The flight was totally cramped, but it could've been far worse. These hyperdrive pods were much faster than any standard craft- and if Braxiatel's warning indeed held any water, its small size and low noise profile should keep things discreet. She didn't need to pack much or bring back anything but the piece of seal, nor would the flight be long enough for it to leave her in want of the jacuzzi that his fancy personal shuttle offered.

The seat was padded, she had a book, and for these next few hours, that would do.

Joseph was stowed- (with some protest) inside her bags, not bouncing around the cabin as he once did when she made a rather unwise estimate of quite how bumpy the ride could be. He'd be useful as a scout, a navigator, and an emergency beacon in case she needed rescue. Not just a glorified diary and clock anymore. Still an absolute snark though.

The planet finally came into view. Turning from a tiny glowing speck to an orb full of life when the pod grew close, it seemed to be more land than sea, plenty of green that was likely rainforest or jungle with Irving's descriptions and her research, and the familiar tans of desert. But there was also a huge mass of silver in a spot to the north, expanding in all directions as a gleaming eight-pointed star.

The colony.

It seemed to encroach the planet like a weed, trying to strangle it with long tendrils of silver metal, choking out the life from its natural ecosystems. Most colonies were far more efficient than that nowadays. Or was it styled to look like that just for kicks? The sheen was reminiscent of bad memories- she scarcely cared for the look of bare metal anymore.

Bernice swallowed.

Not a great first impression.

She stopped the pod and held it in space while she fumbled for the artron signature tracker in her bag, dropping the heavy object on her foot and wincing in the process. Benny would probably have to go around the planet once or twice to find the general area of the reading's origin.

After some swearing at the pain, she picked it up and did a couple of orbits. With this, she was able to confirm that it was indeed at the heart of the colony. Where the government she was expressly told to be cautious of was.

Wonderful.

At least this thing, tiny as it was, could easily pass by any shielding or surveillance meant for bigger ships. Cloaking was as simple as a shimmer so it wouldn't be visible to cameras or the naked eye.

Coming down into the atmosphere to land, Bernice found a clear enough area that still wasn't too exposed. This needed to be gentle, there wasn't much shock absorption. She took in a deep breath and began to let it fall.

Gingerly, the pod descended into the shade of one of the massive metal buildings and extended its landing legs, firmly planting itself on solid ground. It was easy as could be, thank the goddess for flat concrete.

She disabled the cloaking and flicked the door switch, unbuckling and standing up. Her legs were numb and it ached even more when she felt the earth beneath her feet send a painful shock up her nerves, but she'd manage with a good stretch.

Benny grabbed her bags and finally freed Joseph of his confinement from the one she'd be leaving inside the ship. The robot floated up over her head to look down at her. He was clearly disgruntled with the arrangement, much as his grin didn't seem to show it.

She brushed herself off, not even bothering to make her eyes follow him with the bleak grey of absolutely everything making her lose track. "Alright, Joseph. I would say sorry for zipping you up in there, but last time I brought you free-floating in this thing you nearly gave me a concussion."

He let out a mechanical sigh. "Yes, Bernice. I understand it was necessary for travelling to do it in this method. That does not mean it was comfortable."

"It was bloody cramped on my end too! And you're a robot, you're not supposed to be able to feel discomfort- oh, for the love of- just let me grab the tent and my sleeping bag..."

With how big this mission was, it would undoubtedly be multiple days. And if she wanted to lay low, a hotel wasn't ideal. So she'd be camping again, as had been usual until just over a month ago. It was hardly bad, she was used to roughing it after all.

She took each of the camping supplies, specially packed to compress into two eight-inch cubes. Dull-coloured, when the tent expanded it was barely visible in the gunmetal grey of the industrial surroundings.

Placing a tracker inside so she'd be able to find it again, Benny took in a deep breath, put on her satchel, and stood tall. She took a deep breath of the air, and immediately regretted it because of the smell, but didn't let it phase her.

"Come on, Joseph. We're going to do some of what I do best. Finding bloody old pieces of broken pottery."

Bernice walked towards the light to the edge of an alleyway and stayed close to the wall as she peeked around the corner, surveying the surroundings.

...Interesting.

This world had slidewalks- now those were old school. Sidewalks made of escalator parts that moved on conveyor belts, primitive things, really. A passing fad of taking the older invention outside and giving it a flashy new name, they were mostly back where they belonged in transit bays these days. That had to date the age of this colony to... early 23rd Century. Vintage.

They still moved smoothly though, and had passengers going both directions. Which meant the place was well taken care of, at the very least.

Which also meant that security wasn't going to be poor either. Keeping even the pedestrians on rails meant surveillance was easy.

The people here were mostly dressed in neutral tones, and a few different species mingled. Predominantly human, but also...

Cruk.

Draconians.

They didn't even care for humans- why here?

She tried to rationalize it.

Well, it was Draconian space after all, maybe this dreary keysmash-for-a-name was one of the worlds that replaced Heaven as a neutral ground, a total opposite to anywhere that could turn their dead against them. Which was already unfortunate for more reasons than one. If she got caught here, everything could be ruined, not just their chances of recovering the seal...

"Brax," she muttered through gritted teeth. Oh, she hated that man sometimes. Much as she cared for him, much as he was a best friend, much as she immensely enjoyed dating him thus far, leaving out details where they would be particularly crucial even when he told her anything at all was something Irving just never seemed to stop doing. "I am absolutely having a talk with him later. God knows- maybe five minutes from now. ...Joseph, could you get some altitude and make me a map of the area? I don't need much detail, but I do need my bearings if I want to blend in well enough."

"Yes, Bernice. One moment."

He ascended high, still remaining in the shade of a large building, and grinned down at the passersby. Well, it would've looked like a grin if the orb was a noticeable difference in the routine everybody seemed so caught up in.

Joseph scanned the surroundings and dropped down again, falling like a stone and stopping himself from a very explosive meeting with the ground a mere six feet above it. When he reached his final height, he merrily beeped.

"I will send the map to your holowatch."

"Good. Speaking of my holowatch, I'm gonna go call Brax now," she murmured, taking the hand with it out of her pocket and sneaking back towards the landing site. Knowing what she knew now, Bernice was cautious even when slipping through the alleyways, keeping her back to the wall and constantly scanning from side to side.

When she finally dove inside the tent, she sealed it tight so no sound would make it through, dragging in Joseph right after her.

Dialling him up, all that the comms device returned with was static. Benny swore and hit her wrist against the floor a few times, but to no avail. Nothing worked.

Benny groaned. "Ugh- Joseph, I'm not getting any signal. That's not supposed to happen."

He chirped, the cheerful tone undercutting his statement. "That may be because the planet has a jamming field, and only the permitted frequencies can make it through by normal means. As it happens, your holowatch, the ship's communicator, and I do not use them."

She swore under her breath a few times. A jamming field? That was worrying. "Well.. bollocks. You could've said before we entered the atmosphere" But his wording certainly made her curious. "...Are there any abnormal means then?"

"I could use the trans-temporal data link and connect to the Braxiatel Collection through time rather than space," he suggested.

"Good- try that then."

"There may be signal interference or disconnections from the distortions of the anomaly in the area, but if you wish I will try."

"I said go for it, Joseph. Call him up."

The porter beeped and a few seconds later, a holographic image of Braxiatel flickered to life, rustling through papers and sipping a cup of tea from an intricate bone china cup.

"Brax!"

He choked on his tea when she shouted his name. Suffice it to say, he was a bit startled. Clearing his throat, he was finally able to respond. "...Ah- Benny? I see you've landed on the planet?"

She shot him a glare.

"Irving Braxiatel!"

His expression sank.

"...Oh dear."

She started listing off all the things that were wrong here- and there was an awful lot of them. "This is a Draconian inhabited world. Why didn't you tell me? Wasn't one of the clauses on your agreement with them that I'm not allowed on them without papers unless it's an emergency landing? Obviously, I've done neither of those things. One of your ways of protecting the Collection is up in the air now- what the hell were you thinking!?"

"I'm aware of the risks, but the universe is rather important. You wanted an adventure, and I- I shouldn't have done this without telling you. But if you went through the proper channels then they'd know you'd be there. And if we want to get what we want- they shouldn't."

She rolled her eyes. "But now if I get recognized I'm instantly on the hit list. I'm not suspicious for acting strange, I'm suspicious for being me."

He placed a suggestion out for her. "I know of a possible solution. In the hyperdrive pod, above the viewport, there's a compartment with a remote. Find it, and if you're trapped in a tight corner, activate it. That should drain the fuel rods from your ship."

Her eyes widened.

"Drain the what?!"

He gestured for her to pipe down and explained. "If you've 'run out of fuel,' you have an alibi that isn't disprovable. If they try to strong-arm you, I could get you Jack. Even if they do suspect you're on the planet for nefarious means, my... our people aren't permitted imprisonment without evidence."

The unlawful imprisonment statute was among the more useful ones- but if anyone wasn't a good idea to bring here, it was Jack. That Kadeptian wouldn't be able to blend in for five minutes. She raised an eyebrow.

"As a lawyer or as a liability?"

"...I'll send legal counsel other than Jack."

"But how am I supposed to get off then?" That was the pointed question.

"I'd come to get you if I could, but there isn't enough time going around even for me. Perhaps I could send Peter- and Jason needs to start pulling his weight, if he could manage not to say something offensive to you for a few hours..." Braxiatel sighed. This was already far less easy than he'd hoped.

But she only shook her head. "No, no. Brax. I don't need reinforcements... yet. All that I need right now is two words." She gazed at him sternly.

"...Fuel rods?"

"No."

"...Love you?"

"No."

"Wait- ah."

"Say it..."

"Benny, I- I'm sorry. Truly."

Bernice sighed, in both exhaustion and slight fondness for his obliviousness. "Thank you. I forgive you. For now. I know you're not used to it, but- tell me things next time!"

He nodded, rubbing his temple and looking back at her longingly. "I am trying to be better at telling important truths to who they're relevant to- unfortunately it's rather fighting my nature. I'll work harder at that, I promise. You won't be let down next time."

"I know you-"

The signal glitched and froze, closing itself after a couple of seconds.

"-won't. Bollocks."

She scowled at the now empty void where an image of Brax once stood. Bernice scoffed. She didn't even get to finish. That was certainly different to how things were going lately. And definitely not in a good way. Well... not finishing at all nowadays generally wasn't a good thing. Just last night she'd been finishing a lot-

"Mind out of the gutter, Bernice. You have a universe to prevent from being unravelled."

That was a bold claim. If she was lucky enough to find this piece of the seal, if this anomaly even was from a piece of it- she'd still have to find goddess knew how many more. But it might just keep her from being both frustrated and having a hopelessly perverted mind to get through this without doing questionable things in her tent to images of Braxiatel by nightfall. ...Provided she didn't get arrested, anyway. That bit of the plan was rather more important than her libido.

Putting those thoughts out of her mind, she unzipped the tent and stood back up in the alleyway, briefly nipping back into the pod to find the remote. She found the compartment, and reluctantly took it with her.

"Okay, Joseph. We're going out there and I'm going to look as boring as possible. You're going to stay out of sight and I'm going to walk like I'm an ordinary worker on my morning commute. Got it?"

"You are not an ordinary worker on your morning commute, nor would you be believable in that role," he huffed.

She snarked back at him. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Your denial of this fact is inconsistent with your previous actions," he only continued.

Said by the diary of a woman who regularly rewrote the truth until she could face it. "You of all people should know that I'm an unreliable narrator- now shut up and hurry it up."

Bernice found an opening and rushed her way into the flow of foot traffic. The place was so crowded that it was difficult not to step on any toes. But she did manage not to get noticed right away, which was a good sign. Everyone seemed to be paying attention to their own destinations. Or to something, at least.

She regularly took glances down at the tracker, trying to determine which direction was closer to the signal. But she couldn't tell yet. Without enough luck, she'd go completely off-base long before it got weak enough to show any sort of difference.

Her eyes followed Joseph, hovering in the shadows- and from what she could tell, avoiding cameras.

Her holowatch had the map he'd made, and occasionally she'd get a look at that too.

Interesting.

Perhaps she was going the right way.

Because there was a warehouse not too far up ahead.

She followed her instincts and let the slidewalks lead her to it. Just to take a quick peek. If nothing else, it could give her a better idea of how this colony lived by seeing their supplies.

Every street was just as grey as the next. Benny felt like nothing had colour anymore, and it was making her uneasy again. On the bright side, her instincts seemed to be at least half-right, because the energy levels were slowly ticking up as she moved forward.

There were a few suspicious glances from strangers as she looked at the foreign device, but nobody really paid any attention to her. Few let themselves be distracted from their trips at all. It wasn't much of a shock for no one to be smiling in a place like this, but nobody frowned either. Everyone just had eyes glazed over, moving in patterns. The government really must be as bad as Irving had said. It was all work here, every person a cog in the industrial machine.

But she wouldn't let them distract her either. The warehouse was so close she could practically taste it.

...Actually, she could.

She really could.

The taste of the air was growing more metallic, and Benny could get a whiff of ozone along with faint notes of past memories. She knew that feeling all too well- the smell of raw time.

She picked up the pace and got off the slidewalk at the first opportunity. A few strangers didn't seem so happy with her urgency, but she didn't utter a word. If her face wouldn't be recognized, combined with her voice it was hard to miss. She only briefly allowed herself to look vaguely apologetic before power-walking towards the source of the reading.

She already wanted to get out of here, and if this job could be quick, she'd make it quick.

And then, she saw it.

Enormous and looming, the warehouse stood as a mass that blotted out what little sunlight this city got just because of its sheer size. While flatter than the skyscrapers, it was simply so wide that it left everything in front of it in the shade for over a hundred feet.

Along with that, the readings on the scanner were strong and definite.

She stepped into its shadow and felt the air grow cold. Approaching slowly, it was simply so dark that she had to turn on her holowatch's torch to see the details in hopes of getting a look at the entrance. Bernice wasn't just going to waltz through the front door of course, that would be silly- so when she finally reached it, she immediately turned left and began walking around the building's massive perimeter.

After what felt like hours, Benny finally found a side door. There weren't any windows to break into, so this was the best she was getting unless she wanted to crawl through vents.

Taking the sonic screwdriver she nicked from the Doctor out of her pocket, she soniced the door and heard the familiar click. This door used a digital locking mechanism- pickproof... unless you had one of these.

She smirked at the easy success and glanced up at the white orb levitating behind her. "Joseph- wait out here, keep watch."

"Yes, Bernice. In fact, I was about to advise that I do just that."

He stood still in the air and she slowly turned the handle of the door. Tentatively, Benny opened it enough to get through, and she slipped past.

She was in.