The World Flying Force Rebellion in the Shadows

Chapter 11- The Lab

The lab was more organized than the last time. The mess of wires, debris, and even some of the counters were shoved off to the side. Tesser stood at one of the tables over a strange circular item. The small metal object was opened in the middle and she was making some sort of adjustment with a soldiering iron. Arwago got her attention and we walked towards her, side stepping around some of the clutter.

Tesser was wearing goggles so that when she looked up towards us from her work her eyes looked three times their normal size. When Arwago had walked into her lab, she lit up. Then she saw me and her face turned sour. She grabbed a rag from a drawer and threw it over the device she was working on. The tool was unplugged, and her tiny feet brought her towards us.

"Arwago hey! I was just finishing up something, I mean it's the thing, but we can talk later I suppose. So what's up?" she was shooting me glances in between each word. This was her lab and I wasn't supposed to be in it.

"Actually, I need a favor for Talaya," Arwago went to look at a desktop monitor near where Tesser had been working, ignoring both of us in favor of the screen.

"Why?" Her cheeks flushed and her eyes lowered.

When she was standing next to me, I noticed how tiny she was. A light flashed on her goggles and her calcumat said, "clear."

"Did you just scan me? Arwago what the hell?" I felt violated.

"Can't be too safe, she is Selected Master Guardian," Tesser said, adjusting her goggles to the top of her head.

"Talaya, you remember Tesser?" Arwago said. His mouth twitched, he enjoyed her hostility.

"I don't need this, I will find someone else to help me out," I said.

"No, come on. Tell her what you told me." His eyes were sincere. Something about them was so open, and inviting, like anything I told him would be safe. It was the same feeling I got from my dad, even if Arwago was twenty years his junior.

I decided to put everything on the table. Not just about my dad, but about Zarleque and what we had seen during the simulation. They both sat and listened without interrupting, until I describe the planets surface.

"Blue, as in water?" he asked with his mouth gaped, "Did you see land? Or anything else?"

"No, just the water and only for a second," I said. He frowned and looked at the ground.

After I finished. They had looked at each other and had some sort of silent conversation. It lasted a few seconds, then Tesser started talking very fast.

"Let's review the system at your home and see the entry exit log. We can also try to ping the geographic location system located on the body chip your father has. While we do that, we need to check hospital records just to be sure he hasn't been admitted. We can use his physical description and a recent photo. I can pull a photo from the last entry into the home since it would be the most current," She ran from monitor to monitor around the lab. Arwago didn't look phased at all by the chaos. He squished further into his comfortable lab chair and scrolled through the same calcumat screens as before. It was making me dizzy to watch her run around, so I sat down next to Arwago.

"I'm going to scan the house for fingerprints and heat signatures to make a time table," she said.

"Wait, what does this mean?" I asked.

"It means we believe you and want to help," Arwago said.

"Thank Tau, is there anything I can do?"