That wasn't entirely true. The triplets had planned to rendezvous with Sariah in the adult suites. Life doesn't always go as planned, and while Hunley and Brade examined the hologram and the clones, Relda, Raylay, and Ty were freed, the triplets wandered the halls.
"Which way are they again?" Anya whispered as she dodged the cams' ever present scanners alongside her sisters.
"They?" Skyla echoed.
Skyla spotted an object and squinted at it, as if that would enable visibility in an almost black hallway.
"Adult suites," Rhea patronized.
She narrowed her eyes at Skyla, who had picked up the crowbar and twisted it around.
"What is this thing?" She whispered.
"Crowbar," Rhea told her. "Breaks windows I think."
"Or cams," Skyla said.
Seconds later, the camera probe lay on the floor, and the triplets leapt over it as they began a sprint.
The hallway ended at a white hexagonal door, and Anya punched in N377A.
"That was dumb," Rhea retired. "Now we're all in danger."
The doorway unsealed, and the triplets' sprint came to an abrupt stop. They walked on tiptoes.
On the other side they entered a bluish white empty chamber. The only things that met them were the hologram funnel and a metal box with a fingerprint biometric.
"Where is everyone?" Anya thought aloud.
Somewhere beyond the initial chamber, tinny drills whined. They peered into a mini chamber. A humanoid creature with pointy ears knelt at the place where the mini chamber and master chamber met. His drill drove rivets into a robotic device.
The girls crept around him. He was too intent on his task. He didn't budge. He didn't look in their direction.
They hid in the shadows of the mini chamber and knelt there.
They gasped at a sudden pounding. A spiky creature with furrowed brows stormed in. He controlled a motorized transparent container. Fifteen blasters filled the container
He placed his finger on the biometric.
"Got the blasters from the captives' ship," he boasted.
A spare rivet caught Skyla's attention. She snatched it up and chucked it across the room. Past the spiked creature. It skidded to a stop just a few feet from the door. The spiky creature pivoted, the safe still open.
"What in the…" He started.
"Can you get it for me?" The riveter asked.
"Come on," Rhea whispered.
They scampered. Around the riveter, and to the transparent motorized container.
"Take one," Rhea instructed.
"We don't know how to shoot," Anya whispered, but complied anyway.
"Who goes there?" Unified questions arose.
One came from behind. One from up ahead. Rhea squeezed the trigger, and a sudden laser blasted the spiky creature.
Skyla and Anya brandished their weapons at the riveter.
"I'm just here because I'm hired," he said, raising his hands. "I'm a maintenance worker. Not a warrior."
Rhea tilted her head sideways. The triplets abandoned the crowbar in the mini chamber. They were warriors now. With real weapons.