Chapter 3p2 – A Message?

"Your parents sent you a message?" said Tic.

Milly said, "Here, why don't I show you." She fished her PAI out of her pocket, navigated into the Holograph app, and thumbed the play button.

An image sprung up in the air, showing two middle-aged people—a man and a woman—with thin, grimy faces, wearing protective rubber suits and holding orange hard hats under their arms. They were standing in front of a backdrop of pipes, gauges, and steam.

"Hello, Mildykins," said the woman, just loud enough to be heard over the loud, low hum of background noise.

"How's my Little Dred Riding Hood?" said the man, with a touch of a smile.

"We miss you so much," continued the woman. "We've thought about you every single day for the past 14 years…"

Something clanged off camera. Both figures looked up nervously.

"We need your help, Mildred," said the man, quickly. "We're…"

A voice called out, "Oi, what's going on over there?"

The man swiftly reached for the camera and slipped it into his pocket. The holograph went dark, but the sound continued, somewhat muffled. Heavy footsteps approached.

"You two aren't allowed to talk unsupervised," said the unseen voice.

The woman said, "Sorry, Mr. Yoqir. We just bumped into each other… I'm on my way to the lab."

"And I had ocular issues," said the man, loudly. "Y'know, with my goggles."

"Yeah, sure," said Mr. Yoqir. "Back to work!"

There was some scratchy audio, and then Milly's PAI indicated the end of the message.

"Those were my parents," said Milly. "That's why I'm going to Haddock."

"…I'm not sure I see the connection," said Tic.

"Didn't you hear? My dad said he 'HAD OCular' issues. Haddock. It was a clue!"

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.