Martha pushed Kent aside and ran to the kitchen.
He fell against the leg of the couch
Kent's head throbbed, it had struck the wooden armrest
Alacira was pointing at her, with her other hand on her sword at her hip
Kent Barbado
"What's going on?"
Gerald stuck out his left arm.
A bail rattled, glowing a white-blue.
Both on his wrist and Alacira's
Each bail pointed towards the kitchen
Lana Alacira
"This is a warning, something's changed."
Their concerned expressions seemed genuine
Kent Barbado
'Okay Kent, easy now...'
Kent sat up and staggered to the kitchen
The kitchen...
Kent bent his knees
...was a long rectangular room.
A rolling island counter top was in the center.
The floor smooth, a black and white diamond checkered tiling.
Martha was at the end of the kitchen.
Her eyes wide and face impassive, she held a knife and a saw blade.
No.
She was holding one knife, her other hand was in mid throw.
The circular shape was a spinning knife heading right for him
The knife flew over his head, bouncing against the wall ricocheting towards him again.
He pushed out his coat, the hilt of the knife bounced off it and slid across the tiles
Kent Barbado
"Circle around her!"
Kent gave the order, He knew how to handle someone with a knife
Kent took off his coat and scrambled towards the other room
Kent Barbado
'How many can she throw, Kent?'
Kent Barbado
"She has about..."
Kent thought back to the kitchen block behind her...
that moment fresh in his mind
Kent Barbado
"Five knives, three in the block behind her."
Kent looked up
Kent Barbado
"Hey, a little help?
Can you understand me?"
The spiders bristled and chittered in reply.
They turned to each other, chittering
The net they constructed was more just a glob of spider glue.
It was barely held together by two wide swatches of non sticky webbing.
It was about half his size and he could pick it up with one hand, it was lighter than a baseball.
And they were done in a few seconds
Kent Barbado
'Thank the spiders, Kent, keep in their good graces.'
Kent looked up, and nodded curtly
Kent Barbado
'Eh, close enough...'
He saw movement in the corner of his eye: Martha poking out of the kitchen
Kent held the webbing in one hand, he held it out to his left and it caught a knife
Kent Barbado
'Keep focus, four knives...'
Kent pulled the knife out from the goo and tossed it against the wall
It stuck there, slowly sliding down, trailing like a snail
The doorbell rung
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"I think that's the Relux..."
Flanagan left to the front door
Kent was incredulous
Kent Barbado
'Sure...
Ignore the person throwing knives in the other room.
Answer the door...'
Sonny was below her spiders, she too received a net
Sonny and Wilbert ran through the foyer towards the kitchen's other entrance
Kent took a moment to collect himself...
Kent Barbado
'She got possessed by this Al-tok thing, so they just have to exercise it, right?'
Kent approached the kitchen holding out the net in front of him
A makeshift shield as well
Another knife landed in that makeshift net
He grabbed the knife and pulled
This one was stuck tight, but it eventually came free, the blade also trailing a slime residue
Kent threw it out of the kitchen, and started walking slowly towards Martha.
She was darting her head side to side
Her face held no life, only a wide and calculating stare
Martha was darting her head side to side
Kent Barbado
'Cornered people are desperate people, Kent'
The island counter top was between Martha and Kent, Sonny and Wilbert were poking out the other threshold
Martha threw a knife towards them, it landed in Wilbert's left side
Sonny had tried to block it with the same makeshift shield, but it only shielded how bad the wound was
Wilbert fell, holding his side, and let out a gargled scream
Martha pulled out the last knife from the block
Kent Barbado
'No more knives to pull...
No more spare knives to throw...
Go now!'
Kent rushed towards Martha.
Martha spun towards him, and then away - pushing her back into his net, sending them both sprawling on the ground.
Martha's arm swang out to stab at Kent, but couldn't get the right angle
The blade repeatedly stopped dangerously close to his face
Sonny dropped the net on Martha, sandwiching her between the two
Martha's struggles were futile at that point.
With her arms stuck at her side, Kent easily disarmed her
Alacira strolled into the kitchen while Kent struggled out of his coat underneath Martha
Kent Barbado
'Just great, Kent...'
She looked over the situation.
The net was hardening, like an epoxy, trapping both him and Martha.
Sonny had simply dropped the net, leaving her free and tending to Wilbert
Kent abandoned his coat entirely and stood up from the webbing
Lana Alacira
"Right, now that's taken care of...
Let's get the doctor for Wilbert here."
Kent Barbado
"Which doctor will treat a fish-man?"
Gerald Whitewater
"Wrong determiner."
Gerald was shouting from the parlor.
Kent saw Gerald holding a clipboard, scribbling something furiously on it
Kent tilted his head
Kent Barbado
"Wrong...
What?"
Gerald waved him off
Gerald Whitewater
"Not that one either.
Get Wilbert down the steps."
Sonny and her spiders wrapped Wilbert in a hammock, and carried him out of the room
Beside him he watched Martha try to escape the webbing, no wasted energy on facial expressions...
Just lots of kicking and trashing...
Right into Kent's legs
At the threshold stood a tall black man
Lenny
"And who might you be?"
Lenny walked over held out his hand
It was almost an afterthought, Kent could not take it before it dropped
Lenny leaned over Martha and Kent
Lenny
"She got this Al-tok thing in her?"
Lana Alacira
"No.
It's related, but it's not Al-Tok."
Alacira raised her wrist
Kent saw the bail change color...
It lost it's color, and glow for a moment.
Then it winked back into existence
Lana Alacira
"She's putting up a fight..."
The bails went still again, longer this time.
And Kent noticed during these times Martha ceased struggling
%%%%
Martha uncovered more memories
And to her surprise, not all were terrible.
Most were bad, but some when she rehandled now were neutral.
The more she handled the less phased she was by any particular bad memory.
Handling them was like washing off a mirror, and looking in to a remembered world
Martha Crisp
'Keep watch, it comes from behind.'
She thought that, but she thought of that more of from Rossin than from her...
Martha Crisp
'You there?'
There was no response, regardless of the thought's origins: it was good advice
Martha searched her surroundings
The memories below were clean, they existed in a cylinder around her, extending up and toward the present.
Some gaps existed, forming ridges she could walk on
Martha Crisp
'It is hiding somewhere...'
Somewhere she couldn't detect
Martha moved on to the next memory to clean, and the sludge moved
Something wrapped around Martha's wrist, pulling her under
She had some leverage - bracing against the edges of the memory - she had a moment to think
const helm = {
airSupple:unlimited,
seals:[air tight,water tight],
autoFit: true,
autoAttach: true,
}
Self.Martha.get("onLeftFoot").transform(helm)
Martha felt her left shoe transform into a diver's helmet
The helmet crawled - melted - up her leg just avoiding falling into the memory.
It slid along her sinking body, staying just above the sludge.
It formed around her head just as she was pulled under.
Submerged in the sludge something pulled her further down, into a memory.
She landed on the grass below her tree house
Pain rushed through her knees as she collapsed, then her shoulders.
She took tired breaths
Martha Crisp
'Why do I need to breath?'
If this was in her head, why was she breathing.
Regardless, she hurt
Martha turn over, facing the sky
She saw throw a circular port hole, with thin bars across, a diver's helmet
Martha Crisp
'Do not look left.'
Next to her was something that looked like her older brother.
Lying still, face down...
His arm -
-She was staring up at the moon, keeping her eyes still.
It was a beautiful night
Martha Crisp
'it was just a tap, I did not trip him.'
The memory, complete with the thoughts she had at this time when she was seven, filled her
Martha reached up and felt at her head
The diving helmet was there
Martha Crisp
'Right.
Memory...
Something pulled me in here.'
Something to her left.
A thing that ate her regret, wearing the skin of her brother
She wished he was here.
She just thought he would be at her side now
Martha Crisp
'He abandoned me...'
Martha Crisp
'Well, not quite...'
She would have to look left, she knew, eventually, she would have to face it head on.
And in so doing give it power: acknowledgement of existence
Martha Crisp
'Together alone.'
The sentiment bittersweet, both from her and...
Martha took a breath...
And looked left
Immediate terror filled her.
She didn't see her brother, she saw that thing.
The thing that had been chasing her in her dreams now used no facade.
She knew she made a mistake.
She should have prepared something
It was her shape, with wide calculating eyes.
It was her desire to hurt, wrapped tightly in memories she now regretted.
It was her memories - twisted into dark and sharp things - including the one she was in now.
It was ruthless, with a desire only to consumed, held back no longer.
But worst it was gleeful, it stole the pleasure of others.
It could not consume pleasure, only be fulfilled by the removal of it in others.
It was a hole in the shape of her, a void unfilled
Martha Crisp
'Fuck...
Uh...
Shield'
Self.shield=shield
Nothing happened
Martha = Self.Martha
Martha.shiel>^ERR
It rushed at her, a claw of dark memory outstretched.
^It swiped.
Part of her helmet exploded in shrapnel to her right
Martha felt a tearing sensation at her mouth.
Her jaw was nothing but fire to her, she couldn't move it
Martha pushed away
Martha.gravity= {0,-0.5,-1}
She felt her gravity shift
Martha Crisp
'Why did it not get eaten?'
Her automatic response was still on, and that thing definitely attacked her
Martha fell and landed on the tree trunk.
As she knee bent the wrong way she slipped off and continued falling.
She screamed - pain shooting through her - and clipped the wooden fence
She saw to her left, something else falling along with her.
A small bloody mass the size of a coin purse.
Her jaw was burning.
Her knee felt like it had a knife in it.
She couldn't concentrate
She felt at an empty space her jaw was supposed to be
She screamed in frustration > pain > rage.
It came out in a gurgle
A dark shadow approached.
It flew towards her from where she had come
Martha.healing({
regeneration:true,
rate:instant
.on:(Self)=>'Healing 123'
})
Martha Crisp
'Healing 123.'
Martha felt relief flood through her knee, her face.
The mass off to her side had disappeared: appearing where it should be.
Her helmet remained broken, twisted edges from where it was slashed dug into her neck and mouth.
One corner was against her nose, she could smell the copper, and she wondered if it was her blood she was smelling
Martha Crisp
'Okay... quick.'
Martha.gravity= {0,-0.5,-10}
Martha.Shield=shield
It was rushing towards her
With it's claws outstretched, panic gripped Martha
>>--TEMPORAL();
Time began to stretch: it nearly frozen as it reached toward, claws outstretched
Martha Crisp
'keep calm...
No wait: panic - more time to think that way...
What do I need?'
Martha thought through her next actions, and studied the thing in front of her.
It was in her shape...
But in a way, an inversion: as if the universe around that void was the true shape.
A cut-out, in her outline...
What she saw was a hole where a person should be
[
'I could kill it, or trap it.',
'Should I run...',
'What would hurt it?',
'What will it try to do?',
'How do I get away?'
]
It's claw was still in the process of moving slowly towards her.
At this speed, she could at least think of a way to dodge
Martha Crisp
'A trap, you are in a memory, you are in your head...'
She was, she was moving in this memory - to the edges supplemented by other memories.
Memory was just a direction here, one she could move through
Martha Crisp
'Go somewhere it is weaker - it has a hold here.'
Martha tried to think of a place, somewhere it wouldn't find easily, something where nothing bad happened.
But as she searched, she found no places...
Until: a park, when she was 11, she was alone rollerblading around a track
Martha moved into the memory
Time still frozen, Martha stood beside her younger self, who was moving in slow motion away from her
Martha Crisp
'Okay.
Trap, can manage a trap...
What does a trap need.
Bait, a trigger, a way to...'
Martha trailed off, in front of her a claw was outstretched toward her.
Not any further away than it had been, closer now even
Martha Crisp
'Keep panicking, nice and easy, keep time nice and slow...'
Martha was just thinking quickly, not moving quickly...
She could not avoid the claw, it was to quick...
Martha Crisp
'Okay, just...
full aggression - kill it.
Wait: do not let it get anything from you...'
With permissions(655)
{
.disintegrate{
_disintegrate=(t)=>{
for(const part{smallest}:a of t){
for(const part{smallest}:b of t){
--async
while(b!=a){
b.moveAway(a);
a.moveAway(b);
}
}
}
}
target=Eyesight.rayCast().collision
_disintegrate(target)
}
}
Martha locked eyes, past the outstretched claw.
She looked into the things's eyes, she saw pools of hollow nothing
Martha.disintegrate();
The creature was gone, not exploded like she expected...
Just gone...
In front of her, however, the oak tree beyond began to dissolve into a cloud of expanding dust
She had missed.
It had been faster.
^Martha looked down at her stomach
A pressure had formed at her back, her side felt cold.
^A large chunk was missing, torn from her from a swipe too fast for her to perceive
The blue force field around her side was missing, and she could see more than she wanted to.
She wanted to throw up, and briefly considered doing so, to satiate her nausea
Martha Crisp
'Healing 123.'
Her shield remained unrepaired, but her side was now intact, the pain now a ghost.
She tried to banish the nausea, and succeeded
Martha switched memories
She saw herself in the car with her mother, frozen in some argument.
Some long forgotten disagreements rolled into one iconic moment, an amalgamation of several such car rides
Martha Crisp
'Just need a moment to think.'
She noticed it outside, running towards the parked car she was in
Martha.disintegrate();
Before she could notice it's absence it was gone.
Behind it though, was her younger self rollerskating in the park
Her younger self dissipated into nothing
Leaving a hole, in the shape of a person in her memories.
An outline controlled by that entity in her head.
A part of her lost to that creature
Martha Crisp
'I am looking at the wrong thing...'
The part she was looking at, the hole in the shape of her...
That was the weapon, not the creature...
The creature, she realized, wasn't her darker self, but was all around her: controlling it.
Surrounding that empty shape, piloting it like a puppet
Martha Crisp
'Okay, out of my memories...
What else do I have in my head?'
She knew it could follow into her dreams, her memories, but maybe...
Martha concentrated and moved herself out of the memory, into an imagined space
It was swimming though pudding, each motion a struggle to remove attachment to her memories...
The space she imagined was a large grey room, with no obvious source to the ambient yellow lighting.
The floor was checkered, meeting walls with zebra-ed stripes.
No sound louder than an ambient fan
Martha Crisp
'Okay.
Aim for the hand, not the weapon...'
When the creature appeared she now knew what to look for.
That hole was an outline.
Small tugs from the dream - like bedsheets pulled tight, folded into the hole.
The distortions wrapping the hole in the shape of her from the dream...
Or in this case, her imagination...
Attacking the hole was like throwing rocks through the window instead of at the foundation.
Not that rocks would do much against a house...
Martha looked left
The folds blended into her space, until they were nothing.
She didn't see anything, and she felt a brush against her neck.
Her body felt cold.
She tried to catch her breath.
She couldn't.
She couldn't move her chest.
Or anything...
Martha fell
And her world tumbled.
She saw the ceiling.
The she saw her shoulders, both of them
Martha Crisp
'Healing 123.'
Her body snapped back on
And she felt hungry.
She felt the floor beneath her, cool to the touch.
She lay there not moving
It was faster than her.
It could follow her anywhere in her head...
And then she realized: the link.
How attached was she to this body anyway?
If Flanagan could take over Felix...
Could she take over someone as well?
Would she?
Martha Crisp
'You would not be any better than them, then...'
Martha decided that she could not - would not - do that
Martha moved to a new dream
In this dream, her constructed room, that entire construction in her head, was contained in an orb
Martha.disintegrate();
The orb flew apart - into dust
The hole was in front of her, it was pointing at her.
The tugs on the ends of the dream now thicker, extending into that shape.
Marbled lines filled that hole now
Martha Crisp
'Okay...
It is attaching itself to the dream...
Can I exploit that, a dangerous dream to have it come into?'
That hole in her form rushed at her, arms outstretched
It was reaching toward's her eye
Martha shifted again, into a new memory
This one old, and ragged.
It was full of sharp edges, parts of the memory floated away, revealing a void beyond.
It was her first dinner at a table, from when she was six months old.
She was in a high-rise chair, surrounded by flowers in glass beer bottles, instant mashed potatoes in front of her
Martha turned to the left
A small crack in the table, extending into open air, widening to a height she could fit through by the kitchen door, revealed a void behind
Martha.pos+={42i meters,0,0};
Martha moved into the void
She was looking at her own memory like a snow glob, she was far enough away it appeared that size.
She noticed the rippling of reality around the edges - the creature was there, looking in.
She couldn't see a form to it, just an amorphous cloud.
It wasn't something she could fight...
And it wasn't something she wanted disperse throughout herself
Martha Crisp
'Okay...
Can I just run away?'
No, it was free now
Martha Crisp
'Okay, why is it getting through my shield?'
It was a moveable hole, made of her nightmares, controlled by a malevolent creature.
Was that it was made of nothing, how it got though her shield?
If nothing got though her shield...
She needed a shield to protect against nothing
Martha Crisp
'Does it see me?'
Out in the void, where none of it's attention was focused, Martha remained unnoticed
Martha Crisp
'I just need a way to get rid of it...'
Martha watched it from the void.
It tore through the memory - destroying it, searching for her
Martha Crisp
'Consequences...
When you made it part of you...'
Martha focused.
If she could get a reference to it, she could...
Martha Crisp
'Trap it.
Contain it.'
Martha was getting hungry.
And tired
Martha.shield = NULL;
A relief hit her.
She was still hungry, but it was not increasing
Martha Crisp
'Okay, think this through...'
It was in her memories, she reasoned.
Since most of its focus was on searching for her
Martha Crisp
'Is that what that cloud is?
Its attention?'
The cloud of shifting distortions, like a prism of moving glass, consolidated into a denser shape around her memory
Martha Crisp
'If I just take care of that...'
It wouldn't be able to do anything else...
Regardless of how much larger the creature was, if all of its attention was otherwise occupied...
Martha Crisp
'Okay think this through...
How do I trap its attention?'
She saw into that memory, that hole in the shape of her, filled with nightmare, was in the process of tearing that memory apart
Martha Crisp
'And trap that...'
That puppet in the shape of her would be a problem, she realized.
It was her nightmares - carved into a void.
If it was freed it would be a problem too
Martha Crisp
'First things first...'
She needed a name, or at least a reference, of that creature.
She could just point at 'that' and hope that's all of it...
But if she knew its name, she could be sure
She moved through memories again
This time to a familiar book store.
An old women was showing her a book.
On the page, she could see it.
Strange symbols and patterns.
She saw it burn into her mind
The old woman looked up, at Martha looking in
A cold stare, on saying 'you don't belong her'
Martha moved back into the void
Time slow due to her sudden panic.
Is that what she had done in the past...
Or was that old woman somehow present in her head
Martha shivered
Sudden thoughts of spiders filled her head
Martha Crisp
'It was a memory...'
She told herself this as she watched the creature tear open the memory.
The last crumbles were searched - and when nothing was found, their shadows were searched as well...
todo:
make and deploy barrier
And behind the barrier it was trapped
It clawed at it, trying to reach Martha
Martha watched it, until she was sure the barrier would hold
Martha Crisp
'Okay, so now...
Just wake up...'
She focused, and willed herself awake
%%%%
Martha awoke to a bright light above her.
Blurry eyed she took in her surroundings.
She was in a room, strapped down on some operating table.
She was surrounded by silhouettes.
One started moving towards her
Martha struggled against the table
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"What have you done?"
In the corner of the room she could make out the familiar face
Flanagan doubled over in pain, then left the room
Martha Crisp
"Wait!
What's happening?"
Alacira was standing over her, looking at a lifeless bail on her wrist
Lana Alacira
"Welcome back.
Care to tell us where you've been?"
%%%%
Felix was reminiscing, days of lectures with Ozmind.
He remembered a time he was in the audience watching, a face among a small crowd of twenty.
Ozmind stood at the raised stage, with a chalkboard to his right
Ozmind slammed his pointer against the chalkboard
It made a sharp memorable ringing, reverberating along the flat wood paneling
Ozmind Yammin
"...There are dangerous things one could do in such states."
Felix tried, but couldn't remember the earlier parts of the lecture...
Not before that snap...
Ozmind Yammin
"Identity is mutable, more so in these states...
Such alterations could be unintentionally permanent.
You may be unable, or unwilling to change back to your former self."
A hand shot up near Felix, Ozmind pointed towards that hand
Ozmind recognized the scottish accent
Erin Mc'kay
"Which states?"
Ozmind Yammin
"In the link..."
Erin didn't lower her hand, and Ozmind eventually continued
Ozmind Yammin
"Any state where you are not solidly in your self.
So the link is the biggest example: any others?"
It was a question for the peanut gallery.
Felix heard a few timid voices behind him
Students
"Back of the mind?"
Ozmind Yammin
"Good, any part of the mind - any self reflecting state - not just the back."
The rest of the memory faded into obscurity, and Felix focused on the present
He was still in his mind, with Flanagan at the helm.
Felix saw no one move, they were perfectly frozen in place.
Some part of the conversation was playing which Flanagan deemed inappropriate for him to witness.
In those moments reality seemed to pause from Felix's perspective...
Followed by a sudden jump
With Flanagan able to hear his thoughts...
And if begging, pleading, groveling and sulking wouldn't work...
Suddenly Felix was in an elevator
Martha was restrained in what looked like some alien shell.
Kent was there wheeling the dolly Martha - in her cocoon - rested on
Felix Danabrus
'What the hell is happening?'
Flanagan
'Oh, you are...
Right.
Timer will just...
Okay - fixed...'
And the world paused again.
Frozen on a moment Felix wasn't supposed to see
There was no response.
Whether Flanagan was ignoring him or was distracted, Felix did not know...
He hoped it was the latter
Again, no response.
Felix kept his thoughts from running too close to his plan.
Surprise could make all the difference.
It was taxing: trying not to think of something consciously, and only subconsciously think of a plan.
Like trying not to think of the first cliché that comes to mind.
So he didn't think of what he would become, just his desperation for escape
Felix Danabrus
'Well, just have to wait.'
He lied.
^The transformation felt like ages to him.
He was unsure how much time had passed during the process...
^Felix became a parasite
In front of him was Flanagan, piloting his body in the elevator, everything was still frozen
Felix thrust his hand into Flanagan's face
It melted in, little tendrils extended out from his skin, wiggling through capillaries into the arteries and searching for...
One of the tendrils found it, Algera
Felix began absorbing as much as he could
Felix fell into infinite infinities, stretching and breaking from his self, reforming wholistic larger.
At once he understood the cosmic joke and it broke him
Felix Danabrus
'Nothing?!'
He couldn't believe it, and he bathed in that disbelief, twisting through the infinite
Everything jumped
They were in a cardboard room, Martha was strapped to a table.
Felix still had his hand in Flanagan's paling face
Flanagan in Felix Danabrus
"What have you done?"
Felix, in response, extended the tendrils deeper
They met no resistance, and soon, coated everything.
In a moment Flanagan disappeared, and Felix's perspective lurched into where Flanagan had been.
He could move his arms, his own arms, and felt nauseous from the sudden change in control.
In the room he felt eyes turn on him, his sudden doubling over in heavy breathing a distinctly noticeable event
Felix Danabrus
"Excuse me..."
Felix left the room, and in the hall started walking towards an exit
Felix Danabrus
'They want Flanagan, well, they are not getting him through me...'
The Algera was warm in his mind, a burning fire at the base, brimming with power.
The sudden freedom of thought, of not being monitored, was a relieve to Felix more than he realized.
The freedom to plan revenge
Felix Danabrus
'stop thinking about it...'
The cosmic joke.
If he could forget it, he would.
But it festered in his mind.
Knowing for certain, true knowledge that was dangerous to know.
The more he thought of it, the more it tore at him.
If he ever found the joke funny, he knew, he would be lost
Felix ran
Out onto the streets; From his problems