After getting himself a hearty portion of oatmeal, with no waiting in line for coffee, unfortunately, Troy had sat on the opposite side of the happy duo. Dr Hale had sat beside him, with the furthest possible distance to Darlow.

“Good morning to the two of you”, Charlie said, his grin being wider than the usual in the morning. “I see, that you've come in together this fine day.”

“Is there anything important, which you want to tell us”, Darlow continued from the side. “Don't worry. We can take it. You don't need to hold back.”

They were insinuating things, which Troy had never thought of. And, he would have preferred it to be kept that way.

“No,” Troy simply answered. “In all honesty, it could nearly have been called better, than the hell I've been through these last few hours, though. The top brass of my department thought it a good idea to cram two days of work into one. So, here I am, having already done half the daily work, before I've gotten a single gram of breakfast inside me. Speaking of getting inside me-”

It ended up, with Troy simply beginning to devour his oatmeal. It was a great act of self-control that had stopped him from eating it all on the way to the bench. The two in front of him did not seem to mind this display of his, instead of looking at it with a slight amount of traumatic thinking. Troy wasn't the only one, with this type of experience, clearly.

Dr Hale was not satisfied, with his short description of their shared torture, though, giving her side of the story as well.

“He is underplaying it all, I'm afraid,” Dr Hale stated. “I believe this is due to the more easy criteria, which Troy was put under. He achieved the luxury of sleeping for over a full hour.”

The two wrapped their hands around each other, in mock horror. From's Troy perspective, it looked to be for entirely different reasons, with the positionings of those hands. This was a dining place, so hands over the table please, please. Otherwise, somebodies wallet would be gone, in a matter of moments.

“The audacity of this young man, to complain about anything yet!”, Charlie proclaimed, with upturned scorn.

“I completely agree with you, Charlie”, Darlow said. “The fact, that this person can even begin to be agitated while having been given such livable conditions, is horrid. I can't even imagine thinking about such trivial things, in his position. Do you not remember the good old days, where we were allowed to sleep? Those were my favourite moments, in this long life, that I've had. Alas, closing one's eyes is not for the good of the government, so a little self-sacrifice is needed.”

They were really laying it on thick together. How they were so high in spirits was a mystery, only a large amount of drugs could answer. Troy could complain too much about it, honestly. It was great entertainment.

“Hear, hear”, Charlie said, making a one-person toast, before gulping down the last few parts of his old coffee. Troy had seen a more mild expression on him when he was downing shots.

The fact, he could even think such things right now made it obvious that Troy needed to eat faster. His mind simply had too much free time currently.

“These cups are too small, for my large needs", Charlie said, with a wink to Darlow, that Troy did his best to ignore. “I'll grab myself another cup.”

Charlie left, to go and stand in the long queue to the coffee machine. This left Darlow, Troy, and Dr Hale alone. The atmosphere, which had quickly been built up in the last forty seconds, seemed to disappear just as rapidly.

Darlow's tall smile had not faltered, of course. That thing sat as cemented as the ground, never wavering. It couldn't be called creepy, though. It… was a natural one, created through a pile of nostalgia.

Or, it was other things, as Darlow took a glance, at the receding Charlie.

“So, Troy,” Darlow began, putting his focus back on a face. “Charlie has been telling me, that you've expressed interest, in seeing my workplace?”

It was safe to say, Troy was more than a little confused when this was asked, his previous conversations about the subject having seemingly escaped his memory. He had never asked much into what the others did in the work hours. Troy had not been too sure if he was allowed to do so.

Sure, complaints about work were fair game. Nothing detailed about the things they worked on was ever stated. Only the facial expressions, and actions, of the coworkers, had ever been talked about in detail.

Troy hasn't even talked too much about any of Charlie's buddies with him. The only time, where Darlow had really been mentioned, as of late, had been when-

Oh, that sneaky behind. Going all around the pole, to get access to that clothing of his, was not something Troy had been expecting. Charlie was certainly dedicated. He could give him that.

“Yeah, I've been talking a little about it with him”, Troy lied, trying to put his best modest impression on. If Charlie was going to be a little deceiving, it was fair, that he joined in on the fun of it too.

“That was a little surprising to hear if I'm being truthful here”, Darlow said back, with a head tilt to the left. “I don't really know what you're working on yourself, but I was pretty sure it wasn't anything with biological aspects. So… why the sudden interest?”

Darlow wasn't too wrong in his guesses, but Troy wasn't letting him know that. Now, why was he interested? He had had a reason yesterday, yet Troy had forgotten it. Therefore, a new one had to be created. It had to be a reason that one couldn't decline, without sounding a little too heartfelt. It had to be casual, yet serious enough to also be taken as so.

A decent prospect was solidified in his mind and brought out into the world.

“First off, don't judge”, Troy started it off with, setting the casual tone. “A little more personal, than I would have preferred it.” A sprinkle of seriousness.

“Don't worry about how I'm gonna take it”, Darlow encouraged, as he had predicted. Doing anything else, in this scenario, would be looked down upon socially. “With the amount of stuff I've put up with these last decades, there are few things that can really shock me, nowadays.”

Just the right setup had been prepared. It was time for the fructification of the pay-off.

“It's not the most complex thing in the world”, Troy said, downplaying, as was standard. “From my first interaction with that whole group of yours, it became a little obvious, how little I knew about you, as individuals. Sure, you tried to fill me in, about your jobs and whatnot at the start, but it didn't really… make me know more, you could call it. I just feel like, if I get to see your workplace and whatnot, I might just be able to learn a bit more.”

Troy was laying it on thick. Thicker, than he usually ever did.

Yet, from the reaction Troy was seeing, it was working better than expected. Dr Hale was giving him her own, unique variation of the stink-eye, though, so maybe it didn't work for all personalities. Or, she just knew Troy better at this point. Could have been either, really.

“What did I miss?” Charlie suddenly said, having come back from his coffee journey, and sitting himself down on the seat he used before. “Are we still berating Troy for his overestimations?”

“No, we've moved on from that”, Darlow said, not looking at Charlie, but instead continuing his slightly surprised look at Troy. “Troy here was just telling me why he wanted to see my workplace. You know, we talked about it last night.”

Recognition appeared in Charlie's eyes, simultaneously with Troy's minor amount of dread. A thought had appeared in his mind, which he really should have thought about a few seconds earlier.

If in a hypothetical sense, Troy and Charlie had actually talked together about it earlier, Troy would have likely told the same reason, as for why he wanted to see Darlow's workplace.

Darlow would have also likely asked him about it last night. What had Charlie said, as the hypothetical reason?

“Oh, yeah?” Charlie asked rhetorically, a wry smile coming on. “And, what did you say? Or, what will thy decree be?”

Troy would soon find out if his sudden thought would have any impact on reality.

“Well”, Darlow said, with a small amount of hesitation, while leading up to a more lengthy exposition. “I did find something about it a little weird.”

He should have been betting money on it.

“And, what was so weird about it?” Charlie asked. “Was it the weirdly desperate face? It scared me in the start too, but some people just have that as their standard expression.”

Slightly hurtful, but Troy knew what he was doing right now, and could let it slide because of it. Still, Charlie could have chosen a more subtle jab to throw around.

“No, not that. I already figured out it would be a standard”, Darlow answered, being a bit more truthful about it, than what Troy would have liked. “It's about Troy's reasoning, for wanting to see my workspace.”

Troy really could have gained so many credits, if he had just made a small, under the table bet on Darlow's reaction. But, no, he just had to think about it, when it was way too late.

It was at this point, where he began considering going back on his words. Maybe throw it away, with some excuse about being a little shy about his true intentions? Would that really work? Troy wasn't too sure, but he had some leeway, with the current confusion, but it would last.

All of this deciphering turned out to be pointless, though, as Charlie suddenly decided to chip in to the conversation yet again.

“Well… “, Charlie began it off with, leaving his intentions clear off as the same as Troy's. “I may have been a… little on the side of an exaggeration, when I, uh, explained it to you.”

He couldn't have been happier, right now. Charlie was taking the fall, which had been intended to be Troy's. Now, he just had to roll with it, and everything would work out great.

“You told me that he had been on the verge of crying his eyes out, Charlie,” Darlow said, bringing Troy's opinions about his way the heck down. Really? That was the original reasoning? How, in the kingdom of fife, did Charlie expect Troy to say something similar?

“Which is how I saw it”, Charlie defended. “In my mind, that is. In reality, he was way finer about it all. But, I'm sure I retained the essence of what his reasoning was.”

Trying to link it all up, now. Charlie was obviously being way too obscure and was simply hoping to relate the two, different reasonings to each other, while not knowing what one of them were. It wasn't the finest work Troy had seen, but it was a needed addition to the whole debacle.

“... Fine”, Darlow finally said, seeming like he actually bought the shamble of a framework, Troy and Charlie had presented to him. “I see no reason why he can't see my work. Before I really can give you permission, Troy, I do need to know, if you're actually allowed to see any of it.”

“What do you mean?” Troy asked, finally contributing to the conversation, after such a long pause.

“I'm talking about your clearance level. You know, that thing you were assigned, when you first started up here?” Darlow tried to explain, much to Troy's confusion. “I'm pretty sure, that you've been given it, during your introductory tour. Didn't it happen the same way for you, Charlie?”

“It was identical”, Charlie agreed. “Did you forget the card's contents and location, Troy? I couldn't blame you, honestly. I did the same too many times to count before they finally just grafted it to the back of my left hand.”

He pulled up his hand, to show it, but Troy saw nothing but unblemished skin. Either he was lying, or the surgical technology here was the top of the world-class… Troy didn't even need to finish the thought.

“I have no idea what you're talking about. May be due, to my less than traditional induction into this place, if I have to guess the reasons,” Troy tried to explain. It had taken a total of ten minutes, in this place, before he had begun his job, so no real introductory tour had happened. Well, other than the one, which Dr Hale gave, but, that couldn't be called anything other than the steep basics. “I mean, I have heard of clearance levels and all that jazz, but I didn't even realize that I had one myself. Or, that there was a general one.”

“It is a convoluted system, I can assure you”, Charlie said. “Its something designed to be simple, which was built massively upon, over the years. There's the general one, which is given to you over time. Then, there are clearances to specific departments or just projects, which kinda stand outside the system, but also within it, as they themselves give more access to other departments… Let's just call it overly complicated, and leave it at that.

And, if you don't know your own clearance, then, I guess, your direct superior must know.”

The eyes were pointed over to Dr Hale, who looked as if she just wanted a quiet moment, to herself and the food in front of her. That has been happening a lot lately. Maybe this sleep deprivation had been going for her a lot longer than it had for Troy.

“I'm general security level seven, and he is one under me in it. Figure out the math yourself,” Dr Hale stated, before going right back to her oatmeal of the day.

Troy didn't know if being level seven was high or not. Therefore, he decided to ask the other two, who were being eerily silent.

Upon looking over at the two goofballs, though, Troy was surprised to find them sitting stiller than ever in their seats. Even their hands weren't flailing around randomly, which was saying a lot.

“Level seven, she says,” Charlie mutters.

“Without even putting on a voice,” Darlow continued. “Charlie. I think this lass here might be more serious than her words should allow.”

“But, that would mean that Troy is…”

“Level six.”

And, right there they went right back to their usual movement system, the legs being tightened, and making their body grow a few centimetres in a sitting position.

“How did you get yourself a level higher than me?” Charlie proclaimed, this time a little more muted than the usual. As if, he was trying to keep it under wraps. “I've been working here for a godly amount of time. I have clawed my way, to level five. I have done things, which I will never want to think about ever again. And, then, you come in, and get level six from the get-go.”

Charlie slackened himself, looking like he was ready to mockingly faint in shock. Seeing this, Darlow continued the proclamation.

“You might just have the second-highest security level of the whole group,” Darlow muttered, just high enough to hear. “You have access to the secret documents, which are even withheld from me, about myself! The higher-ups are really putting a lot of access in your hands. I know you can't tell us what you're doing, but holy heck, it is definitely something I'm not allowed to hear.”

Turns out, Troy was apparently a bit more important than he thought he was. But, not the highest-ranked in the group.

“Who has the highest clearance in our group?” Troy asked, with an emphasis on ours. It was a nice thing to hear.

“Frank.”

“And, what level does he have?”

“That's above our clearance level. Something with bread, though, if his drunken murmurs are to be trusted.”

Troy did not know, what to do with this information.