Vitae Memorandum

43-Artificial Hybrid

The three girls wrapped up their lunch, having been forced to wait until mid-afternoon in order to find a safe opportunity to settle down to enjoy it. All three girls were still very tired, and the long and busy day had only so far made this worse.

Qheria was still driven to keep things going. As their leader, she wasn't about to let herself start falling behind. Even with little sleep, they had still managed so far to stay under cover. Actually, from what she could tell from others she met, looking so tired might have helped with the act. Regular patrols generally seemed to torment the others in their team, like the idea was to crush your own competition in order to rise in the ranks. Generally, it reminded her of cadets, honestly. Thanrie seemed well enough versed in the subject as well, possibly due to her Terran business life. Only Mhyl looked to be having trouble, mostly because she never knew what people were even saying.

Qheria and Thanrie had been taking turns bringing Mhyl up to speed, but you could tell Mhyl was getting very frustrated in being so oblivious. She started getting less talkative and more withdrawn, which really wasn't like her. Thanrie at least was starting to do better, the lighting was starting to feel more natural and she was getting used to seeing robots everywhere. She did however like to mock them behind their backs, possibly due to her fears. Qheria had been keeping track of these things so that she could manage her team better, make sure they were as okay as she could arrange. After Lwyn had left in her own dissatisfaction, it was something Qheria had become especially afraid of.

"So, where should we try now? We need to find a way to get some information, right?" "At this rate, I would love a map of the place. Do we even have any clue where we are in the fortress? I mean, if we don't know where we are, how in the world are we going to find something, people, exits, anything?" Qheria contemplated Mhyl's concern, which did make her own question more specific. Clearly, Mhyl had gotten to love maps like her Atlas, and being lost wasn't a feeling she was comfortable with. It might also be important, because if they ended up hearing Lwyn was somewhere at any point, they wouldn't even know how to get there.

"Thanrie, you were fitting in very well with the whole newbie tearful routine. Do you think you could put on an act for more patrols, saying that you've been pretty bad with directions in your patrols, are afraid of making mistakes, and ask for a resource? Don't give it a name, we don't know if the Fortress uses plain maps or something a bit more fancy. We also don't know if we would be expected to know this either." "So, smile, nod, and act like an airhead. Got it. I'll see what I can do." Qheria felt a bit ashamed at having to make use of Thanrie's experience being naive, but Thanrie didn't seem to mind. Mhyl however sighed at the idea of breaking more hearts and tainting more souls.

They continued along until they found another patrol. Thanrie started putting on an act right away, slouching and looking depressed. When they got closer, Thanrie finally started talking, getting into the act. "Look, I said I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get lost again, the halls keep looking so similar to each other. I was so certain that was the right place. I... I was even there early, I did everything I could." Thanrie started to break into tears at this point.

The two guys approaching rushed to see what was going on. "Uh, what's going on here?" "I got in trouble again for getting lost. I mean it, I'm really sorry. I'm not the best at directions, I've been trying to get used to things now for a while. I'm sorry I keep messing things up." The first of the two guys looked nervous around Thanrie's act. Qheria decided to try to blend in with the whole thing. "This is, what, five days in a row? Being late is only going to make everything harder for the rest of us. If you find directions so hard, then get better at it. Don't expect us to pick up after your own mistakes all the time like this." Qheria almost seemed to be channeling Rhyde at this point, just being much less forgiving.