Kent stuck out his hand.
The lift doors bounced back, once... twice...
Kent was instructed to watch the security guard, right in the eyes
Kent scanned the room
He saw no security guard
Felix spoke 'not-words' to the dingy corner
Kent had the Chemist over one shoulder and waited for the guard to show
Felix backed up slowly towards the elevator
Kent almost asked where the guard was
Kent Barbado
'He is talking to a wall...
You are following someone talking to a wall...'
Felix entered and pressed some numbers on a keypad
Kent relaxed his hand and the doors finally closed
Kent Barbado
'Where is your gun Kent? Oh yeah, you gave it to the person you were chasing, and you just went along with that!'
They made their descent through uncomfortable silence, Felix wore a contented smile
Kent Barbado
'Okay so...Kent, he thinks you are in the know.
Just keep calm - and bluff your ass off.'
He shifted the chemist
The chemist was short, but he ate well
The lift opened
A hallway of dark wood, leading to a door with an alcove on the right
Felix led the way
Kent Barbado
"Why do you think this one hasn't woken up yet?"
Felix paused, then shrugged
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Chemistry?"
Felix again pushed some buttons on a pin pad and the door opened
Kent followed into a room seemingly designed to be as garish as possible. Green and purple clashed together in stripes - physically straining Kent's eyes
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"To the right after the foyer, there are fainting couches, put him there."
Kent carried the Chemist to the other room
To find Martha, and a fish-man talking
Kent Barbado
'Keep it together, so there is a fish-man, so what?'
Kent saw a man that looked almost exactly like him: except the part of his face that was missing. the remaining edges looking like a plastic figure too long in a microwave
Lana Alacira
"You're supposed to be in a coma."
A woman in a white captain's coat was standing at a desk to his right, her eyes trained on him
She walked up to him
Lana Alacira
"Shit, Flanagan?"
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"No, over here."
Felix walked in
Kent Barbado
"You're Flanagan?"
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"As of 30 minutes ago, thanks for the heimlich.
That would have been a short life other wise."
Kent Barbado
'Keep your mouth shut Kent.'
He did however keep a mental inventory of questions
Kent Barbado
'Can they all hop bodies?
Coma - how do they know about the accident?
Why does that man look like me - what happened to him?
Is Felix dead now?'
Kent Barbado
"Where's Felix?"
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"He's right here, just in the back seat."
Felix wandered over to a corner coffee desk and made himself some tea
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Also, hello Alacira, Gerald: I didn't think you were still around."
Kent sat down on the couch across from Martha, and leaned in
He more mouthed the next words than used his voice
Kent Barbado
"Do you have my gun?"
Martha hesitated, matching his volume
Martha Crisp
"It's in a car upstairs."
Kent gave a subtle nod
Lana Alacira
"It is Kent, correct?"
Again Kent nodded
More noticeably this time.
This captain looked to Kent's double, then back to him
Lana Alacira
"Interesting..."
A frail red head woman sat cross legged at the edge of the table.
She chittered at a balding man in an ill-fitted uniform
Gerald Whitewater
"How are things outside?"
Kent watched the woman continue to chitter with her head leaned back
Kent Barbado
'Why was she chittering?'
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"I've had time to think on what went wrong.
I think we grossly underestimated the amount of algera it had accumulated."
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"I. If Martha gave an equal amount to everyone..."
Kent Barbado
'So Martha did this?'
Kent watched Martha, and thought of Tom.
Of the burns, of him in the hospital bed
Kent Barbado
'What are you doing, Kent?'
He couldn't get justice, nor would he settle for vengeance
Kent Barbado
'If all it takes is a few words...'
Lana Alacira
"Not exactly everyone, just most."
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"And it was that much, that was probably the best way forward."
Gerald Whitewater
"What do you mean?"
Martha Crisp
"So it could have killed me."
She said it to herself, Kent could hear, but Flanagan went on
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Well, it's not accumulating that much Algera to do anything good.
Dispersing it means it will be harder to recollect."
Lana Alacira
"No, assholes will just funnel it to themselves.
That'll keep happening until there's a tight nit group that doesn't hate each other."
Flanagan took a sip of his tea, and sat down
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Still, that will take time, and it's better than destroying that much Algera."
Lana Alacira
"What was your plan?"
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Put the Algera in Martha over there."
He pointed to Martha across the table
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"She was hollowed out to about a week ago, she's in her mid-thirties."
Gerald Whitewater
"Do you know how much Algera that thing had?"
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"More or less, less than more it turns out."
Lana Alacira
"Orders of magnitude less I think..."
Kent sat quietly absorbing the conversation so far
Kent leaned his head back against the couch briefly
He nearly screamed.
Above him in the rafters were two giant spiders.
They had a large web built already
Kent Barbado
'No, no one else is freaked out!'
Martha caught his eye
She pointed to the ceiling, and gave a thumbs up
Kent Barbado
'Okay, so they are good spiders...
How about you just... not look at the... good spiders...'
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Martha, who is he?"
Felix, Flanagan, whoever that was, pointed at him
Lana Alacira
"Yeah, he's supposed to be in a coma."
Martha Crisp
"That's it?
Not even an apology you almost killed me?"
Flanagan turn to her
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Yes, yes: sorry you almost died.
Your first death is the scariest."
He gave a light cough
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"The plan was to get back here and use Uri...
Who's also dead now...
Ozmind hasn't shown back up yet..."
Kent glanced to see the captain in white cover a slight scoff
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"My point is, What you did was right.
We would have poured all the excess algera into the population eventually."
When he looked back he saw Flanagan's eyes were both hard, wondering, and on him
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Now, Kent, how do you know Martha?"
Kent took a moment, enclosed as he was he couldn't panic
Kent Barbado
'What do you really want, Kent...'
He knew, and listening...
Seeing the fish-man, the spiders: he wasn't sure what was and wasn't possible anymore.
Restoration is what he wanted.
Tom back - and that seemed achievable now
Kent Barbado
'Truth it is then, Keep it simple Kent.'
Kent Barbado
"She killed a friend of mine, I'm trying to make that right."
Flanagan leaned in, and turned to Martha
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Oh, and you can't bring him back?"
Kent Barbado
"She did it with her neighbor, new body - right?"
Martha Crisp
"You want me to bring him back?"
He saw martha consider
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Felix is saying that was actually him, and Martha shouldn't be taking credit."
Martha Crisp
"I didn't say anything about that to him."
Kent raised his hands pointing at himself
Kent Barbado
"That's on me, That was Felix then?
I thought that was Martha."
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"He's also rudely insinuating you are a bad detective."
Martha had been quite for a bit - she was listening off to her side: no one was sitting there
Martha Crisp
"Did he have any friends, or family?"
Martha Crisp
"Other than you?"
Kent Barbado
"I'm not sure actually, people that knew him, sure... but friends?"
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Why other friends?"
Martha paused
Gerald Whitewater
"But of course, the Navigator is here."
Gerald Whitewater
"The part of him that's in the Link - is the Navigator."
Lana Alacira
"That would mean that..."
Alacira trailed off and spoke words that weren't words at him
Nothing happened
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Interesting - that's why you need other friends, we can't access the link through you."
Lana Alacira
"Wish I had known that before I parked..."
Gerald Whitewater
"Did you dream of a ship?"
Kent Barbado
"I don't dream."
The response was automatic
Kent Barbado
"No, wait, I did have a dream of a ship, earlier today."
Lana Alacira
"Good to know the ship is safe... probably."
The Chemist jerked awake
Kent watched the expression of horror when the chemist looked up
The Chemist
"Everyone else see the giant spiders."
The chemist scanned the room
The Chemist
"Where the hell am I?
Who are you?"
Lana Alacira
"And this is?"
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"A chemist, he got a hold of this."
Flanagan held out the vial.
It darkly shimmered in the light.
The chemist was mesmerized by his hands
He flexed them a few times
Finding some new power within
The Chemist
"I didn't want to be awake, Felix."
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"I'm not actually Felix, but it wasn't us.
Everyone is awake."
The chemist was staring at his hands
His eyes were wide, holding back terror and wonder
The Chemist
"Everyone has this?"
The chemist looked around the room again
His eyes landed on the fish-man
Wilbert held out his limb
It was a fin attached to an arm, it reminded Kent of an folding fan
The chemist gingerly shook Wilber's limb
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Apparently yes, everyone. now."
Flanagan leaned in
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Alice Glass made this.
I had a quick scroll through Felix's memories of the past few hours.
There was a kerfuffle and something like Alice was there.
It wasn't her.
She spilled out this sludge when Felix took a bat to her chin.
She was about to kill Kent here at the time.
This here..."
He walked over to his desk and placed the vial on top
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Uri told us this is what Al-tok is trying to produce en mass."
Kent Barbado
"What exactly is that?"
Flanagan inspected the vial
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Exactly?
Only Alice could tell you that.
But more generally: it appears to be a required precursor to host Al-tok."
Kent Barbado
'Okay, if you had taken that syringe and you are immune to all of this, what would have happened?'
Martha Crisp
"So how does that help us?"
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Not much, I'm afraid."
The Chemist
"I'm not hallucinating those spiders, am I?"
Gerald Whitewater
"They're quite friendly, once you get to know them."
Kent Barbado
"Know them, they talk?"
The redhead sitting on the floor started chittering at him.
Gerald a moment later started to translate
Gerald Whitewater
"What, you don't think those giant prosomas are empty /s ?"
Kent Barbado
"Also, what's up with her?
She only speaks spider?"
Gerald Whitewater
"Yes.
She and the spiders are from a dream, nightmare actually..."
Gerald nodded
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"We can all focus now, yes?"
Flanagan cleared his throat with a hacking cough, and spoke quietly to himself
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Chew your damn food felix, you still have steak in your lungs."
He addressed the room
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"The Relux are on their way to getting The Way Out.
All we need to do is wait, by tomorrow night - they should be back. In the mean time..."
Kent Barbado
"All those people up there..."
Lana Alacira
"What exactly did you see up there?"
He relayed incidences he saw.
The people Kent saw were not even acting like people.
It was an apocalypse of the individual not to a wholistic entity, but many smaller fighting ones.
Entities structured exactly the same, one person was in control.
A case where people were helping other's out of cars, only to be taken over by another group.
They had used phones, and had written on signs - strange symbols.
And another where two groups fought and merged.
The whole processes reminded him of growing mold in a petri dish.
But they hadn't been actually hurting one another physically, there was no need that words became so powerful
Kent Barbado
"But they weren't using guns. just words..."
Martha Crisp
"Words that would turn you into a mindless soulless automaton for some control freak."
Kent Barbado
"Yeah, but what can we do, against billions?"
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"A fair bit, actually."
Flanagan gave a nod to Alacira
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"You want to take point here, get started."
Alacira's face lost it's scrunched up quality when she turned to Kent
Flanagan moved an old dial phone from the desk and connected it
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Got it?"
Alacira nodded
Flanagan held out the phone, then dialed on the base.
Alacira walked over and picked up the receiver
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"She's got a namshub ready."
Kent turned to Martha
She raised and shook her hand noncommittally
Kent Barbado
'Dealing with not zombies, cults, cardboard chemists.'
Kent looked up
Kent Barbado
'Spiders, from a dream...
A fish-man, who is rather quiet...'
Kent again heard not words coming from Alacira as she talked into the phone
He scanned the room
He heard words that were not words
Kent Barbado
'Wizards...
what the hell is next?
Dragons - Cthulhu?'
The Navigator put his hand on kent's shoulder
A clarity pierced his hearing: burrowing to his brain
...
Pools[i].add(_DRAIN(self.algera));
Pools[i].storage>90% ?
Pools.length<i?
i++:
Pools.add(POOL(
{AUTHORIZE:auth_list}
)):
;
self.next();
},hearing)
The navigator pulled his hand away
As he did that Kent felt a muteness, not of hearing but of mind.
He remembered what he understood in that moment, but Alacira's voice returned to nonsense to him
Alacira put down the phone
Lana Alacira
"Almost nothing to do now but wait."
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"Cheese anyone... brandy?"
Flanagan walked into the next room leading to the kitchen
Kent watched the Navigator sit down across from him.
It was unnerving: his attention on him
Gerald and Alacira shared a look
Gerald pulled a small black hand mirror from his inside pocket
Gerald Whitewater
"Once more into the fray."
Gerald was holding the mirror out - toward Martha
Martha Crisp
"How about you tell me what that's all about first, we have time now."
Gerald Whitewater
"Captain?"
Alacira was standing next to the desk, focused on the vial of dark liquid on top
She absently waved her hand, and Gerald turned back
Gerald Whitewater
"Right, so you've been gathering information, key..."
Gerald fumbled for the right words
Gerald Whitewater
"...components to a knowledge..."
Again he hesitated
Gerald Whitewater
"Bomb is close, but - remember how I said ideas can be dangerous in of themselves...
Well, when you start combining dangerous ideas together: you can make a weapon.
A weapon which is undefinable to humans, and renders things undefined."
Kent Barbado
"A knowledge bomb?"
Gerald Whitewater
"Just a label: a bad one at that."
Kent Barbado
"Undefined?"
Gerald Whitewater
"In other words, completely ignorable."
Martha Crisp
"You said this was the last one?"
Gerald slowly nodded, and held out the mirror
Martha Crisp
"What about the Way Out?"
Lana Alacira
"Two plans: better than one plan."
From the kitchen in the distance, Flanagan called out
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"What cheeses?"
Gerald Whitewater
"All the cheeses, please!"
Lana Alacira
"You trust his plans?"
Martha waited, her eyes were on the Navigator, his face.
Martha Crisp
"Where's this one go to?"
Gerald Whitewater
"Someplace dangerous, the dying mind of the first host of Al-tok - this time around."
Martha Crisp
"This time around?"
Lana Alacira
"Those monks in Italy, Kent here.
They all had contact with this entity."
Kent Barbado
"Wait - when did I have contact?"
Lana Alacira
"You're supposed to be in a coma - Al-tok is the reason why.
I took you, the part of you al-tok wanted on my ship..."
Kent Barbado
'But that was not Al-tok, was it...
That was just depression.'
Kent thought back to the days leading to the incident... the accident
Martha Crisp
"Same deal?
Something out of place?"
Gerald nodded and Martha took the mirror and looked into it
Lana Alacira
"Let's hope she doesn't screw us..."
Alacira took a swig from a flask in her right pocket
Kent didn't have time to ask questions.
He started to form the words when his left ear was deafened by Martha's scream
%%%%
Ada was hunched by the door, bracing it closed.
While it had a lock: we were not taking chances
Lenny of the Relux
'If we wait maybe they will go away...'
Another knock
It was was followed by several attempts at turning the latch.
The knock itself was subdued, urgent, but not as loud as it could be.
Between each attempt was the small bright rattle of keys
Ada Lovelace of the Relux
'It sounds like it is just one out there...'
Jochek of the Relux
'Numbers are in our favor...'
The Relux
'We let them in...'
Ada moved away, and unlocked the door
Silently we moved out of the line of sight.
From behind the door Ada saw a short woman with long brown hair walk in
Ada closed the door.
The stranger meeped and jump to the center of the room
She was holding a broken champagne glass stem as a makeshift brass-knuckle pointed at Ada.
In her other hand she held a set of keys
Dana Ixari
"Who are you?"
She held out the pointed glass stem at Ada, her hand was trembling
Dana Ixari
"Don't move, just stay there."
Lenny of the Relux
"Easy now..."
She spun toward Lenny
Lenny of the Relux
"Why don't you tell us what's got you so worked up?"
She spun toward Jochek, when she emerged from behind a book shelf
Dana Ixari
"You're not?..."
She took a moment to process
Jochek of the Relux
"What's going on out there?"
She lowered her hand
Not completely, she relaxed it in front of her
Dana Ixari
"One person, the chef, seems to have gathering control of everyone downstairs."
Ada Lovelace of the Relux
"The chef?"
Dana Ixari
"Da, I ran upstairs, this: the farthest down the hallway."
Ada Lovelace of the Relux
"Why the chef?"
She shrugged
Ada Lovelace of the Relux
'Everyone downstairs...'
Lenny of the Relux
'Means if anyone sees us...'
Jochek of the Relux
'We just take the stairs - they go down to the cellar.
But getting out...'
There were no windows, no exits except for one
The Relux
'We will have get everyone out of the foyer, the dinning room.'
Jochek of the Relux
'Distraction?'
Lenny of the Relux
'Everyone - maybe a fire.'
Ada Lovelace of the Relux
'Fire is not always the answer...'
The Relux
'Although in this case...'
Dana Ixari
"Why are you staring at each-other?"
Ada Lovelace of the Relux
"Just making plans, love.
If you would be so kind as to follow us?"
Ada unlocked the door
Ada Lovelace of the Relux
'On this floor there is a lab.'
Ada led the way, down the hall, around a corner
Lenny rubbed his hands together
Lenny of the Relux
'How well stocked?
Pretty sure I could do a bit better than fire.'
Jochek of the Relux
'Well stocked, How long do you need?'
Lenny of the Relux
'You two grab the Way Out, ten minutes maybe.'
A stainless steel door inlaid in the stone wall was the last to the left in the hallway
It opened with a woosh
Lenny and Jochek, still in the bodies of the coach driver and their fare, were blinded.
Ada however, could see the stainless steel coating every surface inside
Ada flipped a switch as Lenny stumbled inside
Inside the room a fain buzzing in the ceiling stopped, and the quality of light became softer, easier on the eyes
Lenny of the Relux
"What was the chef doing?"
Dana shrugged
Dana Ixari
"I wasn't down there long."
Jochek pointed at Lenny
Whom had already started pilfering the lab
Jochek of the Relux
"Stay with him."
Jochek grabbed Ada's hand and we led her away
Lenny of the Relux
"Wait, take these."
Lenny tossed them two gas masks hanging on the side wall
Lenny of the Relux
'Shut the door, would you?'
Ada did, finding a latch she also locked it
Lenny of the Relux
'Maybe just the chef, if we take him out...'
We had doubts if that would work, how far had the mind of the chef spread through the crowd
Lenny filled through the cupboards - taking inventory.
Ada and Jochek walked down the hall
Lenny of the Relux
'We can do an irritant, or... oh - will gas masks protect against that...'
Lenny was looking at a vial labeled...
Jochek of the Relux
'Nothing fancy Lenny.'
They took a moment at the stairs, listening for activity.
In the silence, Ada broke it with an old sharpened point
Ada Lovelace of the Relux
'One bad seed, Jochek...'
Jochek of the Relux
'Do you know how long we vetted you?'
They crept down the main stairway
A main set of stairs, and behind it - a smaller, more subdued spiral staircase led to the floors below
Lenny of the Relux
'This argument, again...
Let me concentrate!'
The Relux
'We should add more to us.'
Jochek of the Relux
'If we choose the right people...'
Jochek led the way - keeping a watch on the hallway entrance
Ada Lovelace of the Relux
'It only takes one.'
Ada and Jochek descended the spiral staircase
A long way down, several stories of solid stone, the cellar held the Way Out
Dana Ixari
"Anything I can do to help?"
Lenny, was lost in thought
He waved his hand at the open cupboards
Ada kept her ears open, but all they heard were their own footsteps down the stairs
Lenny of the Relux
"Do we need the chef alive?"
Jochek of the Relux
'I doubt he has any knowledge of what happened...'
Ada Lovelace of the Relux
'If we can easily help it: you do have a whole lab there...'
Dana Ixari
"Strictly speaking, I guess not."
Down below Ada could see around the spiraling staircase the cellar door finally
Lenny of the Relux
'Chemistry is harder than you think.'
Lenny of the Relux
"You know how much the chef weights?"
Again, Dana Shrugged
Dana Ixari
"I never actually saw him..."
Lenny of the Relux
"Then how do you know he's doing anything?"
Dana Ixari
"People were going around saying - and I quote - 'in the name of the sioux chef supreme'..."
Jochek of the Relux
'Someone has an ego...'
Ada flipped a switch in near the cellar door
Through iron bars in a half moon shape hole in the door - a cramped hallway illuminated by orange sconces
Jochek tried the door
It was locked
Lenny of the Relux
" The cellar door is locked."
Dana Ixari
"Da, as it is."
Lenny pointed to Dana's ring of keys
Lenny of the Relux
"...Is there a key?"
Dana Ixari
"The seneschal has it. These were for the upstairs rooms."
Lenny waited
Dana Ixari
"He's somewhere in that..."
...that throng, well shit...
Lenny of the Relux
'Can you break down the door?'
Ada Lovelace of the Relux
'No, but I have a hairpin.'
Jochek stretched out their hand expectantly
Ada might have nimbler hands, but her hearing was better too
Ada climbed the stairs, and stopped short at the sound of footsteps above
The Relux
'How many is that?'
About 20 Ada guessed
Lenny stopped what he was doing, and took out jugs of liquid on the table
Lenny of the Relux
"Hey, go outside and make some noise: see if you can get their attention!"
Dana Ixari
"Who's attention?"
Lenny of the Relux
"Downstairs, main floor, sounds like about twenty of them."
Lenny grabbed another tub of white powder off of the shelf.
Dana opened the large metal door
It slid open with a hiss
Lenny tossed Dana a gas mask
A short time later, above her Ada heard
Dana Ixari
"Hello, is anyone there!"
Followed by footsteps up the stairs, followed by several more sets
Ada Lovelace of the Relux
'Sounds a bit more than 20.'
Lenny looked out the door, waiting, holding one vial above a vat
He was wearing a gas mask
Dana ran up the steps.
Lenny pointed to his mask
Behind Dana were several dozen people, most perhaps in the castle.
Lenny watched their shoes, their feet move, pointedly not looking at anything the storming crowd was holding.
Lenny hummed tunes in his head, his current hearing was terrible and that helped, he didn't need it.
He had our help, to forget, not that he needed it.
Lenny waited for Dana to get her mask on, and then
He dropped the vial into the tub.
An explosion of vapor, sticky and white clouded the room, then the hallway.
Screams and coughs and cries sounded out as shadowed shapes hit the ground
The vapor expanded like a foam down the hall, down the stairs, flooding into the castle
Lenny of the Relux
"Is the seneschal here, what does he look like?"
Dana looked down through the fallen bodies, twisting and moaning, then she pointed
And as Lenny inspected him he found a ring of keys... just as:
Jochek of the Relux
'Got it.'
The cellar door flung open
Stone walls, and wooden doors, unmarked
The Relux
'Do we know which one?'
Ada, our representative, was never down here.
We did not know what else was down here either.
Lenny was wheezing through the mask, his old body not ready for such activity.
He had to use the handrail down the stairs, and we let the potential carry his weight.
Deep down, everyone was a potential to add to us