I felt a bead of sweat run down the side of my head as the security guard stared blankly into the tinted glass of my helmet. He coughed slightly into his hand and rubbed his palm on his chest "Never thought I'd see the day you wore a helmet, Kofi," He nodded, allowing me into the building "You used to go on and on about how it was too tight and gave you," He snapped his fingers as if trying to remember.

"Claustrophobia?" Astra interjected.

He nodded dismissively, scanning her wrist over his security system too "That's too a big word for me to remember all the time," I was startled when he reached over his desk to pat me hard on the shoulder "But you're like a walking dictionary aren't ya Doc?"

I laughed, flicking his hand off my shoulder "You know me."

"I'm surprised to see you back here, didn't the both of you take some time off because you knocked up ole Red over here," He giggled to himself letting Astra inside, "He trapped you now didn't he Tee?"

She giggled along with him before dragging me away from his desk. I kept my eyes on him and his bright blue eyes and double chin "You know him too?" I asked, eyeing the bald spot forming at the back of his head.

"Who, Arnold?" She waved him off, "Artist from what I remember prodigy even-went to a big fancy school and everything, people thought he'd be another Da Vinci," She sighed "Not that you'd know who that is, the point is I'm even surprised he's working as a security guard here. The guy's paintings used to go for a big buck."

I shrugged "Maybe they don't need artists anymore."

"Yeah probably," She muttered distracted, I glanced at what she was looking at to see what looked like a big map of the place. My eyes ran over the many rooms and corridors, all named in bright capital neon blue letters. I quickly came to realize that there was no way I was memorizing all of that and glanced at Astra who lifted a finger and pointed at one of the rooms.

"Laboratories, you should have access there right?"

"Am I that type of Doctor?" I asked, "Wouldn't we have better luck in the infirmaries?"

She looked at me and although I couldn't see her face I could guess her expression "What could we possibly be looking for in the infirmaries?"

"What would be looking for in the labs?"

She faced the map again "I don't know, a way to get out?"

I pointed at a room on the opposite side of the building "Wouldn't that be security then?" I pointed to the room close to it "Or the engineering one, they're builders, right? Could find where they keep the ships?"

"And why would they give a Doctor access to the security rooms?" She scoffed, "We can only go so many places, Sol."

"Dr Mhklali," I corrected "And why are we just using places, I have access to? Don't you work here too?" I looked her up and down "What does a Sergeant do anyway?"

"I-" She swallowed "I have no idea, never thought Teegan-I would get promoted this far."

"Well isn't that helpful?" I put my right hand on my hip "I thought you've been watching these people for like thousands of years-

"Billions-"

"A long fucking time!" I rolled my eyes "How don't you know what a Sergeant is?"

"It's a title for the army, humans give each other a lot of those," She defended herself "Sergeants, from the ones I know, kinda just yell out a lot of loud mean orders all the time."

"Very helpful, Astra, they should give you a raise."

"Infirmaries it is!"

As soon as we walked into the hospital area we were immediately ushered out "No no no Kofi, you told me you wanted to take some time off to take care of your kid and I gave you that time, I did Kofi, and look at you back already!" She was a shorter plump woman, dressed in a similar suit to mine but with her helmet off and her hair shaved short with the curls bright red to contrast her dark skin. "And look you've dragged your poor sweet pregnant girlfriend here with you," She scoffed looking at Astra from the rims of her square glasses.

Human beings...don't shut up.

Ever and they talk very often about nothing. It took us four different conversations with other nurses before we were directed to my office, a box with no signs of life except for the framed portrait of Teegan on my desk.

"I see Kofi never changed," Astra muttered, running her finger over the scattered unorganized papers and files. She picked up the picture "Just like his office back home."

I walked past her and started opening drawers "You can reminisce about him later, let's look for something useful," I rummaged through his junk "This place smells awful."

"Probably the sanitizer," She explained, catching one of the ornaments I had carelessly cast out of his drawer before it could hit the ground making me jolt in her direction "Hospitals tend to have that sort of smell."

My eyes scanned the lacy red panties I found at the back with distaste before throwing them over my shoulder "I wouldn't know," I told her honestly "Never been in one."

"Really?" She didn't believe me "With all the bones you've broken?" She shoved my shoulder playfully "No need to lie to look tough, even I've been to a doctor and I was in a rock for most of my life."

I shrugged "Don't know what to tell you, the prison didn't exactly care unless we were dying or you know... already dead."

She sat on top of Mhklali's desk, watching me completely pull out the next one and dump the contents on the floor "But it's not like you spent all your life there, what about before the handcuffs and bars?"

I wanted to tell her I barely remembered a time before I was locked up but that would be a lie...sorta. I mean I remembered one thing "I've kinda just always fixed my wounds, never had anyone to do that for me," I said, running my eyes over the shiny rectangles that were now scattered over the floor, brown stick-looking things in them "What are these?"

"Biltong, Kofi was obsessed with them."

I picked one up from the floor, "Is it dead?"

She snickered "Kinda has to be for you to eat it."

I dropped it immediately and she leaned over to pick it up "I've always been curious about how these taste."

My eyes caught a metal box that sat at the bottom of his desk underneath the further drawer to the left. I crouched to my knees, causing Astra to be yanked downwards.

"You have another limb to worry about remember?" She huffed, sinking to the floor as well with one of the sticks clutched in her fist. "Is that a safe?"

"A what?" I asked, running my fingertips over the cold material.

"Humans put their important stuff in it-there," She pointed at the black square on the front of it "That should be where you punch in the pincode and it should spring right open."

I started pressing random numbers "Well that's primitive," I commented to myself watching as after I pressed four numbers a red light flashed on the top of the screen and the box made a sound. I glanced at Astra "Do you have any idea what it could be?"

She chewed on the stick "Mhklali was a pretty simple man," She thought out loud before pointing the half-bitten stick at the safe, "Try one two three four or zero zero zero zero."

I shook my head after the red light flashed in my face for the third time "That's not it," I glanced at the random items of his that I had thrown on the floor, "Maybe he wrote it somewhere?"

Astra made a sound disagreeing with me through her full mouth before swallowing "He wasn't a forgetful guy, if he had a password it was one he was sure never to forget."

I fell back on my bum before stretching out my legs to get more comfortable "So a number that means something to him then, his birthday? What did he care about most?"

"His world pretty much revolved around Teegan and work," Her eyes lit up before leaning towards the safe, dropping the stick, and pressing the numbers. I watched as she punched in one three one two and surprise, a loud ding was heard then in green letters 'hello, Kofi flashed across the screen.

"Teegan's birthday?" I asked.

Astra leaned away "Nah it's twelve days before Christmas, the day he always planned to propose to Teegan but never did," She saw the confusion on my face and explained further "She really liked this play and she was also a big festive person- you wouldn't get it but it was really cute and sentimental."

I snorted, reaching into the safe "I'm sure it was." A frown formed on my face after all my hands met in the safe was what felt like a book. I crouched further to look into it for myself.

"What is it?'

I sighed pulling out the small notebook and passing it to her "Just this," I grumbled, disappointedly. I dusted off my knees and rose to my feet again "Guess we'll have to keep looking."

"I don't remember Kofi having a diary," She said absentmindedly, throwing another stick in her mouth. "At least we've covered some ground," She noted the state of the now-ransacked office.

"How long do you think it's been since you left Earth?"

She seemed taken aback by the question "It should be like five years on earth give or take," She threw the empty packet of biltong in the trash bin "Don't take my word for it though, time gets a bit weird in different universes."

I opened my mouth to ask another question when the door opened, cutting our conversation off.

*+:｡.｡　　｡.｡:+*