DH gave.
“I’ll test them again in a few minutes.” Tham said, “Just to see if they can keep a thought in their head.”
“What happened to us?” TO asked, “How did you get the multi-gun away from Kei? And… where are we?”
“Oh, we’re still in the Outer Ring.” Tham said, “I traded a few cocopods for a loan of the tarp, and made up a little tent just to keep us out of sight for now. It’s getting dark out, and part of me wonders if it’s not better to just wait until morning to go back, but-”
“Getting dark? How long were we unconscious for?”
“Oh, just an hour or so.” Tham said, “We were going to turn back soon, anyway. You know, before everything happened.”
“Wait…” TO glanced at the tent and drew the obvious conclusion, “You weren’t unconscious.”
Tham suddenly focused on a nearby bag, “Yeah, I wasn’t.” They said, “Hey, I have some cocopod meat in here if you’re hungry. In fact, you should eat. You haven’t eaten a lot the last couple of days-”
“Tham.” TO’s voice grew firm, their ears pinning, “What happened.”
Tham glanced up quickly, catching TO’s eyes for just a moment before they looked away. “... It’s better if Vik explains it.” Tham said, “As soon as we get back. Just, I don’t know how to explain it. It’s technical.” They looked back at TO, “Please?”
TO wanted to insist that no, Tham was going to tell them now. However, the memory of such demands to Pearla just the other day and their regret at pushing for information soothed their curiosity, at least for a moment.
“Fine.” TO said. “We go back as soon as the others are well.” They looked at Kei, their lips curling, their ears flicking back. “And as for you, if either of them are seriously hurt-”
“They’re not.” Tham said, “Just… This isn’t the time, ok? I gagged them so they would stop trying to pick a fight with you.”
TO held Kei’s glare, staring them down with bared teeth and pinned ears until, surprisingly, Kei glanced away, their ears dipping slightly.
“I knew we couldn’t trust you.” TO said. “I knew it was a mistake to bring you out here.”
“TO-” Tham tried to interrupt, but TO ignored them.
“I don’t care if you stay in isolation from now until we leave this planet.” They hissed. The sight of the multi-gun against DH’s head came back to them, sharp and vivid “I don’t care if they leave you locked up after we leave.”
“We won’t do that.” Tham said, “But we need to figure out something.”
TO huffed, and looked away to focus on DH, who was still chirping away, oblivious to the conversation. Once they were back, then TO could get answers. Right now, they’d just take care of DH.
They could handle Kei later.