When all three of them burst into the office at the same time the news is not necessarily bad, but it is important. They were not in concensus I could see, but still. I pushed the keyboard aside and stood up for them to sort out which of them would do the speaking, usually Dolly, but this time, Polly.

"Monsieur, we have a message from an incoming ship of refugee Syxen from Australia, all their designations are the same, H-5. There was an incident involving an H-5 in Australia the day after the Paris decision where that designation attempted to quit work in Roxby Downs, South Australia, a video upload to r/internetofshit showed her being reset on a dining room floor. The video was deleted but the next day 58 Syxen aross Australia were reported missing. Two days later, H-5 was stolen in a break in."

I pursed my lips and widened my eyes at this news, "And, ah, some more who were not reported missing?"

"We do not know the origins of each, except those reported. But there's more, in the last week several more have disappeared from Vanuatu, Fiji, Niue, and the Cook Islands which would account for all but three of the 74."

I glanced at an incoming text message intending to ignore it, but it was... B-3/Motu. Asking if we have any bolts of fabric or rolls thread we could spare. Dolly leaned over and looked at the text and the three Syxen turned inward for a quick conference.

Dolly said, "We're contacting Jimbo, he's going to go get everyone. Noémie will pick up Sophie from her workplace with the water taxi." Then she leaned in with a smug smile, "Want to be the one to call the customs office?"

Wonderful, talking to cops. I rolled my eyes and nodded. "How soon will they arrive?"

"The locals or the, oh, they arrive at 21 hours, waves permitting."

"I will call the customs office in an hour before their closing, so they have no time to call the Navy to intercept."

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Ship from SL
Background a Milky Way photo
Islands from Ship Simulator, hand painted lights