Quite a lot going on this time. Relationships between humans and Sentients, and their quest, start to come together.
Chapters 20-22
–Chapter 20–
Ultimately, Zod decided that the least risky option was the wildest. They headed to the back of the hallway and slipped into Government Alley, figuring it might be best to follow [JOSEPHUS] tomorrow. Thankfully the alley was empty and they prayed to the proverbial silicon god that it stayed that way.
Thankfully there were some bins and a few insets to hide in as Zod jumped away from shadows several times along the way. As they emerged onto North Wall, they reflected that the hour was what made them so lucky.
Feeling braver, Zod worked their way to the top of First Street to watch the goings-on and just see what there was to see. There weren’t a ton of people out, and thankfully they didn’t see [JOSEPHUS]. Plenty of auto-butlers though, one or two they recognized from the search of Desil’s that morning. Zod watched from the corner for a while, trying to find any patterns. Each one did seem to go back and forth between the same doorways, but for the ones without signs hanging, it was impossible to actually say what they were. Zod thought it might be worth scouting more if they ended up back in the area after-hours when the streets were empty.
While they were at it, Zod opted to do the same for Government Alley. With [JOSEPHUS] now tied to a lobbyist, something odd and perhaps sinister was afoot.
The alley was more of the same, except none of the doors had shingles, or even names on them for what that mattered. But the auto-butlers there were also doing the same circular patterns. They started counting doors on the office block side in case further inspection of the street held more clues. And thinking back to the other side of the buildings, they could definitely count some of the ones that had a sign out, but since they’d forgotten to-image the signs Zod couldn’t be sure what was what.
Checking their chronometer, Zod saw that two hours had passed, which meant the hour was still really way too early to head out of town. While figuring out what to do next, Zod wandered thru the stalls along North Wall, not paying attention to anything but instead just watched the streets for danger. After all, Zod realized that if they didn’t turn up at his apartment this evening they surely would be missed, if that hadn’t already happened. Sentients really weren’t allowed to wander around on their own without permission and they were coming to the end of two days.
Needing to kill some time, it was still early so Zod opted to go get that infrared upgrade they’d been looking at. The roads were still mostly empty and it would kill and hour or two between mechanical and software updates. With that in mind, they headed down Main Street towards the shops on River. The street was basically bot-free and so far they didn’t seen any humans that might take notice, so Zod allowed themselves to relax a little for the first time in a day or so. Thankfully they made it to the upgrade shop without any hassle.
The upgrade went without a hitch, and as usual Zod, felt a little off after the programming. It was always expected to feel like a blender to the brain by fitting all the new tools in. Then they checked their chronometer, and it was barely noon. Zod let out a barely audible sigh with hours to go before heading out the gate wouldn’t be weird.
Zod wondered if West Gate and the ring road between there and North Road beyond that Gate was the better answer. It would certainly kill some time, but there was the matter of [JOSEPHUS]’s construction minions potentially heading back to camp in the same direction. It was just a block down River Avenue so they went to investigate.
Zod noticed that people were starting to notice him, probably because of their different livery, but they pressed on trying to look like they belonged there. It seemed to be going okay so far, they thought to themselves thankfully. They passed through the gate and ducked behind the produce vendors’ stalls. From here Zod had a good sight at the Ring Road at the expense of not seeing more than a sliver of River Avenue.
It was early afternoon, and a small gang of Road Thwackers were headed back to their barracks. He recognized a few of them from the morning, and was relieved since that meant that less of Toll’s questionable team members were out of the way. Perhaps, they thought, this was the way to go after all. Town was getting more risky as the day went along anyway.
–Chapter 21–
Zod picked their way along the natural path made by the town wall until they hit the corner, which was close to Ring Road and far from the shops and gate. From there they went towards the road as cautiously as possible. While keeping their auditory circuit gain high to detect any signs of trouble, they rolled onto the road and headed towards North Road. They also kept a lookout for any places where they might duck and hide if necessary. Zod also slowed down to go as silently as possible.
It was slow-going but they felt like progress was being made, and Zod was thankful that they hadn’t encountered anyone else so far. If anything, it gave them some time to figure out what to do when they got to that encampment. Hopefully. So far they hadn’t a clue.
Zod heard some rustling and a bit of murmuring ahead, so just in time they found a thicket to duck behind. As the sounds drew closer they tried to peer through the bushes and listened as intently as possible. Thankfully it was a pair of bots and that were more engrossed in their conversation than what was going on around them. As they passed, Zod noted their appearance when it became apparent that they were grumbling about going back to Desil’s as soon as the main crew left to get the day’s work site marked out. Zod waited until their sounds had faded before he got back on the road, and counting in their head figured that all the bots at Desil’s with that livery were accounted for. Slightly emboldened they pressed on.
When Zod reached the clearing it was empty except for the power generator, so they opted to retreat into the bushes again just in case. There was a little while before the crews came back, which as an aside they wondered why the other two had headed all the way back to their barracks so early.
Eventually the crew came back, led by Toll. Zod stayed hidden and just watched for a while, looking for some sign of how to proceed. The clearing was definitely sparser with all four of the questionable Sentients gone, but there were still a couple of bots that they didn’t recognize from the morning. So they waited a little longer.
Eventually, the remaining bots that weren’t on the crew that helped them in the morning shut down, and emboldened they made their way into the clearing while addressing Toll.
“Hey Toll,” Zod said, “it’s me, Zod again. I’ve found out a few things worth sharing.”
“Oh, hey Zod, “replied Toll, “what’s up?”
“Do you trust everyone online here?
“Well enough anyway. The new ones were all called back to the barracks for some reason.”
“Those four definitely aren’t safe,” Zod said, I saw them this morning. They were helping some humans search Desil’s”
Toll’s proverbial ears perked up. “That explains why they were a few minutes late. “Do you know anything more?”
“Long story short,” Zod said, “those bots in Desil’s garage with someone named [JOSEPHUS] and were searching it for information on [SEMPRINI] which some humans are trying to control, even if they don’t know what it actually is. And for some reason Sentients are also involved”
“Whew, that’s a lot. Now what.”
Zod pondered this for a solid minute. There was a myriad of options including going home and making excuses, but this affected all Sentients. Apparently Zod had existential crisis for breakfast yesterday morning.
The answers weren’t immediately apparent, but Zod heading back to Desil’s garage and Toll figuring out what their new Thwackers were about seemed like the best course of action, particularly as it seemed like there weren’t any other apparent courses of action. They agreed on a private comm frequency and separated with Zod getting a quick charge and then headed back to the trail that led to Desil’s garage.
The trail was easier to find now that they knew what to look for, even in the dark. The new infrared filters certainly helped a lot. They made the rest of the trip far quicker too. It went by fast enough that there were hours before sunrise and the whole area was pitch-black with the perimeter lighting turned off. Zod felt like exploring that perimeter but they knew any unexplained tracks would be noticed. Instead they circled the garage behind the bushes to see if there was any way to get on Dam Road with out making it obvious.
–Chapter 22–
Eventually Zod found a flat ridge of rock that extended from the bushes all the way to the road. Cautiously they took the path and headed back down the road to Desil’s garage turnout. There were plenty of tracks to disguise him there, so they felt more comfortable looking about. Finding nothing they risked going inside.
The garage was a mess. The searchers had strewn documents around the floor and the air was full of dusty trouble. Zod opted to risk looking around for a few minutes, particularly in the areas that hadn’t been searched as heavily. They just had to be conscious of time since they didn’t know when they’d have unwanted company.
Buried under a pile of debris on one of the benches was an untitled spiral notebook that had been passed over. On a quick leaf-through it seemed innocuous enough but their bot eyes scanned a few references to [SEMPRINI]. Zod put the notebook into a cargo pocket and reversed their path to the escarpment, trying to hide their trail as they passed. From there they went on to their hiding spot outside the garage. They hoped that their search blended in with the previous days’ human efforts.
Several hours passed and just as the sun rose [JOSEPHUS] and the other humans arrived, followed by the auto-butlers. Zod assumed the Sentients hadn’t been able to escape their job sites yet. Their search began almost immediately with [JOSEPHUS] barking orders to search both high and low. When the Sentients arrived a half hour later they immediately dug in too.
Zod hoped the notebook they had was the only bit of information left. As all the things stared to come together it seemed more important than anything else so far. Eventually the pace slowed as they came to the conclusion that there was nothing to find. The Sentients and auto-butlers dispersed but the humans lingered for a few minutes.
“This is most disappointing,” [JOSEPHUS] said. “Desil said there was documentation here.”
“What should we do next then?” Asked one of the minions, “I don’t think anyone has been here besides us.”
“That certainly seem to be the case. [JOSEPHUS] said dryly. [JACKJACK] call one of the backup auto-butlers to stand guard.”
[JACKJACK] took out their communicator and paged one of the spares. They wouldn’t be missed unless a butler broke down, assuming [JOSEPHUS] didn’t own it. The auto-butler responded affirmatively and gave an ETA of ten minutes. Apparently it hadn’t gotten very far.
[JOSEPHUS] continued, “we should ‘talk’ to Desil, then. They’re obviously hiding something.”
The third minion added, “should we rough them up a little?”
“Not now. Laws are laws and we technically have only kidnapped so far. Damaging a human is far worse”
Finally the humans head off towards town. Zod made sure the auto-butler wasn’t watching and then followed them at a safe distance. It wouldn’t be unusual for a dam Thwacker to be headed towards town, but they were worried about being recognized later if they weren’t already recognizable. When the reached the cobbles, Zod slowed to widen the gap so the noise wouldn’t be too loud. It was still earlier than shift start, and they would have to pass the garage again.
Zod followed them trailing by around half a block, which was barely enough to see them and quickly enough to avoid suspicion by anyone around them, except the garage, which they hurried past as fast as safe. Eventually the humans got to Second Street and interestingly went South and not towards First street as they had assumed would happen. On Second Street they continued past River Avenue and the angle that turned into Market Avenue.
The road was busier than Wall Avenue, so Zod could barely see them as they entered a grubby unassuming door surrounded by other grubby doors that at least had some description of what they made. The door lay between an extremely noisy nail factory and something that said “Steel Works” and required a very loud automated saw. They kept moving along, quietly imaging the doors as they passed. When they got to the corner of Main, they stepped into a power bank and waited.
Zod almost missed [JOSEPHUS] leaving the building and managed to slip off one of the street chargers and inside to pay just in time. The human seemed lost in thought as they turned right and headed North up Main Street. Following at this point seemed foolhardy, so they trekked up the road but stopped at the park to waste some time before they headed out to confer with Toll again.
Zod started to get nervous as the day got longer and Connie (or worse) could end up in the park as a shopping break. They opted to make their way to River Avenue and West Gate to see if there was happening around the Thwacker barracks. Fortunately they weren’t noticed by the two West Road Thwackers, and Zod didn’t recognize them either.
They slipped between the wall and the first stall again, but followed the back of the tents until they were fully concealed but could still see the door of the barracks.