Duncan paces back and forth, his nerves frayed as he images only the worst of what may become of his friend.
"Duncan?" Duncan jumps, caught off guard by the voice downstairs.
"U-up here!" Duncan shouts. After a few moments Lewis and Simon appear on the elevator block.
"Duncan! What happened?" Simon asks as he looks around.
"I-I don't know! I-I just... She just vanished! And when I tried coming back to base through a portal all I found was this book on the ground." Duncan hands the book to Lewis who opens it.
"Is this it?" He questions.
"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't it be?" Duncan frowns. "Come on guys, this is serious! Everyone's been finding these Lalnable Hector hideouts lately, and then all of a sudden Kim disappears and this book is back at our base? I don't like this."
"It does seem odd... But your clone should still be back at Yoglabs. Actually..." Lewis opens his inventory screen and looks through his belongings. "I don't have my list here, but I think I already sent the order for him to be destroyed so he can't cause anymore problems."
"Well maybe you should go check!" Duncan turns in anger, but quickly remembers he has nowhere to go and turns back. "I'm worried guys. Kim might play a joke, but she's been gone for a couple of hours now. She wouldn't just disappear like that and stay gone that long if she wasn't forced to."
"Look, I'll check with Hannah. Maybe Kim went back to see her."
"Don't worry Duncan." Simon pats Duncan on the back. "I'm sure Kim just got distracted by a butterfly or something." Duncan opens his mouth to respond, but he quickly closes it again, not having a response in mind.
"Just, don't worry. Look, everything'll be fine. Trust me." Lewis closes his inventory screen, but almost immediately a second screen pops up, this time with a keyboard. "I'll go ask around and see if anyone's helping her hide." Lewis types in a few words and then disappears.
"Come on, cheer up Duncan!" Simon smiles at Duncan, but the smile doesn't spread to the despair filled scientist. "Look, Lewis'll find her. I bet Kim's just mad at you about something." Simon starts looking through chests absentmindedly. "Did you recently get her a onesie and start calling her Mandrew?" Simon asks with a snicker. At last a smile reaches Duncan's lips as he remembers the many complaints and jokes made around Kim's present from Simon. "There we go! Looking better already! Come on, why don't you give me a tour or you know something like that?"
"I guess I could." Duncan takes in a deep breath, then slowly lets it out, gathering himself together. "Well, I guess we could start up here."
"Great! Now, you just start talking while I look for stuff to loot." Simon says as he abandons one chest and heads for another.
"Simon!" Duncan shouts. Both men laugh, the air of dread and worry finally washed away... For the most part.