Chuckling, Lamb caught up in a few steps and followed his friend closely as they made their way through the tunnels. He didn’t have a clue where they were going, but he had complete faith in Hermes – and sure enough, it wasn’t long before the tunnel opened up into a busy plaza.

The centerpiece of the plaza was a circular café. Chairs, decorative plants, and strung-up lights illuminated the otherwise futuristic junction with a cozy atmosphere. It looked like there were around thirty people here – Lamb recognized many of the Sentinels who had been at the security refresher earlier. Puma and Cinders were sitting at a table close to the café counter, and most of the other Sentinels were beginning to take seats, too. Seemingly going with the flow, Hermes wandered over to a circular table behind a nearby plant and plopped down comfortably in the wooden chair. Lamb hastily took the seat across from him, and gazed around with wide eyes.

A large screen hung against the far wall of the plaza was currently on standby, displaying Ypsilon’s logo in pale blue. The woman from earlier was standing in front of it, talking with two other women wearing operator uniforms. They seemed relaxed, and even laughed amongst themselves a few times. The Sentinels had more mixed reactions – some were like Lamb, gazing around with wide eyes. Some were like Hermes, deeply invested in their phones. A few were like Puma, and had gone up to the café counter to order drinks and chat. But again, Lamb failed to find the sleek white head of Generation Zero.

“Messiah’s not here, either…” he observed wistfully.

Hermes spared him a glance. “Why do you keep looking for him?”

“I dunno…” Lamb shrugged and leaned his head on his hands, peeking at the colourful characters on Hermes’ phone and vaguely wishing that he had something to do, too. “I just keep noticing that he’s not here.”

“Hm.” Uttering a noncommittal grunt, Hermes lowered his head again.

Hunger rippled faintly through his stomach, and Lamb closed his eyes with a lonely sigh. But before he could sink too far into self-pity, a familiar voice rose above the chatter.

“Looks like everyone’s here.” Maggie fiddled with the microphone by her lips, then looked back up at them and continued at a slightly louder volume. “I’ll keep this short and sweet, since everyone’s hungry and most of you have already been listening to me for way too long.” A faint chuckle made its way through the attentive crowd, but her expression remained completely serious. “Tomorrow, we’ve prepared an epic contest for the Sentinels of Ypsilon. The details are a surprise, but it’s going to take place in VR space, and it’s going to be fun.”

“Oooh…” Lamb found himself joining in with the excited murmur that rose from the crowd. Across from him, Hermes raised an eyebrow in a dubious frown.

“You will be competing in pairs, against each other.” The large screen behind the speaker flickered and became a list of Codenames, organized into two columns. “The pairs were randomly chosen, more or less. Alicia has been updated with this list, so you can query her for it, too. But it’s up here for convenience.” She stepped aside so that she wasn’t blocking the screen. By now, a trickle of uncertainty had appeared in the murmurs, and Lamb squinted in an attempt to read the screen. But they were sitting far away, and a few tall heads were making it difficult for his mediocre eyesight to distinguish some of the names. Deciding to just ask Alicia, he closed his eyes and sent the program an internal command.

<Alicia, show me the pairings for tomorrow’s contest.>

He waited for a moment, but when nothing manifested within the darkness behind his eyelids, Lamb gave up and opened his eyes. Hermes and the others could visualize data like that effortlessly, but for him, it was a wishy-washy effort.  He’d just wait until she was done and then walk closer to check...

As Lamb opened his eyes, he felt his phone buzz. A little surprised, he glanced at Hermes, wondering if his friend had sent a message the traditional way for some reason – but it didn’t look like it. Overcoming his hesitation, he pulled out his phone and checked it.

Ah, it was Rose… she’d sent him an animated emoji of a winking chibi. Like all her emoji choices, it was filled with sparkles.

Smiling wryly to himself, Lamb closed his eyes and mentally typed out a reply.

“Hiya, what’s up?”

The screen showed her typing for a few seconds, then filled with a message followed by another sparkly emoji.

“Heyo! My club leader’s hosting an ice breaker party this Thurs night. She wants me to invite you and Avery, can you guys make it?”

Thinking of his early morning class the next day, Lamb grimaced. “The heck, why Thurs?”

“IKR?” She sent a shrug. “Probs cause she’s heading out Friday on a long weekend trip with her partner. You know, before school REALLY starts.”

“Ughhhh…” He’d only been to one class so far and already his gut squirmed at the thought of school. “K, I’ll ask Avery.” He glanced up, but saw his friend frowning intently into the distance. “I’ll get back to you. At work atm.”

“Ok! Thanks!” She sent him an enthusiastic hug emoji. “Good luck with work!”

Hermes had noticed him on his phone and was now eyeing him with raised brows. Sending back a hasty thanks emote, Lamb tucked his phone away and opened his mouth to explain.

“Well, that’s it.” Maggie announced before he could find his voice, and they both turned distractedly towards her. She already had one hand on her earpiece, looking completely ready to tear it off as soon as she was finished. “There are no more scheduled events for the rest of the night. I suggest you ask your partners out on a dinner date and get to know them. It’ll help for tomorrow.”

“A dinner date?” Hermes’ lips twisted in a displeased look. “What a gross way of putting it.”

“Huh? Why?” Lamb leaned over the table and grinned excitedly up at his friend. “Who’s your partner?”

Hermes glanced up at something behind Lamb and muttered wryly, “You’re about to find out.”

A hand slammed down on Lamb’s shoulder, making him jump in thorough shock as the blow travelled all the way through his collarbone.

“Yo!” He would have known even without hearing the man’s voice that it was Puma, simply from the familiar brashness of his touch. Irked, Lamb glanced over his shoulder with a fierce glare – but Puma was grinning blithely across the table, instead.

Hermes turned his head away with a miffed scoff. “I’m not going on a date with you, so bye.”

Oblivious to the glare that Lamb was drilling into his face, Puma chuckled. “Hey now, don’t be like that. We should get to know each other. All I know about you is that you’re Lamb’s nerdy friend.” He pulled away from Lamb and jerked a thumb at himself with a gloating smirk. “And all you know about me is that I’m an awesome guy. We should learn each other’s skillsets and see if there’s anything we can work out.”

Looking completely unconvinced, Hermes continued to gaze idly off to the side. “We don’t even know what the rules are, what’s the point.”

Puma lifted his hands into the air in a still shrug. “But we can guess and prepare for some likely scenarios.” A glint passed through his eyes as he grinned challengingly at Hermes. “Don’t you wanna win?”

Hermes’ eyes narrowed, and his lips pressed together momentarily. That was all it would take, Lamb knew – because of his strict upbringing, Hermes had developed a rather strong competitive streak. He was sometimes as uncaring as a rock, but when challenged directly like that, Hermes was no different from an ordinary human being.

Sighing, Hermes uncrossed his arms and rose grudgingly to his feet. “Ugh, fine.”

Interrupting them with a mock sob, Lamb reached over the table and latched onto his friend’s arm. “But –”

Hermes spared him a heartlessly nonchalant glance – but what he said next silenced the obnoxious whine that Lamb had been about to pester him with. “You’re with Messiah, aren’t you? Why don’t you go and ask him out for dinner, too?”

“Huh?” Startled, Lamb gawked upwards. Brows raising again, Hermes yanked his sleeve away and lifted his hand to point.

 Following his friend’s finger, Lamb glanced over his shoulder. There hadn’t been anyone there earlier, he was sure of it… but standing near one of the tunnel exits, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his dark chest, was Messiah. Looking super cool.