Irene knocked hesitantly on the door, waited for a response and when none was forth coming entered cautiously.
"Uh... Sir... Are you in here?"
"No." Came the quiet response.
She fumbled for the light-switch since the blinds had been drawn leaving the office in almost total darkness. With the lights on she could see the room was almost empty, almost.
"Sir, you can't hide under your desk forever. You have responsibilities to fulfil."
"Yes I can. You can handle my responsibilities. It's what I pay you for isn't it? No one will notice." Replied the voice.
Irene walked around the desk and crouched down.
"Sir, you're the Principal. People expect a certain level of... Well, professionalism. Hunters are people like everyone else."
"No they're not! They're people with guns... And swords... And sticks with the fire and the burning and screaming, always with the screaming! Glaven!"
"But sir, your daughter was a Hunter. You should be used to that sort of thing."
"Are you kidding me? She's the worse of the lot. From the age of five she terrified me and her mother with her superhuman strength and predilection for blades and giant nightmare-ish monsters from other worlds." Tyrell's voice lowered to a whisper and he leaned closer to her. "To tell you the truth, I'm kind of glad she disappeared... A bad seed that one you mark my words. I only asked the Hunters to look for her to keep up appearances. I didn't think they might actually find her again."
"Uh... Sir? Please stop looking up my dress."
"Sorry. Old habit." Tyrell averted his gaze slowly.
There was a loud knock on the door followed by the sounds of the door opening and heavy metal footsteps approaching them.
"Principal Tyrell? The MyTea B.O.C. reporting for D.U.T... And Y."
Irene stood up quickly.
"He's under the desk." She said.
"If you fleshies are busy I can always come back later?" Said BOC half-turning to leave.
Irene's cheeks turned a bright shade of red.
"I... He... We... Never would even think about..." She paused and looked down. "Sir, PLEASE stop looking up my dress."
BOC reached over and lifted the desk easily with one hand to reveal Principal Tyrell huddled underneath. The Principal smiled weakly and gave a little wave.
"We're beginning the security preparations for the awards ceremony. Would you like to have a look around, make sure that everything is satisfactory?" BOC asked him.
"No no no. That's quite unnecessary. I'm sure that the HCIU will handle everything adequately. You may go now." He added dismissing BOC with a wave of his wave.
BOC would have raised a metal eyebrow in response, but they had been shot off so long ago that he could no longer remember in what muddy field back on Coral they were buried. Instead he shrugged and replaced the desk over the Principal and left.
"Did you see that? The look in his eyes? That android was mere miliBeats away from murdering me, I can feel it in my bones."
"Sir, you're just being paranoid. I'm sure he would never intentionally hurt you."
"Am I Irene? Am I? It's paranoia that has kept me alive so far. Since I started hiding under my desk no one has killed me, therefore it works."
"Sir, please stop looking up my dre... Oh, what's the point?"
-----
Marla surveyed the scenes of commotion around the Central Plaza. Workers hurried to finish assembling the stage in time for the awards ceremony while her three deputies arranged the flimsy metal crowd fences into place. Spectators loitered in the immediate vicinity but these were mainly Hunters waiting for a fight to break out since the general public was not allowed entry.
The ceremony itself was to be nothing really fancy overall. There were many categories so as to keep the rioting to a minimum. For example; 'Most Rappies slaughtered in a hundred Beat period', 'Most Boomas slaughtered in a hundred Beat period', 'Most Sharks slaughtered in a hundred Beat period', you get the idea. But there were also many non-combat awards; 'Most inventive use of ASCII characters in a name', 'Most provocative end-screen pose by a female', 'Most provocative end-screen pose by a male' and of course, 'Most revealing outfit for a HUnewearl'.
"What's with the sudden demand for security? Did the Principal sleep with someone's wife again? And isn't this interfering with our investigation into the kidnap of the fine robot sister?" Bernie asked her.
"Bernie. If you use the words 'Fine', 'Robot' and 'Sister' in the same sentence once more I swear to the Light I'm going to shoot you again."
"Sorry."
Silence.
"Uh... Marla? You didn't answer my questions."
"Oh, right. Not sure, but this is an opportunity for the HCIU to prove that we're not just a bunch of clumsy, weirdo, psychopathic, lazy, sex-crazed morons who are just a waste of perfectly good tax-payer's money. Besides, I need a little bit of time to analyse the clues."
Bernie's brow furrowed deep in thought for a few moments.
"Hey! I'm not clumsy!" He protested. "Still, I'm not sure why he's so worried, assassinations are quite rare these days. Sure half of the Hunters Guild are assassins, but in all fairness, they're usually busy trying to assassinate the other half so it's alright."
"Speaking of assassins, didn't you think it was weird that we saw Anti-Tank this morning?"
"I'm not sure what you mean. Were you expecting her to hide unseen in the shadows or something?"
"No, no. I'm talking about her showing up just before this important awards ceremony. I think it's too suspicious to be a co-incidence." She said solemnly.
"Have you completely lost your mind? We're situated in a city set on a spaceship orbiting an alien planet. Where exactly is she supposed to be then?"
"Well I'm talking about seeing her with BOC. It's strange."
"Strange? Even androids need love." Bernie started to grin. "Besides, you've entrusted all the security arrangements for today to him right? He's a tough old boot, I don't think you have anything to worry about."
Marla did not answer, she was lost in thoughtful silence.