Light in the Storm: Courting Shadows

The scientists that had been talking to each other for a moment before Rogan showed up both turned to look at him; one had green hair, and the other had blue hair. The former narrowed his eyes at 'Tim', while the latter just stared at him. "...Lab NO416, you say?"

"Which one's that again? The one where that one scientist that completely snapped kept and bred all those N.O. viruses until he got busted, and then everyone started ironically calling it that?"

"That's the one."

"Yeah, my Navi hates it when I go in there! He keeps thinking he's going to beamed or something!"

"But that doesn't make sense...why would anyone go anywhere near NO416, much less someone in Accounts? I don't think that lab's been used for anything in over a month."

"Maybe it's about to be used again for something?"

"That still doesn't explain what Accounts wants to send files there."

"Oh, come on! You act like he's suspicious or something! Seriously, NO416 is a SciLab in-joke! What're the odds an outsider would know it?"

"...I suppose that's true."

"You'll have to forgive him, Tim, he thinks everyone he doesn't know is some intruder! Anyway, NO416 isn't too much farther. Head that way until you hit the next intersection..." He pointed in the way Rogan was facing. "Then turn right. It'll be the first lab to your left!"

"You'd be surprised how often I'm not wrong on that...blah, I've got too much work to do to stand around chewing the fat. You two shouldn't dwaddle here, either."

"Don't remind me..."

With that, the scientists went their separate ways. Looked like he was in the clear, though he hadn't exactly amazed the green haired one the way he did the woman a moment ago. Oh well, he was by his lonesome, and that's what mattered, right? Well, that, and a bigwig was probably about to start heading his way...

Ahh, so that was the story then. For the most part the lab designates followed a logical convention; a letter for the department, then floor number, then room number. Rightfully speaking, they were on the fourth floor, in the NetNavi operations department, but all the other labs in the department had only been listed with a single designate, 'N'. The difference had concerned him, but this was a workable development.

As the two scientists answered him, commenting one off the other, Rogan let the earnest expression on his face naturally grow into hesitation, then uncertainty, looking back and forth between the two. Once his expressions had filtered through to a suitable level of concern at their answers, he bit his lip as though thinking of something to say, finding it, coincidentally, just as the two went their separate ways.

"Hey, I... ah..." In for a penny, after all. He kept his voice at the same under-confident and now uneasy pitch letting his body language betray his feigned uncertainty, hands low and to either side holding his file and PET while he watched the two part ways. "Uh, hey, wait!" Even though neither was watching specifically, he immersed himself in the act thoroughly, stricken in indecision for a moment, before chasing after one of the scientists. It happened to be the more suspicious of the two, but for the questions he intended, that made more sense. He caught up, walking alongside the other lab-coat with a side-on gait as he continued.

"Hang on, sorry... that guy said it was an in-joke. Umm, this isn't, you know, some sort of hazing thing, is it?" He winced as he asked, clasping his hands together in an unconscious gesture of nerves. "I mean, I know I've only been here a few weeks... but I thought the request was a bit strange when he asked me, this time of night, especially when running hard copies isn't something I usually do... It's not some horrible prank, is it?"

Keeping alongside the other scientist, his pace was much slower than it might otherwise have been on his own, but at least it would probably make things easier for Lyntael to keep up. There was no opportunity to check on her directly while he was dealing with someone else, and he'd shifted her to mute before engaging the pair in the first place, but with any luck the wayward girl had pulled her act together by now.

"It's not like I'm stuffy about it or anything, you know. I'll roll with it, if it's normal and all, I just sort of like to know about stuff in advance, if I can." He'd more or less exhausted his nervous-sounding options by the time they reached the next junction and he paused and look around. "Oh, drat. Ah, he said north, then right... so, that would be along another, then up, right?"

All the while that they walked, Rogan maintained his demeanour, prepared to stop his own rambling and listen at any moment that the other man might respond or speak, but whether the conversation carried the other man along with him or not, Rogan had to continue onward towards his goal.


Summary


L1: Scramble Camera 7
R1) Move East: In Camera 7 (Safe, 1 Action Remaining) and Camera 8 (Safe, 1 Action Remaining)
L2: Move to Camera 9
R2: Deflect: In Camera 7 (Safe, 0 Actions Remaining) and Camera 8 (Safe, 0 Actions Remaining)
L3: Scramble Camera 9
R3: Move East: In Camera 9 (Safe, 1 Action Remaining)
L4: Maintain Camera 9

Though Rogan couldn't see it, the scientist he'd chosen to tag along after cringed as he heard him draw near. He let out an exasperated sigh, making sure his displeasure wasn't completely unnoticed. "...What is it? ...Hazing? It's possible, I know a couple of real goofballs in Accounts. ...I don't really have time for this, but since we're close by, I might as well take you there myself. Can't have you irritating any of the other scientists. You know, the ones responsible for everyone in the building being employed." Was this scientist sleep deprived, or just a jerk? Who knew?

"Turn left here. Then take a right, and it'll be the first door on your left. It's simple enough, but if I'm going out of my way, I'm making sure you get there. Plus, I kinda want to see what kind of stunt they're going to pull. It must really be something, to use an unoccupied lab." On second thought, he was probably a jerk. Definitely probably.

Well he'd certainly guessed right about the standoff-ish, impatient attitude of his temporary companion, but Rogan found himself suppressing the urge to wince in turn as the other man became intent upon seeing him 'safely' to the lab. That he had not counted on. What to do? He thought quickly as they turned up the corridor.

"Thanks, look, sorry. I ah, I don't want to be a pain, and it's early... You say you're busy and I'm sure I'll be fine with, ah, whatever this is all about." Since the man had said he was interested enough to see what the possible prank was, Rogan was quite sure that that alone wouldn't work, but it felt like the natural reaction to give anyway and he shrugged, looking across at the other man with a grin. What it did do was provide him with the opportunity for an unexpected distraction and, as they reached the corner he stopped abruptly, reaching down to retrieve his PET from the pocket he'd slipped it into. Before it was all the way out of his pocket, he pressed the right buttons to make it look like it had an active call.

"Ack, sorry, just a second!" He shot an apologetic look to the other man then stepped away a half pace, standing still at the corner of the junction to take his 'call'. He turned so that the scientist couldn't possibly see the screen, which simply showed Rogan a display of Lyntael's back as she watched another screen in turn, alongside the girl's vital signs on the left. As a last touch, he raised his other hand, still holding the file tightly in the absent manner of scientists and lab-technicians everywhere, to his earpiece as though trying to improve the sound quality.

"Yes, I'm still here." He quirked his eyebrows down into puzzlement, his gaze dropped to wander over the floor as he did. "Yeah, I couldn't find the place. What's this... What do you mean you're 'finished?' Finished doing what?" He paused from his concerned questioning to look up, casting another desperately sorry glance to the other man, then looked to his right along the hall. He gestured, pointing a questioning finger to the door halfway down, though from here Rogan could clearly see the changeable panel beside the door marking it as the lab he needed. It looked like the lettering hadn't been changed in a long while, and someone had even slipped in the extra letter, though it obviously came from a different set. His silent question about it being the right place was cut off again by the apparent caller and he flinched with his whole body as he looked at his screen.

"Hey, that's my office, what've you guys.... Aghh, did you send me all the way up here on this wild goose chase just so you could... This was Jaz's plan wasn't it?" He let himself grow absorbed in the shock of this 'discovery', stepping back to sink down onto one of the cushioned benches along the wall. "It's too early in the morning for this guys, I swear." He put his head down, one hand on his knee and supporting his forehead while he took a deep breath. Rogan was aware that he was more or less ignoring the other scientist completely now, but his persona of Tim from HS had completely forgotten that the other man was even there.

"Look, whatever, just... just have a coffee ready for me when I get back, and we'll finish up the rest of the transfer requests and call it a night there, ok? And I'm totally getting you both to help me fix my office up tomorrow." He took another long breath and pointedly dropped the folder containing the supposed hard copy files next to him on the seat, radiating the fact that he was totally done with everything for the night. "So what's the deal with this lab anyway? Why the name? Some guy I spoke to before said there was a story behind it or something?" The way he was sitting now, slumped down and with his head in one hand, Rogan was quite sure that most of his features would be more or less obscured to the other man. He had never raised his voice during the entire faux phone call, and now made small intermittent acknowledgements and comments down the line as though listening to the supposed story, but there was certainly no chance the his unwanted companion hadn't heard and guessed at the content of the call. Rogan himself certainly had no intention of entering the lab while anyone might see him go in, and if that meant taking a call for a few minutes here first, then wait he would; he was patient.

Summary
L1) Maintaining Camera 9
R1) Deflect (In Camera 9, Safe, 1 Action)
L2) Maintaining Camera 9
R2) Move North (In Camera 9, Safe, 1 Action)
L4) Maintaining Camera 9
R3) Deflect/Wait (In Camera 9, Safe, 1 Action)

"Meh, guess this'll be my coffee break for the night, then. But a good laugh should be worth it." Rogan was right; it was going to take more than that to get rid of the scientist. Oh well, at least he didn't follow when he got his 'call'...though he make sure to give the 'new guy' a sour look when he said he couldn't find the lab, probably because at that point the Netopian could literally see the entrance.

As the call dragged on, if he looked that way, he could see the scientist slowly making his way over. Somehow, he managed to look both irritated and amused at the same time. "All right, tell that guy to hold up a sec. You have your own office? And you're new? Ha, what are you, the son of the head of SciLab?"

Before there could be a response, Rogan could hear footsteps, as another scientist drew near. He didn't look like he was overly caught up in his work, but nor did he seem to pay the intruder any mind.

"Hey, Kenichi, check it out. Can you believe this new guy already has his own office?"

The other scientist froze, and looked right at the other two incredulously. "Are you serious?! I've been here a year, and I'm lucky I'm not stuck in a broom closet!"

"Tell me about it..."

"Man, some guys get all the luck...haa." With a sigh, he looked over towards the next hall he was slated to go through. "Well, I've gotta go process this data. See you around, Shigeru."

"Yeah, f I don't kill myself working on that stupid project first."



Maps: now with inlets!

Still feigning his phone call, Rogan was mostly listening to the real people nearby, gauging where or if he'd need to add another comment anywhere to smooth them away. The office comment was a slip of the tongue and he berated himself internally for misjudging a detail like that, but at least it was an easy fix. As they went back and forth, he glanced up from his 'call', laughing softly as he glanced between them. The other seemed to just be passing through, so he directed his remark at his 'guide'.

"Ah, don't I wish!" He let a tired twist of humour trickle through his voice. "No, I get the same tiny little work-space as almost everyone else over in HR, it's just a thing a bunch of us do. Well, except Jaz, he calls his space Jaz-topia." Rogan chuckled again, quietly, to himself, then glanced back at his PET. "Yeah, still here. Just telling the guy who was showing me the way about the whole 'office' thing. Just a second." He returned his eyes to the other man and offered a small shrug.

"The guys sent me off on this errand just so they could go and cover all my stuff in wrapping paper while I was away. Their loss though, I guess. If I can't work because I'm busy unwrapping my whole work-space, then they'll just have to finish the transfer requests we were working through without me tonight." He sighed and stifled a yawn behind his hand. "Or this morning. Whatever."

Leaning back, he put his free hands to his eyes, covering them with a tired sigh.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm heading back, alright." putting an end to the 'call', Rogan slipped his PET away and rolled his neck, stretching his shoulders a bit. By this point, he'd interacted enough with the man that he'd be relying on his distinctly unmemorable features if anything did come up later, but there hadn't really been any other choice, with Lyntael being as troublesome with the cameras as she had been.
"Hey, sorry about that. Listen, thanks for showing me the way, even if it was a fool's errand in the end. Seems like I've been wasting your time, so I'm sorry for that." As he spoke, he shifted his pose on the bench to a more relaxed one, clearly intending to rest for a while and in no rush to get back to his prankster co-workers.

Summary

L1) Maintain
R1) Deflect
L2) Maintain
R2) Deflect/Wait
L3) Maintain
R3) Deflect/Wait
L4) Maintain

((OOC: Not putting up a Lyn post alongside this one, since, while I could post more of her stressing and fretting helplessly, that will come at the head of the next time she actually has something to do))

"Wrapping paper? Yeesh, HR gets off easy. I'd tell you what my 'initiation' into SciLab was, but it'd probably make a HR guy run away in terror, never to return. And even though the hours are beyond terrible, I don't hate SciLab, so I won't make an employee quit like that." The scientist shrugged, and did what Rogan was really, really hoping for: he turned around. "Well, if there's really nothing to see, I'm going back to work. I imagine even you can see yourself out."

And with that, he was all alone. About time. Well, maybe not completely alone, considering there was a logjam of scientists if he looked to his south, but none of them were looking his way at the moment, so meh.

As the scientist he was with flaunted his perceived employee superiority at Rogan, the acting-only scientist wondered how the poor lab-coat would feel if their actual jobs were switched for a few days... It was an amusing thought, picturing the high-and-mighty git trying to negotiate with a woman like Varda, in a room full of her 'bodyguards'. Ah well. At least he was leaving at last.

Rogan waited a few moments more after he was sure the man was out of sight, then scooped up his file and stood quickly. A few steps carried him to the door he needed and he took one last glance about before reaching for the handle. As he let himself in, he told Lyntael to switch over as well, though it was a few moments before she acknowledged him. He let it slide; she couldn't possibly be pressed for time after sitting maintaining a single camera for so long.

Inside the room, he closed the door behind him and stood in the darkness for a few seconds, listening. There were no actual security systems in place on individual labs, but one never knew what sorts of things might be running in a place like SciLab. The answer, as it turned out, seemed to be nothing at all and Rogan flicked on the lights. The lab seemed fairly plain, but from the amount of electronics and other hardware scattered about on the desks, and the fact that one of the large screens was actually turned on, if suspended, it clearly wasn't the unoccupied-for-ages lab that everyone seemed to think it was. He still hadn't moved from the doorway, but he lifted his PET again.

"Lyntael. Is everything clear?" She ought to have given him the all clear, or else told him of any issues, without him having to ask, really. Instead, he found himself waiting for many long seconds until, just as he was about to speak to her again, her message came through. Ah. Another navi waiting around in this particular lab's subnet. That was both suspicious and worrying. If he thought that Lyntael had come alone and unoperated, though, that was one gift horse he wasn't about to check the teeth on. He told her to stall it and then got to work searching the lab as quickly as he could.

----------
((Switching focus to Lyntael's thread completely. Rogan will do his thing, and we'll return here once Lyn is finished with hers.))

((Branch back: Returned from => Courting Shadows))
----------

As he searched the lab, Rogan tucked a few more hard copies into his folder, then took several quick document snaps of others. He had the bare minimum of what he needed, perhaps, but there was a lot of other things in this lab, supposedly unused, that looked like they might be worth a very pretty sum, to the right buyer. He was thorough and quick as he worked, but methodical. This was a game he knew well, and fast as his hands moved, there was no sense of undue rushing about any of it.

That was, until a light on his PET, resting now on the edge of a lab table, blinked on. He looked up immediately to it just as Lyntael's voice came over the open line. At least, it sounded mostly like her voice.

"Rogan, help! Please don't let him..." it spluttered into coughs that sounded rather excruciating and his eyes drew down. What was the girl playing at now? Surely other navis wouldn't buy into her little emotional displays... she knew this was a very serious mission, and keeping the navi she'd encountered busy until he was finished was important. Still. Caution couldn't be discarded.

Stepping over he scooped up the device and brought up the view. What he saw made his eyes widen in shock. She was in a critical condition, and her actual body looked badly beaten-up to match, but... she was also completely naked, and the other navi was... Was that really? Was it really trying to do what it looked like? On instinct, before he had thought about it any further, Rogan stabbed the button to jack Lyntael out and pull her back to the PET. It was only after he'd extracted the girl that his rational mind caught up and he muttered a curse under his breath. With one foolish reflex response, his cover had to be blown; there'd probably be an alarm sounding soon, and that meant his time was up. He hadn't finished searching the room yet. Damn. Time to go.

As irritated as he was at having to bail out before he'd planned, professionalism still took precedence and he moved swiftly to the door, all of his ill-gotten gains safely tucked into neat sets in his folder, or else stored on securely pocketed devices. He spared a quick glance for his PET, just barely long enough to ensure that Lyntael had, in fact, been jacked out and was undergoing the normal restoration process, before jamming it back into his coat pocket. He hadn't flicked the screen past its basic system displays to check the girl herself; he'd deal with her later, once he was clear of the mess.

He paused for just a moment at the door, rolling his neck once and resettling himself back into over-tired lab-worker before, then grimaced. No alarm yet, so that meant it was time to play the camera game again. The further he could get from the lab unrecorded, before his presence was noted, the better. With one hand on the door, he dug out his PET again, and extended the probe, searching for a suitable node to integrate his wayward navi into.

"Lyntael, Cameras. Are you ready?" He wait, but there was no answer. The dissatisfied grimace became a more severe frown. "Lyntael. Report." He held the channel open, but there was still no answer and he looked at the screen properly, flicking through to the view of the PET's internal server. He didn't find her until he shifted the view-mode to display the small partitioned area of the space that she seemed to treat as some sort of personal room. The girl was curled up on her side in a tight ball, hands hugged tightly around her own chest and knees pulled up, apparently weeping violently. Rogan resisted the urge to growl under his breath.

"Lyntael, enough. Your damage has been repaired and our work is not over yet. The cameras must be blocked again. Now, stop this and ready yourself for jacking in." She was just a program, but even so, he was finding it hard to keep the angry edge out of his voice. Getting angry at her wouldn't help, of course, but a normal command should really have been enough. He was still annoyed at himself for reacting rashly to what was, at basic level, just an interaction between two programs. It was another moment or two before he heard her attempt at an answer. The storm of tears didn't abate at all, and picking out what she was actually trying to say was an effort in itself.

"S-still, still feels... He tried... wanted to- t-to... I couldn't, couldn't... Sorry, I-I'm sorry, Rogan. I'm sorry... I was so... was afraid. Please, I'm sorry, Rogan... I-I'm so sorry, I..." Each fragment of words she stumbled over was broken by another rough sob shaking her body, or a small gasp for air, until she trailed away again into sniffled apologies. Rogan pressed fingers to his forehead for a moment, teeth clenched as he suppressed a sigh. What was the use of a program that mimicked all the non-functional and debilitating aspects of being human, and couldn't be over-ridden to stop and work normally? He couldn't even begin to guess at what his brother had been thinking, giving him a navi like this.

"Lyntael. Stop. We are in a very serious situation, and there is simply no time for this. Do you understand me?" No response save a low groaning added to her display as she rocked slightly and continued to clutch at herself as though the damage from before was still present. Just to be sure, he double checked her vitals, but sure enough she was 'physically' at 100% again. He prepared to send her in again anyway; hopefully being dropping right into the work would shake her out of this, but just as he was beginning to forge a link to the security network, his ears caught a short, shrill sound, and then there was a crack as, one by one, all of the internal fire sprinklers burst into full shower mode. Rogan snarled and pressed out of the door quickly, only to find the same thing happening up and down the hallways as well, all over the department.

He stood for a moment, trying to connect what was happening to... well, anything at all, but his surprise lasted only a few moments. It wasn't anything he, or his navi, had done, and around him many other white-coated workers were dashing across the halls, several with folders or clipboards held over their heads. If it couldn't be traced to him, the it was perfect cover. Rogan was too well travelled to accept a fortunate coincidence like this blindly, but he wasn't about to snub it either. Still wearing his 'too-tired-for-this' face and body movement,s he let himself look up at the nearest sprinkler for a moment or two in disbelief, then simply did what everyone else was doing: put his folder over his head, keeping his face neatly obscured from any camera, and made a moderate dash back the way he'd come.

He reached the fire door he'd entered through in a much quicker time than it had taken him to cross the wing the first time, and looked around one more time, just to be sure no-one was watching him, then darted out the door.

As much as he simply wanted to be out of his costume and done with the night's antics, Rogan kept both his outfit and his demeanour in place as he made his way quickly across the outer grounds of the complex. One damp and dishevelled researcher packing it in and going home for the night, after an event like that at such a time in the morning, would raise no eyebrows at all, and it remained his best cover as long as Lyntael remained unresponsive to his instructions.

It wasn't until he was well clear of the area that he slipped out of the damp lab coat and folded it up, ID and all. He wouldn't feel quite right again until he had his own coat back on, but that was back in his car, several blocks away still. Even so, the night was pleasant, if starless, and the cool air gave him a chance to calm his own thoughts. A part of him felt agitated at Lyntael, for failing to operate as instructed, but he couldn't deny that the same part of him that was personifying her enough to be angry at, was also getting hung up on how very genuine her display of distress seemed. It was very difficult to remain angry at a crying face, even if you knew it wasn't real.

He shook his head. There were more important things to be focusing on. There hadn't been enough time to examining anything he'd recovered on the spot, but the little he had scanned over as he went was concerning. He needed to be fully focused and concentrating when he went through the data, and that meant no distractions. Lyntael's issues could wait; he'd gotten away clean, at least, and that was what mattered for now. Things had worked out well enough in the end and there wouldn't really be very much clean up he'd need to do remotely; she had done that part of her job passably enough, even if she'd made it sound like some trail.

By the time Rogan reached his car, a light misting of rain was beginning to fall from the laden clouds. The already threatening cover had massed further while they'd been busy, and the storm he'd guessed at earlier was almost certainly going to break before long. He wasted no time slipping into his car and exchanging the lab coat for his own, better-fitting and more comfortable preference. He pulled out his PET and sat it in the alcove of his dash, expecting Lyntael to come out like she normally did, but there was no sign. Rather than ignore it, though, he found himself turning his keys over in his hand while he watched, hesitant to actually start the engine. One circle, two... the digits turned over on the car's clock. Rogan took the PET back and looked at the screen again. Lyntael was where she had been, though at least now she was sitting up. Arms around her knees and head down, the girl was very visibly trembling still.

"Lyntael, what on—" His words cut off abruptly as the screen redirected its view away from her, to show an incoming call. He answered it.

"Perhaps my north Netopian mythology is rusty, you know, but is it not true that Night-Wisps, they are deceptive and hard to follow in the dark, but die and turn to dust on the wind if you shine a bright light upon them?" The amused Sharron accent was unmistakably Varda Afonin, his previous contact, and Rogan had to work hard to stop himself from cursing. With effort, he schooled himself to calmness again.

"It's a bit more difficult than that, I'm afraid, Varda. You must catch them out in full daylight, you see, and they are always clever enough not to let that happen." His mind worked, behind the conversational tone. Why was she calling now? What did she know? It would be a very bad situation if she knew what he'd just been doing. On the other end, he heard her hum, somewhere short of a laugh.

"Ah, but stories exist, no? And there is always the chance that more will be written, you know?"
"To what do I owe the pleasure, Varda, so early in the morning?" His voice came out gruffer than he'd meant it to and he could almost hear the luxuriant smile on the other end of the line.
"Patience, little mouse. All in good time, yes? Perhaps I had not meant to contact you again for some time, and yet, certain events move ahead of us and a man of your skills may be of much use." He wondered if the navi they'd encountered in SciLab had actually had ties to Varda's... employers. But no, that couldn't be the case. He was very clearly on the other side of the equation. How did she know, then? More than anything right now he wanted a chance to sit and analyse the full extent of what he'd recovered, and having to play this game again was setting him on edge.

"Well, you know what a man of my skills costs, dear Varda. Shall we arrange a place to discuss the details of exactly which skills of mine you'd like most to utilise?" Really, he wanted to turn her down, for now. The last payment was ample to last him awhile, and he didn't particularly want to deal with the mob right now... but if he did knock her back, that would be the end of contracts from her, and his curiosity at what was going on insisted that he learn more.

"Are you in a hurry to be somewhere, Mister O'Conaill? This is not the face you showed me in our last meeting, you know." He winced, glad that she couldn't actually see his face. This was not going well. The back of his mind was still occupied with working out what was the matter with his navi, as much as he tried to quash the train of thought.

"No, Varda. Skilled I may be, but yet mortal. Even I need an hour or two of rest once in a while, and you keep me from it, that is all. I would never leave a fine and upstanding a lady as yourself without aid in need, however. When shall we discuss the details of your request with more security?" This time she did laugh; a delicate, silvery sound.
"As you wish. It would not do to have you making errors from a lack of beauty sleep, no? We will meet as we did before. You will receive a forwarding of the date and time within a day or two. Be there when you are summoned, Night-wisp, yes? We are not so forgiving of tardiness, you know." With that the call ended and Rogan slumped in his seat, sighing.

Maybe she didn't know what he'd been up to, maybe, but the timing of her call was far too neat and trusting to coincidences got a man in his line of work dead. Tired, he started his car and heading away into the fading night. The sooner he could sort out the data he'd recovered, the more he'd know.

Dawn was breaking, but as he'd expected, there was no sunlight to speak of. Instead, rain lashed at Rogan's car as he sat, reviewing everything he'd collected that night. He'd been working for hours, and sorted most of it, but now he found himself watching through the recording of his navi's progress. He was struggling with it. Lyntael had still given no sound or word, in all the time he'd worked. She hadn't come out of the PET to watch him, or passed any comment on any of the material he'd been going through, and as he watched her interactions with the hostile navi in the lab, a part of him was beginning to understand, at least a little, why.

It was only his second time watching this handful of minutes; with most video footage, net or real world, he scanned once, watched closely once, then reviewed once, to make sure nothing was missed. He hadn't truly believed what he'd watched the first time, and it was an effort to remind himself that what he was watching were artificial simulations, not real humans. That they might interact that way, so viscerally, when there wasn't even anyone around to see their performance, truly surprised him.

Unconscious, his eyes flicked away to another part of the screen and one finger lowered the volume as Vigilance began taunting his navi again. After a moment, Rogan realised what he'd done and turned the recording back, restoring the sound and making himself watch it again, more closely. The male navi's voice cut across the output once more.

"Do you want to know who the real monster is, in this picture, Little Lyntael?" As Rogan watched the navi's appalling behaviour, he reminded himself again; they were just programs not people. It wasn't real. "No, I'm not the real monster... I look at you, beautiful, intricate, detailed... I look at you, girl, and even I can see that whoever made you poured their whole heart and soul into it. Whoever made you really loves you. Or did, once. Not any more it would seem." Rogan felt his teeth clench as he watched and listened. Eric certainly loved his little creation, and still did... that much was clear. The difference was just that she was not his brother's navi any longer. "So if you want to see the real monster in this picture, then you ought to look at whatever son of a dog had you, and then let you wind up all alone" Rogan looked away, then made himself look back. AI or not, the words stung. "All alone, here... with me." Rogan stopped the recording and put the PET down beside him for a moment. Programs simulating. Nothing more. He knew it was true, however difficult watching the recording might be... but why did the other navi's words sting so much? It was all simulation, both his, and Lyntael's. He hadn't caused any real person to be hurt or frightened by his actions, hadn't harmed or traumatised anyone. He took a few deep breaths and reached for his PET again.

"No! Please no... stay back, don't touch me! Don't touch me!!" Lyntael's voice, crying out, made him freeze. He'd stopped the recording, but in doing so the screen had returned to viewing the internal net space of the PET, and Lyntael's little room. She was lying, curled up inside the rectangle of cloth she'd placed against one wall, and writhed, rolling and thrashing. She's fallen 'asleep', apparently. As she cried out again and whimpered Rogan winced before he caught himself. He hadn't hurt anyone, or done anything to cause harm to any real humans... and yet here was Lyntael, having nightmares, all alone and with no awareness that anyone was around to see her. Eric would kill him if he knew.

He still had to comb through the rest of the recording, but he didn't relish the review of what was still to come. It only got worse. With a sigh, he decided that now was as good a time as any to take a break and deal with his navi.

"Lyntael, wake up. You're..." He hesitated over the word, but bit the bullet. "You're dreaming Lyntael. Wake up." Her thrashing stopped, and after a moment or two her eyes flickered. When she sat up, he could see fresh tears streaking her face. She looked up at him, but didn't stand at once, like she normally might have. Instead she curled her knees up, and wrapped her hands around them, dropping her eyes again as though she didn't want to meet his.

"I tried my best, sir. I- I'm sorry I broke your cover. I was so scared, and there was so much pain." She was rocking slightly, staring down at the ground. "I know I.. I should have... I-if I'd just let..." Her voice cracked and she broke into tears again, hiding her face. He couldn't make himself reprimand her for not speaking clearly. It was just too difficult a thing to do right at that moment. He knew what she was trying to say, though, and he found himself torn. The first reaction, his gut instinct upon hearing her words, was horror; horror and shame that she should think she ought to have allowed what seemed to be happening, just for the sake of buying him a few more minutes...

On the other hand, his more rational mind reminded him that however difficult it was to not respond to her affectations, this was not a human being, and it wasn't a real world scenario; in pure tactics, yes, if the other AI was hung up on its own quirks enough to toy with her, and waste time, she should have let it. But then, he was the one who had pulled her out. It was his fault, in the end; if he hadn't reacted so emotionally to a pair of AIs, then he would have had his extra minutes.

"I didn't want to let you down, sir, I promise I didn't. I just... I couldn't. Not... not that, please." Her arms trembled more as she made more attempts at stumbling apologies and explanations, but that didn't address what he wanted to know.

"Hush. Lyntael, listen to me. I've reviewed the recordings, and I know that you did all you could. We succeeded, and you did everything I needed you to do. I do not fault you for anything that happened." Now she looked up at him, eyes red, as though she found it hard to believe what he said. He watched as her eyes searched him, until, eventually, she swallowed, taking a few deep breaths and stood up. She took a moment to straighten the skirt that didn't need straightening, then walked, a little unsteady, through to the main area. The view switched to follow, then fuzzed as her little hologram slipped out of the PET and stood on its screen to look up at him more closely. She opened her mouth, but stopped, hesitating. Rogan waited as she took a few more breaths, clenched and unclenched her fists, and turned about, taking several steps back and forth. She stopped with he back to him, and her head down.

"Why? Why did you let him do that to me? Why didn't you do anything, or say anything? Why did you leave me to him, like that, just... alone. He almost... if I hadn't... if I hadn't revealed you already, he would have... and you would have just... let him. Why? Why!?" Her voice had risen gradually, each question growing higher and more urgent than the last as she went. She turned, meeting his gaze again with eyes that pleaded with him for some sort of answer. "How could anyone do that to someone? How could you do that to me?" He'd never heard her actually grow heated at him before, but while she demanded an answer, he found he didn't have one.

The rational answer was there, but it stuck in his throat when he thought about saying that to her face. The other navi's words taunted him, mocking in the back of his mind. The feeling that had been sliding around in his chest since he rescued her reared up now, and he recognised it as guilt. Anger lashed back just as quickly, though, beating it back down. He had no reason to feel guilty at all. It was absurd, and playing along with her displays was foolish. She was good enough that his instincts responded to her behaviour, but that didn't mean it was real or a justified response; it wasn't. It was stupid to feel guilt about inanimate lumps of code.

"I did what I needed to do, Lyntael! And you did as you needed to do in order to assist me in obtaining my end. Nothing more. I would expect the same of any task I set you to!" It was only after he finished that he realised he had snapped the words almost loud enough to be considered a shout. Lyntael had shrank back from him, stumbled and fallen as she shied away. To his surprise, though, she wasn't cowed, just shocked. The glare of her eyes hadn't faltered and she shouted back at him without even picking herself up.

"You don't really believe that! You aren't that cold, and you aren't that cruel! I know you aren't! Eric says you're not, not underneath... and... and I believe him!" Even her anger was borderline tearful at the moment, but the words made him flinch. Eric still thought well of him, deep down; it would have been a warming surprise to learn, if he hadn't had to hear it as a contrast to how badly his navi thought he was treating her. The moment of silence was all she needed to keep going, though, and she did, slowly getting to her feet.

"He says you're a good person, and you're just pretending to be cold and callous. I believe him, but it's a really, really good act, sir. It really is!" She gave her head an angry shake. "I want to help you, Rogan. I want to do everything I can for you. I just don't know what else I can do. I.. I can't even..." Whatever she had been thinking to say, she quickly changed her mind. "I can't even make myself any new clothes to wear, the way you keep me! These are all I have, and have you seen these underwear? They're indecent! But will you give me permission to modify them at all? No! Why are you doing all this, Rogan? What are you even getting out of being so cruel to me!?"

Having worked herself up, Lyntael was panting heavily now, fists clenched as she stared up at him. Now that she was out of words she closed her mouth, a stunned look flashing across her face. If she was as shocked as Rogan himself felt, he wouldn't be surprised: hearing her shout at him like that was something he had never expected from the tiny navi. She was clearly wanting a proper answer from him, but nothing would actually come that seemed like the right thing to say. To his shame, he broke her gaze first.

"It wasn't a deliberate attempt to expose you to that, Lyntael. To be honest, I wasn't even aware you were capable of... those sorts of activities." As an attempt to diffuse things, he knew it was a bad move as soon as he'd said it. She gasped softly, the anger faltering under a hurt expression instead.

"Of course I... I mean, I want to... One day, I want... I haven't, obviously, but, someday I..." As she stuttered, a hot blush flared across her cheeks. "Of course I can! Maybe I'm 'just' your navi, but I'm still a woman!" Hardly that... Rogan bit his tongue before the thought could find his lips. He modified it a bit into some attempt to retrieve his poor words.

"I meant, Lyntael, that since my brother has given you the body of a young girl, too young for such activity, I assumed that he had also been reticent on such features." He blinked a few times. They'd gotten far off tack. "This isn't a conversation I intend to have, Lyntael, but if my brother saw fit to give you all of the problems that human women have to deal with on a regular basis, then he is a crueler man than I." Rogan took a deep breath and sighed. "Now. I'm glad that you're apparently feeling much better. If you can shout at me, then you certainly haven't suffered any lasting damage. I need to get back to work, though. That navi let his tongue slip quite a few times while he was taunting you. It is thanks to you that I may well learn something vital, Lyntael, but I must go through it and make sure I miss nothing. Lyntael had cringed when he mentioned reviewing her recordings further.

"I... Rogan, sir, I really don't want to see or hear any of that again. Please." He looked down at her, and, worn out as he was with everything, found himself relenting.

"Alright. Back in your PET then; I'll run the files externally and you can occupy yourself with something else. I'll call you when I've finished."
"Thankyou, sir." Her hologram froze, then disappeared a moment later as the girl herself disappeared back inside, leaving Rogan alone with his thoughts and trying to put together what exactly had just happened. It certainly hadn't been the conversation he had expected to have. The next thing he did, however, was not to bring up the files he'd been scanning before, but rather to begin examining the internal settings of the PET itself. In truth, he'd never actually looked into them in very much detail, but something Lyntael had said had made him think about it.

Sure enough, a proper inspection showed him that most of the device's settings had several different levels of permissions; they were all set currently to operator only, but the other options allowed permission for modification or action to be dual permission, for both operator and navi, or even to navi only. With a small shrug he shifted most of them over to dual permission instead. If nothing else, it would be interesting to see what, if anything the girl did with it.

Now, on with the real work. Uncomfortable and troubling as it was, Rogan retrieved the recorded net space files he'd been scanning, and picked up again, gritting his teeth through the unpleasantness of it a few more times to make sure nothing the cocky navi let slip was missed.

----------
((Sub-Plot Complete!))
((Lyntael Moving to => Yoka Net))

RESULT SCREEN:

Battle Length: 5.6 / 8 turns (5600) [5600[s]z[/s]]
Final Score: 3 (x0.8) [4480 -> 4500[s]z[/s]]
Completed?: Y (500) [5000[s]z[/s]]
Perfect?: N (0) [5000[s]z[/s]]

Reward: 5000z