"How was it?" Ibuki asked.
"Terrible," I said shaking my head. "I ended up being a jumbled mess not able to form a proper sentence towards the end…"
Ibuki's fist made an arc and slammed into my right arm.
"What was that for!" I said reeling from the unexpected blow.
"Your body and mind are always in sync, if you slouch your shoulders your mind can't be upright. Now there are people who have been waiting for you all along. It's time to cheer them up."
I put my hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, Iby." releasing my hold on him I've walked towards the center.
I walked towards our Transportcraft attracting the eyes of the other Squads, their conversations gradually started to die down until I took center stage.
"Yes yes, I know nobody needs to say a word," I said standing in the center of attention. "I'm sorry that it took that long, "I paused for dramatic effect."I got great news for all of us!"
I've made sure to have eye contact with each of the squad leaders "The Directorate hasn't forgotten about you neither has the Commissar." I said reaching for my Wallet.
"On Friday night we get one of the many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to enjoy ourselves and use government funds!" Raising the Platinum and Silver card.
Ibuki and Sinne probably knew that this was the allowance card I got as a handler for Meldiers. Not something I've got to raise troop morale or what I just happened to find in one of my pouches.
A round of laughter later and a series of questions and comments we climbed into our Trasnportcraft and sat divided by squads.
"I hope you extend that invitation to me as well." The Pilot said opening his door, looking over his shoulder. "I might get paid per hour but there is still a family waiting for me at home. No hour of hazard pay can replace the smile of my daughter."
He pressed a button again closing his door before I could respond.
I sighed in exaggeration.
"Jackie is on leave for the next few months," Ibuki said taking his seat beside me.
"Sure must be nice having high achieving parents dedicating so much of their money towards your leisures…"
"Must be nice…" He crossed his right leg over his left. "When are you going on leave?" He chuckled and turned towards me. "Tell me, If I pull that scarf down how likely is it that I'll say that there are dead people looking more alive than you."
"A hundred percent," I said with no hesitation.
His eyes narrowed as he looked for the jest yet to come. "There is always someone dying, comparing someone as stressed and overworked as me to someone whose life just vaded is a hard bargain."
"And people say the Meldiers are the only thing we need to worry about besides the nightmare threat." Ibuki trailed off.
"Wake me when me on touch down" I leaned back and stared at the ceiling. Relaxing slowly my toes up to my leg and tight I felt the darkness rushing from the corners of my vision slowly dragging my consensus back into the abyss.
"Even if it is only for like an hour at best?" I heard Ibuki's voice as light and sound was fading.
Light came back into my world, alongside sound and all of its other wonders.
"Thanks Iby." I opened the seatbelt rising and to my feet. "Anything interesting happened while I was gone?"
"Saying that you were gone, when you just were asleep is a bit much but I get it." He coughed clearing his throat.
"We got new security codes. Apparently, they were last week already updating their security, and performing their own maintenance, we're here to confirm that nitwits. Including the seventy-nine percent of the population who aren't Technocrats." He shot a look my way.
"Would be able to perform maintenance on their beloved machines and equipment, aside from that we got an update to the building layout." He operated on the Tablet on his Breast clapping it out of his kevlar and the one at his right wrist.
"We got here the blueprint and notes if you hadn't figured it out, one story down the elevator, we got the staircase here leading down to the lobby and the fire exit to the side of the roof."
While he was giving me the run down I compared the old version of the building on his wrist to the supposedly new version of the Tablet which almost looked indistinguishable.
"They almost look indistinguishable," I said, voicing my thoughts.
"They are," He deactivated both of his screens and folded the chest back in. "I don't know if it's a sense of humor or just a polite reminder in case we've lost it and were too embarrassed to ask again."
I was about to walk off, towards the staircase until I stopped dead in my tracks. "Speaking of experience?" He wouldn't see the grin, but he would hear it in every syllable.
"Let off!" Ibuki said
A hearty laugh escaped me to my own surprise. "I don't think it would pass even as proper German or would fit into it if you spoke it." He continued to show me the middle finger, conveying in the practice ease of military sign language what was on his mind.
Pure unfiltered retaliation.
Sensing that everyone else was growing more and more restless yearning to be on their way home already we cut our banter short and headed into the building. The third squad would stay behind while the second and first would take position and wander around the levels they were assigned to.
"I hate we can't just cut the building in half," Ibuki said after we descended seven levels already. "Going fifteen stories down is well over a hundred meters of just going downstairs!"
"It is especially bad because we need to head underground dammit? With low lighting and long hallways, were definitely going well over a mile from all of this?"
"Measuring now in Imperial standard instead of precision." Lynn cut in.
"Ha-ha." He said transcending every established language barrier conveying pure unfiltered sarcasm that every human tongue, dialect, and language would comprehend without fail.
"Few workplaces pay so good for just walking, I don't remember the last time we had to shoot our weapons going here."
"Here is like, literally nothing, Kyle. Even if a nightmare were to form here it would just return to the ground where it once came. I don't think anything would stick around just to be bored, waiting to be culled."
"I know Iby, I know."
We kept walking mostly in silence. Reaching the ground floor lobby. We left Chloe and her third squad boys and gal behind. Entering the heart of the matter.
The Staircases Illuminated by the setting sun was replaced by the dim red emergency light of the subterranean levels.
"You think there's something that they didn't tell us," Ibuki said looking down at the Screen on his wrist.
"There is always something people aren't going to tell you." He fixed his gaze on me. Do you mean the Security Cameras which are new and not shared on the new or old blueprint or why Sinne is so silent?"
"Thinking about it, both. Has Kyle done something to do, that you keep quiet for today Sinne?" Ibuki asked.
I extended my arm pushing Ibuki away. "Please don't treat her like a child, or assume I did something bad. She is probably older than us."
There wasn't time for another riposte when Sinne began to speak up. "Out of the Comisars office… Kyle looked hurt, He didn't say anything but looked hurt. I should have been in there with him keeping him safe. Kyle isn't that strong…"
I felt an ache in my heart, it hurt felt cold, and it was… Hollow.
"Anyway, the Cameras aren't like the ones we use for security in Military Facilities, government buildings, or on campus. They are probably from an off-world manufacturer and-"
"They stopped before the first security door which required a code." Lynn cut in from the front.
"Right, there hasn't been one since we came underground, which means whoever installed them either deemed that they weren't necessary down here."
"Or they couldn't." Sinne finished the thought.
"Exactly!" Ibuki looked down at the screen on his wrist. "Told Chirs and his boys that they should roam the upper levels hallways and cathocraphing them on a virtual version of the building, but now I realize the folly of my actions. Even if they were to believe that we write them up to include their battery changes in our maintenance plans…"
"They still would know that we were looking for them," I concluded.
"Yes."
In the end, we managed to reach the last security door without any resistance.
"Stay here."
"Gotcha."
"Kay."
With those parting words, we left Lynn and Sinne behind.
Entering the last Security code we'd been issued with we went inside. There was an array of devices in the relatively cool room. The machinery neither sounded abused nor were there any creaking noises hinting at abused metal.
Ibuki dislodged the Tabblet on his chest and gave it to me we went through our separate schedules of maintenance.
I was observing and doing limited stress testing reading the data while Ibuki was checking the attrition of the open parts and looking into the internal life of phew machines.
Next to an hour must have passed as we finished our Readings and Inspection Cycle.
Sinne and Lynn were sitting on the floor. Looking at Lynn's galerie of vacation Photos filled with many different beaches and other marvels of nature we had on planet.
Astonishing waterfalls and the vast mountain ranges were some of the few places that made me long to pack up my stuff and travel, there would be time for that once I'm done with my obligations.
"Let's pack up Girls," I said one of us helping each of them to their feet.
We continued together joining up at the Lobby finding a pouting Chloe and Kira bored out of her mind. While Mark and Clyde were in the lobby standing behind the counter having.
"Sorry for the wait, maintenance takes longer if you need to look for something broken instead of going back saying, 'Yeah it is broken.'
We made our way back up all of the stairs back to the landing pat, unbothered and uncontested. I put my hand on Ibukis's shoulder when we were about to board.
"Take Sinne home," I said to Lynn, our eyes locked through my goggles and she nodded.