"B - Berto. Roberto. Berto - " Max stuttered loudly. He couldn't seem to get a word in edgewise; the woman on the other end was talking rapidly in Spanish, and she had a big voice.

"May I please - " He paused when the woman suddenly stopped her ramblings and was replaced by the soft sound of movements.

"Hello?" Suddenly came a younger, gentle voice. This sounded much more like a family Berto could be related to.

"Hi. I'm looking for Berto."

"You've reached his home residence. Berto is staying in Del Oro Bay right now. He works at N-Tek."

"Yes, this IS N-Tek. I was under the conception that he was called home."

"Under the misconception, I'm afraid."

"Is this one of his sisters?"

"Si. This is Isabelle."

"Hi, Isabelle. This is Max -"

"Ah yes. We have heard of you."

"I've heard of you too. Listen, Berto told me, a few days ago, that he received a message from home and had to meet some one, and no one has seen him since. We thought that maybe he went home."

"One moment... " There was a string of conversation in the background between Isabelle and possibly two or three other women. The discussion was quiet with short pauses between each of them. Their words sounded confused. Finally, Berto's sister came back to the receiver, speaking a bit hesitantly at first. "Uhm... no one here has sent any message to Berto... are you sure he said it was his family?"

"Yeah. He said one of his sisters."

"Maybe he meant someone else's sister?"

Max was still for a moment. Something was seriously up. "Yeah, come to think of it, you're probably right. He must be with a friend."

"Uhm... Senior Max, how long has he been gone?" Isabelle was starting to sound just a bit irritated, her voice laced with worry.

"Three days now - "

"Shouldn't you be worried?"

Max felt a little embarrassed. "Yes, of course, ma'am, that's why I called - " Max was abruptly cut off by another voice, possibly another sister who had snatched the phone.

"Senior, where is our baby brother?" Came the sharp demand, anger making the accent thick. "If something has happened to him, you can be sure - "

"Ma'am, I promise I'm going to get to the bottom of this. We'll call you just as soon as we get a hold of him. I'm sure he's fine..." Five minutes and several excuses later, a rattled Max finally hung up the phone. He never got over how protective those women all were. Though, being the baby of a large family did that, he supposed.

Max bit his lip and creased his brow, deep in thought. Then he whirled about, jogging down the corridor to find Berto's quarters.