Chapter 2

Sapphire immediately knew where it came from, and briskly led Steel to the function room on the second level.

The same blurry image formed on the mirror, and there were sounds of a crying girl.

"Help me! Someone help me!"

Sapphire stretched out her hand slowly and touched the image. It faded white for a brief moment, then transformed into a reflection of a girl. It appeared to be standing directly in front of Sapphire and Steel, but there was no girl with them to form the reflection. She looked about ten years of age, wore a pink and white-striped dress, and was holding a solved Rubik's cube.

"Who are you? Sapphire asked her.

"My name is Natalie," the girl said timidly.

"Natalie, how did you get inside the mirror?"

The girl fumbled with the cube in her hand and looked like she was about to cry again. But she answered, "I was playing in the children's playroom, and I just ended up here."

"Where are you? What can you see?"

The girl looked around her.

"I don't really know. I wasn't able to see anything at first. But now I see the two of you... in a room, with lots of chairs."

"Can you move about?"

The girl shook her head helplessly.

"How long have you been here?"

"Hours, I think. Are you here to rescue me?"

"Yes, we are. But you will have to be patient."

The girl nodded, and Steel and Sapphire turned to each other.

[What is she?]

[I can't be sure. I'm not reading any life signs from her, but that's probably because of whatever that is keeping her in captivity.]

[Trying to conceal her?]

[Possibly.]

[Ask her more questions.]

Sapphire turned back to the girl.

"Tell us what was happening before you were trapped here."

"I was playing with this cube in the playroom. My parents were having lunch with some friends, so they left me there. I was playing by myself, and I managed to solve this for the first time. I was so happy. But suddenly I couldn't see anything and couldn't move anywhere. It's been like this for hours. All I have with me is this cube," the girl looked down at the toy in her hand, which seemed to be bringing her comfort.

A thought suddenly occurred to Steel. He spoke to the girl for the first time, "Were you playing with this cube at the light green table?"

"Yes. I was sitting there. Why?" the girl looked at him in surprise.

[Do you see it?]

[A pattern?]

[Yes.]

[Yes I do.]

Steel headed out of the room. Before following, Sapphire told the girl, "We will be back in moment. If anything happens, just scream."

The girl nodded, and Sapphire gave her a reassuring smile.

Once outside, Steel said to her, "Remember you said something about not being able to pinpoint the exact floor?"

"Yes," she recalled.

"The light green table in the playroom is directly above the spot in front of the mirror in the function room."

Sapphire's eyes widened in realisation.

"Downstairs. I sensed a displacement."

"What kind?"

"A spatial displacement."

"Where?"

"Down on the stairs."

In an instant, they were at the foot of the grand spiral staircase. "Watch me," Sapphire instructed, then began to climb up the stairs slowly. On the ninth step, everything briefly swirled, and quickly returned to normal.

"I see it."

"There is no time on this particular step," said Sapphire.

"And there is no time at the table," Steel added as he ascended the stairs slowly.

"Therefore there is no time near the mirror," said Sapphire.

"And there is no time at this spot on the forth floor," continued Steel.

"Neither is there time at this spot on the fifth floor," said Sapphire. She was only one step above Steel, and their faces merely inches away from touching.

[And whatever time there is...] Steel began.

[It is artificial, ] she finished.

[Time makes no sense here.]

[Nothing makes sense here.]

[And when nothing makes sense...] he let his mental voice trail off as he braced for the contact. But between lips was the ear-piercing scream of the girl. Steel trampled up the stairs to the function room and towards the sound. But what he saw when he opened the door was not what he expected.

The floor was covered with rag dolls, living rag dolls, all moving towards him.

"The weak become one of us," they chorused in unison. The dolls began to climb onto him, and the more he tried to brush them off, the more covered with them he became. He felt himself being engulfed by them, and at the last second, he sent out a mental cry for help.

On the stairs, Sapphire sensed her partner's predicament and concentrated hard. The dolls fell from Steel's body, and he found himself exiting the room backwards. Before he even knew it, he was back on the stairs, his face inches away from Sapphire's again. Once her eyes stopped their eerie glow, Steel collapsed onto the steps.

"That was an illusion," she said, sitting down on the steps next to him. "Albeit a fatal one."

"Why were those dolls trying to kill me if you sense no malevolence?" Steel huffed. At her silence, he continued, "And what have they got to do with anything?"

"There must be some sort of entity trying to trick us," Sapphire surmised. "I told the girl to scream if anything happened. The entity must have heard me and made use of that to trick you, though we can't know why."

Steel was promptly on his feet again. "But why dolls? And why Rubik's cubes?"

Sapphire also stood up, and smiled. "I'm not sure about the dolls." She took his hand and they faded.

Once they rematerialized in the playroom, Sapphire picked up the Rubik's cube that she had solved.

"Four point two seconds."

"What?"

"I solved this in four point two seconds. The world record is four point seven four." She handed the cube to Steel, then continued, "This might be the trigger."

"This cube?" he said, confused.

"Yes." Sapphire picked up another cube from the table. "Natalie was playing with hers here and solved it before being captured by the entity. I solved it here before the both of us first heard Natalie crying for help."

"So whatever's in that... that column, is sensitive to the cube."

"Yes."

Steel put down the toy. "But it can't be the trigger."

Sapphire stared at him. "Why not?"

"Because," Steel explained, "Triggers are for causing breakthroughs in Time. And you haven't sensed anything of that sort, have you?"

"Steel."

Sapphire was now looking at him with a rare degree of seriousness in her expression. "This is not related to Time anymore. Not exactly."

"Elaborate."

"Like what you said, I sense no malevolence. No negative feelings. Something is wrong, Steel. This assignment is wrong. This is beyond our level."

Steel's expression now mirrored that of his partner's. "So we shouldn't be here."

"No." Sapphire sat down on a small stool that came with the small table. "This place has been designed. That was what you said."

"Yes. And Time makes no sense here," Steel recalled. "That was what you said."

"Yes."

Steel sat down on a stool next to her and made a fist on the table. "And this entity, it is capable of knowing us, it expects us, it tried to trick us, and yet it is not malevolent."

Sapphire covered his fist with her hand. She reached the same conclusion. "So why are we here?"

For a while, the two operators sat together in silence, slowly taking in the facts and embracing their own confusion.