Overflow - Chapter 3.2

The two of them crossed through a several tunnels, on the way to the eatery. The floors were originally polished but now almost every inch had been scuffed or dirtied by the heavy boots of the people who frequented them. They had reached the eatery, the sound of people talking and the aroma of hot food confirmed that. It looked exactly like the name implies, there were tables everywhere with people crammed on them. A line of people with bowls and containers waited as a connecting window had food served out of it, the kitchen only let the kitchen staff could enter so Reece immediately ruled that out as an option.

“The kitchens a no for obvious reasons.” Soria mirrored Reece’s thoughts. “We already passed the living quarters and unless he’s found someone to accommodate him then he shouldn’t be there.”

“Most people know each other, so I doubt anyone would let a stranger hang around their sleeping places.” Reece continued.

“Exactly, now I’ll check the east side and keep an eye on the restroom doors.” Soria said pointing at the two doors that lead to the restrooms. She pointed to the other side. “You check the west side. You know what he looks like so you have an advantage. If you see him, start making small talk, don’t wait for me. He could run off in that time.”

“I don’t know much about his personality but I’ll try to keep him occupied.” Reece said, nodding to affirm with Soria’s plan.

“Got it, good luck Reece.” She said in turn before walking headlong into the crowd, disappearing into the sea of noise and people.

Reece started into the crowd, pushing past people and apologising profusely to everyone he bumped or inconvenienced. We aren’t detectives. He thought. Why are we doing this? For fun?

No that couldn’t be it. From what he remembered Soria had explained to him that if there was someone you didn’t trust or necessarily like, then one should dig up as much information on them a possible. Preferably bad since even if they can’t trust them or get used to them then at least they could blackmail that person as a last resort.

He shuddered, it was terrifying to think about that woman’s train of thought for too long. Reece pushed that out of his mind and decided if he had gotten permission from Bert then he would make full use of it. Reece stopped in his tracks. What was he even supposed to say to Quinton if he did find him?

There was a multiple questions he wanted to ask, such as: Why you acting all suspicious and skulking around? Or maybe. What were you doing on that boat, even though the area was poisoned by oil? Did you know something about the Overflow? Reece decided to improvise. Shooting out questions one after another often led to confusion and suspicion.

Reece pushed past a Harvester getting dried mud on his maintenance uniform. Harvesters did exactly as their name implied, they harvested and foraged edible and usable materials outside the citadel. Such as a few types of moss that tasted like pepper, swamp reeds, several types’ mushrooms and fungus and an assortment of other usable ingredients, either for medicinal or cooking purposes. Because they went out into the mud to harvest and forage, they had to wear bulky protective suits. The plastic material of these suits made the mud easy to wash off but it still managed to stick to the surface. There were only two harvesters in this citadel, and judging by stature this one was Mezza. She had forgotten to wash off mud on an almost unreachable part of the suit.

“Mezza. You got shit on your suit.” Reece said, tapping her shoulder.

Mezza turned to face him. Her eyes were sunken and there were dark circles under her eyes, her blonde hair was matted and dirty. She was a mess, but that’s what she signed up for. None of the jobs in any of the citadels were forced, most were passed down by parents teaching their children a particular craft. But there were a few who diverged from the path and learnt under another or found an entirely different path in life.

“Your Reece right? The maintenance worker, the tool that never loses a tool.” Reece nodded, unfazed by her comment, he had heard it all. Mezza handed him a rag. “Thanks. Could you get it for me, I can’t reach that part of the suit.”

Reece begrudgingly did as he was told, scraping dried mud off and the centre of her back. “Real presumptuous of you to ask me to do this you know.” He said more fazed by her previous comment then he would like to admit.

“I know, I’m sorry. If there’s anything I can do tell me.” Surprisingly she said it with a sincerity that Reece found a little confronting.

“Alright then. Uh… oh yeah have you seen a guy with dark hair and a maintenance jumpsuit like mine?”

“Mopey attitude? Skinny as anything?”

“Yeah that’s it! Where is he?” Reece said, his mood instantly improving. She pointed towards one of the tables in the corner. The table was near a water cooler so it was crowded but he did see a person with dark hair with his head resting on the table as if he was asleep. Reece grinned. That was a simple but smart play. One could sit in a crowded area and sleep and because most of the people knew what it was like to be that tired they would leave that person alone. Unless of course Quint was actually sleeping.

Reece thanked the Harvester and continued through the eatery towards the table at the back right corner. He had to squeeze past people who had their chair too far out and cut through a particularly long line to get there but when he did he found Soria already sitting across from the guy.

She must’ve gotten tipped off too. To find him this fast. Reece mused. It seems their fellow workers and residents of citadel-50, were more attentive then they thought

The table was empty, most likely because of Soria’s presence or because she had ordered people to clear off, the general lull of noise in the room would mask their conversation. They had gotten lucky.

Soria saw Reece approach and motioned to a seat beside her. Heaving himself into the chair he leant back and examined the “sleeping” man across the table. He had dark hair, similar to Soria. His skin was a sun tanned white like Reece’s and he had stubble speckled on his chin.

Soria reached across the table and jabbed the man, right in-between the shoulder blades. Reece reminded himself not to fall asleep in front of her.

“If he stays down he’s faking it.” Reece said to Soria. He turned back to face Quinton. “Hey friend, we need to chat.”

Reece heard the man flinch and look up. His eyes were green and as soon as he saw the pair addressing him they quivered. He knew he couldn’t use whatever façade he used on everyone else. He seemed to freeze up but he quickly feigned a yawn.

Why is he still doing this? Reece thought. Hasn’t he been carefully avoiding us this entire time?

“H-hey guys.” Quint said. “Isn’t it common courtesy to not wake a sleeping fellow up? I’m tired you know.”

“What?” Reece thought aloud, he was dumbfounded. Was he stupid? They had him but still he kept face. Was he trying to throw them off?

“Oh hey you’re a m-maintenance guy, like me… how’s things.” Quint said, his stuttering and hesitating was the only evidence Reece needed. This Quint was definitely suspicious, no doubt about it.

“Oh my, you have our apologies. You must be tired, please forgive us for disturbing your slumber.” Soria said suddenly. She was taking the diplomatic approach, her tone shifted into a civil but firm manner and her posture straightened.

Quint face softened and he leant back into his chair. Visibly relaxed by Soria’s demeanour. “Well it’s good that you apologised.” He was began getting back into his sleeping positon. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”

“Wait.” Soria said. “While I do apologise for the rude awakening. My friend and I have a few questions we wish to have answered.”

He didn’t look back up, he did however tense up and tried to bury himself into his arm. Reece could safely assume that this Quint - if that was even his name - was not a fool, but he seemed to handle confrontation poorly, maybe they could exploit that. “Y-yeah I thought so.” Quinton said, still hiding his face. Reece saw his hand move around the inner pocket of his Jumpsuit, but he didn’t think much of it.

“First of all.” Soria said, still playing the friendly diplomat. “Why where you avoiding us? We checked every corner of this place and even on the outer groundwork. We only wanted to ask a few questions, you have no reason to be this suspicious.” The look in Soria’s eyes told Reece that she thought he did have such a reason, and by the Mire was she going to find out.

Quint looked up genuinely surprised, concern sprung up on his face, too much so for it to be an act. “You guys were following me?” He asked. “I just wanted an alibi, I climbed those pipes and moved around quickly so people wouldn’t ask too many questions. You’d be surprised what you can do with a little confidence and a decent stride.” His voice seemed to be filled with pride as he added that last part.

“I see.” Said Soria. “Reece what do you think.”

Reece shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The benches were made of metal, which was not good for sitting in for prolonged periods of time. The seats were purposefully uncomfortable to encourage people using them to eat quickly and not mill about, a smart play Reece originally thought but now he didn’t think so. Especially since there was a few spare nuts and washers in his back pocket, at least he remembered they were there now.

“Reece!” Soria repeated, now looking at him, a frown crossing her features. “I asked what you think of this guy’s story.”

“Oh yeah, uh.” Reece said hurriedly. “I think he’s right. If I was trying to blend in and already had a maintenance jumpsuit, walking around with a purpose and randomly inspecting certain pieces of equipment would do the trick. And the people around here know not to bother me or any of the other maintenance crew when were busy.”

Reece noticed Soria gritting her teeth in the corner of his eye. He immediately dismayed, he was supposed to play an aggressive and apprehensive role, intimidating Quint while Soria played the voice of reason. The balance would’ve made the man’s secrets seep out like the oil. There was no turning back now, Reece would have to play a friendly role as well to avoid suspicion.

“I-I thought it would be good too. But I didn’t think that far ahead.” Quint said nervously, nodding appreciatively at Reece as if to say ‘thanks for backing me up’. Was he playing a role? Trying to be in character? Or was he just this unnaturally nervous. Reece had so many questions, but he had to get close first.

“Hey Quint. Are you an actual Maintenance worker or is that all that just for show.” Reece asked. Pushing the boundaries.

Quint nodded. “Well I was, for a bit.” Unfortunately he didn’t render the question to its fullest, that or he chose to ignore it.

“No, not here. Back at your citadel.”

“I was, for a bit. I just told you.” Quint frowned, and glanced at Soria who was watching silently. Waiting.

“Oh sorry, it thought you were making a joke about the…” Reece trailed off as he saw Quint’s face light up, as he just realised what he had said.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to do that, but hey at least my subconscious knows how to be funny.” He chuckled to himself. He turned back to Reece, less nervous. He was growing friendlier, good. Only a bit longer before he became an open book.

“To answer your question… Reece?” He paused to check if he pronounced Reece’s name right, a slight nod of approval from Reece was enough. Quint continued. “I did work maintenance back at citadel-65, before…”

“Take your time.” Soria said, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“R-right. Well back there, I never actually did much in the way of maintenance. Mostly just cleaning and such. We had a big enough team already and they needed extra hands for cleaning.”

“Why the need for cleaners, were people less responsible on sixty five?” Reece asked.

“No, I think it was more just the larger population, and the few assholes who didn’t help out.” Quint said with a flare of emotion that caught Reece a little off guard.

“I see.” Said Soria suddenly. “Well then, enough pleasantries. It’s about time we get into the meat of this discussion, don’t you think?”

“Yeah.” Quint said. He leaned forward and rested his head on his fists, facing down. Soria remained in an upright posture. She was often reserved with people, unless playing into a role that fit the circumstances. Reece had only seen her truly relax around him, He smiled at the thought.

“Ignore my friend, Quint. He’s probably got something disgusting at the forefront of his mind, if he’s smiling creepily like that.” Soria said, although it was too alleviate the tension, it still hurt Reece.

“What?! No I don’t. I was thinking about you that’s all.” Reece blurted out, playing into his role, he felt the blood rush to his face. It would fit the role but you couldn’t fake it either. Soria would definitely not forget about this.

“Like I said, disgusting thoughts.” Soria said, completely unfazed. “It’s good to finally talk to someone civilised. You wouldn’t believe the people around here, Quint.” He had no response but he seemed less tense. It was working

“I’m telling you Soria. That’s not what I was thinking about.” Reece said. He opened his mouth to continue but the look from Soria shut him up. Now he felt like a fool. It would be better if he just keep quiet and let Soria take the lead on this one.

Soria sighed, at Reece’s slip up. “Well then Quint, Reece here spoke with your friend Wilton the Reliant priest. And he sure had some interesting things to say about you.” Quinton winced but made no move.

Suspicious, he better have a damn good explanation for that. Reece thought.

Soria continued. “I would like to know why you were out in a boat in heavily polluted waters and why only you and several Reliant priests escaped an Overflow.”