Circe started talking as soon as they got in the car.

"Are you a real mermaid? Are you royalty? Do you live in the water? This is a really nice car; can I drive? Where are we going?" The brunette's questions fired one after another without waiting for a response.

"Whoa!" Penelope held up her hand. "Why don't we give her a chance to answer one question before you ask another one?"

"I know, this is all just so cool!" Circe honed in on the beautiful woman's exposed arms. "Is that your real skin color?"

Lady Husley smiled, revealing a row of shark-like teeth. "Yes, it is." She ran her left hand over her right arm. "If I remember correctly, Humans don't have this pigment?"

"We don't." Circe breathed. "Are all the mermaids like that, or are you special?"

"I'm not a Mermaid." Lady Husley sat straighter in her seat, then crossed her legs and wiggled her toes. "Mermaids don't have these."

"Oh." Circe looked down at her hands in her lap.

"I'm part of the Mebope remnant. Our homeworld was lost almost three centuries ago. Now there are a few clusters of us here and there, but we have no real nation to call our own." The silver woman took a deep breath. "I understand that you aren't aware of the state of things in the greater universe, but know that most of the remnant won't be as understanding if you confuse us with our waterbound cousins."

"Yes, ma'am." Circe nodded while not looking up from her lap.

Penelope glanced out the window. The SUV was spacious in the backseat, with a row against the divider separating them from the front. Instead of a trunk area, there was a row of seats against the back of the vehicle so that the two rows faced each other. She had taken a seat on the back row with Circe, while the Mebope representative had sat by the divider, facing them.

The city itself wasn't much different from any other city that she'd been to. The buildings were made out of stone or wood and the storefronts had large glass panes. Penelope had assumed that there would be neon signs or holographic advertisements, but the closest thing to what she would have considered futuristic was that the glass seemed to be see-through screens with the advertisements dancing across the windows.

"To answer your earlier questions…" Lady Husley cleared her throat, drawing Penelope's attention back inside the car. "I've covered the first two. We have a community on the shore, which allows us to live on land or water, whichever we choose. You'll need certification before you're allowed behind the wheel of a vehicle, but I'm sure that such things can be arranged. And as for where we are going…" The car came to a stop. "We're here."

Penelope looked back out the window at the towering building. It looked like a giant warehouse and the moment the door opened, the smell of fish overwhelmed her senses.

"It stinks." Circe pinched her nose. "What is this place?"

Lady Husley slid out of her seat and held the door open for them. "This is where we process the fish that we catch." She cleared her throat. "Unfortunately, the dome also cuts off our access to some of the best fishing spots, so if Cirdor is correct with how long we're going to be stuck under the dome; eventually, we're going to harvest all the fish in the water we have access to."

Penelope glanced at Jeru, who slowly nodded. She looked at their host. "I asked Cirdor to set us up with craftsmen so we could further our jobs within the system." She motioned at the metal building. "What are we going to learn here?"

"These things take time." Lady Husley laughed. "We can't just have our best craftsmen put down what they're working on to teach you the basics of their trade." She gestured at the building. "The boats have already gone out for the day, but we can see about teaching you how to fish tomorrow." She took a deep breath. "Most of the processing happens at night, so there's not a lot to do now, but I thought we might get the two of you settled."

"We're going to stay here?" Circe wrinkled her nose.

"That was my intent." Lady Husley motioned for them to follow her. "You'll get used to the smell after a while. It's also not so bad once we move closer to the housing sector."

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"We can't drive there?" Circe glanced over her shoulder at the blue vehicle. The SUV backed away from them and headed back down the street the way they'd come.

"Most of our community lives on an island." Lady Husley led them around the building.

The back of the large structure was open, with bays for boats and a dock that went out into the water. Inside the building were stacks of crates and tables where Penelope assumed the fish that were caught were processed. The fishy odor was stronger on the docks, so much so that Circe gagged.

"Would you like a tour?" Lady Husley gestured into the building.

"I'd like to get away from here." Circe backed down the dock.

"Maybe later." Penelope glanced out at the water. In the distance, a string of islands dotted the horizon.

"Our home." Lady Husley walked over to where Penelope was standing. "I'm having a boat sent over to get us, but there was a delay, so we're going to have to wait." She gestured back at the processing stations. "Are you sure you don't want a tour?"

I wouldn't mind, but… Penelope looked down the dock at where Circe was sitting. The other woman had gone to the very edge of the wooden structure to get as far away from the smell of fish as she could.

"Maybe later." Penelope smiled. "I don't want to leave Circe by herself and I think she's going to want to stay out here."

"Fair enough." The Mebope nodded.

"Do you know much about the system?" Penelope decided to switch topics.

"I know of them, but we got access to the system this morning, so you probably know more about it than I do." Lady Husley closed her eyes for a moment as she thought. She opened them and shrugged. "Cirdor would be the most knowledgeable of any of us."

"He didn't know any more than the footnote in his textbooks." Penelope sighed.

"These things aren't common in the universe and very difficult to maintain." Lady Husley looked up at the dome overhead. "I'm a Mage myself and I can't imagine how much mana it would take to make the dome itself, let alone power the system within it."

"Impressed now?" Jeru puffed out his chest as he floated over the water.

That you threw this together because you had a problem that you couldn't solve and made it someone else's problem? Penelope shook her head. I'd be more impressed if you'd used willing participants to solve this.

"You want to go back to the original timeline where you die when the gas station you were in exploded." Jeru stared at her. "There wasn't enough of you left for you to be counted as one of the dead. You were just perpetually missing."

How do you know that? Penelope tried not to look at the floating man.

"I looked up the future for everyone I brought here to make sure it didn't change the timeline until after the Demons here impacted the rest of the universe." Jeru gestured at Circe. "She was at a friend's apartment when the building collapsed. Frederica was on her way to tennis when the ground swallowed her. Judah got electrocuted." He tilted his head. "Need me to keep going?"

No. Penelope took a deep breath. "So what are you planning on doing?"

"After we get to the island?" Lady Husley raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, there is that, but I meant about the Dungeon." Penelope sighed. "When it was just us, we knew who was going down to the next floor and what resources we could use, but now…" She motioned behind her at Dinmar. "I don't know how many people from here are going to want to go down into the Dungeon."

"We've got some warriors that we can send." Lady Husley took a deep breath. "That's something that the council will decide once Cirdor gives them his report."

Penelope nodded, but she couldn't shake the feeling of dread as the speedboat approached.

"It's going to be okay." Jeru tried to comfort her.

They have no idea what they're in for. Penelope swallowed the lump in her throat.

"That's why they got overrun the first time." Jeru grumbled. "Now that you all are, they've at least got a fighting chance."

Even more reason why I need to learn the jobs. Penelope groaned. Please tell me that there are craftsmen who can start teaching us from day one.

"There are, but people are going to think it's weird if you just walk into town and start talking to the locals." Jeru shook his head. "Play the system. You don't have to go into the fourth floor this run, so you've got all the time in the world."

All the time in the world. Penelope sighed. She couldn't shake the feeling that Jeru was wrong about that.

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