"You seriously need to hide under there?" Aria whispered into the buttoned-up coat.

"YOU NEED EXPERIENCE," Beepy answered with his volume turned all the way down. After a moment, the bot told her the truth. "AND WE MAY HAVE…CAUSED A RUCKUS HERE PREVIOUSLY. NO WE DID NOT KILL ANYONE."

Their column of drones wobbled like a precarious totem pole as Zippy's feet reached the top step. Aria squeaked, gripping Beepy's head as the trench coat flared open for a second and revealed far too many bodies and limbs underneath. Quickly Beepy slammed the curtain shut, hiding himself and his brother beneath the fabric.

A man in a patchy leather coat stopped as he exited the building, staring at the sight of a girl with a tiny head wearing a trench coat.

Aria saluted him with her small hand that was almost lost in the long sleeves. "Pardon me, sir," she said extremely seriously. "Just feeling the effects of my morning brew."

The man decided it wasn't worth it and shuffled off without a word.

Inside the coat, Beepy spoke as quietly as he could, "PERFECT, ARIA. A SPECTACLE IN COVERT OPERATIONS."

Their disguise consisted of the three of them bundled under a black trench coat. Zippy, the bottom layer, provided mobility. Beepy, stacked on top of him, handled balance and information support. Aria stood atop his shoulders with her arms in the sleeves, leading with the confidence of a green fighter jet pilot. Together the three formed the appearance of a young woman with a miniature head wearing a medium trench coat.

Surprisingly, their total stature of three feet did not get as many looks as expected. There were plenty of different mutations in the post System world, and woman with a plum sized head wasn't all that noteworthy.

After several unsuccessful attempts at in their quest to reach the Unspace, the boys got frustrated with the roadblocks and opted to query one of the many Information Brokers in the city. So now they headed to their favourite, Baba Ashe.

There were many ways to make a living, and the sale of information had existed forever. With the introduction of the System, people might just have Skills that would help them. Baba Ashe was one such individual. While his storefront looked like nothing much on the outside, really just a converted first floor of a semi-detached home in a shoddy neighbourhood and a notebook with his namesake, inside Beepy and Zippy knew there was an oasis of information.

Aria grunted as she tried to twist the old brass handle. When it finally gave, the old door swung too fast, and the entire trench-coat assembly lurched forward. Zippy stumbled in and nearly sent the whole operation crashing to the floor.

The foyer had been converted into a cramped reception area with an empty desk and a pair of saloon doors. Peeking into the business, Aria caught sight of the place. There were rows and rows of shelves stacked with identical black notebooks, each one labeled in white sharpie. A few patrons combed through them. There was an old woman with a massive wart squinting at a page close to her nose, and a masked man flipping through books in a shadowed aisle.

WOOF!

A powerful bark tore out, so loud is hurt Aria's ears. She yelped and almost stumbled off Beepy's shoulders.

"Bug!" came a rich a rich Nigerian voice from somewhere. "We do not bark at a new customer."

Looking around, Aria finally found the "guard dog". Bug turned out to be a trembling chihuahua with bug-eyes, a severe underbite, and a tongue permanently flopping out of his mouth. His whole body quivered in the barely contained, world-ending rage that all such dogs of his breed possessed.

A man stepped into view. He was tall and wiry, with dark, black skin. His face was a canyon of fine wrinkles and laugh lines. His glasses were enormous, thick glass panes that magnified his eyes to massive proportions. In his hand was a small notebook in one hand and a pen in the other. Not a magical pen, just a normal plastic one.

He spotted Aria and smiled. "Hello, little lady," he said warmly. "Welcome to Baba Ashe's, where we have the answers to…mostly anything."

WOOF!

Bug barked again, growling and snarling at the customer. Or customers.

"Oh, stop it, Bug!" Baba Ashe flapped through the saloon style doors to scoop up the trembling chihuahua. Perching him like a princess in peril, the creature's bug eyes bulged ever further out of its tiny head and growled at Aria with the smallest teeth imaginable.

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"He has an ego issue, don't you, wittle baby perfect prince?" Baba Ashe tickled the snarling dogs' belly as it trembled and stared bloody murder at Aria.

"Hello, Baba Ashe," Aria said with her best adult voice. "I am here...to…um…I am here in search of information! To…uh…convene your knowledge! Yes! To search for answers to my mysteries."

The had rehearsed earlier. She remembered most of her lines.

Baba Ashe chuckled softly. Bug somehow licked his owner's face while still snarling dangerously at the trench coat assembly. "Well," he said. "You have come to the right place. What are you looking for? Baba Ashe has many answers." The man tapped his pen against his noggin' as Bug worked his floppy tongue close to his owner's lips.

Aria licked her lips and leaned in as much as she could on Beepy's shoulders to whisper her request. "I'm looking for information you might have about the Unspace."

Baba Ashe's big smiled dropped from his face while Bug's growl deepened. The old man looked over his shoulder at his current customers before turning back. His face had dropped all friendliness.

"The unspace, did you say?" He asked. "And why would a nice girl like you want to know about that?"

Aria blurted out her rehearsed line. "Oh? Then you don't have it? I heard Baba Ashe was the best…but you know how the rumor mill goes. Maybe I'll check out another Broker."

Bug started thrashing in the man's arm at the slight. Baba Ashe's eyes flashed behind his glasses as he placed his notebook and dog onto the desk. All three pounds of the dog trembled with righteous fury, eyeballs bulging so far it looked like they might pop out.

Baba Ashe tapped his pen against his temple. "No one in the whole city," he explained. "has [All Seeing Informant] like me." Tap tap tap. "Knowledge comes to me. I have to write it down," He pointed at his open notebook, the pages fill edge to edge in tiny handwriting.

His tone dropped lower. "But the Unspace…" He shook his head slowly. "That is dangerous business. And not too long ago a couple drones were in here. Tore out a page while looking into something similar."

He leaned forward, putting his face inches from Aria's. "And no one steals Baba Ashe's knowledge. They can read, for a price, but never take."

Aria swallowed hard. "Wh-what were those drones looking for?"

Beepy pinched her calf from under the coat, and she had to supress a squeak. Baba Ashe's giant eyes narrowed.

"They were looking into Portals. How to make them with different Relics" he chewed his cheek. "And the whereabouts of any communities of 'sentient lady drones who may or may not like theater and dance'."

Aria belted out a laugh despite Beepy continually pinching her calf. "Lady drones? Is that a thing?"

"Oh yes," Baba Ashe answered. "There are many such communities. But now that they tried to steal it, they won't get the answer from Baba Ashe."

"So you do have information about the Unspace?" Aria choked back more laughter as Beepy finally gave up his pinching.

Baba Ashe smiled wide, and Bug the chihuahua finally stopped growling. "How much is such information worth to you?"

"Uh…," Aria said, unsure. This wasn't in the rehearsal her brothers forced on her. Aria had no understanding of money, and on the fly decided to use most of her own Credit account as a reference. Might as well throw the book at the man. Show she meant business. She pressed on, putting on her best negotiator face. "I'm thinking one thousand Credits." She delivered with absolute seriousness.

Two metal hands beneath the trench coat slapped their foreheads at Aria's number. It sounded like small dings.

"What was that?" Baba Ashe tilted his head as Bug started up his growling again.

"Nothing," she blinked and rubbed the coat with her small hand. "Just something acting all funny from what I ate last night."

Baba Ashe licked his lips at the inexperienced negotiator. "Fifteen hundred."

"Twelve hundred fifty." It was all the money she had.

The old business owner's eyes went wide as he realized the girl wasn't kidding. He hid a twitch and stuck out his hand to shake on it. She leaned forward and under the coat, Zippy inched forward on metal feet to allow her to complete the terrible deal. When Aria's small hand was swallowed the man's, she was proud of herself for the first business transaction completed.

She thought she had made a good deal.

[Credits: 1250 -> 0]

Babe Ashe coughed as the funds were transferred, and he pulled open the saloon door to allow her in. After a second, Zippy got the hint and waddled precariously through the door. Aria did her best to swing her arms in rhythm with the loud metal steps on the wooden floor.

"Aisle ten, at the back." Baba Ashe directed her, and scooped up Bug from the desk. Bug looked at the man askance for a moment before deciding it was quite nice to be carried around like the prince that he was.

On each shelve was a little sign, and of course the information was in the one that was somehow hidden under a deep shadow. Zippy stood there awkwardly for a moment as Beepy peaked through the coat the transfer the information of direction. Eventually, the bots under the trenchcoat made their way carefully.

The man in the mask noticed them coming and slammed his book shut. Coughing, he weaved around the tiny trench coated girl and exited the store.

The bot totem pole tramped over to the shadowed aisle. Beepy peaked through the gap in the coat to help Aria search.

"Coast is clear," she whispered into the coat while searching. "Really though? Drone ladies?"

"IT WAS ZIPPY, I SWEAR." Beepy answered back in an electronic whisper.

Zippy almost tipped them all over when Beepy threw him under the bus. So what if he was curious if he and Beepy could find some place for a fun vacation?

"Here," Aria whispered, finally finding a dusty black notebook that was thinner than the rest. It was labeled in neat white lettering "The Unspace – Not for the Weak".

Beepy and Zippy couldn't help themselves. Both brothers peaked out from the interior of the coat to read the tiny handwriting, and Aria prepped her [Thrice This]. It was time to get and keep some answers. And after, if there was time, they could search for good vacationing spots for two young handsome bachelor assassin drones.

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