Cover

Find a job you love,
and you never work a day in your life
because you have fun with it. Right?
So I'll be a singer like Gilly Fly,
And they'll show me on TV
Except I'll do science instead of math.

The Great Zapfish is missing.

Marie smiles as they go through today's stages, piping up with her sarcastic comments and playing off Callie as normal, but she's only half paying attention. The rest of her mind's on her job. Her real job.

Even without Gramps telling her, she knows it's the Octarian's doing. Agents 1 and 2 will need to do some more work. But when? Keeping their cover is vital; they can't have Octarians targeting them when they sleep. But between the news and their other responsibilities, the only times they'll have to get back the Zapfish will be between midnight and five in the morning.

Marie sees a lot of very late nights in their future.

At last, they're done with their broadcast. Callie looks at her with big eyes, holds up her phone, and puts it away; Marie knows that code. Callie'll be the distraction while Marie calls.

They go to the viewing room first. Everyone can see them, sure, but not hear them. Callie goes straight to the window and starts waving at people, making a big deal about admiring a jelly's new shoes or the rankings on the cards proud turfers hold out; Marie faces the corner so no one can read her lips and makes a call.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Gramps," Marie says. Even though no one can hear her but Callie, she keeps her voice low. "Do we have a starting point yet?"

"Well, if it isn't my greenest grand-daughter!" Captain Cuttlefish laughs. "How's your job going?"

Marie lets out a breath of annoyance. "Gramps," she says again, then changes her mind. "Captain Cuttlefish," she says, "this is Agent 2. What are our current leads on The Great Zapfish?"

"That is none of your concern, Agent." Captain Cuttlefish's voice goes cold. "The situation is under control."

An icicle of fear wedges in Marie's stomach. "You're not going in the field." Cod, please no, Gramps is—

"I'm not, I assure you," Gramps says. He lets out a sigh. "We discussed this: you two have foolproof cover and you're in a good position to keep all Inkopolis safe, or at least calm and unworried, without agent work. Your cover has to come first here."

Marie rubs her beak. "But Inkopolis—"

"Inkopolis will be fine," Gramps assures her. "I'm recruiting a new agent, Agent 3. We'll take care of things."

Marie's stomach drops to her toes. "Gramps, have you ever actually recruited an agent?"

"I recruited you and One, didn't I?"

"We're different." Marie sighs and resists the urge to chew on her tentacles—but she kicked that habit years ago and besides, that's why she's got them tied up out of reach. "That was a lot more—personal. You had more information."

"Oh, I'm sure I can recruit a good agent, even without those advantages." Gramps laughs. "And I used to all the time, back before you were even a blob of ink. You just keep your head on your job."

"But Gramps—"

"I'll contact you if there's anything you can do," Gramps says, and his voice softens. "And I'll keep you updated. If you're needed, if you can do anything without compromising your cover or your health, I'll let you know at once."

"But Gramps—" Marie says, only to find he's hung up on her. She glares at the phone, shoves it in her pocket, and stomps over to her chair.

Callie sits a moment after, and offers her a lollipop. "Are we scheduling a vacation?"

Marie selects one and bites it, snapping it off the stick. "No."