RED-1 rode through the forested town with its quaint, isolated wooden homes and smattering of shops throughout. It was the sort of small town that was used to receiving visitors, especially of the military variety. The smell of pine was thick in the air and made a few of the mercenaries nostalgic for the Peninsula.

  Prism saw through his team’s eyes how different the culture was so close to Zazi compared to within the jungle. The people that saw the truck passing by were weary and quiet, not at all like the vibrant and noisy people of Spibo that Prism had seen. The civilians and True Twins guerrillas living in the jungle had worn a wide variety of short leggings and short-sleeved shirts, if they wore shirts at all.

  The dozen or so people that the truck passed by all had a simple fashion of long-sleeved tunics and long pants. The clothing was often decorated with elaborate patterns of beads and colorful weaves. And unlike the long hair that was common among the jungle dwellers, the townspeople wore their hair short and neat as though they were all within the military.

  "They’re awfully droll, aren’t they?" Wadaw shared with Prism while Biti bored the disguised guerrilla with chit-chat. “This is a town full of veterans and military families. Almost everyone here conforms to the styles and tastes of the military class.”

  "I like the patterns on their clothing." Prism shared.

  "Those? Hah, I thought you had a better sense of style than that." Wadaw shared with a haughty shake of his head that Biti thought was being directed at him. "Those kitsch patterns are unit emblems. They represent what part of the military the wearer or their family members belong to. That's how militaristic Sguvan culture around the capital has become."

  "They look like they're made with a traditional crafting technique." Leanna remarked over the link.

  "Yet another distortion of our history. The Singular and his "God-Queen" turn our proud traditions into pop culture nonsense. Degenerates." Wadaw could barely keep his disdain from showing on his face. He had to quickly summon a smile when he saw a group of children outside of a shop waving to him.

  “You make it sound like this is a recent change. This country has been militaristic for centuries.” Leanna shared.

  “Yes, but it is a distortion of the true nature of the Sguvan people. We are a peace-loving race. We are at our best when we are living in harmony with nature, not exploiting it to wage war on one other.” Wadaw shared with a moralizing grandiosity that irritated much of RED-1.

  "Ewa's teachings strike again." Leanna shook her head. "You may not be religious, but you are certainly an idealist."

  "Ewa's writings just make sense...far more sense than the drivel that the Sect distributed in their Gwit centuries after Ewa died. Ewa reasoned that human nature was rooted in peace and love because we don't have claws, hides, or fangs. We're physically not built to kill; evolution set us on a different path than brutality," Wadaw paused to answer a personal question that Biti asked before he finished explaining his thoughts telepathically. "Psychopathic people keep fooling the masses into believing the opposite. It's infuriating..."

  “Human nature…gimme a break!” Srell shared along with an image of himself making a dismissive hand gesture at Wadaw. “We’re all just animals, territorial animals.”

  “Speak for yourself,” shared Lorias as he crossed his arms across the chest of his stiff green uniform.

  "Prism isn't even human, moron." Leanna shook her head and shared.

  "Keep the chit-chat to a minimum. We need to stay alert and be mindful of our enemies. Most of these people are well-trained and not far from a weapon." Ursun shared.

  "I don't know if you or your soldiers have heard, but the Singular is making a special announcement tonight. That's why there are so many people out and about, even in our little town." Biti said to Wadaw with a cheery smile.

  "Is that so?" Wadaw rubbed his hairless chin. "What do you think it'll be about?"

  "Goodness, sir! You'd know better than I!" Biti exclaimed after slapping his knee.

  "Indulge me," Wadaw said with a sudden firmness that made the old man frown and audibly gulp.

  "Well, err, I'm guessing it has something to do with those dirty heretics again. There are rumors that they're peeking their nasty heads out of the jungle and making a run at Zazi. I'm not worried, though. The Singular will exterminate all of those filthy, traitorous vermin. He's baiting them all to one place so he can wipe them all out at once."

  Wadaw calmly watched Biti work himself up more and more until the man was nearly spitting rather than speaking. It was nothing that the guerrilla hadn't heard before. In fact, he'd had to say much worse things to maintain his cover amongst the Royalists.

  "You're smart not to worry. Everything is indeed under control." Wadaw nodded slowly.

  It wasn’t long before they were riding along the riverside, only catching glimpses of the wide crystalline blue waters between the trees that lined the road. There were far more buildings by the river than there were in the town's center, some of which were small fisheries and boating facilities. They even drove past a small sandy beach that jutted out into the water where children and teenagers alike were playing.

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  "That water's got to be cold; It's the middle of fall!" Srell said aloud when he saw the scene.

  "They're probably used to it. No different than the people that swim in Syulka Bay this time of year." Lorias shared.

  "Yeah and you're one of those crazy people," shared Leanna with a playful glance at her not-currently-blond teammate.

  He rolled his eyes at her as a thin golden disc about the diameter of a truck tire appeared above the largest group of children that were swimming at the end of the sandbank. It hovered meters above their heads for a moment before zipping away as silently and as quickly as it had appeared.

  “Uhh, what the hell was that!?” Srell shared along with a heap of panic that Prism had to moderate from the link. The man was so alarmed that he’d almost blurted out his exclamation.

  “It is a river-skitter; a nasty bit of kingdom-tech that Gusa started using on the Vines a few decades ago. It’s generally harmless, hence its cute name.” Wadaw shared while he pretended to listen to whatever Biti was talking about.

  “What’s “nasty” about it?” Leanna was the first to ask as usual.

  “It’ll boil you alive if it detects that you’re an enemy of the Sguvan government. Damn things have curtailed a lot of our operations around the Vines. They can scan and recognize faces so I hope these illusions are as good as they look.” Wadaw shared.

  “They are. That machine didn’t scan us, though. It only scanned the kids before it flew away.” Prism explained. He was using his expanded perception to observe their surroundings in addition to peering through his allies’ eyes from time to time. His ability to perceive nearly the entirety of the electromagnetic spectrum made it easy for him to tell what machines were doing. “Lucky for us since I’m not entirely sure where the soldiers you guys are pretending to be currently are,” Prism joked, though the others took him quite seriously.

  “Lucky indeed. The river-skitter would know.” Wadaw said.

  "Shouldn't we automatically know about this kind of stuff? Seems like something a Sguvan soldier would know about," Srell asked after Lorias calmed him down with a death stare.

  "Your automatic mental responses only cover basic personal information about the soldiers you're disguised as. That was all I could get from the Royalist without risking his mind fusing with mine. In any case, if I'd filled the illusion spell with a bunch of other knowledge then it would've made your disguises more and more fragile," shared Prism. He avoided telling his team that much of the information he'd taken from the Royalist's mind had already faded from his own. Prism counted himself lucky that there hadn't been a more adverse effect to the mind siphoning that he'd performed on the officer, whose name floated through his head like a ghost. "Hetal..." Prism thought silently. He dared not say it aloud for fear that he'd be subsumed by the guilt of leaving the young man a drooling invalid.

  Their truck continued down the road until they came upon a large roundabout in front of a wide, red, multi-story building right on the water. The building was a large wooden boathouse with the words "The Toto Inn" on its front in big white wooden letters directly above a prominent balcony that overlooked the roundabout.

  "Wowee..." Srell said aloud as he and the others looked up at the grand structure. "I wasn't expecting this! Looks like we'll be sleeping in style tonight!"

  "Seems a bit much for a small town," Lorias shared.

  "It doubles as an officer's club. Note the fancy cars parked out front." Wadaw shared along with his vantage point. Shiny black vehicles with round, sleek bodies lined the front of the hotel. There were a small group of drivers gathered nearby having a spirited discussion with one another. "And remember, this inn is right on the river. Plenty of travelers stay here on their way to Zazi," Wadaw shared as Biti began speaking to him.

  "I don't mean to pry but you look like you've been here before, sir." Biti said as he pulled around the circular road.

  "I've just heard a lot about this place, that's all." Wadaw said. They arrived at their destination just as his patience with the old man had worn thin.

  "Time to face the music." Prism faintly heard Ursun think to himself. The man's thought was suffused with so much emotion that the elementeitan couldn't help but detect it. "We need to be ready for the possibility that there are some officers here that will recognize the soldiers we're pretending to be." Ursun then shared with his team.

  "Yes, I considered that, too. The fortunate thing is that Mela has kept the place free from sophisticated monitoring tech. There's a security system with cameras and whatnot, but they aren't tied to a facial recognition database." Wadaw explained while putting the finishing touches on his chit-chat with Biti.

  "She must have quite some pull to have avoided those measures." Leanna looked impressed.

  "You guys know that I can manipulate any scans that are made of us. We don't have to worry about that." Prism was slow to share. There was an irritation in his sharing that told the others that he didn't like being underestimated.

  "You aren't infallible, Prism." Ursun shared with a bluntness that ended the conversation.

  "We are all quite appreciative for the ride, Biti. I'll look into your son once I get back on base. You needn't worry about him; I'll personally see to it that he's kept safe," said Wadaw in a saccharine voice. To hammer his sincerity home, Wadaw reached over to the man's head and rubbed Biti's forehead down from his hairline to his right eyebrow as if he was placing an invisible crown on the man's head one-handed. It was a gesture of great respect and affection between those who believed in the God-Queen and was not to be taken lightly.

  "By Eizavoba! That would make me a very happy father, sir!" Biti said as tears welled up in his eyes. The man was soon sobbing quietly. Wadaw squeezed him on the shoulder before leaving the vehicle. He gave the truck a pat, telling the others to get out of its bed.

  "Stupid queenie doesn't even know he's talking to a True Twin..." Srell shared after giving Biti an evil glance while the old man wiped the tears from his face.

  "Why are you like this? " Leanna shared along with a slap upside Srell's head that was seen by the group of drivers a few meters away. "He's a human being doing the best he can in this crazy world. He was just unlucky enough to be born here and not within the Conjunction."

  "Cut the childishness! We’re soldiers in the presence of one of the highest ranking officers in this country’s military; act like it!" Ursun bellowed through their telepathic link. “It’s bad enough that I have to carry Prism in like we’re delivering a prisoner to a black-site. We don’t need anymore attention on us.”

  Ursun’s sharp words made the others shape up quick and fall into two lines that Wadaw walked in front of.

  "That’s better. Now…it’s showtime," the fake Royalist lieutenant shared with the rest of them before leading them up to the large red doors of The Toto Inn.