I wasn't a fan of going a full day without any form of recharge.

Our riding arrangement back to Zynima City wasn't too different from when we came back from saving Trivo. Shock and I took our bikes, Lavil took to the desert like a stunt park, still armed with his rocket launcher, and Trivo opted to ride on my vehicle with me, mentioning how the beams on Shock's back would make it too hard for her to hold on properly.

Made sense. I told myself that Trivo just liked me more.

“Lavil!” I called out, looking for him on the other side of Shock.

“Yeah, what?”

“These bikes aren't ours. We have to return them to a rental place on the far side of the city. Let me and Shock lead the way until we get there.”

“If you say so.”

I still wasn't sure how we were going to confront the shopkeeper from Dukes about the damage that hooligan caused. Shock had already started her bike; I figured I'd stop her before we rolled into the building and ask if she had any sort of plan.

Vroom vroom, my bike rumbled to life once again. Shock took the lead this time, taking off just in front of me. I opted to drive a bit more carefully than before, seeing as I had a – presumably – fragile passenger with me. But, the first stretch of land in front of Grilith was more flat than the opposite end of the city; I didn't have to worry about my speed too much for a while yet.

It wasn't even two minutes into the ride when I noticed something pretty unremarkable off in the distance to the right of my path. Unremarkable as it may have been, it rubbed me the wrong way, as in... I got bad vibes from it, if that makes sense.

Maybe a quarter of a kilometre away, a dark figure stood lone in the middle of nowhere, facing us with a large, square-shaped head. From this distance, I'd assume it was a TV-head (a somewhat rare robot variant that's rather self-explanatory by its name), but I couldn't be completely sure. I couldn't keep my vision focused on it for too long seeing as I was driving a bike at about 100 km/h. A couple peeks here and there was all I could safely manage.

I pointed at the distant figure. Maybe Trivo would be interested in seeing what I kept glancing at. Couldn't tell if she looked or not, but it was worth a shot regardless.

Aside from that eerie feeling I got from our solitary observer, the rest of our drive was uneventful. When the terrain become sloped enough for Lavil to get air time, he took every opportunity he could do fly around us and show off some flips and other wild tricks he had up his sleeve.

Honestly, I would've laughed seeing him faceplant in the sand. I secretly wished it would happen just to give him a bit of humility.

Once we made the wide turn around Zynima City, I lowered my speed a little bit – about 85 km/h – somewhat humbled by our incident from yesterday. That said, there were no rapscallions riding around to bother us today. The only other activity we noticed was a hefty tanker coming off Zynima's main strip (otherwise known as the road) into the wide open desert.

We were only a few minutes away from Dukes. The shacks, stands, and junk piles on the outskirts of the city weren't so much a blur this time as just a rapid series of barely decipherable objects. I wondered what I was thinking going as fast as 145 km/h yesterday.

As we started approaching Dukes, I pulled ahead of Shock and held out a hand to encourage her to stop. I carefully coasted to a crawl, and it seemed like Shock got the message – she turned around and slowed down next to me. Lavil was off doing... whatever Lavil does.

I quickly ran a hand across my neck, hoping she'd get the message to kill her bike. I turned mine off, so she followed suit.

“Why are we stopping?” she asked.

“Do you have a plan for talking to that dude about the bike damage?”

Shock placed a hand on her chin and gave me a long, thoughtful hum. “LAVIL!” she screamed, trying to get the showboat's attention as he flew through the air.

“WHAT?”

“COME HERE.”

“SHIT!”

Trivo and I chuckled.

Once he landed, he skated over beside us.

“You know how to act tough?” Shock began.

“Don't ask me stupid questions, lady,” Lavil sarcastically remarked, flaunting his rocket launcher.

“Listen, asshole, this is what's going to happen. We're all going to walk in there together. You're going to act tough. I'm going to be doing the talking.” She turned to Trivo. “You, uh... look as tough as you can. You too, Aural.”

Lavil didn't say anything.

“O-okay,” Trivo nervously answered.

My goodness, I doubt Trivo could even hurt a bug.

We started our bikes up one final time, slowly making our way into the open garage doors of Dukes of the Desert.

The moment we shut our ignitions off, a loud clap rang through the garage.

“We-ell! Look who's back!” The jagged-looking shopkeep was there to greet us, off to the side of the room. We swung ourselves off our bikes, but I had to help Trivo off the seat. She seemed extra timid today.

“Yep,” Shock replied without a hint of emotion. She'd told us to let her do the talking, so I kept silent.

“It's been, what, six hours total? We'll call it six,” mister shopkeep continued as he approached the bikes, “That would ring you up at 240 bytes, but look at this,” he grumbled. “Look at all the scrapes here! Cosmetics aren't cheap to fix, missy. With the amount of damage you caused, that's going to be-”

“Actually,” Shock butted in with a roar, cueing us to look tough, as she instructed. She walked up to the shopkeep. “here's how this is going to work, shark-face. You have two options. So, here's number one: you force us to pay your extortionate prices for this damage, and I'll go public with the footage I recorded of your little pals taking us out.”

Oh lord, she's bluffing.

“That video will spread through ZyNet like a virus and your whole operation here will be revealed for the scam that it is. Or, option two: you drop the debt we owe you and I'll keep this as our little secret. What'll it be, hm?”

I'd probably be shaking with fear if Lavil wasn't here. I peered over at him for a second, long enough to see him holding up his rocket launcher very visibly by his side. That's a pretty powerful coercion tool.

The shopkeep's eyes narrowed. “You're a slimy bitch, you know that?”

“You're one to talk,” she growled, leaning even closer to him. “Clock's ticking. Make your decision.”

“Get the fuck out of here.”

“Good choice,” she hissed, leaning back a bit. “Let's go,” she instructed us.

Shock led the way back out the garage door we rode in through, and we circled around to reach the main road Dukes is connected to.

“Oh no, ohh,” Trivo warbled once we were surely out of hearing range.

“It's all right, Trivo. He ain't gonna fuck with us. Not with this thing pointed at him,” Lavil assured her, tapping the heavy weapon in his hand.

“I can't believe that worked,” I nervously sighed. “It worked, right?”

“Well, we're not paying for that disaster trip. You tell me,” Shock responded.

“Did you have a backup plan in case that didn't work out?”

Shock laughed. “Nope!”

“Oh my god,” I huffed.

“Okay, ladies,” Lavil bellowed, lacking his usual condescension. “Follow closely. Don't draw attention, if you can help it.”

Just like the last time Shock and I walked down this huge road, we had to pass by several groups of machines walking around and socializing, as well as keeping an eye out for any vehicular traffic. Lavil guided us back the way we initially came, through the crowded pathway between the buildings, eventually towards the clearing where I encountered that news bot.

And after a few more minutes, he took us towards Verdin Square. I was thinking he was going to bring us to some secluded road with a secret hideout in it or something, not to one of the most crowded areas in the city.

“Verdin, huh?” I mumbled.

“Just keep following my lead,” Lavil impatiently replied.

Thinking about it a bit more, Verdin did have a few nooks and crannies where people could sneak away for a brief refuge from the public. The rear entrance behind Packet Park where we met Trivo for the first time came to mind.

Lavil seemed to be taking us to one of those areas. About half a block away from Packet Park, a side road branched off from the main plaza with a few stores and doorways strewn about the street. The road was short, but near the end on the left side, Lavil led us into a dark, narrow alley.

Boy, I sure love dark, narrow alleys. Nothing bad ever happens to us in these.

“No one ever goes through here,” Lavil explained. “If they do, they'd just be passing by to another shop.”

Trivo seemed unexpectedly calm, but I remembered her mentioning she'd been here before. She sounded earnest when she spoke to us of this place, so I tried to ease my nerves a bit with that in mind.

Lavil turned a corner and brought us to a hefty door with a keypad lock on it.

“Look away, Trivo,” Lavil instructed.

“Right, sorry.”

Lavil also looked away from the pad and entered four numbers on the little LED screen: 2-2-7-7.

“See that number, you two?” Lavil asked. “Remember it, but do not say it aloud. You should know why we're not looking at it.”

Hmm...?

Oh. It hit me like a brick.

Lavil and Trivo both suspect they've been bugged. Is that why they're avoiding hearing or seeing the code?

Lavil tapped the “enter” key on the pad and we heard a big clunk from the door. He pushed it open, revealing a spiral staircase illuminated by turquoise ceiling lights.

“Everyone in.”

Shock, Trivo, and I walked past Lavil, and he closed the door behind us.

“You lock it the same way you unlock it. Same number.” He punched the numbers into a keypad on the inside of the door and we heard the lock engage.

Trivo walked down the stairs ahead of us; Shock and I followed suit as Lavil took up the rear.

“I feel safe here,” Trivo softly spoke as we walked. “Nobody else has ever been here except us two.” I figured she was talking about herself and Lavil.

When we got to the bottom of the stairs, maybe one floor down, there it was: a decently sized room with desks and computer monitors on the right side, some hi-tech recharge station in the corner, a few seats arranged opposite of the computers, and a shelf with some daily essentials – packets of all sorts, rags, wax, and various components for tinkering and repairs. On the far end of the room past the computers, a hallway branched off for a handful of feet, but it was completely blocked by huge metal boxes.

“This is it,” Lavil announced, “our safehouse. Like Trivo said, you two are the first people to ever be in here besides us, so don't take that for granted.”

“This is pretty cool,” I commented. “Those computers have a ZyNet connection?”

“Of course they do.”

“Ohh, I like this.”

Shock took a quick walk around. “Well, it's something, I suppose. I think its most valuable asset is its seclusion.” She walked over to the recharge station while Trivo took a seat against the wall near it. “Purity?” Shock asked.

“100%,” Lavil answered.

Shock squinted at him. “...C'mon now. Don't screw with me.”

“100%.”

“Lavil, that's impossible.”

“That's thinking with a closed mind.”

“What are you talking about?!” Shock yapped. “There is no known way in the world to get purity above 99.99%.”

“Keyword: known. What if someone figured it out but didn't tell anyone?”

“You can't seriously be telling me that's what's going on here.”

“It's exactly what's going on, Shock. I've only ever used machines of 100% purity. Come with me during a corruption check and I'll prove to you I am 100% squeaky clean and pure.”

Shock looked perplexed. “How is that possible?”

“Ups made this,” Trivo interrupted. “I don't know how, but...”

Shock's eyes grew wider. “Who exactly is this Ups person?”

“I wish I could tell you without dying.”

Was that... a hint of empathy in Shock's body language?

“Yeah,” Shock responded in a lower voice, “I guess... yeah. This is all just so weird, having the answer to this mystery right at our fingertips like that.”

“Who knows,” Lavil started, staring fiercely into Shock's eyes. “Maybe we'll figure things out as we go,” he said particularly slowly.

Shock nodded very subtly.

As safe and comfortable this place was, there wasn't a whole lot to do, it seemed. I could play my guitar, but Trivo seemed hard at work doing something on one of the computers. She was the only one here right now; Shock had gone out to fetch some supplies from home, Lavil went out to... I don't know. I hardly ever know what's going through his head. So, I probably wouldn't want to bother Trivo. Or... maybe she'd like a distraction? She did mention she likes my music. Bah, but it would still distract her.

I ultimately ended up walking over to her and taking a peek at her screen.

“What's going on over here?” I asked, distracting her anyways.

“Oh! I'm just looking through an ARTIFACTS archive.”

“ARTIFACTS?”

Trivo nodded with an affirmative hum. “It's the name of a big library of miscellaneous data logs from many different times and places on Zynima. Some of them are transcribed voice recordings, some of them are computer chat logs, some of them are more like diary entries.”

“That's kinda neat. Do you ever find anything worth reading on there?” I took a seat on the small, metal chair beside her and peeked at the screen, but couldn't really gather anything interesting from what I was looking at.

“Well... sometimes I find some logs that seem like they could go together. But most of the time they're sorted very haphazardly, so it's hard to tell which ones connect to which, or in what order they're supposed to be.”

“Oh. That's too bad.”

“Plus, it never mentions names, except in a couple of rare cases.” Trivo pointed at the monitor. “See that symbol in the circle there? Different people are denoted by different symbols and colours.”

“That's... rather inconvenient, isn't it?”

“Kind of, yes. That's part of what makes it so challenging to piece together. But! I like to look at it as a big puzzle. And sometimes you find some things that really make you think hard about things. It's pretty fun!”

“I guess that'd help kill time around here, huh? It's something to do, at least.”

“Yes. I don't get to do it very often though, since Lavil usually needs my help with things when we stay here. If we ever stay here for long periods of time, we're usually up to something important. Like... dealing with Tangent, for example.” Her voice lowered a bit.

“Right, that makes sense.” Framed as a serial killer and kidnapped? She's dealing with all this extraordinarily well. Lavil did say she's been through this a lot... maybe she's just used to it. That's a depressing thought.

“So... how did you meet Lavil?” I asked, hoping to spark some sort of conversation to kill time, selfishly continuing to distract her from her reading.

“Ah...” Trivo paused for a few seconds. “It's... kind of a long story. M-maybe I can tell it to you later?”

“Oh, sure. Uh, sorry if that made you uncomfortable.”

“It's okay. I understand how weird this must be for you and your friend. You hardly know anything about us and suddenly you're going to a new place with us only a couple days after meeting... I would be uneasy too.”

I was really glad she understood my thoughts on the situation. Suddenly remembering something from earlier, another question popped into my head.

“Hey, do you make sculptures by any chance?”

“Yes! I'm glad you know,” she beamed. “Well, I don't much anymore, since I'm never... well... free long enough to make more. They take a lot of time.”

I hummed understandingly. “I saw your statue of a... what was it, a “pitaya?” A fruit made by humanity, the creators?”

“Oh no, not made by them. It's something they eat.”

“It sounds like you know a lot about them.”

Trivo sat perfectly still for an uncomfortably long period of time after my remark. “I... yes. I did? I know I know about them... but... I don't? Oh, this is not good.”

“Are you okay...?”

“I'm sorry. I've had terrible memory loss issues lately. It feels like I should know this, and I know I used to know this at some point, but...”

Damn. I felt bad for her, knowing what she'd been through.

“They supposedly created us. And... they live on another planet out there in space. That's everything else I can remember about them.”

“Huh. Interesting.” Not a whole lot to go off. Oh well. I spun around in my seat. “That recharge station, is that free for us to use?”

“Yes! You can use it.”

“...Is it really 100% purity?”

Trivo nodded. “I'm not perfectly pure like Lavil is. I had 1% corruption before I was introduced to this, but ever since, my corruption hasn't gone up.”

Compared to Lavil's and Trivo's corruption levels, I felt filthy with my recent 9% result from about a week ago. Nothing to worry about, but...

“That machine would effectively make you immortal if you exclusively used it, wouldn't it.”

“...Y-yes. If you make sure you have regular maintenance and don't do anything silly, you could theoretically live forever without experiencing an impure death.”

An impure death, also known as getting old. As corruption builds in our bodies from recharge stations that aren't 100% pure, we experience worsening symptoms of mental illness until eventually... we can't boot after entering sleep mode. It's supposedly impossible to remove corruption from a machine's body, so... it's game over if you can't boot.

I've got nothing to worry about, though. 9% is barely anything.

“It's been a wild ride so far. I haven't recharged in a whole day; I'm gonna go rest up.”

“Okay! I will continue my reading.”

“You do that!”