I felt more than a little awkward standing alone in the archway between the Pahrahtehs fountain courtyard and the bridge. I had disabled my KI on the surface in hopes of avoiding attention from the management. As long as I didn’t have to use the Nexus I should be fine; assuming they don’t run into me in person. I couldn’t see the recent visitors imager from here, but I had seen D’veeta in the cavern as late as 02:00 KI time; sometimes I wondered if she and Meghan lived in that Egg room. I thought for a moment about their dedication in brief admiration before remembering that their commitment to this place was doing me zero favors at the moment.
I peered around the corner and looked to the clock courtyard. All’s quiet on the Western Front. My eyes drifted to the classroom door. He better be in there. I heard a link and quickly pulled myself back into the shadow.
“I come in peace.” Terry said, wiping the sleep from his eye. The tension in my shoulders still hadn’t relaxed. He joined me under the arch and looked across the way. “You think he’s in there?” I looked to him questioningly. He held up his left hand, devoid of KI. “I don’t want to turn that thing on. I didn’t even bring it.”
“He better be there. I don’t like all this sneaking around.” We walked across the bridge toward the classroom. At this time of night the only sounds to be heard were the distant fountain, the waterfall, and our muffled footsteps on D’ni stone. With every step we took toward the classroom, the more my eyes were drawn to the Egg room door. Finally reaching the classroom door, I looked one last time to my right. Too close for comfort. I knocked five times and heard some shuffling inside.
“Who is it?”
“Bob O’Goobo,” Terry replied. I couldn’t help but crack a smile at the reference. The door unlocked and I opened it.
“Good, you’re both here,” Jessie Pollick peered from around a stack of papers. “Come in.” We entered. I stepped over a stack of papers the top of which seemed to be DRC reports about structural integrity.
“Well, looks like you’ve kept busy,” I said, looking at the clutter of notebooks, papers, and binders.
“It never ends,” Jessie replied. After a brief pause he started again. “I just had a fascinating meeting with…”
“Really?” Terry interrupted him. “You’re not even going to address the situation you’ve put us in?”
“Of course.” Jessie adjusted his glasses. “The past month must have been difficult.”
Terry bit his lip. I could tell he wanted to go off on this guy. “What was it all for? You made it abundantly clear to us that you needed to get inside Takotah II, but since all we’ve become are URU pariahs.”
“I did what I thought was necessary,” he responded. “and now I know there’s something bigger going on here.”
“Oh, please.” Terry spoke up. “The whole cavern is clamoring for more about these Hopi Spirals. Nice name by the way. It’s almost as if you knew about them before it showed up in the Watcher’s Pub.”
“I did.” He had my attention. “But until very recently, I had no idea just how far this rabbit hole went.” Hook. Line. Sinker. “I may be able to remedy your current situations, but we must move very carefully. There’s more on the line here than our social conveniences.”
Social conveniences. That irked me. “What are you saying? What did you find?”
Jessie beckoned us closer. “Tell me. What do you know about Pantaleon?”
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