Conversation · Andre

"Not long. Like a week maybe?" He shrugs.

"How can you be sure they haven't starved to death?"

"I'm super sure they're alive. I mean, c'mon! I'm at least 90%... maybe 85% sure they're still alive."

Somewhere in the ruinous past that led you here there was something called 'exams'. You may have learned the term 'involuntary manslaughter' there.

"Andre, do you know what 'involuntary manslaughter' means?"

"Yes I do, I listen to Channel 8 all the time. I know about crime stuff and I assure you, officer, this is not what's happening here. I'm at least 80% sure they're alive. I mean, c'mon -- most people aren't ever that alive in their entire lives!"

"What does that even mean?"

"I don't know..." He pauses to think. "What does anything mean, really?"

"Oh yeah..." He looks at his friend with an expression of profound understanding.

"Yeah, I catch your drift."

"I knew you'd get it. You're one smart cop."

It feels good to be the smart cop, doesn't it? That's a good cop to be. Has a nice ring to it. "Smart Cop." You wouldn't want to be "Stupid Cop," now would you? But still -- maybe he's just sucking up to you?

"You can stop buttering me up now, thank you."

"Oh, okay." He nods his bleached, spiked head. "I won't do that anymore."

"I get by. Now where was I with that padlock..."

He nods attentively, ready to answer the questions of 'one smart cop.'

"Sounds like nonsense."

"You're right. It is nonsense. Total garbage. I knew you'd see through it, you're one smart cop!"

"Eighty-five percent is good enough. No one lives forever, baby!"

"Exactly! That's exactly what we thought!"

"THE CAGE OF THE RAGE, ROUGH BLAZE!"

"Egg means the situation is monitored." The man nods grimly. "It's 'relatively' safe. No one has died yet."

"Eight-five percent is not good enough when you're dealing with another person's physical well-being."

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too. I guess it wasn't very hard core of us to just lock them in like that."

"Me too... I shouldn't have that kind of power over another person. I'm not the one with the violence monopoly here -- you are. I'm glad that key is out of my hands now."

"This is cool. Taking initiative like this is proper citizen behaviour and I endorse it."

"Thank you, we just thought it was the right thing to do."

"Truth is, I don't really know. None of us do. I don't even know how many there are... all we've seen are glimpses."

Glimpses? Who are these people, secret agents? Stealth operatives?

"You haven't even seen them and you want the police involved?"

"Well..." he leans in for emphasis, "there's also the machinery..."

This machinery is of the deeply mystical variety.

"When I first scouted the place, back in February, it was abandoned. Empty. Took some time getting the crew together, so about two weeks ago we came here hoping to set the stuff up. Suddenly there are all these strange machines lying around in there."

"One of them has wires running into bowls of water. Wires. Into water. Never seen anything like it."

"Andre, tell him about the feeling!"

"Oh, and it felt like there was some thing in there with us, watching us from the dark..."

"No! The other one."

"Uhm, which other one? I'm not as in tune with my emotions as you are, Egg."

"Felt like silence! Awful silence..."

For this man even regular silence is awful enough. But that was... something greater.

"But you haven't physically seen anyone?"

"Not exactly. We've just seen someone who we think is a woman go in and out of the church. A couple of times. And we felt someone... or some thing... eyeing us inside. But... that's kinda it."

"Can you tell me more about this machinery?"

"You should talk to Noid about that. I just got a distinct burnout and dopehead sine from them. Probably jacked up to some snuff station too. Probably, very likely."

With a small surge of PEA, alertness fills you. As if to say: This is a dark corner, look behind it!

"I'll talk to Noid then."

"Good idea."

"Jacked up to some snuff station?"

"He means like one of those rich-boy private radio stations, where you can listen to people getting killed on. Then jerk off to it... sick shit."

Must be. Even Cuno knew that.

"Not that we would know anything about that. Noid just likes to relay stuff."

He appears sincere enough, sire. You could of course be wrong.

"We're getting derailed here. In short, you can talk to Noid about the machines. He'll tell you more."

"Alright, let's talk about something else."

"Sure. What?"

"The woman -- red hair maybe? A lorry-woman?"

"Sure, why not! Yeah!"

"But not really," the other one adds. "Brown hair. Old. Heavy, dark sines."

"So which one is it?"