Chapter 273: The Trojan Trigot (Patreon)

With each step our trigot disguise takes towards the lower entrance of the Prismatic Theatre, the tension within me rises.

We’ve talked about what happens should a Peilor grow suspicious of us.

Plan A is to give them the slip, and shift to a new disguise.

Plan B, in case we really can’t lose them, is to have Suri make a show of using Spatial Energy to Warp us away, while we actually pull ourselves back into the Realm of Imagination.

If it comes to that, we can only hope our ruse holds up, as a retreat into the Realm of Imagination would certainly make alarm bells go off, once Starmother catches wind of it.

Thankfully, the doorman—a Flawed-tier Peilor, judging by his Hoig host—barely shoots us a glance as we simply move past him with the fake stone statue of Loudmouth strapped to our disguise’s back.

I once again am impressed with Suri’s attention to detail when I hear the slap-click of our Trojan trigot’s clawed feet echo from the bare stone walls inside the practically deserted hall we enter.

She has our trigot freeze for a brief moment, as if suddenly instructed to halt, and then makes a beeline for a desk manned by another Flawed-tier Peilor riding one of those creepy birds with the serrated teeth.

“Another one?” a female voice chimes with a sigh from the crimson crystal implanted in the bird’s forehead. “Unbelievable. Just put it with the rest in storage three.”

Damn. Those are not the elaborate instructions we were hoping for.

“Might I ask where I can find storage room three, please?” Suri chimes without missing a beat.

The Peilor remains silent as her creepy bird host leans forward a bit, its head cocking sideways. For a moment, it holds that position, until finally, it lazily lifts a wing to point at something on the wall.

It’s a map of the building, engraved in the stone itself.

Phew... Guess she was just lazy, rather than suspicious.

Storage room three turns out to be a large room near the back of the theatre.

While it’s definitely behind the stage somewhere, it’s unfortunately not ‘backstage’ in theatrical terms.

That is to say, there are still closed doors and security guards between here and the area containing the dressing rooms. Which means we’re still going to need to take some risks to get where we want, but at least we’ve gained two major advantages.

First of all, we have an excuse to be here, and can always claim we’ve gotten ‘lost’ somehow if we’re found in the wrong place.

Moreover, we’ve got a map, leading us straight to...

We turn a corner, and a set of double doors respectively labelled with familiar geometric symbols that I somehow recognise as meaning ‘storage’ and ‘three’ come into view.

My heart immediately jumps into my throat, because the doors are closed.

This particular obstacle is a troubling one for our mission. While the doors can’t physically stop us, for obvious reasons, by that same token, we can’t pass through them in any way that would look normal to an observer.

And as it happens, there’s a Solith-tier janitor riding a large, purple-slug-like host, currently scrubbing the ceiling with its slimy body.

I frantically study the visual feed for what I hope to be our salvation and—

It’s there. A small crystal embedded right above the double doors.

Thank Goddess... Now let’s hope Suri is right about this.

That little crystal up there, should be a motion-detecting sensor, and according to Suri, Espir can fool even such sensor systems.

That didn’t make sense to me until Suri explained that Peilinor’s sensor systems actually run on Espir.

Neutral Espir, to be precise, generally provided by Solith-tier Peilor. Turns out the Blank Space Technique has even more uses than I thought.

Interestingly, the Lavi-Qi crystals used to store and use said Neutral Espir—like the sensor crystal above the door—are the primary source of new Peilor these days.

It’s a relatively rare occurrence for such a mind to spontaneously arise, so any that are discovered are gathered into a kind of Peilor nursery. Peilor minds develop only very slowly, so they spend a long time in there, building up the basic skills required to function in Peilor society. Only once they are deemed ready, are they let loose into Peilinor. And of course, they start at the bottom, as Solith-tier citizens.

Putting the question of whether this sensor system is slowly turning sentient or not aside, I stare at it hard as we approach, willing it to notice us and activate the doors.

Suri keeps us moving at a steady pace, seemingly without a care in the world, but I can feel her nerves over the mental connection.

Come on come on come on...

It’s not until we’re practically right beneath it, that there’s finally a response.

There’s the slightest hiss of compressed Aether being released, and a split second later, the doors start to slide open, each to one side.

Yes!

A momentary pause later, we pass through, and the doors close behind us, leaving us alone in a surprisingly large storage hall.

Front and centre is a row of no fewer than six stone statues of Loudmouth, but Suri ignores it completely.

<Security sensors?> she chimes instead.

<A few near the theatre entrance,> I reply. <One at the checkpoint to enter the backstage area that we passed, none in here—as far as I can tell.>

<Good. Which wall do I go through?>

Kaitlynn immediately projects her mental image of the map, which she’s steadily maintained this whole time. <I think that one’s our best bet,> she sends, mentally pinging a wall storage room three shares with an adjacent hallway.

<A hallway?> Suri chimes, sounding a little taken aback. <Are you sure?>

<It’s a dead end,> Kaitlynn replies. <Least likely to be occupied, and we’ll have a straight shot for the dressing rooms from there without passing near any security checkpoints.>

<Go for it,> I send. <I don’t sense any spirits, and the longer we wait, the bigger the risk someone comes in here and asks what we’re up to.>

Even without a Spiritual Realm fabric, I can at least still sense the presence of stronger spirits through the Espir fluctuations they give off. It’s why Kaitlynn and I have to hide our presences.

It’s not an infallible way to detect Peilor, however, as they could also be hiding their presence, and even without such a technique, a young Peilor’s spirit can be too weak to detect. I wasn’t able to sense the janitor we just passed, for example.

<All right then,> Suri chimes. <Here goes nothing.>

And with that, our Trojan trigot strides straight for a nearby section of wall.

Imaginary sweat drips down my back as we near it, and we don’t slow down.

Passing through a wall is a unique experience. For a moment, I feel a kind of resistance, as my mind refuses to accept it as a possibility. Closing my eyes, I push onward, and an instant later, we’re through.

We appear in an empty hallway. Distant laughter echoes off the bare stone as Suri decisively sets off to the main, connecting hallway, moving as if, for all intents and purposes, she belongs here.

<Take the second right,> Kaitlynn sends excitedly. <Then up two flights of stairs and we’ll be at the dressing rooms!>

The automatic door to the stairwell opens before us with a soft hiss, and our Trojan trigot rapidly moves up the spiralling stairs.

Another automatic door later, we’re in a long, stretched-out corridor.

Now, there weren’t any names on the map, but thankfully, we find there are names on the doors, once again expressed in geometric symbols that I can read only thanks to objective meaning.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of doors. It seems the Pellucid-tier performers in this theatre actually all get permanent, personalised dressing rooms.

Suri tuts at some of the names, and scoffs at others, but keeps her thoughts on the various performers to herself as she moves past them at a decent tempo.

Suddenly, I sense a faint presence rapidly approaching an upcoming corner from the other side.

<Incoming!> I send. <Act natural!>

No more than a second later, one of those upright-walking Flawed-tier lizard hosts turns the corner and stops in its tracks. “You,” a voice chimes from the purple crystal in its forehead. “What are you doing here?”

“Making a delivery,” Suri chimes back, sounding impressively calm under the circumstances. “I’m supposed to take this to Lyrack’s dressing room. Could you point me in the right direction, please?”

The Peilor stands there for a moment, staring at us. Then, a sigh rings out. “Fine. This way, and make it snappy.”

His lizard host turns around and scurries off, without looking back.

Suri sets off to follow him. <Bollocks,> she sends over our link.

<What’s the matter?> I quickly ask in alarm.

<He’s escorting us,> she replies. <You don’t really think he’s going to allow us to remain in Lyrack’s room after we finish our ‘delivery,’ do you?>

<There’s the room!> Kaitlynn sends, mentally pinging the door in question in our field of view. <What do we do?!>

My stomach sinks. Shit. So close, and yet so far!

An idea springs to mind, and I consider its wisdom only for a fraction of a second.

Checking the visual feed one last time to make sure the Peilor still has his host’s back turned towards us, I make my decision.

Screw it.<All right, let him escort the two of you out of the building, I’ll stay behind!>

A jolt of surprised unease comes over the connection from Kaitlynn. <What are you—>

<No time, sorry!> I send back, as the lizard is only about two steps from the door.

With that, I let go of Kaitlynn and Suri’s spiritforms, breaking our connection.

Holding my breath and altogether maintaining my focus on producing as few Espir fluctuations as possible, I pull on my connection to Loudmouth’s statue, and gently but swiftly drift up into it.

And that’s when I find out that the only way for my spiritform to fit inside entirely, is to take its exact, stupid pose, standing on one leg with the knee of the other one lifted up to my chest and my arms spread high and wide.

Ugh.

Still, I seem to have managed it in time, as all I hear from outside is the sound of a door opening, and an impatient voice chiming, “Well go on, I haven’t got all day.”

The statue wobbles a little as Suri moves her Trojan trigot into the room, then proceeds to make a show of snapping off some bindings with her teeth, and gently using her tail to manipulate the statue upright.

I do my utmost to move along with everything she does, praying to Goddess that it all looks believable.

“Yeah, there’s fine,” the impatient guy chimes. “Is there a reason you’re still here?”

“I’d kind of hoped to stick around for an autograph...” Suri chimes politely.

The Peilor snorts. “I’m sure you did, but that’s not going to happen.”

Suri sighs. “I suppose there’s no point in waiting outside until after the show either?”

I frown. That’s aimed at me, isn’t it?

“No, now get moving.”

“Very well. I’ll be going home then,” Suri chimes, before the slap-click of her conjured trigot tells me she’s leaving

She’s saying they’re heading back to the Realm of Imagination to wait for me there. Good, that gives us less chance of exposure.

Despite myself, a chill runs down my back when the door clicks shut, leaving me all alone in enemy territory.

Author's note:

I tried my best to make this suspenseful, and I wasn't sure how well I'd succeeded. Reading it back now, I feel like I did a pretty okay job. ^^

Let me know what you think!