“So… what do we do now?”

The three had gathered outside the interrogation room, leaving the older criminal inside to slumber alone. He would be dealt with soon, but information first and foremost had to be discussed. The knowledge gathered was something never seen before, something that no records had had any mention of, meaning that it needed to be handled with the utmost delicately.

“First, we need to set Mr Manson in a new cell. The protocol does not allow for us to have him unconscious for much longer. Therefore, we will be moving over to nerve-dampers on the neck. I do believe we still have a few of the collars,” Officer Grunwald stated, starting his planning strong. The man seemed to have lost some of his more passive attitudes, the late hour spurring on all kinds of ideas to form in the man’s head. How utterly interesting it was to see it unveiled by itself. Cassandra was more than a little impressed. “Jared, I would like to leave this task for you. Have you had any experience with the gear before, or will Cass be needed to assist you?”

“I can handle it just fine, boss,” Jared answered swiftly, nodding his head in confirmation. He was even about to move out to fulfil his task but was stopped with a look from the superior. Things still needed to be said.

“It is clear that there are more suspects out there. Mr Manson did not state the exact number, but it would be safe to assume that they are in high numbers. Upwards of ten to twenty. With our limited numbers, I think we can all agree it would all be unwise to search after them immediately. From logic alone, it would be clear that they remain within a few kilometres within a possible water source, which will allow us to restrict the search around and close to the river. It is still a large area, but tracks should be easier to find near the water.”

Certainly a safe assumption, from what Cassandra could see. Carrying any form of liquid over a larger amount of distance was tantamount to mediocrity. It wasted energy to a large level while leaving little reason to do the action itself. When in a country so prevalent with water sources, there was little ground for larger water storage.

“Cass, I would like to delegate this task to you. With your prior experience in searching the river bed recently, I feel you would be a comfortable fit for the task. I would like to accompany you on this, but the addition of an awakened prisoner will make it hard for us all to be mobilized.”

“I could go with her,” Jared offered quickly. “Since we won't move out in the next couple of hours, I should have plenty of time to situate the prisoner in a suitable cell.”

“I’m afraid that won't work. We still have our normal tasks to attend to, and that includes riding over for emergencies. There have been complaints about our emergency resolutions to offset some of the work from ourselves, and messages from the top have reached down to us about our actions. Jared, I will need you to answer the calls. Do you think you could do that?” Grunwald asked, to which the other man nodded fervently. “Great. Now, I don't believe I got an answer from you, Cass. Are there any objections to you scouting for us? I believe I could get one of the drones out to assist with the task within a day or two, but this task will likely have to be completed before that.”

Cassandra hardly needed to think about it before nodding as well. A new problem had been found, one that she could have a part in solving flawlessly, and there was no chance of her saying no to that possibility. Her task had the ability to remove some of the blame on her while still putting a positive light on her.

“Good to hear. Jared, go get the prisoner into suitable commendations. Cass. Go sleep for a few hours. You have a lot to do when the sun reaches high,” Officer Grunwald said, his words making both other parties disengage. Jared went back into the interrogation room, and Cassandra left so she could get to the part of the building handling staff accommodations.

It was quite the walk, especially for somebody with a tired body. But, that’s the way the building had been designed. While efficiency in the movement was important, the strategy had been thought of in case of possible combat. If, say, the prisoners in their cells were to escape its confines, would it not be logical to give the sleeping officers as much time as possible to get ready? Letting people be beaten to death in their own beds was not something that anybody deserved.

‘Be ready to leave in six hours,’ Cassandra sent over to her least favourite automation. She had no real idea if it would even get the message or not, not fully in the know about how the charging stations worked. Were they awake, in that manner they normally had the capability to or were they motion- and thoughtless throughout it all? There was a mild consideration about spending the next hour reading up on just that, but the woman knew she had more pressing matters to attend to.

‘Sure, boss. Where are we going? Any special equipment we need?’ Jules sent back quickly. There was a slight delay when compared to the usual response time, but the woman was not yet ready to reason the cause to be because of the charging station.

‘Bring your standard loadout. We are tasked with finding signs of human life along the river. From what information has been gathered during the interrogation of the man we captured a few days back, there is apparently a group of interest out there. From the wording, it is suspected they are loyal to the point of a cult. Finding any tracks will be our greatest priority. Any questions?’ Cassandra sent, giving an all-around summary of recent events. There was no real need to wait for information to be shared. Without it, there was always the chance of miscommunication. Even if the construct wasn't alive, it could clearly make logical decisions. But for it to make such choices, it would need the full picture first. And that's exactly what it would get.

‘I think I have a few. This group, cult, or whatever it is, how long have they been around in the forest?’

‘Since we captured the target a few days ago, and since it has been said that he travels with them, I would give it a minimum of about a week. Maybe only four days if we have to think about the more scarce possibilities,’ Cassandra sent as an answer. It took a bit of thinking to figure out, but it was the best she could do. Maybe she could put that theory in her report? It would prove valuable to have documentation about her ability to accurately read a situation based solely on scarce information. She could even start on that report today, while her memories were still fresh.

‘So… any clues, whether that be a literal person or just their tracks, would prove to be of the utmost value to us?’ Jules asked. Just where was the construct going with this?

‘Of course. Anything to say about that?’ Cassandra asked. Finally, she got to her room. Opening up the door, the inside stench wafted into her unwilling nostrils. While it may have looked clean, it was clearly anything but. She needed to take out the trash soon, or the whole station would smell… She could even do it now, really. It wasn't like the woman would be sleeping soon.

Bagging all the trash up in a bag, she made a knot on top and brought it right back out the room. Plenty of time was spent, yet there was a lack of an answer from the automation. Jules was being weirdly quiet. Especially so, when a direct question had been asked. Just what was it doing?

No matter. It's not like Cassandra cared too much about it. She had already given out the needed information, and any other questions could be answered in due time. They had plenty of time to communicate during the drive out to the river. It was quite the drive, after all. Though… the time might have been cut short if the automation was allowed to drive again. Even on dirt roads, it just couldn't stop its speeder-related urges. How they had not crashed only made her speak words of praise towards the automation’s creators. They were the top class of specialists in the field, and it could be seen easily.

The trash chute was in sight. Taking the last few steps quickly, a quick swing allowed her to swiftly dispose of the bag. The stench remained, but it would disappear quickly enough. Or so Cassandra hoped, knowing fully that she would stay in the room no matter what.

Getting back to her private accommodations, the door to her room was closed. The inside wasn't much to speak of, but it was better than nothing. Looking at the bed, Cassandra debated about trying to sleep immediately but dropped the thought near-instantly. There was no chance that she could stop her mind from working within the next thirty minutes. Everything was still on overdrive.

When she looked to the sides too quickly, she could still see spots in her eyes. Her light-receptors had clearly been hit hard during the day’s attempted to capture. While there was a full understanding of its healing soon, nothing was stopping her from being annoyed by it nonetheless.

Welp… with the lacking chance of her sleeping, Cassandra sat down at her desk and started on the report of the day. There was some backlog of documentation to fill out as well, but she would leave that for later. For now, there needed to be a focus on writing with precision. Even if the two others weren't much for properly filling out the actions of the day, Cassandra would not fall to such lows. She had standards.

Which was possibly why she was able to quick-draw the revolver she had at her desk when the door to her room blasted open. Her finger was halfway to pressing on the trigger when she saw just who it was. Or, maybe it was better to see it as what it was.

“Jules,” Cassandra said.

“Yes?” the automation asked.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“From the looks of it, I am standing very still so that you don't shoot me.”

“Why are you in my room?”

“Because you are in your room. I thought that one would be obvious.”

…

Cassandra lowered the lethal weapon, turning the safety again to make sure there wouldn't be any misfires. She almost wished there had been one, saving her from the disgrace that she saw before her. But, no way would ever happen, and she needed to accept that fact. What was the first step of that? To regain a hold of the situation.

“Be serious now. Why did you feel the need to come to my room?” Cassandra asked, hiding the weapon in its customary hiding spot. It wasn't an obvious placement for people standing in the doorway, but it was obvious as day to anybody who took three steps into the room. If they knew where to look from, that was.

“I just felt the need to see your face when I gave my final comment on my question,” Jules answered, entering the room fully and wasting no time in seeing the bounciness of the mattress. While it might have been adequate for a human of normal proportions, the construct’s weight did not allow for any notable bounciness. It seemed disappointed by the result. “Not sure how you haven't realized it yet.”

“... Just tell me this grandiose fact so that we can both move on to more important things,” Cassandra said. The construct had actually waited several minutes just to tell her a single fact in person. Why wasn't there some protocol forbidding just that? The woman saw it as a flaw on the designers' part, no matter how thoughtful they might have been.

“Thinking back to my encounter with a strange man by the riverbed not that long ago, I could not help but think that we made a few wrong assumptions. With this whole cult apparently running around, I couldn't help but think that-”

Cassandra didn't listen to the automation’s words by that point, too focused on contacting her superior officer at that point. They had evidence!