Pelagius Aquatic Research and Study Eco-centre

Her hand froze, glued to the handrail as those authoritative words filled the air around her. Her eyes flashed around the room looking for a source, but didn't find one. Her head turned to the stairway, and then back to the room. Again, a choice had to be made.

Could this be 'Aunty'? she wondered. And who was this 'Reti' she mentioned...?

Hoodwink had mentioned four people; two inside, two outside. No, he said only one outside, remembering his quip about the guards. So it was very possible this voice belonged to Aunty if 'Reti' was the aforementioned guard outside.

If this lady's not Aunty and I go upstairs now, I'll be fine. Maybe.

But if it is Aunty, and I go up there, Hoodwink said it's off-limits, so I'm sure to end up in a bad situation.

.....but if it's NOT Aunty, I could be giving up an opportunity to get up there undetected.

So many assumptions were making her head hurt. Cunning strategy wasn't really Amy's thing, she dealt better with knee-jerk reactions.

A silent alert made her jump. An internal message? Right now?

[PLEASE. BE CAREFUL.]

A cheeky grin crossed her face. For what it was worth, this was advice Amy was going to follow. This time, anyway. After all, you said it yourself; we can't walk around this place in the shadows forever.

She took a few steps away from the staircase, hoping that maybe it would be enough to hide her earlier intention to climb it. "Uhh, hello?"

Make contact first, work out the rest later.

Stepping away from the stairs led to several of the feathery feelers extending from the nearby coral to lift up follow her motions in a delicate, whimsical way. The scratching of the stylus across the page, at the central desk continued. Bubbles rose from several of the many observation tanks in the room and made soft, familiar sounds as they broke the surface.

“Hmm...? Well, that's a new voice.” The feminine voice echoed through the lab again as Amy spoke up. The large tank that seemed too hold the central mass of the black coral bubbled and a pair of long-lashed eyes opened – appeared, really – on the main body of the coral. “Oh... a visitor. One moment.” There was a brief visual distortion as the mass of black coral shifted, then extended; it changed as it grew up out of the tank and over to the floor, taking an increasingly humanoid shape as it did.

A few moments later, the figure standing in front of the tank looked in Amy's direction. She was tall and slender, with coal black skin and vibrant orange hair. Thee woman was wearing a long, slim-fit dress that looked more at home at a formal gathering than a research lab – it was designed as a series of descending ruffles that went all the way to the ground – black fabric and orange frills, that complimented the woman's natural attributes. She walked forward with precise, measured steps and a business-like stride, though it was clear that this form was still connected to the original coral mass behind her by the same black coral growth that spread its way through the rest of the lab. To one side, the feathery orange feelers are the desk were still writing a report. The woman stopped a few feet from Amity and smiled towards her.

“We don't get visitors here often... I am Antipatharia, head of research here. A pleasure. Do not touch anything. Please.” It was definitely a command and not a request, despite her smile. “And you are...” She paused briefly, as though noticing something. “Without your guide... Please wait here. Do not touch anything.” Her expression didn't change and she made no obvious movements, but somewhere distantly a faint chime sounded. Seconds passed without the other woman speaking, until, in a sudden flurry of movement, the door opposite where Amy had entered from slid open with a hiss and another figure rushed in.

“I'm here, Aunty! Aunty! I'm here!” The voice was bright, perky and excited, and spoke of an enthusiastic and sunny disposition. It was attached to what looked more or less like the shark guard that Amy had seen earlier – had the same mottled, tawny brown skin with black patterning across it, the same long brown hair and the same small fin part way down her back. What was different was that, now inside, the figure had a more fully humanoid form from the hips down as well, with normal human-like legs replacing her previous tail. As well as dripping fresh sea water all over the floor, she was still dressed only in the slim chest band that covered the modesty of her top half, and Amy would notice Aunty wince, and put her face in one hand, pinching the bridge of her nose with an exasperated sight. The awkwardly necessary word echoed through the lab.

“Pants, Reti. Legs means pants, remember?”

The shark woman blinked and looked down at herself, then, after another moment, understood. A pair of grey swimsuit bottoms that matched her chest wear materialised a moment later as she looked up again.

“Oh! Right! Sorry Aunty! I forgot!” If she was embarrassed by the situation, it didn't show – rather she seemed apologetic for forgetting a rule, more than anything else. Aunty shook her head and gave a small tight smile towards Amity.

“I apologise for that. ScyliorhinusRetifer is not particularly bright, or skilled at remembering basic social expectations.” A quick “Sorry Aunty!” accompanied the comment from Reti, which the coral woman mostly ignored. “Reti will be more than happy to show you around our little research facility here. If you have any questions, she... will not be able to answer them, but...” here her eyes turned back to Reti and her tone increased in volume slightly. “She will remember to show our guest to any of the relevant information terminals if they are interested.” There was a pause and a raised eyebrow. “Yes, Aunty!” “Good.” Her attention returned to Amy.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, and I hope you enjoy your visit to our little home here, but please stay with your guide. Now...” She raised one hand and gestured towards the far door – the one which the shark woman had emerged from. “If you'll excuse me, there is research to be done and I've experiments to run... at least...” her eyes glanced briefly across to several of the observation tanks around the room. “On the ones that are still alive... Enjoy your visit.” She smiled again, still with one hand gesturing towards the door, and seemed to be waiting for Amity and Reti to leave before returning fully to her coral form. The shark woman, meanwhile, had bounded up to stand beside Amity with a bright happy smile and a spray off still-dripping sea water. She was peering at Amy with obvious curiosity, but was also making small motions as though to take her hand and tug her from the room, without actually attempting to touch her uninvited.

Option 2 was correct. Contact with Aunty and the one guard has been made. Only one more face to watch out for. A high-five was in order, but given the situation at hand (not to mention the awkwardness that would have followed) Amy had to keep it to herself. Of course, the slight twitch of the right corner of her mouth and the tiniest of huffs followed after. But that means I'm not getting upstairs. That's annoying.

On top of that, Aunty IS all of this coral stuff. EveryTHING... but maybe not everyWHERE... That could be a problem and a hindrance later on. If the stairs were covered in that black coral, and they were just an extension of Aunty's body, made evident by the maintained connection between Aunty's 'body' and the larger coral mass, it was quite likely either something would need to change to create an opening, or, Amy might have to fight her way in.

Neither option seemed appealing, given the current circumstances. Let's just sit tight and see where this 'tour' leads us. Aunty can't be everywhere, I wouldn't have made it this far...

Reti's lack of delicacy was somewhat lost on Amy, a creature also bound to her humanoid shape by programming only. She acknowledged the fact that typical 'human social norms' were being ignored by her new tour guide's behaviour, but a combination of the previous thought and of the potential tour itself may have pushed aside any thought processes left for considering a prude reaction to her lack of coverings. Reti's bumbling nature instead brought back Hoodwink's words, repeated in Amy's mind: "she's a pushover - you'll get why... it's... amusing."

Indeed, she concurred as the shark form ran up to her. As it did, the sea water she'd been trailing with her launched forward from Reti's final hop and settled itself onto Amy's garments instead. Amy again grabbed two handfuls of lower dress to give the whole garment some gentle shakes.

Somehow... I remember having a sub-routine that made this dress self-drying, she complained as she wrung out the unwanted liquid. The search of her memory banks completed earlier revealed no such drying function, and having to do it manually twice in such a short span of time irritated the lass. Maybe I should've taken that swimsuit .GMO - I didn't realise I'd be in and out of the water repeatedly... That thought was quickly ejected from her mind upon remembering CrypticMan's accompanying comments. It was possible she may have ended up in something even more revealing than what was being advertised already. Of course, in her true form, it was unlikely she'd have anybody ogling her in a bikini anyway.

So. A tour of the facility had been offered to her. That had been CrypticMan's original request; to go in, see everything, and report back. "Each dome has a secret. Something not right. All the pieces make a picture. You don't need to solve it; you just need to see." It wasn't exactly what she'd planned just now, but at least she was making progress with one of her directives.

But being paired with a soggy tour guide wasn't her idea of fun. As her head moved from Reti, to the door that hopefully led to more of the domes, and then back to Reti, Amy begrudingly started introductions. "Hi. Amity is my name." Her hand instinctively extended out to shake hands, but hesitated at the sight of the pool of water beginning to gather at Reti's feet. "Uhh, do... do you need to clean that up...?" she asked, pointing to the ground instead with the extended arm.

The hint of an invitation was all it took, and before Amity could really redirect her intention properly, the shark woman that had been assigned to her company clasped on with both hands at once, shaking with enthusiasm and a happy smile that showed far too many serrated teeth. Despite that, her eyes practically sparkled with the joy of making a new friend.

“Amity! That's a really cute name! It's so easy to say! Amity. Amity! I like it!” She was still shaking Amy's hand as she indicated the dripping water, though the motion slowed to stillness as Reti looked down, following her attention. “Hmm...? Oh! Oh, don't worry, it all gets cleaned up right away. I think. It's always dry again by the time I come back anyway.” Reti herself had mostly stopped dripping by now, though she was still clearly damp from being outside. As she chattered, a prim cough and clear of throat came from where the scientist was still waiting for them to leave and Reti jumped.

“Right Aunty! Sorry Aunty!” Her attention came back to Amy with a sheepish grin. “Come on, I'll show you the really cool stuff!” This was immediately followed by her moving back towards the door and attempting to drag Amity along with her. It opened with a hiss and admitted the two out into a sort, arched hallway, floored with metal grating and with the upper half constructed of thick glass that looked out over the reef on all sides. Reti seemed to relax as the door hissed shut behind them, and she turned to Amy with a small giggle, walking down the hall at a slower pace.

“Don't worry about Aunty, she's all strict and mean on the surface, but she's really nice most of the time!” There wasn't too much to see in the corridor itself; about halfway down, there looked to be some kind of access hatch in the ceiling that looked ass though it led directly out into the sea outside, and if she looked up and back, Amy could see a similar glass shaft climbing above the lab they had just left, towards the upper dome. Similar to this one, the vertical shaft also had an exit hatch about halfway up, much easier to see form this angle, and from here she could also see that the upper dome, as much as it looked like some kind of master bedroom suit, was slightly subdivided, with the main room cut off form where the staircase presumably ended. Reti was still chattering away as she walked.

“Anyway, it's really cool living here. I get to swim around the reef, and chase the fishies sometimes, and sometimes, when I have a day off, I can swim all the way out to the shore and play on the beach! Have you ever been to a beach? Sand is so weird when it's dry! But it's so fun too have a visitor! We almost never get any visitors down here! And you're so cute, too! And you have really cute name! And... Oh! Oh, I forgot! You told me your name! I'm...” Here, her words paused and the shark woman slowed to a standstill as she frowned, clearly focusing on something that made other actions, like walking, more difficult.

“...Sigh-lee-oh-rye-nus Ret-E-fur.” She sounded her name out slowly, as though following a personal mnemonic, then smiled at Amy. “But you can call me Reti! Or Silly! Gigi calls me that sometimes, and it makes me laugh.” As though to punctuate this, she giggled to herself. “I only get called my full name by Aunty, when I've done something silly. She should call me Silly when I do that, that would be more fun! But I suppose it's not supposed to be funny when I do things wrong...” she pouted for a moment, but brightened again a moment later as she found another topic too jump to. It seemed like Amy had a good opportunity to ask any questions she might have; it seemed that her guide would be more than happy to answer – the only question would be how well she could do so. Eventually, however, the corridor came to an end at another airlock door, this one with a security panel on one side.

“So the show room is through here! It's really cool! You can look at all the different plants and fishies that live in the whole network, and there's lots of really neat things about them that Aunty tells me sometimes, and it's all in the terminals and on little information boards, but really, it's more fun just to watch them swim about and look at all the pretty colours anyway!” Reti turned to carefully input a numbered code on the door panel, taking her time to be sure of each digit in the combination – and not really doing anything to hide the combination from Amy as she worked, of she was inclined to watch it.

Amy wasn't quite prepared for the response to her greeting. In stark contrast to her... boss?... Reti's enthusiasm at the mere gesture of making acquaintances seemed to brighten her entire body. In spite of this, she dared not withdraw the hand, lest it come off as aloof. Also, was Reti's comment about the water because there were systems that took care of it, or because someone came behind her and cleaned it up...?

Cute? Amy didn't really think of her name as 'cute', and her designated name even less so, but in the time it took her to process that remark and attempt to formulate a response, Reti had already moved on to the next topic of conversation. Which was fine anyway; Amy didn't have anything to add to that.

Being led by the arm wasn't doing Reti any favours in the friendship department; Amy was well and truly capable of following on command, but she again felt the need to bite her lip and remain friendly, or at the very least maintain the illusion of friendly. After all, overly bubbly was better than the alternative...

I'd definitely take Reti over Crony, she chuckled to herself. The idea of watching Reti in a proper netbattle was certainly an entertaining daydream; what chips would she even use? She'd probably be a nimble one, able to dodge attacks with ease. But if she took a hit, how would she take it? Crybaby? Avenger? Monologuer?

As amusing as the answer might be, don't you have more important things to be thinking about?

While Reti continued to talk about her personal life under the sea, Amy used the opportunity to take a few stealthy glances in every direction as the moments presented themselves. Our purple-haired heroine was still a little bitter about missing out on ascending the stairs, but a ray of hope shone through as she noticed that the tube leading up to the upper dome had a similar exit hatch to the one they were about to pass under.

Huh.

It was somewhat reassuring to hear that Reti had a good opinion about Aunty, but the mention of a 'Gigi' was of particular interest to Amy as they continued forward. 'Gigi'. Is that the missing character in this place? Or somebody else...?

As they walked under the exit hatch, Amy tried to do some reconnaissance work. "Uhh, I hope this latch doesn't open from the outside as well, she pretended to mull out loud, staring directly at the latch. "It'd be a shame if these tubes got filled with dirty water by some cheeky schmuck..."

Having Reti's name be phonetically repeated to her seemed bizarre; she'd heard it been used by Aunty only moments ago. It took a second for Amy to register that Reti was simply reciprocating the greeting gesture that she herself had initiated back in the previous room. Amy couldn't help but smile as the conversation continued; Reti seemed to be a nice creature, even if she wasn't the most perceptive navi she'd met.

'Showroom' was not a word Amy had heard before, and the image that came up when checking her in-built dictionary didn't clarify the situation, given they were under the sea. Mentally preparing herself for the information that CrypticMan was sure to want, Amy almost missed the opportunity to notice Reti attempt to enter a code into what looked to be a security panel. Amy's eyes did their best to watch with keen interest as it was entered, hoping not to give away her intention of memorising whatever code was being used by a member of security.

At Amy's casually mused comment about the hatches, her guide paused in her stride and perked up to look back around at the aperture set into the corridor's ceiling. She put both hands over her mouth, stifling a giggle.

“Nahh, it's all safe! It's all set up so only we can use them – Staff Only! You have to put in a code! It's... um... it's... three, seven, one, zero! Because three and seven makes ten!” She beamed at Amy, proud at remembering this detail correctly, before continuing, now with hand gestures to emphasise her words. “And then, it goes 'Whommm! And it makes a little bubble around the hatch, and it puts the water in, if you're going out, or it takes it out, if you're going in, and then the door opens, and you go through, and it makes the sound again, and sometimes I forget to change, and I end up flopping all over the ground for a bit, or trying to swim with human legs, and that's just really weird. How do you even do that? Do you do that? I've seen other navis swim like that, and I always thought it looked silly. They should have tails for going in the water!” Reti seemed satisfied with this assessment for the time being and continued on with a happy little sway in her stride.

At the end of the corridor, Amy's glance at the key pad appeared to go unnoticed as Reti herself thought carefully about the digits she was entering, one at a time, a look of concentration creasing her face – a different code here, it seemed; eight-five-eight-three.

The door opened with a soft hiss, to reveal another large dome. This one was laid out in a much more clear and open style, with obvious walkways between large aquariums that filled much of the space. The pathways split, turned and angled themselves in and around the tanks, giving as much viewing space as possible. Thee set-up might seem a little odd at firs,t until Amy was able to notice that the various aquariums were, in reality, only two or three tanks, each of which formed large, inter-connected pools, alive with a variety of marine flora and fauna. At regular spaces along the walls of the aquariums, small sign boards held information and pictures of various plants and animals, and most of them had a small interface attached, seemingly allowing navis to access more information at their leisure.

Between the pathways, Amity would be able to make out a larger, more obvious circular door on the far side of the doom, which in turn looked as though it simply led to a small antechamber and the main airlock entry to the complex – a faint trail of dripped water did indeed lead through this room from that entrance to the door they had just entered through. To one side, it also looked as though the dome branched away into another, joined by a short, wide archway – a banner above the arch read 'History of Aquatic Life in Beach.Net', and it looked like the only other exit from this central space.

As they stepped through the doors, Reti bounded forward, looking around with obvious eagerness. If she still had a tail, it would almost certainly have been wagging. She glanced back at Amy.

“This is the main visitor's show room! There's all sorts of fishies and eels and jellies, and everything here! From all over beach net, too, not just this reef! It's so cool!” She darted forward to one of the near sections of tank, practically pressing her nose up to the glass, then chased along its length in a number of short, bouncing steps, as she tracked an extremely fancy-looking lionfish that did its best to swim away from her along the length of the tank. She continued after a moment, though she was sounding increasingly distracted by the visual stimulation on offer.

“I think Albert once said that visitors are meant to come in the main door, and the path will take them all through the different parts of the net, and then into the history wing, but it's more fun just to run around and look at all the pretty fishies! Did you look through the history bit yet? Hey, how did you come in? I was supposed to greet visitors at the door!” This question seemed to pull her away from chasing fish long enough for Amity to see a puzzled look on her features, though chances were she wouldn't remain hung up on it for too long. Her head tilted slightly as she looked in Amy's direction.

Three and seven makes ten. 3-7-1-0. I can't forget that.

"Agreed. Swimming without some form of fin or tail just seems like a lot of work," she concurred. Of course, Amy heavily doubted her form of 'swimming' (if you could call it that) was the same as Reti's. Micro-vibrations to stimulate a stream of moving water and using the resulting thrust to displace her body wasn't the same as moving body parts in a co-ordinated pattern. Not to mention the aforementioned safety risk the finned lady didn't need to worry about.

Amy half-expected the combination to be the same at the end of the hallway, but when 8-5-8-3 was entered instead, Amy surmised that there was probably a different security code for every function in the aquarium, and perhaps not a different security code per person.

The new room gave Amy even more data to take in. Giant tanks, numerous information displays, and displays teeming with creatures ranging from beautiful and wondrous to odd and bizarre. Walking around and seeing everything was likely to take a while, and Amy was certain that she'd forget something in the mix of all the new information.

Once again, Amy's attention was torn between CrypticMan's request and Hoodwink's request. CrypticMan's request was the main priority, but its vagueness was still tearing at her mind, and all of these new experiences were making it hard to determine what was worth 'seeing' and what was just background noise. Hookwink's request, on the other hand, seemed pretty straightforward, but after seeing the path that would lead to the prize he sought (assuming it even existed), Amy was convinced that fast-tracking Hoodwink's request would almost certainly deny her the ability to complete CrypticMan's request. To succeed at both, one would need to follow the other. Maybe.

'See all they have to show you and then swiftly slip away.' That line kept irritating Amy as Reti continued to talk about the new room. It didn't escape her notice either that a mostly-dried trail of water led from a door at one end of the room to the door they'd just entered from. So was everything they'd just done been for naught?

[DOES THAT MEAN YOU COULD HAVE JUST GONE IN THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR?]

Clearly Eric had had the same thought process. Amy was about to reluctantly agree, but then stopped. [NO. IF WE HAD GONE THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR, I DOUBT WE WOULD HAVE MET HOODWINK. OR AUNTY, FOR THAT MATTER.] And they weren't finished yet. [RETI MAY OR MAY NOT BE A PROBLEM, BUT SHE'S LIMITING MY OPTIONS. I NEED AN OPENING, A DISTRACTION.]

Amy's eyes continued to orbit the room as Reti's attention was focused on a peculiarly shaped fish. But when Reti dropped another name, Amy's confidence in her understanding of the staff was beginning to falter. Aunty, Reti, Gigi and Albert. That's four names. Hoodwink said four. But I haven't met Gigi or Albert yet...

More mystery to add to her predicament. There was absolutely no way she was going to remember everything.

But maybe she didn't need to. After all, she had a tour guide.

A tour guide whose next question caught her off-guard. Aunty hadn't asked how she'd got in, so why did Reti care? Or maybe it was just that Aunty didn't feel the need to bother herself with such inconsequential events.

"Well... I was just swimming outside, and then suddenly, before I knew it, one thing led to another, and... ta-daa," she joked, extending her arms out to build on the surprise factor. "But this place... this place is definitely something else. And to be honest, I don't know if I can stay for too much longer. I do have places to be..." She took a thoughtful pose as she feined a little ignorance for effect. "But hey! I have you! You've probabably seen everything here dozens of times!" Amy whirled the fingers of her right hand around as she made her request. "Are you able to give me the highlights tour? All the best stuff... and the worst stuff too! Let's start here, and then go wherever the tour would go next. Is that okay?" she asked, holding out one of her arms as an invitation to being led around.

I get the feeling I may regret this...

Amy's guide frowned for an extra second as she answered, trying to reconcile her gob as guard and guide with a guest appearing somewhere else in the facility. The strange-looking fish escaped into a different section of the aquarium while she pondered the answer.

“But... how...” another second or two passed as she struggled to think of a solution, but Amity spoke up again, interrupting her consternation. The shark girl brightened again and jumped forward to take Amy's hand in both of her own with a renewed enthusiasm. “It is, isn't it!? It's so cool, and so pretty! You have to stay for a while, please? You're my new friend! It's so rare to get any visitors, and Aunty's no fun, and Gigi can't move or play, and I haven't seen Albert in months and months, because all he does is sleep these days! You have to stay for a bit, and tell me all about all the places you've been and everything! Please? Come on, I'll show you more!” There was an underlying earnestness in Reti's plea as she bounced on her toes briefly, holding tight to her hand for an extra moment before turning to begin leading her through the paths of the show room.

The path did, indeed, meander through, around and in between the various tanks and aquariums, passing by information terminals for as many different species of aquatic life as one could imagine; many of the information boards noted the endangerment status of their focus in relation o the physical world; the number listed as extinct or in human-protected populations only was a bit unsettling, but perhaps that was part of the reason for the facility? Others noted where species were derivatives that had emerged from original species, and which were now considered unique digital life forms without human-world counterparts.

Reti got swiftly distracted as she went, bouncing left and right between different sections of the aquarium walls to look at pretty fish or brightly coloured corals, and most of her conversation for the next minute or two consisted of cooing over how pretty different creatures looked. One detail that amity might pick up on as they went however – in most of the tanks, she could spot continuing growths of black-veined coral winding its way through the the sea bed of each enclosure while its feathery orange feelers waved gently in the water. It was present in almost every tank, but none of it seemed as 'attentive' or 'alert' as it had in the lab. Absently one of the soft feelers brushed up against a small silvery fish, then suddenly curled around it and pulled it down close against the stem of the coral. The fish struggled for a moment or two, then went still before its data began to dissolve and funnel into the coral plant.

“So, this place is the best really. There's so much to see here, I never get tired f it. I kind of wish it was all just open water, though, so I could swim, and chase the fishies and everything, but Aunty says that that wouldn't work, because all these different fishes don't play nice with each other if they're together.” Reti glanced back in between her other distractions, still tugging Amy along by one hand, until they arrived at the large archway leading into the history dome. The shark-girl paused on the open space, looking through.

“That's the history section. It's all about the centre, and the first facility, and a bunch of other stuff I never remember. It's all just words, and those kind of brown and black pictures. I don't know why they aren't all in colour, but Albert says it gives them historical character to show them in... um... Sepia. I think that's the right word?” The idea that this dome was imminently boring radiated from Reti, though she didn't accuse it of such directly. “We can go in and take a look if you like? Technically I can show you the lab too, but you've already seen it, and Aunty might get mad at me... and I'm not supposed to take visitors anywhere else, but there's the maintenance room, and the storage area, and that leads out to Gigi's guard post, and then there's Albert's room, up top, but even I'm not allowed up there any more. Aunty says he needs his rest.” At the last remark, Reti pouted and folded her arms briefly, but shook it off a moment later.

“So do you want to go in, or do you want to stay out here and look at the fishies some more? We could go out and play in the reef! But.. But then you wouldn't be a visitor any more, and so I'd have to go back to guarding the door... so that wouldn't work...” The realisation of the flaw in her last suggestion seemed to take some of the wind out of her sails and a momentary flash of disappointment darted across her features before she brightened again and grinned towards Amity, waiting to see what she wanted to do.

Instant regret. Amy suspected the girl had been starved for attention, but imploring of this nature was only deepening her faith in an inescapable truth; Reti wasn't going to give her the opportunity to break away from this farce.

Amy could feel herself becoming inundated with an insufferable amount of data as she continued to take in tank after tank, creature after creature, report after report. The fact that she was a digital creature didn't save her from the fact that constant writing of data to memory banks was an energy intensive task, and something she hadn't mentally prepared herself for. Babysitting Eric was one thing, but her new 'friend' wasn't a priority she wanted to entertain for an extended period of time.

Something which she didn't have a lot of in the first place. The clock was ticking.

However, her attention was drawn to the black coral of Aunty again as it absorbed one of the aquarium's specimens into its being. As its data became assimilated into the coral's lines of connectivity, Amy frowned. Necessary removal? Routine analysis? Or worse... food source...? Amy continued to observe their presence in every tank, and it was beginning to put her on edge.

[KEEP THOSE BATTLECHIPS HANDY AND READY TO GO.]

[WHY? THERE'S NO VIRUSES IN THE AREA.]

[JUST DO IT. CALL IT A HUNCH, BUT THIS PLACE IS STARTING TO GIVE ME A BAD FEELING.]

This feeling was only amplified by Reti's comment about the fish not getting along if they were all together.

Is that because they'd eat each other, or... because they'd have the power to rebel...?

Reti's monologue of useful information did clear up some misconceptions Amy had drawn from earlier conversations, but it also made her desperate for a change of pace. Her normally-high desire for new experiences was starting to wane in the shadow of the day's events, and she wasn't even sure she'd done enough to meet her temporary master's unusual request. But each room was necessary, so even if the history room wasn't being cast in a bright light, she'd have to make it happen.

"I've never been good at history, but I suppose I need to see this room too if I want to see everything this place has to offer, right...?" she asserted whilst trying to sound somewhat flippant about the idea as well.

Hearing that Amy intended to check out the other dome anyway didn't exactly upset her guide, but Reti's response was definitely lacking in enthusiasm compared to her other suggestion.

“I guess... It's just one big space anyway, though, so it won't take long, really... So, you're supposed to start over here, and then it loops around in a big circle, see?” Still standing by the archway entrance to the dome, Reit pointed to the left hand side where the historic displays started. The dome itself was well lit, clean and dry, and contained no hints of actual aquatic life; it was more like a large doughnut shape, forming a single path that circled the space, with displays on both sides, showing sepia-toned pictures of various things, in between information terminals that would tell her more.

If Amity began to make the loop, Reti hung back, lingering near the entrance instead as she waited for Amy to walk around. Her purple-haired charge had only had to walk a few paces, however, before it became clear that Reti was lingering in order to keep watching the creatures in the main room instead, and her attention on Amy was quickly diverted by something brighter and more colourful.

The history museum itself seemed to contain small blurbs of information bites to accompany each picture, while the majority of the actual scholarly information was contained in push-button terminals that would begin voiced recordings in a somewhat dusty, archeologist's voice; it seemed to take its time, and Amy could almost definitely read faster. Without actually looking too deeply into the different installations, however, the gist of the walk seemed to indicate that the desire to study the way digital aquatic life-forms differed from their real-world counterparts, as a tool for conservation and development, was first brought to life by the centre's founder, Preicles Pelagius – the picture showed a somewhat rotund human male, with a smaller inset showing a navigator in a white and grey navisuit, with numerous spikes, marked below as 'PufferMan'.

Around the circle, the pictures told a brief story (if Amy only glanced at the bullet points), of the study, or discovering that digital lifeforms were adapting and evolving along independent lines to their real-world templates, and of the cataloguing and categorising of this phenomena. It spoke about the sudden destruction of the first complex – the picture here was an illustration, not a photograph or recording, and for such a major event there was surprisingly little said about it – and the construction of the new complex, where Amy was now. It was, all told, a mostly dry story, unless one was particularly fascinated by aquatic research, but it did carry Amy out of sight of her guide as she walked the circle and Reti hung back.

Amy's enthusiasm for reading through the complex's history wasn't much higher than Reti's, but a job is a job. At least the displays themselves seemed to be arranged in a logical order; it would make assimilating their information easier, to say the least.

As Amy began her trip down the lane of memories, she did notice that Reti lingered at the entrance, either unwilling or unable to join her. At least, that was Amy's impression until she realised that the shark lady's attention had been drawn back to the brighter sections of the area they'd just been through.

The explanation of the purpose, construction and consequential use of the facility didn't seem too out of the ordinary for Amy; admittedly her knowledge of any history was lacking, but what was presented to her seemed logical and reasonable. Even the human owner and its navi seemed in theme with the purpose of a place such as this... one...

That is, until she reached the section about the previous lab being destroyed. Which meant that everything she'd been matching in her mind to things she'd already seen today was incorrect. All of those things had been lost to a history long gone. Amy felt there was more to the story than that, but it didn't seem like Reti would have known any more than what was there.

Unless... Reti was part of the staff *before* said disaster took place...?

Wait.

Reti.

Amy had almost missed recognising that her tour guide was out of sight.

Our heroine had been waiting for a final opportunity to get some instruction and had almost missed it.

Without any further delay, her hands slid out the book from her back seam as she tried to balance the sound that accompanied rushed hands to trying to remain as silent as possible.

"Alright, you gotta help me out here," she whispered as she waited for what could possibly be the last thing she read. She hadn't checked for any cameras in this area, but the desperation was starting to grow beyond the bounds of her smiling facade. "Have I seen everything? Do I need to go upstairs? I don't want to disappoint Hoodwink, but I'm not creating a scene here if I can avoid it. I can only see two ways to get to the upper floor, and that's either through Reti... or Aunty." If the book didn't give her the answer she wanted, it was time to play the Aunty card and risk a visit back to the lab.

With her guide temporarily out of sight, Amy took the opportunity to consult her hint book again; as before it flipped open to afresh page and the soft, visually-friendly writing began to crawl swiftly across the lines.

“The watchdog watches wildlife, the mistress take her tea,
Highest room, tallest tower; that's all that's left to see.
You can sneak on through the hallways or swim about outside,
But trespass in restricted rooms, Aunty won't abide.

Predators aren't all teeth and claws; some aren't even fast.
A thousands hands, a million fingers, and patience to outlast.
Feelers reaching through the halls; sound and touch and taste...
But just one pair of eyes; maybe more would be a waste?

It's dangerous to go alone; with company it's worse.
A welcome on the lower floor; upstairs it's the reverse.
There's no harm in peeking, as long as they don't know.
Pick your route, make your move, and careful as you go.”

The book seemed content with this verse and stopped writing for now; that seemed to be all the direction it was giving her this time. The soft sounds of water moving outside the facility, and of the internal tanks filtering continued peacefully in the background of Amy's furtive consultation, but nothing else seemed to happen; it didn't sound like anyone had caught her.

By the time she decided to complete the circuit of the history section – forward or backtracking – there was one difference in the central visitor area; The sound of feet pattering back and forth somewhere between the rows had grown to an erratic, playful motion and at first glance Reti wasn't immediately visible. The lure of brightly coloured distractions had, apparently, drawn her back among the various displays and her exact location in the room was difficult to pinpoint – though it seemed like a safe bet that the well-meaning girl probably had her nose pressed up against a tank somewhere, focused on the current object of her fascination. For Amy, this meant that, for the moment, she had a clear view of both the main entrance to the facility, and also the door leading back towards the rest of the complex – the hallway with its mid way airlock, and the lab beyond.

She could still see the black-veined coral extending through the various tanks in the main room ,as before, but it seemed just as passive an sedate as it had when she first arrived, at least for now. The main question was what to do; she could always go and find Reti, or wait for the shark girl to return, if she wanted to ask more questions or request a more formal visitation somewhere... but it also seemed like a good opportunity to give her guide the slip – maybe out of the facility, or maybe back into the inner hallway.

Amy wasn't sure if she was beginning to understand this strange type of language the book had been reciting to her, or if perhaps the lore she'd been reading had started to rub off on her, but a few things became clearer as she stepped gingerly out of the history circuit and ran through the facts, counting them off on her fingers.

Number one. Even the book acknowledged Reti's affinity to the tank's creatures.

Number two. The upstairs room was indeed the final destination to see.

Number three. There was no chance she was getting in there invited.

Number four. Reti wasn't the only threat. She'd seen it herself, she didn't need a warning; a possibly cryptic message about Aunty's ability to absorb her prey was a potential obstacle.

Number five. With Reti distracted and the possibility of Aunty being able to materialise only in the lab, they had a clear exit back to dry land if they chose it.

Amy's first glance went to the front door, which Eric noticed.

[THE FINISH LINE IS IN SIGHT.]

A quiet breath to sort out the sudden rush of andrenaline that followed. Amy knew what she wanted to do, and it definitely wasn't what Eric was thinking.

Hoping for a quiet retreat, Amy couldn't quite work out where exactly Reti was in the room, but if she couldn't see Reti, it was entirely possible that Reti couldn't see her either. With the front door in sight, Amy gritted her teeth as she walked as nimbly and silently as possible, trying to avoid garnering any attention as she moved through the labratory. However, her intended destination wasn't the front door.

[AMY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING???]

No time to explain. Amy time.

Breathe.

The day's events had filled her mind with an irrefutable mass of both useful and useless information, but Amy did her best to sort out both piles quickly. Strategic plotting was not her strong suit, and without wanting to rely on Eric, she needed to ensure she had her plan mapped out in its entirety.

Access hallway. Code is 8-5-8-3. Middle escape hatch. Code is 3-7-1-0. Wait for a bubble to spit you outside. Swim to the other access pipe. Watch out for danger; 'Gigi', 'Albert', 'dogfish', anything that moves, really. Attempt the same code again on the other access lock. If it doesn't work, take a closer look through the windows at everything you can. Finally, get away from this place as fast as you can swim. Maybe the book will get me out the same way it threw me here.

Another deep breath.

But... if the code works... get spat back inside. Avoid being touched by any coral. Get into the bedroom, into its inner room. Find the box that stands out by being ordinary. Take the small grey marble.....

That line of thinking caused a derailing of her thoughts. She was comtemplating taking something that didn't belong to her. In the midst of all her adventuring, she hadn't stopped to consider that she was about to become a thief. Hoodwink may have wanted the marble, even stating it had no value to its current owner, but it was not her nature to steal things.

The excitement and rush of the mission had turned her into something she was not. She'd been so quick to prove her worth, to show her operator she was competent and capable... and almost violated her own values in the process. A nerve in her neck twinged as the girl felt a small wave of shame. That kind of behaviour was not a representation of who she was.

Forget the stupid marble. Just observe all the upper rooms you can from the outside. Hopefully that's enough for CrypticMan. Then, assuming all goes well, get as far away from this place as possible. Sorry, Reti. I hope you don't get into any further trouble with Aunty over me. And sorry Hoodwink, I can't help you with that request after all...

The idea of not being able to help both CrypticMan and Hoodwink was a little upsetting, but the feeling subsided when Amy realised she was harbouring regret over being unable to assist someone whose goals may have been selfishly motivated. Maybe he was justified in his request, maybe he wasn't. But it wasn't likely that she'd be able to just walk up to Aunty and ask for the marble...

Mind made up, Amy began to move back through the central area, towards the back of the complex again; quick and quiet steps let her hear the rapid, yet erratic padding of Reti about the chamber as she presumably delighted in her distraction – fortune stayed with Amy long enough for her to reach the door without running into the well-meaning shark girl. The first code appeared to work for her as easily as it had for Reti and door opened with a soft hiss that probably felt far to loud, given the circumstance, then closed behind Amy a moment later. So far so good.

Alone for the moment in the domed hallway, Amy could see the mid-way hatch dead ahead and, if she looked up, clear ocean between its external side and a similar hatch on the vertical shaft leading to the upper dome – it looked like it would probably let her in about halfway up the shaft, on a small landing half way up the spiral stairs.

For now, everything was close to silent – just the background sounds of water moving and the distant passage of external currents and marine life. Moving on to the lab was still an option, but her own plan was already made and it only took a few more seconds too reach the exit hatch. It seemed simple enough – a sealed, circular door, with a digital keypad on one side. Entering the second code, however, caused a small series of lights to illuminate around the outer seal, while a small warning text displayed on the keypad's screen, cautioning Amy to stand near to the door, and to keep all extremities within the airlock exclusion zone – a subtle yellow line that she now noticed was marked on the floor around the hatch. A soft sound of magnetic reverb followed, before a pale blue force-field encapsulated her. A light scanned the interior of her little bubble, before a green check mark lit up on the small screen on the door. Then the bubble began to fill with water.

Had Amy been an individual less accustomed to breathing under water, the process might have been a little nerve-wracking, but as it was it only took another thirty seconds or so to fill up entirely, leaving her floating gently for an extra moment, before the hatch slid open and a firm current expelled her out into the surrounding reef once more. The hatch closed behind her and the interior bubble of water started to drain away again.

This left our heroine swimming amidst the natural and wild reef that the complex was situated in – her path to the other hatch was clear, through the open water, but she could also take a moment too swim up to the upper dome and case it from the outside first, if she wanted. Out in the open water again, though, the option to simply bail out and flee for the beach before anything had a chance to go wrong might also be tempting.

The rush of ocean water was welcoming to Amy as she allowed herself a second of pleasure just floating upwards. Her first instinct had been to tuck her legs in again in preparation for swimming, but the thought was rejected almost as fast as it had entered her mind. For the penalty of a little less swimming speed, she needed to be nimble in the event of any danger and her fish form wasn't the most suitable response for that.

Amy's dress was still capable of the ripple vibrations even with her legs and arms not gelled against her body, but it did prevent them from giving her the same speed she'd enjoyed earlier. Her body instead had to swim in a human-like manner, making Amy nervous as she crossed the gap between the emergency exits.

[HOW ARE YOU BREATHING RIGHT NOW?]

Amy had wondered how long it would take before Eric realised her behaviour, if at all. He hadn't noticed during the first part of the mission, but maybe that was because they were both still unaware of what was coming, and their attention had been too focused on what to do than each other.

Most aquatic navis felt right at home in deep lakes and oceans; they were usually able to consume water and exhale oxygen-deprived liquid, or use some form of gills to the same effect. Amy's mouth had remainded close whilst she swam, her nostrils were not pulsating as if they were taking in or expelling water, and no gills were visible on her being.

[I'M ABSORBING OXYGEN THROUGH MY EXOSKELETON.]

A simple, direct answer.

[YOUR EXOSKELETON?]

[SKIN.]

Amy waited for the obvious follow-up question, but to her surprise, it never came.

Instead, she debated her original plan. Things had gone well so far, but the temptation to attempt to gain entry at the second exit was starting to interfere with her desire to simply observe and run. Curiousity was one of Amy's achilles' heels, and had she not already been bombarded with the events of the day, her sense of exploration may have won out. However, mental exhaustion was beginning to set in as the mission's potential end continued to pull her attention away from the final tasks needing completion. She could see the surface of the ocean again, and as the light danced on its surface, it was as if the sky was calling out to her.

Breathe. A reset was necessary to quell the emotions trying to get the better of her.

You've got this.

Two of her options were causing Amy to hesitate, each with their own risks. She knew that the final piece of the puzzle was just in front of her. The question was, would she attempt to gain access immediately, or observe the rooms from the outside first?

Assuming the access code even worked on the second door, going in first would leave her blind to any hazards in her way, and could lead to a situation in which she was trapped. But, if nobody was home, she would have the element of surprise.

On the other hand, if she cased the upper rooms from the outside first, not only did she lose that element of surprise but the extra time taken to swim the perimeter and return to the entry point was just another opportunity for her guide to realise she'd been left alone for too long, or for some other force to find her outside and cause trouble of their own.

Stop.

The anxiety and concern from calling the shots was causing her to lose focus again.

You already decided this. Forget about going inside, just observe from outside. Your original mission was just to observe. Less danger, less risk. Look, observe, and...

A smile returned to Amy's face.

...and maybe you can go home.

The image that appeared in her mind wasn't that of her former testing security box, nor of the PET she'd been confined to for as long as she could remember. Instead, it was of her bed in The Stem, with a certain navi to keep her company.

Alright, she reassured herself as she swam upward. Let's do this.

Without wanting to risk entering again, at least for now, Amy was able to swim up towards the highest dome with relative ease. Above the tops of the surrounding reef, her form would be far more visible but for now it didn't seem to raise any alarms.

As she'd initially seen from afar, this raised dome was connected by a single spiral stair corridor to the facility below, and looked to be private quarters of some description. The stairs, she could see through the glass, terminated at a simple landing with soft, algae-green carpets and sea-green wallpaper. It was lit by a pair of small drop lights from above the door-frame, which itself had a brass placard on it – though no matter where she swam, Amy would fine that it was a bit too difficult to read from outside. She could see, however, that the black-veined coral had continued all the way up the stairs and ended here in another spreading branch of feather orange feelers that extended part way from the hand rail, into the landing space – though it didn't penetrate into the chamber beyond.

One advantage to swimming around outside, of course, was that the door provided no real obstacle for Amy; the divide itself wasn't very thick and, on the other side, the rest of the dome was easy enough to peer into, depending on how close she wished to get. It was, indeed, set out like a luxurious and lavish master bedroom; thick green carpeting covered the floor, and a nautical, antique-style wardrobe and dresser were set at one edge of the room, decorated with gilded shells and coral. A small chandelier hung from the peak of the dome, casting a soft fractal dance of light about the chamber that created an impression similar to being underwater. The central piece in the room, however, was an almost excessively large four-post bed, that looked thick and soft in its seaweed and anemone-themed bedding.

The bed contained one figure, though Amy couldn't see too much of them for the time being – what she could see looked less like a navi, and more like a navi-sized puffer-fish, with grey-ish body colouration and a dense mesh of spines, currently lying flat, while the individual slept; they appeared to have been in the bed some time, or else were a very restless sleeper, since most of the thick bedding was dishevelled and cast off them, or twisted up in various ways. There wasn't too much else to see from the outside, but it might be enough to satisfy her employer. So far there hadn't been any other sign or sound from the complex – if Reti had noticed her absence, it hadn't been enough to raise an alarm yet... if one would be at all; it was hard to guess.

Is that... PufferMan...?

Amy's doubts about the safety of her entrance had been confirmed upon seeing the network of coral extend up to the entrance zone of the highest dome, but her attention to the room's contents and its somewhat extravagant-looking furnishings were brushed aside upon sight of the lone navi on the upper floor. She could see into the room, but the nature of the ambient lighting, the room's glass and the ocean itself was making it difficult for her to make out the more defining features of this navi, although it did seem similar from what she'd seen in the portrait downstairs in the history room.

[YOU NEED TO LEAVE. YOU'RE NOT HIDDEN ANYMORE.]

Amy felt that Eric was right, and she certainly agreed that they were exposed now that the external coral fence was beneath her and not surrounding her, but the identity of this new entity bothered her. She didn't really get an 'Albert' or 'Gigi' vibe from it, but if a long name already forgotten could be condensed down to 'Aunty', perhaps 'Gigi' was a shortened form of this navi's real name. 'Albert' didn't sit right at all, but again the nickname argument could be the answer.

[FULLY AWARE. DON'T DISTRACT ME.]

Amy's instant message, unbeknownst to her, further bruised her already-distressed operator's mindset. Her focus was still on the matter at hand, and she wasn't paying any attention whatsoever to Eric's lowering self-esteem in the real world. Although her last message hadn't been sent with as much hostility as her human counterpart interpreted, Amy didn't realise or didn't care that instant messages, lacking tone and pace, are open to multiple interpretations, and it was only natural that Eric interpreted this one with the same tone he was used to hearing from his sister.

Despite Amy's best efforts, there was certainly no further information she was going to glean from the outside. She wasn't willing to risk entering the upper shaft's emergency exit; a reminder of the verse 'a welcome on the lower floor; upstairs it's the reverse' compounded Aunty's visible influence in the stairwell itself. Amy had a nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right with this new scene she'd been introduced to, but couldn't quite put her finger on it, and Eric's message had broken her concentration. She ultimately decided this particular puzzle wasn't worth solving; it was time to throw in the proverbial towel.

I really hope I've done enough for CrypticMan. I may have slipped past Reti's security concerns the first time, but I doubt that'll happen again if I have to come back...

Her arms and legs thrust outward repeatedly as the dress hummed and vibrated against the current to give her a boost back to the ocean surface. Amy's intention was to then read the book one final time, hoping to get some form of assisted transport back to the beach she'd originated from, but if no such luck was found, she'd have to swim back to the beach under her own power.

Assuming, of course, she could figure out which direction it was in.

A final decision was made; with the interior seeming like too risky an option to return to, Amity began to make her way away form the research centre and back towards the beach. Nothing followed her retreat and as she broke the surface of the water and bobbed for a moment or two in the bright sunlight, the book filled in a last few lines for her to see.

“Secret spies on guided tours,
All far field from distant shores;
If you've looked as far as you can reach,
Then just relax and hit the beach.”

As she read the line, Amy felt the same tugging sensation from the beginning of her mission, this time accompanied by an odd sense of increasing pressure, almost like some unseen force was squeezing her. A moment later, the pressure vanished in a sudden burst of forward movement that sent her jetting across the surface of the water and skipping off it like a stone for long stretches while the glittering water raced by beneath her.

The white sand of the beach approached with an almost terrifying pace, before one last skip off the surface near the shallows propelled her up in an arc that crested more than a dozen feet above the sand and dropped her down again, surprisingly softly, in second low-slung beach chair that was now set up alongside the one that her original employer was still reclining in. He took a long sip from his coconut drink, making a protracted sucking noise through the straw that disappeared into his hood. A moment or two passed, and CrypticMan stretched with several of his too-long arms and gave a yawn.

“All done then? I hope you had fun. Maybe you learned something interesting as well; that's the greatest prize.” Here a small chuckle emanated from the figure, and one of his tendril-like arms reached across to carefully pluck the book from Amy's keeping, the too-many-fingered hand curling around the spine one finger at a time in a rapid, but still disconcerting way. “But maybe not to some. We'll sort out your payment in just a short while... first, though...” The amusement in his voice was clear, but he didn't seem ill-intended at all. “I do love a good quiz...” Two of his hands formed a steeple above his chest, while another pair flipped casually through the book he'd retrieved. If Amy glanced his way, she'd be able to see the rapid scrolling of fine text and code across his eyes, glowing beneath the hood.

“So tell, me, Amity... What have you learned, today? Tell me as much, or as little as you want... but I may ask questions when you're done.” One hand lifted up to flick at the tiny umbrella in his coconut, and the drink refilled itself. A second hand curled around, sneaking in behind Amy to present her with a matching beverage from the opposite side. “Drink?”

Amy was not amused. Although it was surely a much easier journey back to land than having to swim using her own power, she'd somewhat hoped that maybe, just maybe, that the transport back to the beach would be a little more delicate than her original voyage. Having landed in a chair right beside her current employer, she was reminded of his particular flair for theatrics as... he?... she?... extended the girl a drink. In a similar way to the offer of a swimsuit, Amy felt convinced that this too may not be in her best interest to accept.

"Uhh, no thank you," she gently countered as she held up an open palm to reject the offer. Amy considered asking how she should address CrypticMan, but the urge was negated by a thought that perhaps asking someone about their preferred pronoun was just asking for unnecessary drama.

A quiz? In a way it made sense. After all, CryticMan did have a reason for summoning Amy here, and venturing her into the aquarium wasn't it. Time to recount all of the day's events thus far.

"So the name of the place was 'Pelagius Aquatic Research and Study Eco-centre," she began, but realised CryticMan likely knew that already. "When I got there there was a weird half-human, half-shark... woman, I guess...? swimming around the front door, so we used the coral bordering the facility to keep ourselves hidden as we swam around the sides. At first we thought it might have been to keep people away, but after having been inside I'm not so sure."

"We found the back door, but it also looked suspicious, so we tried swimming around further and found some pipes a small distance away from the facility that was ejecting and sucking in water. We used the exhaust pipe to go into the facility, but when we entered this giant tank there was another navi there waiting, and he called himself Hoodwink. I thought he might have been part of the staff there, but it turns out he wasn't. Your book didn't seem too fond of him though."

Amy had considered skipping the next part, but figured that honesty may be key here. "Hoodwink asked me to get something from a room in the upper chambers. I'll get back to that later."

"The back room had multiple reports written by a person who called herself 'Antarpia'." That name was wrong, and Amy tried again. "No... 'Auntypatharia'." She shook her head in frustration; that part might be important, and she just couldn't get it out. "Whatever; the security guard called her 'Aunty', anyway. She seems to be a creature that stretches throughout a large part of the facility in the form of black coral, with feather-like feelers that extend from that coral. In particular, the main lab area had one sizable tank containing a large mass of that black coral that she was then able to flow out from and take a humanoid shape."

Amy paused for a moment as she realised something she'd missed earlier. "What I don't know is how she was able to get to the back of the facility where all those notes were kept. When Aunty took human form she was still bound to the large mass in the tank, and there was no coral down that access tube or in the back room. That I could see, anyway. Unless someone moved those documents there, I can't explain how she could be in there at all." Another pause while she contemplated a reason. "Unless one of the other staff moved them there, I guess..."

"Speaking of which, the security guard swimming outside the facility when we first arrived. Upon being discovered by Aunty, the shark-form lady came inside and took a... more humanoid form." Amy wasn't disturbed particularly by the incident, but also tried to gloss over it in order to avoid being asked for more intimate details. "Her full name is Scyliorhinusretifer, but she goes by Reti instead. Unless she's in trouble." Which, judging by both Aunty's tone and Reti's confession, could happen often, she recited to herself. "I think she was a little suspicious of how I'd gotten into their facility without using the front door, but I was able to steer that conversation a different direction. Reti was the one who took me from the lab back to the main observation area, and then into the history dome. There was a lot of animals and plants to see, but this 'Reti' seemed to be attracted to the more vibrant and unusually shaped ones."

Another pause. "It was due to those distractions that I was able to get away from her and back to the hall between the lab and the main observation area. It looked like there were two ways to get to the upper room; either using the stairs from the lab directly, or by accessing a security door halfway up the hall connecting the lab and the upper room. My plan was to use the security code given to me by Reti to go between the airlocks in the connecting hallways, bypassing the lab entirely, but when I saw that Aunty's coral extended up into the stairwell as well, I couldn't take the risk that I'd land myself in danger. I'd seen her coral and feelers absorb a fish downstairs, so I know it's not just part of her body." Amy realised that this particular explanation made it sound like Reti had given her the code willingly, which wasn't wrong, but to state that she'd done so without any consideration to the fact that she was one of the facility's guards felt unnecessarily cruel.

Amy was not a public speaker. Having to recite all of this information was zapping the final energy of the day from her, her voice wheezing slightly as she continued. "Hoodwink asked me to take something from the upstairs room. I had agreed to help originally, but it didn't occur to me what I'd agreed to until much later. When I saw the room, and realised this was a private area, I knew I couldn't just enter and take whatever I pleased. I hope Hoodwink understands," she added as she took a glance down the beach in both directions. She couldn't see him, but part of her mind doubted she'd see him until he was ready to be seen. The fact that he had disappeared out of the facility through a non-existent door spoke volumes about his abilities. Which did raise the question Amy though of as she sat there; if Hoodwink had the ability to slip in and out of areas, why didn't he just go up there himself? Surely a sheet of glass wouldn't stop him from passing through...

"The room at the top seemed to be a bedroom for a navi I didn't get to meet. It had similarities to a navi mentioned in the history room named PufferMan, but I couldn't get a good view of it from outside. The history room made mention of an original facility that had been built, and that the building that is there now is not the same one, but it didn't say much about what happened or why... or even if PufferMan survived whatever happened."

"I will say this; the book was very helpful," Amy reassured CrypticMan as she half groaned, half sighed. "And that's my thoughts on the place, I guess. At first I thought it was suscipious looking, then once I got inside I thought it looked like a research facility like the name suggested, but after having met Aunty, seeing the history room and seeing Aunty's presence in places I wouldn't expect it, but not in places I *would* expect it, I feel like something suspicious *is* going on there."

"Or maybe not. If it had a secret that needed to be kept, I don't think Reti would have been Aunty's first choice of guard and tour guide," she smiled in summary as she waited for her employer's feedback.

The strange techno-centric figure alongside her only listened and nodded, occasionally sipping from his drink in between Amy's descriptions. A light breeze ruffled the umbrella, and overhead the sounds of various sea birds accompanied the soft roll of waves; it was, on the whole, very pleasant, if not for the strange conversation. By the time Amy finished her report, CrypticMan had finished slurping noisily at the end of his coconut drink and started on the one he had offered to her. When it was clear she was done, the hood looked in her direction, and she got the impression of a broad grin and a flash of multi-hued colour from his eyes.

“Well, you've certainly seen much...” Several of his arms stretched and flexed, before he stood up in the same uncomfortable way she'd seen him move before; his feet moved first, stretching out from the beach chair to plant themselves in the sand, before the rest of his body caught up with the motion in an eerie, physics-defying stretch and slide that left him upright and looking out across the waves. “Much indeed... And you shut that charmer right down, too. About time someone put their foot down and didn't just melt into giving him what he wants. You almost did though – careful around that one, dear Amity...” Still with his back to her, CrypticMan shrugged, and several of his arms rose up to the sides in a palm-up gesture. “But you told him no, and didn't give him what he wanted, today, so I'm in a good mood!” His head twisted, looking at Amy side-on, before it shifted again, zipping across the intervening space to hover directly in front of him. His body flowed after it a few moments later while he peered at her, and held up a small faintly shimmering crystalline disc.

“I think you've earned your reward for this outing Ami-Ami-Amity... One support core, clean and primed, ready to be configured as you choose, and no funny business...” As the many-fingered tendril floated it across to her, CrypticMan's grin was back and broader than ever.

“But... If you're interested in a little bonus... Say, a cache of fragments to help get your new support off to a strong start... Maybe you could try and answer another question. It won't take long, just take what you know, and extrapolate...” He drew back, his form sliding away from her until it settled into a neutral stance a few feet away. Two of his arms were folded, two more were pressed together in an excited palm-press, while two more had produced a small blue diamond crystal that hovered between them spinning slowly.

“For a bonus... What, Amity, do you think, happened here; what is happening now; what is amiss? What, Amity, is going on at PARSE? What is your theory, and,” here he paused and one of his eyes seemed to wink for a moment beneath the hood. “What more would you need to know, to be certain?” There was a pause for dramatic effect, before the figure laughed and relaxed again – as much as that was easy to read on him. “If you'd rather not play, there's no harm in that – just a little post-mission game, if you want to try your luck. If not, then it's been a pleasure, dear Amity, a pleasure to meet one as surprising as you indeed. Hoodwink will be so sour to have this fish slip his net... today was worth that alone, and you can know that for truth.” As he waited to see if she'd make a guess, several of his hands began to lightly toss the extra reward cache back and forth between them.