"It doesn't work on haut-women," explains Linyabel.
They go down a deck, down another corridor. And come to a door.
"This is it," says Nadina.
"Do people go in and out? If I knock will someone open the door?" Linyabel asks.
"Knocking may - you're pretending to be Vio?"
"Yes."
"Then - yes, try it, say you've brought me along to retry, maybe."
Linyabel checks for observers, spies none, and drops the bubble only long enough to rap on the door, then pulls it up again. "Shh -"
A pale man in Kety's livery who looks like he hasn't slept in a week opens the door, scans the bubble with some device for scanning bubbles, and says, "Yes, haut Vio?"
"I have brought the haut Nadina, to try again," says Linyabel.
"I don't think we're going to need her," says the man, "but you can talk to the general."
And just like that, they're in. Linyabel suppresses outgoing sound yet again.
The cipher lab is full of empty caffeinated beverages and commercial painkillers and assorted electronic equipment. Besides the man who let them in, there is another in the same uniform, and leaning over his shoulder, the general.
It's not Chilian; it's a younger man, wearing the Imperial Security uniform, though not in inspection-ready condition; they've all been shorting themselves on sleep, it would seem.
"All right," says the tech that the General is supervising, "start over with branch seven thousand, three hundred and six. Only seven hundred more to go, and we'll have it, I swear."
Linyabel's attention, however, is on a pile of eight Great Keys, or possibly mostly decoy Great Keys.
"Nadina. Which one is it?"
"I'm not sure," flitters Nadina.
"And it could be none of them," Linyabel mutters, "or we could seize them all and sort it out later."
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2014-07-18 03:43 pm (UTC)They go down a deck, down another corridor. And come to a door.
"This is it," says Nadina.
"Do people go in and out? If I knock will someone open the door?" Linyabel asks.
"Knocking may - you're pretending to be Vio?"
"Yes."
"Then - yes, try it, say you've brought me along to retry, maybe."
Linyabel checks for observers, spies none, and drops the bubble only long enough to rap on the door, then pulls it up again. "Shh -"
A pale man in Kety's livery who looks like he hasn't slept in a week opens the door, scans the bubble with some device for scanning bubbles, and says, "Yes, haut Vio?"
"I have brought the haut Nadina, to try again," says Linyabel.
"I don't think we're going to need her," says the man, "but you can talk to the general."
And just like that, they're in. Linyabel suppresses outgoing sound yet again.
The cipher lab is full of empty caffeinated beverages and commercial painkillers and assorted electronic equipment. Besides the man who let them in, there is another in the same uniform, and leaning over his shoulder, the general.
It's not Chilian; it's a younger man, wearing the Imperial Security uniform, though not in inspection-ready condition; they've all been shorting themselves on sleep, it would seem.
"All right," says the tech that the General is supervising, "start over with branch seven thousand, three hundred and six. Only seven hundred more to go, and we'll have it, I swear."
Linyabel's attention, however, is on a pile of eight Great Keys, or possibly mostly decoy Great Keys.
"Nadina. Which one is it?"
"I'm not sure," flitters Nadina.
"And it could be none of them," Linyabel mutters, "or we could seize them all and sort it out later."