They didn’t move Maphira that night. She slept on the floor of the large conference room they’d shoved her in, and when the morning came, she was almost glad that today was the day of Project Bender’s test. So many nights of sleeping on rough carpet, without so much as a pillow. Not the worst sleeping conditions she’d ever experienced, but damn close.
Around noon, the door to her room swung open to reveal Vai and Cole. Two grunts of the Conclave entered behind them. They approached Maphira and bound her hands with rope. She offered no resistance.
“Off to a conveyancing firm in Carnegie, then?” Maphira asked.
Cole, still obviously a robot, shook his head. “We cannot risk being followed. To get to the testing site, we will be taking the sewers.”
Maphira rolled her eyes. “Really? Is it just me, or have the sewers become a recurring location in anyone else’s life these last few years? I feel like I’m going in and out of there all the time these days. It’s ridiculous.”
“Get over it,” said Vai, who then turned to Cole. “Tell the conveyancing and settlement team that they can have their office back. We’re out of here.”
Cole turned away and left the room. Vai moved behind Maphira and shoved her forward. Together, they headed toward the back of the building.
“What, you’ve got a secret sewer entrance here? That’s convenient.”
Vai let out a puff of air. “Whatever. Now shut up and walk.”
When they reached the wall, Vai lifted a poster of a joyful conveyancer and pressed a button beneath it.
“Straight out of Minimon: Version Red,” said Maphira. “Real original.”
“What?”
Maphira turned back, feigning a shocked expression. “You haven’t played that game? Typical of you to have missed a cultural icon. In it, the team of thugs have an underground lair in a casino. You have to push a button under a poster to access it.”
Vai growled and pushed Maphira again as the wall retracted, a staircase heading downwards appearing before them.