“Okay, I’m coming!” Shouted Dannal as he pulled his robe over his shoulder as the pounding on his apartment door continued. He pulled open the door, and froze. “Ithaca and Oldra! Hello, what do you two want?” He said, then staggered back as they pushed inside, closing the door behind them.

“Ithaca just got jumped by one of her roomies.” said Oldra, walking past him and glancing out the window. “And we have no idea why.”

“Yes we do.” Ithaca said, tossing the watch onto the counter in his kitchenette. “It’s to do with this, but that’s all I know.”

Dannal scooped the watch up. “It’s a watch! That’s all that they wanted?” He said, turning it over. He seemed to pause for a second, then put it back on the counter. “And a clockwork one at that, you can buy these fairly cheaply just about anywhere. Who was it who attacked you did you say?”

Ithaca was going through his cupboards until she found a glass, and poured herself some water. “Notrotu! The guy who GAVE me the thing!” She said, and took a deep swig. “It doesn’t make any sense!” She paused and looked at Dannal’s clothing. “Did we interrupt you in the middle of something?”

He readjusted his robe. “Kinda, yeah. So, you two mind, going somewhere else?”

Ithaca opened her mouth to reply when Oldra pushed open the bedroom door and gave a gasp of shock. “What in the seven hells is this?” She asked.

Ipra stepped out of the bedroom, pulling a sheet up over herself. While an automaton by nature, some point in their development had pushed her race towards a humanoid look, and all the anatomy that came with, even if it was the action figure varieties of those anatomical traits.

“What did we walk in on?” Asked Oldra, as she stepped aside to let Ipra join Dannal by the front door.

“I think it is called, ‘date night’, if I recall correctly.” Said Ipra, putting an arm around Dannal’s waist and pulling him a little closer. The human blushed, putting his arm around her, and kissing her plastique brow line.

Ithaca drained her glass of water. “You two, are dating?” She asked. Ipra and Dannal nodded. “How long, have you been dating?”

“Ooh, good gods, about, seven hundred and thirty four days?” Said Dannal, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing at his, and it felt wrong to think it, girlfriend. She nodded.

“And four hours.” She added. “But you were spot on for the days.” She said, booking his nose gently, and enticing a smile and blush from him.

“I’m gonna be sick.” Said Oldra, heading for the bathroom.

The explanation of how they’d ended up as a couple, despite being entirely incompatible on a genetic level or most of a personality level, was surprisingly simple. Ipra had found most people didn’t like her encyclopaedic knowledge on subjects, and surprisingly, Dannal liked being able to argue his point on a topic, and not have the other feel put out by his opinions.

“After that, we just started, hanging out, then a few proper dates, and, she basically lives with me now.” He explained, pouring coffee for the other two women in the room.

“His place is far roomier than mine.” Ipra added, a flutter of lights across her mostly immobile face indicating the inclination of a joke.

Oldra sipped her drink. “It’s still super weird.” She said softly. Ithaca nodded, as she strapped the watch back onto her wrist.

“I don’t know why anyone would want this.” She said flatly. “I mean look, the hours aren’t going to a line with each other except for ten hours every four days.” She said, and pressed the winder back into its housing. The watch clicked, and she felt the back of her hand warm up. Then her palm.

“What the hells?” She said, turning her hand onto it’s back, and opening her hand. Light poured from it, a full hologram in the palm of her hand, showing a stream of text, flicking through far too fast to read.

“It’s a boot up sequence.” Said Ipra, leaning in close, somehow able to follow the text and numbers as they scrolled through. “That’s not just any watch, it’s a microcomputer!”

Ithaca was about to take the watch off again, when the text stopped, and showed a landscape in relief. “Isn’t this, Earth?” She asked, following the mountains and islands, continents and the vast ocean around the home of mankind. 

The image zoomed in, focusing on where they were, the city of Great York, though it looked far too underdeveloped for a moment, before the image flickered, updating to show the current landscape of the city.

“I think it’s remapping the area.” Said Ipra, as the landscape on the map fluctuated to show what the world around them looked like.

“I wonder what it’s for.” Said Oldra, as the image shifted to place the block of flats they were in at one edge of the image. At the other, the edge of a mountain range some three hundred miles away, and flashing at the bottom of a mountain, was a small icon.

“What does that mean?” Asked Ithaca, Dannal leaning over his partner’s shoulder to get a closer look.

“I’m gonna say, I have no idea.” He admitted after a moment. “What we thinking? Treasure map? Someone went to a lot of trouble to make this after all.”

“That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard you say.” Said Oldra, glowering at him. “Who buries treasure apart from pirates in old stories?”

Ithaca ignored the argument, just looking at the blinking light. “I think we should go there.” She said softly, tapping the image. It zoomed out, showing the foothills around the mountain at the bottom, with a long squiggling route diving deep beneath the surface to Botarin. “Looks like it takes you down into a cave system.” She said flatly.

The others stopped arguing. “You, want to go here?” Said Oldra, pointing at the winding route under the mountain that vanished off the edge of the image. Ithaca nodded.

“I’ve no home to go to for now, and you can’t go back to yours in case Notrotu turns up again.” She indicated the map. “This is a long way away, and it won’t take too long for someone to work out that I’m staying with another workmate.” She glanced at Dannal. “Even if you only just qualify.”

He opened his mouth to argue, then seemed to deflate. “You’re right. Eventually, me and Ipra will become targets if you aren’t found by, your room mate.” He said, frowning. “So I guess we’re coming too!”

Ithaca shook her head. “You’re not coming. Dannal, you have work-“

“So do you.” He cut across her before she could continue to protest. “If you can skip work to go, spelunking, then so can we!”

Oldra moved over to the counter as the argument built, the pair shouting at each other louder and louder, until the front door thudded closed, and Ipra placed a shopping bag between them.

“What the hells is this?” Asked Ithaca, pulling what turned out to be a tin of salted pork out of the bag.

“You two are clearly unable to agree.” Said Ipra, placing her tablet on the table. “There for, I am making a decision. Both I and Dannal have fourth days of holiday stored up. If I put this through with the office as a team building exercise, we can all go, and no-one will be any the wiser.” She flicked through the office work schedule and pointed to a block on it. “If I put this request through, we can at least see what is under the mountain. And if you agree to let us come,” she plucked the tin from Ithaca’s hands, “then we can bring these supplies with us.”

Ithaca leaned over and looked at the work schedule. In all honesty, she didn’t really have a reason not to let Dannal and Ipra come, other than not liking Dannal that much. And with one of her oldest friends turning out to be, what ever had been Notrotu’s deal, this was probably for the best.

“Okay.” She said, Oldra rolling her eyes at the decision. “You two are probably safer with us anyway, like you said. We’ll go first thing tomorrow.”

She left the others to sort out what their plan for getting to the mountain was, and stepped outside onto the apartment's balcony. She was looking out over the encroaching shadow when she felt Dannal step next to her. “I’m not in the mood to argue.” She said firmly.

He leaned against the railing next to her. “Neither am I. And I’m not going to say you’re doing the right thing either. We don’t know what that watch is about, where it’s wanting to take us, or why. For all I know, we could be about to die horribly. On the other hand, it could be, well, riches beyond measure.” He shrugged. “But it’s your watch, it’s your choice. You tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

Ithaca turned and studied his face. “You actually mean that don’t you?” He smiled and nodded. “Ipra really is good for you, isn’t she?”

“You’ve no idea.” He said, and glanced up at the sky. “Night’s falling, we’d better get some sleep soon.” She followed his gaze to where the darkness of night was starting to cut into the perfect disk of the sun, turning the shadow-wax edge to a haze of light.

“Could be a while before we see the sun where we’re going.” She commented, feeling suddenly nostalgic for something she never really thought about. “Kinda weird to think we never notice it, always just hanging in the middle of the sky.”

Dannal shrugged as he went back into his apartment. “Part of nature to not think about the everyday normalities I guess.” He said, leaving her alone on the balcony, watching the strips of night and day spread upwards before her across the bowl of Botarin until fading due to the haze of distance and light obscured them.

“Part of nature.” She said happily, as night slowly fell across the city and the rest of Earth, sparks of light picking out homes and businesses that trundled on through the darkness.