The whole thing was extremely efficient. Within minutes, the chaotic throng of arriving Ossuarists had been sorted into coherent teams, each assigned a Caretaker leader and given preliminary briefings.
Finn, Althea, and Tron waited as names were called, teams formed, and deployments finalized.
They waited.
And waited.
And slowly, it became apparent that their names weren't going to be called.
"Excuse me," Tron finally said, approaching one of the organizing Caretakers — a stern woman with gray streaks in her black hair. "We haven't been assigned yet. Is there some mistake?"
The woman glanced at a general list she had in hand, looking straight towards a particular special section, then at Tron, then at all three of them before asking for their names. After which she shook her head and said curtly:
"No mistake. You're one of the autonomous teams without a Caretaker assigned to you."
"Autonomous?" Althea frowned.
