Zod cases the joint and Toll more or less tries to infiltrate the government
Chapters 32-35
–Chapter 32–
Harald looked as they wish they could hide when Zod turned up again, but they knew it wouldn’t work. Zod had an air of urgency that wouldn’t be swept aside.
“I’m sorry to bug you Harald, but I could really use the help. I don’t now how long Desil will last, and there’s only me and a Road Thwacker that I find trustworthy.”
“And what does that have to do with me?”
“I’ve seen some scraps of parchment that suggest SEMPRINI can be used to basically hold Sentients for ransom, and if they get emboldened you’re their only link.”
Harald pondered for a moment, “how can I help? I’m just a shopkeeper.”
“I need beings we can trust. We’re trying to figure out all the complicit beings, but at some point we’re probably going to rescue Desil, The two of us can’t do it alone.”
“I’ll have to put out feelers among my community. Ask me again tomorrow, but I can’t promise I can come up with anything significant.”
This left Zod with little to work on, and hoped Toll was having better luck. They decided to try to find a spot to watch the alley that led from the door to South Wall.
It wasn’t an easy task, but Zod got lucky and found an unoccupied building with an okay view yet virtually invisible in the middle of a block of offices and factories. So they hunkered down for the day with digital fingers crossed.
–Chapter 33–
Toll, meanwhile, was trying their best on First Street. They mingled for a while, gathering their moxie to really dig in. Thankfully they weren’t on a watch list, and Zod had warned them about the corner store and their attitude towards bots, so they knew to stay on First and North Wall, and away from that street corner. It was also early, so Toll wandered about looking busy while trying to pick their marks.
The marks they wanted finally showed up. First was the green auto-butler coming out of what was presumably it’s overnight parking down the lane at the lobbyist. The other the red one they ran into yesterday, who could get them into the MP’s office with less suspicion since there was some rapport. It was Toll’s luck that they were both running morning errands on First Street and not doing zigzag patterns across Government Alley.
They lobbyist’s green auto-butler came out of the building with a stack of papers and a stack of dirty suits. They disappeared into the tailor’s shop for a minute and came back out with only the papers, and Toll noted that they went into a building adjacent to the MP’s. The red one steadied their course and into the expected door. They decided to watch and wait until the auto-butler reemerged and then figure out an angle of attack. The green one was just worth noting for now.
Zod was having some small amount of success. It seemed that the humans and at least some of the bots had been using the alley during the workaday hours for some reason. They could only guess that too much comings and goings on a theoretically empty Market door would ask questions along a seedy street where nobody ever sees anything. Not that Zod didn’t already have a lot of questions about the comings and goings. The humans were not watching the shops nor the other alleys should Zod feel brave later. JOSEPHUS and JACKJACK were creeping about, but no sign of and of the others, which they somewhat expected. They were too “important” to be caught lurking about in the middle of the day, and besides, FANDANGO and that lobbyist had offices they could all move through.
Toll waited until the auto-butler had a stack of papers before flagging them down.
“Is your boss in?” Toll asked, “I’d like to talk with them about road maintenance before I have to get to work.”
“They should be in soon,” the auto-butler replied. “They’re terminally late but never by too much.”
“What else do they do besides roads?”
They’re working on founding a new commission on Human-Sentient cooperation. Some people think that Sentients should be given Government seats” the auto-butler said guardedly, “We move a lot of paper but I don’t know anything beyond that.
“Interesting,” Toll mused aloud, “I imagine there’s a fair amount of opposition.”
“Could be, but they don’t say much whenever I’m in the room”
“The PM and who else?”
“Mostly a large blocky type,” the auto-butler described JOSEPHUS, ”and a sickly sweet lobbyist”.
“Anyway,” Toll said trying to not sound fishy, “You mind if I follow you?”
“Sure, but you’ll have to wait in the lobby outside.”
Toll followed the auto-butler inside and found an anteroom that lead to several offices. They told the Sentient receptionist that they were there to see FANDANGO, and was nodded towards a seating area. They went over and picked up an old copy of “I Robot Weekly” which they looked over the top of to watch the room. A few humans and Sentients shuffled in over the next half-hour or so, filling up the waiting area. Most of them barely awake, creating quite the snooze-fest.
Eventually the unimportant ones got called into unimportant offices, and with the auto-butler gone into FANDANGO’s office Toll felt unimportant and forgotten. Not the worst state of being Toll all things considered, Toll thought to themselves bemusedly. They almost felt like they were awaiting their fate. They were, after all, trying to figure out where FANDANGO fit into the sticky mess; Toll couldn’t tell if they were “important,” or just a lackey begging to feel important.
Them the auto-butler came out of FANDANGO’s office, followed by FANDANGO, JOSEPHUS, the lobbyist, and somewhat surprisingly, the person Zod described as CHRIS. The auto-butler left, and after a few pleasantries the others left and FANDANGO went back into their office. The receptionist said a few things into the microphone that Toll couldn’t hear, and then pointed them towards the office.
–Chapter 34–
The office was small, squalid, and disorganized; not unlike the figure at the desk. They waved Toll to an empty spot at the desk adjacent to the chairs, which was obviously set aside for Sentients.
FANDANGO asked, “How can I help you?”
“My name is Toll and I’m a manager on the Western roads team. We need help because our costs keep rising and our budget doesn’t. Particularly with the cobbles in and out of town, they’re getting more expensive and we don’t have enough reliable workers.”
“That’s going to be tricky,” FANDANGO said. “The budget is coming up soon, but the committee members are all loath to spend anything.”
“Perhaps you can remind them that Western District also includes First Street and Government Alley.” Toll added, “That might be enough.”
“That it might, the pretty ones like to keep their shoes spotless. What do you reckon?
“Well, five percent would get the ring road and the cobbles just beyond the gates back into shape rather nicely. We could do it for less but the difference would be noticeable to the public.”
“It’s a tall ask but I’ll see what I can do. I’ll need to talk to the folks on the East side as well. Is there anyplace I can send correspondence?
“Right now we’re on South Gate doing the cobbles there and along South Wall.”
“Expect an auto-butler in a couple days so I can put out feelers,” FANDANGO said. “Anything else?”
“I heard about a commission on Human/Sentient relations, and wondered if I could be involved. I do have to interact with humans a lot.”
“Well that’s really just an idea right now Toll, but you might be useful later.”
“Thanks,” Toll said. Then he turned on his tracks and left.”
“Well that was interesting,” Toll mused to themselves. The budget thing would get around so nobody would question them on First, and there was definitely some fuckery involving the Sentients since Toll knew the committee was well past the “idea” phase. And all the principal characters were wedded together with certainty.
On the whole, the entire meeting lasted about an hour, so Toll trundled down and out West Gate and into the barracks. They fiddled a bit murmuring about forgetting something to create that impression before they took Ring Road down and around to meet his crew and make sure they were on track. They weren’t of course, but that was why the were employed.
Toll had many things on their mind now, but they needed to be seen, and seen working, to provide them with cover outside their known lobbying efforts.
–Chapter 35–
Zod, meanwhile, was mostly waiting and watching. JOSEPHUS and an auto-butler had come down and into the alley where they disappeared into the shadows. They decided to risk it and hide one alley over to see if they could hear anything. Making sure the road was clear, they moved as quickly as possible to cross the street and get into position and crossed their fingers electronically. It was dark, and grimy, and they were definitely going to need an auto-wash before anyone noticed them once they left.
After a while a door opened spilling light into the alley. From it, Zod recognized one of FANDANGO’s lackey auto-butlers complaining about the load they were carrying, as well as needing to stop for a wash before heading back into the government sector. They watched it go; it wasn’t worth following them and risking being spotted covered in alley grease. JOSEPHUS came out a few minutes later, likewise complaining about the cleaning bills this alley caused. Muttering aloud they resolved to use the Market Street entrance as much as possible as they left.
Zod opted to take the chance of investigating the alley for more scraps of paper. There was naught, but there was a rumbling coming from behind the door, so they decided to get out of the way before they got discovered.
Zod was half-way down the road before the door creaked open, and they zipped back into the empty building, hoping that nobody saw them. Squatting down they used their wing mirror, and it was apparent they had,so Zod locked the door and crept to the back of the room, hoping they wouldn’t be noticed by any sensors.
The rattling of door knobs could be heard coming down the street and to the one Zod was in. With someone sounding muttering “locked” the sounds traveled down the way. Moving back to the window they saw JACKJACK standing watch of the alley which severely limited their options. All they could do is watch and wait, hoping to see anything else worth noting.
Eventually they left their post, but Zod waited for another hour or so to make sure the coast was clear. To be safe they headed East towards the Sketch Antique Shops and ducked inside and headed to Harald’s booth.
“Hi Harald,” Zod started, “how are things?”
“Well, you’re here, so it depends. I haven’t had the chance to pull anyone aside yet.”
“That’s okay. But people are starting to get suspicious. I think someone recognized me earlier so I need to lay low for a while. I don’t suppose there’s a shower nearby big enough for a bot.”
“Unfortunately not,” Harald said, “We don’t exactly cater to bots in this part of town if you catch my meaning. The closest is Main and South Wall.”
“That is unfortunate. I can’t risk there by my appearance, so risking the one off River is my only real hope.”
“My neighbor does have some liveries, which might help some”.
Harald signaled to the booth opposite theirs, “Can you help this bot out?” The human operating the booth offered a few options, and Zof picked out a different generic tunic than what they were wearing. Zod paid and changed, and checked that the coast was clear before heading up East Wall and turned left onto River Avenue, and then to the showers off Dam Road.
After a quick shower and washing all their liveries Zod stepped out after making sure the coast was clear and headed to the charging bank at Main and Market to wait for Toll.
–Chapter 35–
After an interminable amount of time, Toll came up from South Gate to join them.
Zod reported that they didn’t have much to add beyond saying that they expected a lot of the human movement was likely shifting to Market because of the grime.
Toll, on the other hand, had plenty to add to the equation. They led in by bringing in the green auto-butler into the mix, and their tie to the lobbyist’s office block, adding that it just seemed like something to be aware of for the time being.
More importantly was the visit to the MP’s office. Firstly, the multiple offices off one receptionist made it impossible to know if the ones besides FANDANGO were implicit too. But budget things aside, FANDANGO was pretty cagey about what they called a “commission” as supposedly only being in some sort of concept stage, not as far along as things actually were. Toll added that they were trying to get involved with them like a proper mole, so they’d have to be extra-careful too.
To that end, Zod mentioned the shop on River Avenue that sold livery, and that they had several now, and that it would be a good idea to not wear work clothes when creeping around.
This led to planning ahead, and it was agreed that Zod should be pushing the envelope since they were probably a given thorn by now, but Toll was going to need to play low between work and basically lobbying about the roads so they could keep their electronic ear to the ground. Where they were really stuck is what exactly Zod should be doing with their free time._
Eventually they decided what was really needed was finding any movement patterns if they were going to have any hope of rescuing Desil. Toll would keep an eye on First Street in the mornings, and Zod would do their best timing visits to the Market Street building. The trick was going to be effectively hanging around Main and Market and somehow not be conspicuous. With that, they parted ways for the evening, with Toll returning to the work site, and Zod carefully picking their way back to the empty stall in the antique district. Along the way, Zod mused that they needed someplace closer to Main Street if that was going to be the epicenter of their routine. Defintely, they thoght, should be the forst order of business after checking in with Harald in case they had any success rounding up help.