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present didn't exactly go well for me or if it's because I'm struggling to get my swimsuit-come-show-gear on.
                  "One minute," I yell across the room as I slip my arm through the shoulder strap and try to untwist the fabric. I hitch the cut-off side up over my partially exposed breast and check that nothing is in danger of falling out, then start making my way across the room. OK, so Carnival's visit didn't exactly go badly, not really, but it still wasn't really the way I wanted have my first crack at properly assessing her.
                  A peep hole would be nice; I realise as I grab the handle. Not that it did me much good last night. A press and a pull and my mask falls back place as I bid welcome to ... Hong Chan. "Not so unexpected after all," I mumble before I can stop myself.
                  "Excuse me?"
                  "Doesn't matter," I smile. "Come in, come in. And shut the door behind you. Prying eyes and all that."
                  Hong Chan nods and follows me, obediently pulling the door shut as he does so. Maybe that's part of why Finn doesn't like him. Mr Chan is naturally more likely to do as I say than Mr programmed-to-behave-as-he-does-even-if-that-means-acting-on-his-own-under-the-guise-of-looking-out-for-my-best-interests ... and I'm gonna stop that train of thought right there. "Jeez, Forrester must be catching," I groan, then catch Hong Chan's bemused face and realise that that last bit came out out loud. "Sorry," I say with a dismissive flourish of my hand, accidentally dropping myself onto the 'oh Hell no' chair. "Long night, stress, big day ahead and all that."
                  "I can relate," he sighs, taking my preferred seat. "No Finn?"
                  "He's off doing some sort of reconnaissance or something. He's always wandering off like that. It'd be annoying if it wasn't that I'm pretty sure he'll come back having covered something that I didn't think of. That's more deserving of my annoyance than his disappearing act."
                  "Surely it's a good thing if he ..."
                  "I don't like being upstaged," I state flatly. "We need to discuss Meera. Did you get my message about the system update?"
                  He nods. "You didn't tell me what it is though, or how to install it."
                  "I'll install it wirelessly, so you don't need to worry there. I'll let you know when I'm about to start the update and you just need to watch for any glitches. There shouldn't be any problems, but you never know. It's nothing major, just a change to her power limiters for the arena cabling and a fail-safe in case she takes too much in."
                  "What happens if the fail-safe kicks in?" he asks.
                  "She'll throw the match and, depending on the level of the overload, either leave the Battle Zone by her own steam or collapse. We'll replace her med team this time, so it won't be as awkward as yesterday."
                  "OK," he replies, his voice slightly distant. "That's good to know. It gives me some time to come up with something for if it happens. I hope it doesn't though, I don't think that Fahrn would react well."
                  And that's why he obeys blindly. Without us, he wouldn't be able to carry out his ... I don't even know what to call it. Mission of Salvation maybe? It's cheesy, but it kinda fits. "Things went well with the two of them then?" I ask with a smile.
                  "Sort of," he says, shifting uncomfortably. "Do you remember when you asked me how well I really knew Meera?" I nod and he continues, "You were right. There were a lot of things that I didn't know about her. Like that she'd already met Fahrn before she came to me."
                  "Ah, now that's a worry."
                  He shakes his head. "It turns out