[NARRATION]: INITIATED
[NARRATION]>[SOUNDTRACK]:
[NARRATION]>[CASE-SENSITIVE]: INITIATED
[NARRATION]>[COLOR]>[WHITE]: INITIATED
[NARRATION]>[TRANSMIT]>[HAILEY]: INITIATED
The streets are busy this time of day. It must be 4:00 PM——I haven't tuned my clocks quite yet. Hailey is doing so right now, turning her watch and fiddling with the little gears. Only a few people have given me any weird glances——it helps that I only have two arms on right now. Hailey finishes tuning her watch and turns her gaze toward me, grinning. It's 4:01. V3 stays winning.
We're here, three days after the disappearance of the Ocean, in one of the few clouds within the Demiurges’ realm of observation. The Terminal is focusing its full attention on everything that remains. It's scary to consider what might happen if it could blink.
“Can you recap why we're here, in this particular Cloud?" Hailey asks, leaning further into my peripheral vision. But of course. We're here because Cellhex-V1’s imprinted soul came from here. Or, around here. Hailey still doesn't know why it turned up in her lab, but considering it's a Cloud, she figured the first place to start should be somewhere she's been considering going for a while. She nods, satisfied with my recap, and we head into the building in front of us.
"Hi,” Hailey says, smiling. “We're here to see Gabriel Schwarze?" Hailey clasps her hands in front of her as she stares at the receptionist.
“Relation to the patient,” the receptionist asks, though there's only the hint of a questioning tone——no mark, merely implied.
“Ah, a friend. But I was under the impression that this clinic allowed such visits? I have my identification, if you’d like...” Hailey smiles curiously, pushing her eyebrows together in an attempt to look confused. She looks a little more mocking than she intends to. I have a feeling the back and forth is going to get interesting, so I run a command.
[NARRATION]>[DIALOGUE]>[HS.FORMAT]: INITIATED
RECEPTIONIST: Right
RECEPTIONIST: That’s not the problem
HAILEY: oh?
She feigns a worried expression, as though she’s not just confused now, but concerned. Fuse and CERN. It reminds me of the large hadron collider, but that’s neither here nor there. I just like thinking about things.
RECEPTIONIST: There’s no one here named Gabriel Schwarze
HAILEY: oh... my mistake, we must have entered the wrong building!
The receptionist pauses, narrowing her eyes. She throws a glance my way.
RECEPTIONIST: Who are you two anyways
RECEPTIONIST: Are you making a movie?
HAILEY: hm? why do you ask that?
RECEPTIONIST: Your friend is wearing a spacesuit or something
HAILEY: oh, indeed they are
HAILEY: it’s just an outfit. pay no attention
The receptionist looks at her monitor and mumbles——no, there’s no audio, she’s just mouthing it——“to the man behind the curtain.” Hailey apparently didn’t notice herself, but she can’t help but crack a more open-mouthèd smile now that she’s heard the narration.
RECEPTIONIST: Well
RECEPTIONIST: We don’t have a Gabriel Schwarze here
HAILEY: do you by any chance know where he might be? i’m certain he’s with this hospital...
RECEPTIONIST: I don’t know if that’s really in my capabilities
Now, we could just take that and go——we got what we came for, we had a hint of Limit at this location and it turned out to be a dead end. And yet, something draws Hailey closer.
HAILEY: er... could you not search your system?
The receptionist pauses and nods.
RECEPTIONIST: Sure thing
She types on the keyboard. I look at the way the muscles in her wrists move——her hands are too far hidden past the rise of the counter, where it meets the glass barrier——and understand. She only types the name “Gabriel Schwarze”——but she doesn’t move the mouse. She hasn’t changed screens, so she’s faking it.
RECEPTIONIST: It doesn’t look like he’s in our network
Hailey pauses, narrowing her eyes and tilting her head back slightly as she stares at the receptionist. She’s lost in thought, not realizing how odd she looks as she does it. But my narration snaps her back, and she returns to her normal smile rather than her interested smirk.
HAILEY: well! we’ll be on our way then. thank you a lot for your help...
She squints at the nametag.
HAILEY: ... diane.
RECEPTIONIST: Have a nice day you two
We exit.