Drowning Utopia

Chapter 30: Preparations

With Donny and Lonny following, Tessa stepped out of the office. The feeling of fatigue tore at her limbs, particularly her left arm where the stitches were, yet she felt likewise successful in getting them to move forward on something. She was about to head downstairs when Diana Le-Ren stopped her.

The Oni asked, "Miss Copperfield, a word?"

Noting the stiffness of Diana's posture, Tessa nodded, "Sure."

The twins waited at a respectful distance as Tessa stepped aside with the Oni into a small alcove in the hall. She asked, "Whatever is the matter?"

Diana cleared her throat. "I just wanted to say thank you."

Tessa was surprised by her demeanor. "For what?"

Diana grasped the end of her tail as a nervous child would unconsciously fiddle with a loose string on their clothing, clearly flustered. "Thank you for...for saving me back at the Grand Spire. I realize that I never thanked you properly for pulling me from the floodwater."

"Certainly. I would have done the same for anyone."

"Yes, well...all the same, thank you." Diana gave a small nod, before excusing herself, and heading down the hall.

A bit confused by the interaction, Tessa let the Oni be as she went back to the twins.

Lonny asked, "What do you think that was all about?"

"I am not sure." Tessa watched the strange woman a moment longer as she walked away down the hall.

"Well, I do not know about you two, but I am starving," Donny said as he headed toward the stairs, "Let's see if there is anything to eat."

Lonny shook her head. "How can you be thinking of food at a time like this?"

"What? Are you not hungry?" he asked.

Tessa sighed, but she had to admit that she was hungry as well. "Come on. Might as well see if they even have anything."

It turned out that the manor had enough resources to last a few weeks. They had a large stockpile of food that was still good in the upper pantries. The servants and guests, under the supervision of the quartermaster, had divvied it up to last while providing everyone small portions of food twice a day.

Tessa and the twins were given some food that had just been cooked in the kitchen. They sat down in the drawing room to eat.

As she spooned a bowl of split pea soup, Tessa said, "You know, if we can't get at the radio transponder on that downed airship, we could just throw one together with what we have here. I would imagine that Gray and I could put something together that would serve."

"That's assuming that you can get him to let you within thirty feet of his workshop," Lonny said, wiping her mouth. "What with the spat that you both had, I would think he would be less than likely to trust you anywhere near his labs."

"You know, you have a point. I hope we are beyond grudges right now," Donny told his sister. "Otherwise, we are in trouble."

"But even still, we may have a good chance at this," Tessa insisted.

"You're only saying that because you're not hungry anymore," Lonny pointed her spoon at the empty bowl in her hands. "But then, I guess you are right. There's more than one way to skin a cat. I saw on the way here a sign mentioning something about a central radio station. We could always use that if we needed."

"There are a lot of assumptions as of late," Donny mused. "I hope that we have some solid facts by the end of the night, or we are getting nowhere fast."