Almost two years after Tammy stumbled upon Avi as she cried her eyes out in a dirty alleyway, the boy is seven, the girl is eight, and the pair find themselves on an espionage mission.

Deep inside one of the megacities—mountains of buildings stacked atop each other that sprawls for miles in every direction—that dot the planet, Tammy and Avi arrive at a lonely metal door amidst dusty pipes and abandoned machinery.

“This it?” Avi asks, resting her chin on his head and gently swishing her tail beneath her oversized poncho.

“Um…” Tammy pulls a large piece of paper out of his pocket. He reads aloud, “reach the elevator door marked with…” Tammy repeatedly shifts his gaze from the paper in his hand to a sign above the metal door. “Squiggle, box with a line, squiggle, vertical squiggle with a loop.”

Avi looks between the two series of symbols. “Looks the same to me.”

“Then this is it! We need to take this elevator up to floor 433, then we can start taking pictures for the client.”

“Excellent!” Avi says, looking the double elevator doors up and down. “Where’s the doorknob?”

“Elevators don’t have one, I think.”

“You think?”

He looks up at her and shrugs, “I’ve never seen one either. But Mr. Kashier-“

“You mean father.”

“-Father-in-law gave me some instructions. According to him, there should be two vertical buttons, which corrospond to making the elevator go up and down.”

The two look at the door, then bring their heads up to look at the top, then they shift to looking at the left side, then the right. “Ah!” Avi points. “There!” She scampers over and turns to Tammy, her hands framing a metal panel with two buttons. “This?”

Tammy nods.

She’s hesitant at first, but she presses the top button. It makes a nice click, then glows a warm orange.

“Ooh!” The two say in unison, Tammy rushing over to join his wife.

“It’s so pretty!” Avi says, her wide eyes sparkling.

“Yeah, Mr. Kash-“ Avi gently slaps the back of his head without averting her gaze, “-father-in-law didn’t mention this!” Tammy reaches forward to press the bottom button, and it glows too. The two start giggling, pressing the buttons over and over. Sometimes with a poke, othertimes Avi slaps them with her tail.

After a minute or so, the elevator pings and the door slides open. They walk in, shoulder to shoulder, and come face to face with a bare metal wall covered in dust and cobwebs.

Avi pouts, “a dead end?”

“Uhh…” Tammy frowns. The door closes behind them, the two spin, and the boy’s eyes light up, “there! Those buttons!” There’s a panel on the right side of the door. 780 buttons on the old service elevator, each of which is labeled in a language he can’t read. 10 buttons per row, 78 rows stretching from floor to ceiling. “We’re going to floor 433.”

“…does it say which one is 433, or do we have to count?”

Tammy narrows his brow and looks over the instructions. “Boxed T shape, squiggle squiggle.” He moves forward and squints to look a the small, faded lettering on each button. “Should be around the middle… aaaaaah there!” He reaches up but he’s too short. “Oh.”

“Teehee,” Avi moves in, “need help?”

Tammy pouts and gestures to the button. “Yes, please.”

With a gentle smile, Avi brings her tail up and pokes button 433.

It glows orange and the elevator sputters to life.

The glow sends a pit of delight into their hearts.

Tammy looks at a button sitting at eye level, then clicks it. “Hehheh.”

Avi puts her finger on a left button, then slides her finger across, clicking all ten in succession and leaving a trail of light. “Heeheehee!”

Tammy opens his hand wide and presses his palm against an untouched section. His small hand clicks at least a dozen buttons, and when he pulls away, they form the rouch shape of his palm and fingers.

Avi looks up and clicks two lines down the third and seventh collumn, then makes a half circle under it. “It’s a smiley face!”

“Haha!” Tammy starts clicking rapidly with his two index fingers.

Avi reaches up with her tail, pressing the side against every button on the top row, then quickly swipes her tail down. There’s the naturally satisfying click of the buttons, but her boney tail tapping against the metal makes a nice sound too.

The two descend into a mad giggle and continue clicking, tapping, or slapping buttons until the entire wall is lit up. Once the final button is orange, they stand back and admire their work.

“We should get something like this for our tent,” Avi says.

“An elevator?”

“Sure! Let’s build a second story to-“

The elevator pings and the door slides open, revealing the next floor.

The two look outside into some abandoned maintenance facility. After about ten seconds, the doors close, the elevator pings, and they start moving. They look near the floor, and the second button is now off.

“…”

After nearly a minute, the elevator reaches floor three and pings. The door stays open for a few seconds, the door closes, then the third light dims.

“Oh,” Avi gulps.

“So that’s… why this elevator was abandoned.”

“D-did daddy…” Avi scratches the back of her neck, “did he tell us about a second elevator?”

“No. In fact, he was very explicit when he said that this was the only one that could take us in a direct shot from floor one to floor 433.”

“Ah.”

“…”

The two stand there and wait half a minute more until they arrive at floor four.

As the door shuts, the two press their backs against the wall and slowly slide down to their butts.

It will be seven hours before they reach floor 433 and can start the mission.