Another riddle is what awaited Amity's eyes after the book first aired its grievances towards her prior associate, and then related further exposition about the mission without providing much in the way of context.

Having already been the victim of CrypticMan's unusual mannerism of concealed knowledge, she made sure to pay attention to what was explained to her, rather than try to translate it in real-time. She was happy she did as she replayed the poem in her head, one part already seeming to make sense (or at least, she hoped made sense.) Her mind turned back to the desk, to the various documents that had been anotated rather vigorously by an unknown somebody. That name that she'd joked about earlier, Antipatharia; it couldn't be a coincidence.

What's the bet that Antipatharia and Aunty are the same person... she convinced herself as the smallest of grins crossed her face. Nickname. Called it.

Amy wasn't completely convinced of her interpretation of the rest of the riddle, however it did seem like the way forward was to meet this 'guide', be shown the facility, be careful about her speech, and take her leave at the right moment. I take it this 'swiftly slip away' moment will make itself obvious? she sneered, knowing full well that such a possibility was unlikely.

"Alright Eric, enough of the silent treatment; do you have anything to say to this?" she asked whilst unmuting the PET's comms.

"Umm... not really," Eric replied.

"Well then, I guess it's time to take another risk then, isn't it? The last one worked out well, didn't it?" she confirmed as she walked through the glass tunnel, returning the book to its temporary home. The view wasn't particularly as exciting from her current position, and thankfully so, as the lass didn't need a reason to be distracted.

"...What are you going to do?"

The hesitation in his voice brought Amy to a stop in front of the next dome's door. She'd noticed the access panel and had been about to reach for it when Eric had spoken.

"The book seems intent on 'meeting the family', 'nothing wrong with tour guide'. Hoodwink seems intent on getting into the upper areas. CrypticMan seems intent on knowing the facility's workings. I think it's time we stopped tiptoeing around the edges of this place and actually start trying to get into its core."

"What if you run into trouble?" Eric asked again. "We still don-"

"-'t have a clue what the risks are, but I'm fairly certain we're going to have to make ourselves known eventually," Amy interjected. "We can't walk around this place in the shadows forever, right?"

Amy waited for a response. She was determined to break through that wall of insecurity, one brick at a time if necessary. She didn't know why, but something inside her was determined to see a change in his withdrawn attitude, a feat that the girl was certain could be achieved. However, as her words hung on emptiness with no response, her attitude got the advantage over her patience.

"Eric, I'm waiting for an answer," she probed again.

Finally, a response. "Okay."

That was the same response he'd given when she'd asked for his opinion earlier, a single-word answer. It wasn't what she wanted to hear, so she tried again. "'Okay'...what?"

"Umm..." Eric trailed off in confusion. "...huh?" he added, as if it clarified his position.

"What exactly are you 'okay'ing, Eric?"

"Umm-"

"Stop saying 'umm'."

Eric blinked as he flinched from the dry command, as if her voice had reached out into the real world and spat in his face. The feeling was uncomfortably familiar; this was the attitude he'd come to expect from the previous navis, the ones that Stacey had attempted to partner with him. As a wave of memories flooded his mind, Eric didn't notice the repeated question, demanding an answer.

Fed up with the matter, Amy muted the PET comms again and ended the conversation with a bitter message. [WHATEVER. I'M USED TO DOING THINGS ON MY OWN.] Her hand made contact with the door terminal, as she prepared herself for whatever was to follow.

Amy was left to her own thoughts as the navi named Hoodwink disappeared into the unknown, through some mysterious corridor that seemed to absorb him as much has it masked his exit. The girl was now alone in a room that he'd just identified as 'off-limits' to visitors. If that was true though, what was he doing here? Didn't he just say he was a visitor himself...?

"Maybe he did come into the facility through the pipes," she mulled to herself. Too many questions were beginning to pile up, but unlike her calculate-the-odds partner, the two most important questions on her mind were these; if Hoodwink was in fact a visitor, how did he have such in-depth knowledge of forbidden areas? And if he was able to phase out of the area at will, couldn't he just phase into the highest room of the tallest tower himself?

It seemed like an odd mission to give her, but if she had to scope out the facility anyway for the sake of CrypticMan's request, it couldn't hurt to try and do both at the same time if she had to proceed there anyway. Just what was so interesting about this place that everybody she met seemed to want something from it...?

[WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHOULD WE TRY AND GET THE STONE MARBLE? WE HAVE TO EXPLORE THE WHOLE FACILITY ANYWAY.]

It took a moment before Eric's response came back; sending text messages did have an element of delay, but her senses needed to be mindful of the environment. Now armed with the knowledge she was in a forbidden area, with unseen eyes possibly watching her, she felt vulnerable again. She'd mentally prepared herself for another dose of Eric's hesitancy and scepticism when all that arrived was a single word response.

[OKAY.]

...For real? Amy was stunned it took so long to respond if he had nothing to say, but that somehow seemed to work to her advantage. She was calling the shots, as she should be.

Hoodwink had given her much information to work with as she made her way towards the hallway entrance leading to a lab he'd mentioned. However, even if there were eyes watching her from a distance, it seemed now was as good a time as any to take a quick peek at that book again, to see if it had any further wisdom to provide. She might not get another chance to do so once she entered the hallway; who knew what really waited for her on the other side; this too could be a trap. As long as she was as discreet and quiet as possible, hopefully she could at least survey the next room (or rooms) without being engaged.

Hoodwink's answer to Amy's question, although technically correct, wasn't exactly what Amy had in mind. It was true that navis were not bound to physical locations and 'birthplaces' like humans were, but in her mind, every creature, every being, physical or not, had a place to call their home. It was because of this desire that Amy had looked for such a place herself, despite her seemingly-neverending trials. Although she hadn't had much say in the course of her life events so far, Hoodwink's analysis of what it meant to be an adventurous navi swung the girl's mind back to her operator, the man assigned to her to be her partner. Sure, he definitely had some personality flaws to work on, but it seemed he was already beginning to make changes in her presence if she gave him the right opportunities and motivations.

To Eric's credit, under his supervision, Amy had already seen more of the digital world than she'd seen in the seventeen training facilities that made up her former 'home'. She certainly didn't miss the tiny box they called 'her sleeping quarters', and she was already beginning to become attached to 'The Stem', a quiet, secluded place that she may actually be able to call her own. Combined with the existence of the Augment ability, she didn't have to be alone anymore.

That thought reminded her of the notifications she'd been steadily ignoring, the message counter about to hit double digits. Amy did her best to listen to Hoodwinked's explanation of the room while she read the messages. As expected, all of Eric's messages were either nervous questions or unsure speculation, so she again dismissed the messages monitor after sending [RELAX, I'VE GOT THIS FOR NOW. JUST BE READY IN CASE THINGS TURN VIOLENT.] She still wasn't sure she trusted the person in her immediate vicinity.

Amy nodded as he related his opinion regarding the history and purpose of the facility around her. It did seem like a human thing to do, to research the unknown; humans had this weird instinct of needing answers to the mysteries of the world around them. Most intelligent digital life simply existed and conducted themselves within the constructs of their programming, but for the growing number that seemed to disobey this programmed instinct, as it were, they were welcomed to a world much like that of the humans, where more questions existed than answers. In all, it seemed like an honourable mission to be researching the area's marine life, one that Amy could certainly appreciate as she nodded in agreement to Hoodwink's question.

The idea of someone choosing to call her 'Amy' instead of Amity on their own volition confused the girl, causing that unknown disturbance to only grow more persistent inside her. It was becoming a larger distraction, so when Hoodwink finally asked Amy if she'd be willing to volunteer to help with an errand, she had more than one reason to accept. To further explore the facility, to gain further information, to try and dispel this unknown sensation; at that point, the mission had temporarily taken a backseat to Amy's own sense of adventure.

"If you need a hand with something, I don't know if I'll be able to help, but I can do my best," she commented as her eyes glanced across the documents on the desk. The underwater project itself seemed to be twenty thousand leagues out of her comprehension, but one name did seem to pop up on all the documents on the table, now that her eyes were close enough to skim their pages: 'Antipatharia'. The name meant nothing to her yet, but it certainly sounded important. I bet she uses a nickname as well, she joked as her attention turned back to Hoodwink.

"So, what exactly would you need my help for?"

Great, another sword-loving navi, Amy grumbled as her eyes quickly glanced to the two swords on this new acquaintance as he closed the distance between them. I don't necessarily believe you about the water though; call me a skeptic, but something set my feelers off...

As the navi introducing himself as 'Hoodwink' took her hand, Amy felt an unusual sensation beginning to creep through her body. It was a feeling she'd never experienced before, one that seemed to be triggering warmth from inside her core and branching out towards the rest of her extremities. At first she ignored it, but as Hoodwink's grip tightened in a non-agressive manner, she found that the sensation worsened.

I don't know what game you're playing, gel disruptors, but you'd better not be failing me at a crucial moment, she threatened herself as the cloaked navi asked for her name. After all, in her mind there could be no other explanation for the current sequence of events.

"Am...amty," she stuttered before clearing her throat and trying again in a stronger voice. "Amity. My name is Amity." As she looked at her new companion, her eyes drifted past his face and towards the other end of the room. There appeared to be a door on both the left and the right, but as to where they led to, it was impossible to tell. At this stage it wasn't important to explore, as Amy felt that ignoring this potential guide would only lead to trouble, but knowing where all the potential exits were was definitly useful knowledge. It may just be in her best interest to play along and see where this turn of events led her. After all, CrypticMan wanted to know a secret that existed in every dome. If that was true, then she had a job to do here before she had to worry about any other location. Assuming this was a dome, of course; from her position, Amy couldn't tell.

Amy's thoughts were briefly interrupted by a small notification in her monitor. Eric had replied to her message in a similar text-only format, but Amy wasn't going to waste processing clocks communicating with him when she had more important issues to deal with first. She simply dismissed the prompt and decided on her next course of action.

Hoodwink's introduction certainly bought Amity a lead-in to the conversation. "Wait, you're just a visitor too...?" Her head turned back to the tank. "Something tells me you didn't come in that way," she joked as her head nodded in the direction of the tube she entered from. "Although... if you did, that would explain why you weren't surprised about me suddenly appearing, would it..." she surmised as she turned back towards Hoodwink. "If this isn't your home, then where did you come from?" she asked as she gestured towards the equipment on the other side of the room. "Does it have something to do with all that equipment?"

Busted. So much for the stealth tactic.

It could've been worse though. This could still work to their advantage; this navi seemed friendly enough...

Amy instinctively turned off her operator's speaker, expecting some sort of uncontrolled overreaction, and wasn't surprised by the burst of mild hysteria that followed. Our female protagonist had more important issues to deal with, so ignoring his reaction and muting him completely, her attention turned to the navi that stood above her. The text-only message she sent to the PET was brief and to the point; [BE QUIET, NEED TO THINK.]

Judging by the navi's relaxed composure and (somewhat) gentle questioning, Amy thought she might have a chance at establishing some common ground. No longer in need of a tail fin, her dress separated itself so she could resume movement as a biped creature. Grabbing two points on the dress and shaking off some of the excess moisture, she tried a little self-depreciating humour to break the ice. "That's okay, I'm used to having liquids thrown at me," she laughed as she attempted batting away some of the lingering water from the seams that had formed once again. Drying her hair wouldn't be a problem as the strands too were solidified gel, not only able to remain firm and tight if needed, but could also become slippery and grip-resistant on demand. She'd used that feature to escape Crony's clutches on their first meeting, and used it again to release any water hiding in its folds. The sight of these changes usually drew glances of awe or disgust; in this situation Amy didn't care, provided it bought her a brief moment to gather her thoughts.

Okay, let's get our priorities straight, she reminded herself whilst using those precious seconds to her advantage. No lying; stretch the truth if you have to, but no lies. No sarcasm. Play the innocence card if you need to; it's not a lie that you didn't mean to come here, and you don't have an agenda of your own, technically. And don't use the book while I have eyes watching. Amy was already having trouble resisting the urge to pull out the book, despite wanting to know the next pearl of advice it had to offer. Its wealth of wisdom was afforded her by CrypticMan and he'd told them not to use it in the presence of others, so she needed to assume there was a reason for that too.

"What a day! Here I am swimming around and suddenly I find these two weird pipes; one was sucking in water, and the other one was ejecting it," she tried to explain as she began to climb the ladder. "My head told me it was a bad idea since I didn't know where it went, but I've always been a sucker for trying out new things so I figured I'd go in and see where it went." She glanced back at the multiple tubes entering the pit as she ascended. "I didn't expect to end up in a giant sewerage tank, although, to be honest I'm not sure what I expected to end up in; the fun in the mystery, the name of the game, I guess."

As she reached the reached the top, rather than step onto the top platform, she decided to leave half her weight on the ladder, just in case she needed to jump back down. She tried to not make it look obvious, but her stance did little to hide her scepticism of the situation as she glanced around the giant tank again for effect and finishing on the male in front of her.

"Sooo... where am I, exactly?"

"Water goes in, water goes out. Of course."

Amy chuckled as her operator stated the obvious. The expended water seemed to contain something that irritated her sensitive pedicels, so she retracted her antennae back into her hair as the duo watched the water cycle repeat itself; water going in one way, water going out the other.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Amy chuckled.

"We have no way of knowing that these pipes are linked to the facility," Eric commented, more a statement than a rebuttal.

Amy rolled her eyes and sighed. "Eric, do you see any other structures in this area?" she remarked as she gestured to the open area around them, the wall of coral being the only object of interest. "Tell me, do you know of any viruses that stick themselves into the ground and constantly recycle water?"

"...well...no...but I don't know ever-"

"Eric, I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the two are linked. Now, you're the one who wanted options."

"...but what if it's a trap?" he stressed.

"Then fine, let's go back to the front of the facility and talk to the sharklady."

"But she might be hostile and alert the-"

"-then let's try our luck with the back entrance instead."

"But if it's being watched then we're walking into a tr-"

"Eric, stop!"

The purple-haired navi had not meant to be as blunt or kurt, but her patience was wearing thin. It had been on her mind for a while now, and this was the final straw.

"Eric, do you know what your problem is?" she demanded of her operator.

When Eric didn't respond, Amy continued. "You think too much. You think of all the possibilities. All the risks. And then the worst possible outcomes of those risks. Then the results of those outcomes. You do this over and over again. And meanwhile, you haven't taken a single step forward, only a dozen steps backward. You did it back when we first met, when we did some virus busting in ACDC Net, and again at that police shelter, but it wasn't nearly as bad as right now," she finished, a subtle anger in her tone that didn't go unnoticed by Eric.

"Eric, do you think we can complete this mission without making mistakes?"

".....no," he finally answered.

"Then why do you act like we can do this without taking risks?"

Amy's question hung in the air for a moment as Amy watched the water displacements while waiting for a reply. Of the four options presented, this seemed like the one with the least risks. Unless, of course, there was some kind of plate or barrier further up the pipes that prevented her from progressing further. Great, now I'm thinking like him.

"...I don't want it to be my fault," Eric mumbled.

"What?"

"If you get hurt, or deleted, because of something I told you to do..."

"Eric, nobody is making me do anything. I make these decisions of my own free will. You gave me that ability when you stood up to your sister and made me your navi. Understand?"

Eric simply nodded.

"'You are stronger than you think', remember? But I'm not looking for someone to be my guardian; if I was, you DEFINITELY wouldn't be my first choice, I ASSURE you."

There was just enough sarcasm in her last comment to make Eric chuckle, bringing a small smile to his face.

"I don't need a guardian, I need a partner. A second set of eyes, an extra opinion, a source of extra power; not someone to blame when it all goes bad. I would've thought you'd learned that last time," she remarked as her mind went back to the argument that followed their first busting run. "I don't want to sound selfish, but I need this mission to be successful. So stop thinking about all the ways this mission could fail, and start thinking about all the ways it could succeed. Got it?"

Again, Eric simply nodded.

"Good. Now, pipes?" she asked as she pointed towards the aquatic vents.

Eric paused for a moment as he reprocessed all of his previous thoughts with the attitude his partner was demanding. So many variables in play, so many ways it could go horribly wrong. But with all the possibilities considered, Eric came back to the same one Amy did. "Who puts security on water pipes? If something gets stuck, they'd have to send someone down to fix it or clear it out."

"Exactly."

"But what if you go down the vent and end up in some form of viewing platform? You'd be spotted immediately."

Amy was about to unleash a wave of furious remarks when Eric quickly reconsidered his thoughts. "But... but if you go down the exhaust vent, you'd be less likely to enter something that was being viewed, right? Because who watches a toilet being flushed?"

Amy's anger was replaced by disgust as the mental image of herself swimming against a wave of sewerage was further tempered by the unusual reaction her feelers took to the expelled water. As another wave of water left the exhaust tube, a distinct lack of discolouration and particles in the water helped quell her fear, if only partially. The shield reactivated itself once again, allowing a further stream of water to be ingested; likely done in a 1-2-1-2 pattern to avoid taking in the same water it had just evacuated.

Amy calmed her nerves as she looked down the exhaust vent, its temporary shield preventing a wave of spent water being thrown into her face. It was true, she'd agreed to go down the path of least resistance (metaphorically, not literally), and each path had its own dangers, but this one also carried the danger of closed quarters. As a small consolation, if she swam upstream and needed to reverse course quickly, she could ride out the current using her makeshift parachuting technique, but that would rely on the vent being in a state of ejecting water, not like its current state. No flow, no go.

You wanted this, Amy. Time to put your money where your mouth is, she assured herself as the book returned to her back seam. The next time the shield lowered, she'd begin her journey against the current to whatever awaited her.

Eric was relieved that they hadn't been engaged yet. Either they'd been spotted some time ago and their unknown watchers were just waiting for the right moment to make themselves known, or they'd managed to get around the complex undetected thus far. Not that it mattered; as Amy had slowly made her way around the facility’s borders to what could arguably be called its 'back', nothing she was able to describe was really of much benefit to him, nothing of a 'eureka' moment or an epiphany on how to proceed next.

As she crossed the halfway mark, the multi-domed entrance seemed to fit the 'back' description that CrypticMan had alluded to; not much was happening in the area to indicate it was being protected like the front (assuming of course that the facility was being protected at all, which the sign at the front would indicate otherwise) but that only reinforced Eric's original advice.

"'The front door is guarded, the back door is watched.' So far he's been... wait," Eric stopped, paused mid-sentence. "Do we agree that CrypticMan is a 'he', Amy? I assumed it was a he, but these days, I just don-"

"I'm 99% certain it was a man," Amy reassured him.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Call it a woman's intuition," she advised as she noticed a large clam moving, its somewhat-iridescent shell refracting light and drawing her attention in awe as it opened its shell. Amy's attention immediately locked onto the shimmer inside; it was only brief, but Amy knew it didn't belong.

"Eric, would it be crazy to stick a camera inside a clam?" she asked her operator.

"I think it'd be perfect," he confirmed. "It wouldn't work on everybody, but still..."

Amy took another look at the back entrance. Eric was right about CrypticMan's assessment; so far, everything they'd been able to understand had been proven correct. But if that was the case...

"Eric, I'm going to continue finishing a lap of this place," he advised as she continued to weave through the gaps in the coral that had afforded her a veil of invisibility thus far. "He said there might be another way in, and honestly, if we don't like what we see, at least we know what our options are."

"Okay," Eric answered uneasily. "Please, be careful. You may not be as lucky on the other side."

Amy gave him an understanding nod and the quietest of grunts as she made her way through the other half of the coral wall, still keeping an eye out for the ominously-absent 'dog-fish' as she continued gathering as much intelligence on their target as possible. As she made her way forward, during a moment of total cover she decided to consult the book, removing it from the back seam, just in case its advice had changed. If not, she could continue to make her way towards the front of the complex again.

Fully submersed and needing to make some quick navigation decisions, Amy subconsciously drew her legs in toward her body, both boots now making contact with the other leg's inner thigh. Such a move would seem counterproductive to swimming underwater, but now that her legs were out of the way, her dress was able to flatten itself into the shape of an elongated caudal fin. The gel membrane that now bound the sheet of fabric together was able to make subtle, yet rather speedy ripples in the dress, simulating the movements of a fish's tail fin gliding through the water. On its own it would be rather inefficient, however as Amy drew her arms to the sides of her body, these two were able to engage in the same rippling effect, allowing her to glide through the water with little to no effort.

Such a move did come at the cost of defense preparedness, so Amy was extra cautious of her surrounding as she continued half pushed, half drawn to the sight she'd seen moments ago, ignoring the sounds coming from her operator's monitor.

As the facility filled her sight, now only a moment's swim away, Amy slowed her approach and did her best to hide behind a nearby coral. "PARSE", she repeated, reading the sign. "The Pelagius Aquatic Research and Study Eco-centre, commissioned in the name of Percival Pelagius, for the betterment of our understanding of the natural evolution of aquatic life in data-based synthetic eco-systems. Visitors welcome."

Eric put down his wastebasket and dared to look at the PET screen again.

"What was that about, Eric?" Amy questioned, continuing to scan the area.

"I... I get motion sickness," Eric admitted. "Sorry."

Amy's eyes locked onto the only moving figure in sight, another lady. Half shark, half human, maybe? she wondered to herself. The facility itself seemed to be operational, but at this distance, what it contained and its purpose still remained a mystery. The way the woman continued moving back and forth, it was possible she was maybe a security post? Or was she possibly waiting for someone herself?

Amy eliminated that last option as her eyes finished surveying the outer regions of the facility. If visitors really were welcome, it seemed a strange coincidence that a intricate network of coral surrounded the facility, probably hiding it from unwelcome eyes. If visitors really were welcome, they were doing a horrible job of making the place known.

What to do next... she pondered as she reached into her back seam and removed the book. She'd somehow managed to slide it in before the third bounce on the waves threw off her remaining balance, but amazingly it was still there in the recess. Her eyes found only one line of advice:

----------
Property guards guard properly; beware of dog-fish.
----------

Dog-fish? Amy checked again for other creatures she may have missed. Nothing caught her attention.

"Eric? What do you think? Head in?"

Eric's mind was processing a lot of different possibilities, opportunities and traps. "I wish there was a 'Save' button right now," he complained.

"Why?"

Eric enabled a larger holographic version of Amy's PET screen so he could be sure of his conclusions.

"Well... I don't know what to think," he finally admitted. "I feel like there's three choices here, and they're all potentially bad."

"Okay, so what are they?"

Eric took a deep breath. "CrypticMan said the front door is guarded and the back door is watched. "If we're caught uninvited, things will get harder." I don't know what that means, but it doesn't sound good. So you'd think we should try to go through the back door. But that brings us back to the first problem; get caught uninvited and things will get harder. We could look that 'other entrance', but if we get caught-"

"-things will get harder, you said that already," Amy inserted.

"...Right. But talking to the guard could be a trap too. It says 'visitors welcome' but CrypticMan said only those who tell the truth. What if they ask why we're here? Or how we got here?"

When Amy didn't respond, Eric continued. "And then there's the lines about talking to fish, taking gifts from fish, and now the book says 'beware of dog-fish'. We don't even those what those are," he reasoned as he too tried to spot anything out of the ordinary in Amy's vicinity.

"So in conclusion, we really need more information," Amy affirmed. Already her antennae were beginning to extend from her head. "Look, at the very least, the line of coral that surrounds this place probably hides it well; we can't even see the other side."

"...Okay?"

"Maybe we can use that to our advantage," she reasoned, returning the book to her back seam. "You're right, we need more information, and sitting here is not helping us at all. If I go really slow and use the coral's odd shapes, I think I can use the same cover that probably obscures them from the outside world to hide myself."

"Maybe," Eric replied.

"'Maybe'?" Amy repeated.

"...Maybe the coral is also monitored," he advised.

Amy hadn't thought of that possibility. "Where do you get all these ideas from?" she questioned while trying to think of another option. "Your level of paranoia is downright disturbing."

"I watch too many crime shows, I think."

"Look; at this stage, I think that we should just head around the edge of the facility and stay out of sight. If I see anything moving, I'll do my best to blend into the coral features and avoid attracting attention." As she began her weaving path through the equivalent of an ocean thicket, her eyes were wide open and her antennae at full mast to give her the best possible prepartion for either a security defense, an intruder, or something worse. Hopefully her trip around the perimeter would give them a clue on how to proceed, as she occasionally stole a peek at the facility from different angles.

[<<< From Homepages: {Amlipeda} - Homepage of Amity.EXE <<<]

{EAX013}

Before departing for their mission, Amy gave Eric two commands. "Number one; for now, don't call me Amy, okay?"

"Okay..."

"Number two; don't be surprised by the way I talk. As far as you're concerned, this is the normal me, okay?"

That one confused Eric. "You mean you speak diff-"

"Understand?" she interjected. "It's necessary for these kinds of situations. Or so I've been taught." She wasn't certain about that, but one of the things the drill instructors had disciplined her about was 'showing respect to others through your use of language'. While Amy felt that respect was earnt and not deserved, this was an unknown person on their part; best off to start polite and work from there.

Eric didn't understand, but he knew how to shut up when needed, so he simply nodded in agreement as Amy opened the portal link to an unknown destination.

----------

Eric and Amity had matching expressions of cluelessness on their faces. CrypticMan certainly lived up to his name; neither the boy or the lass had any real clue as to what they'd just been asked to do, short of go swimming towards some form of underwater facility...?

Eric's original instinct was that this was a trap. After hearing the... what even was this program...?... talk about such an unusual request, he wasn't sure if the program was suspicious, curious, or just down-right insane. Eric did his best to remember the advice that had been given them, but he had no idea what was useful information and what was less important; he'd probably figure out the difference at the worst possible moment.

Amy was still stuck on the movements and speech habits of this creature. She wasn't suspicious of any criminal agenda like her partner; if anything, it just sounded like this thing wanted a better understanding of his world, and some unknown party (or parties) were preventing that. She could certainly appreciate being stuck in that kind of situation; she was struggling to keep her mind on the matter at hand, and not run off towards the bay that sprawled in front of her. After all, this was her first time on a beach.

"Am...ity, do you need to use that GMO?" Eric asked.

Amy's gelatinous repulsors, fused not only onto her body but into her body, did not require her to have access to the digital equivalent of oxygen to sustain her form, and despite her ladylike appearance, Amy had a few tricks up her long sleeves when navigating through aqueous terrain. Granted, it was her first time at a beach, but definitely not her first time in water. "...no, no thank you, I can swim in this," she confirmed, notioning to her flowing dress like it was nothing. The offer for more knowledge seemed on the surface like a smart idea, but Amy also felt like it was a challenge, as if accepting that invitation proved she wasn't listening, or wasn't smart enough. It was a bold move to reject it, but the reward on offer was too great to risk messing up the mission with an early demonstration of ineptitude.

"Thank you for the opportunity. I hope we can do what you have requested," she replied in her most formal tone as she accepted the blue-bound book.

{{{If you follow the first line, you'll get a flying start.}}} Amy opened the book, not exactly certain what she'd discover.

----------
Excellent.

Here's a link to a public location we can meet and discuss further details.

Beach Net

See you soon
-CrypticMan
----------

A network link to the mission site. This was really happening.

"Eric! Wake up! We have work to do!" she yelled, knowing full well that he couldn't yet hear her.

Eric was fast asleep, which didn't surprise Amy at all. On their first morning together she'd been his alarm clock, and he'd been just as moody about being woken up early as she had been only moments ago, so it was probably going to take a similar motivation of jabbing or stirring to get him to wake. Amy pulled up the 'Transmission' menu in preparation of entering Hologen mode, but interestingly there was a new option available. Alongside 'Transfer', 'Interface' and 'Hologen', a new option was listed: 'Augment'.

Amy knew that Eric had stayed up later than she did; he said he was going to work as many hours as possible. Was it possible he'd also played with the server last night as well? One way to be certain; with a slight hesitation, she activated the 'Augment' option, not sure what to expect next.

With a blinding flash, Amy opened her eyes to find herself in Eric's room again. Not the miniature size she'd been in Hologen mode, but full size. At first Amy thought it may have been a simulation, just a replica of his room, but when she turned to her right Eric was fast asleep on his bed, sprawled out in a starfish formation.

A wide grin slowly crossed Amy's face. It was rude to assume Eric knew what he'd done, but Amy couldn't resist the opportunity that had been presented to her. He'd been so bashful about her possibly seeing him half naked; he'd probably freak out if he woke up with an unknown female next to him.

First, she had to know whether she was just a hologram or if she was real. She reached for the photo frame next to the server, and to her utter glee she was able to pick it up. Placing it down as delicately as she picked it up, she proceeded to gently pick up Eric's right arm and fold it back across his body. When Eric didn't stir, she nudged his body ever so slowly across the bed so that it occupied the left half only. With everything in place, Amy lowered herself onto the right side and laid down next to him.

"Eric. Errrrric..." she cooed into his ear.

His eyes fluttered as his consciousness began to return. A chain of groans, grunts and whines followed as his arms rotated to the wall so he could stretch out. It was too perfect; she giggled as the moments drew on.

That same giggling finally drew Eric's head back towards the source of the sounds. In a drunken-like state, his blurry eyes opened to stare directly into Amy's.

"Good morrrrning, precious..." she cooed further.

The reaction was swift and immediate. Eyes jerking wide open, Eric flew back in a panic towards the edge of the bed that met the wall. Such a strong thrust caused the bed to shift as well, opening up a gap between the bed and the wall which Eric's scrawny body was all too suitable to fit into. Tumbling into place, only his arms stuck out from the resulting gap as the rest of his body sank into it, further fuelling Amy's hysterical laughter.

"Oh my goodness!" The prankster was wiping back tears of joy. "That was PERFECT!" She may have to apologise for that later, but it had definitely been worth it to see his reaction.

Amy had to take a minute to compose herself before she finally decided to help Eric, who was too tightly jammed in the new crevice to be able to get out under his own power. Leveraging herself against the wall, Amy was able to give him a boost that allowed him to roll back onto the bed.

Eric rubbed the back of his head; he'd hit it against the wall in his bout of terror. "That really hurt..." he complained.

"Well, you shouldn't have let me find out the hard way that you'd been playing with my stuff without me!" she joked.

Eric had a supremely unimpressed look on his face, but as he stood up he took a look at his partner and squinted at her new form. "So. I guess I was right," he remarked.

"About what?"

"The 'Augment' function. It does make a real-life version of you after all."

"Are you... saying I can exist in the real world now...?"

Eric pointed to four small objects that were stuck to the corners of the room where the wall met the ceiling. She hadn't noticed them earlier. "According to the manual, they are wireless relays that allow you to 'augment' inside the field they create. But only inside the field; apparently you can't step outside of it," he added. "But... I think it might have been a bad ide-"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she appealed to him like a little child. "I couldn't resist! Please don't be mad! I won't do it again, promise!"

Eric just rubbed the back of his head again as he sighed and sat back down on the bed.

"In that case, let's try this out..." Amy remarked. A style change later and Amy now stood in front of Eric in the Spring style. She stole a glance at the full-length mirror that covered the doors of Eric's cupboard to see the same lady that had been holding her arm around Heather Dougherty.

"That was definitely me, wasn't it."

"I guess so." Eric looked a little embarrassed as he turned away.

"...What?"

"It's kinda weird, seeing you like this. You look... human. Like someone I'd avoid at the mall."

It was true, she looked like a normal woman in her late teens or early 20s. Whoever had designed this style change had done an impeccable job of creating the illusion of a real lady, complete with clothing hues and textures. So much so that it was also disturbing Amy, who decided to return to her regular style. "There. That better?" she queried as the regular blue and purple returned.

"I didn't mean any offense, it's just..."

"...Yeah, I know what you mean. It is a little weird, isn't it."

'Weird' was a mild word compared to how Eric was feeling at present. There was another woman in his room that wasn't his sister. He knew it wasn't human, but somehow it still felt wrong to him.

"That's going to leave a bump, I just know it," he grumbled as he rubbed his head a third time. This kind of treatment had better not become a regular thing, he thought to himself.

"Aww, come on! Those kinds of moments don't come often! I told you; you need to loosen up!" she laughed as she threw herself back onto his bed.

Eric stood up and started moving toward his computer desk, but instead decided to pick up the PET from the top of the server. That way, he could continue making minor changes while reading the manual. As he raised the PET, Amy's image flickered on the bed and disappeared completely.

"...Amy?" he spoke to an empty room.

A moment passed before Amy reappeared on screen. "Whoo! That felt weird," she commented. "Why'd you do that?"

"That was my fault? I didn't mean to..." Eric looked back to the server. "I didn't tap anything, I just picked up the PET. Try doing it again."

"The option is gone. I can't Augment now."

Eric leaned over the server. On the top screen, a weird symbol was flashing with a red cross over it. The symbol itself looked like an upside down Y, but the lower half of the symbol was more like a rectangle than a V. An upside-down cubic Y.

"It looks like we might have disabled something," he advised as he picked up the manual. After reading a few lines on the troubleshooting page for Augmenting, the answer became clear. "Oh. It can only Augment a navi that's in a compatible PET that's 'connected to the relay pad'. I guess that means sitting directly on top of it, not wirelessly..."

"You need to put my PET on top of the server for it to work; okay. Okay, so just put it bac- wait, we have more important things to be doing!"

In her push for fun and games Amy had forgotten the reason she'd woken him up. "We got a response on the NetSquare post! Someone wants us to do work for an SP core!"

"Wait, already?" Eric didn't think such a request would be responded to so quickly, not after what Stacey said about SP cores being hard to obtain. "What's the request?"

"Someone wants us to go for a walk on a beach and swim in the ocean."

Eric's head instinctively tilted to the right with one eyebrow raised. "Huh? That's it?"

"That's all it said. Oh, and something about not talking to the fish while I swim."

"...Can you read me exactly what they said?" he asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

As Amy read the response out to Eric, he began shifting in his seat. He didn't like what he was hearing at all.

"I think it sounds like a trap..." Eric admitted as Amy finished talking. "...I mean, 'innocuous' is a strange word to use with someone you haven't met, and... I think 'fish' is a loose threat about talking to the police..."

"I think you're reading too much into it," Amy rebutted.

"...maybe let's just wait and see if anybody else has a better request?"

"Too late; I already accepted their offer," she countered. Eric opened his mouth to reply, but Amy cut him off. "They didn't say how long they'd wait, so hurry up and get ready." Amy was confident this would be over with quickly, and wasn't about to take no for an answer because of some shaky reasoning.

His many years of watching crime shows on television told him this was an obvious trip for something far more sinister. However, Amy seemed pretty keen to get the job done, and without any concrete proof, all he had were theories. His busting partner didn't want to let this opportunity go, it seemed, and he was about to be dragged along against his will.

Well, off you go then. I hope this doesn't get us into trouble.

Every part of him wanted no part of this mission. He should have said no and asserted dominance, like Stacey always did. Instead, he found himself walking towards the bathroom.

After a quick inventory clean-out, he came back to find Amy waiting for him on his bed in Hologen form. Only now did Eric remember an extra person notably absent from the room.

"Are you hiding Little Miss inside?" he asked, not pleased with himself for following directions like an obedient dog. Regardless of his reluctance to participate, he certainly didn't want a third potential victim being needlessly involved.

"No," was the kurt answer that followed. Amy turned and patted down her back to prove her statement.

"Oh. Wow. Okay. ...What did you do t-"

"I don't want to talk about it," she quickly interrupted.

Eric decided not to probe any further. Instead, he needed to best ensure their safety by being prepared. 'No half measures,' he reminded himself as he opened his backpack to remove and prepare the essentials; the battlechip folder, some blank chips, should the need arise, and of course, the NetPendium.

"Alright then," he half-confirmed, half-sighed. "Let's do this..."

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