Episode 19: I Want To Break Free
I
628 felt beyond peculiar with so many of his supposed enemies inside his ship. There he sat in the place from his old life as the people from the one he might have roamed around him. He was being crushed in a defection sandwich.
He'd already set an autopilot course for Dr. Hamsterviel's headquarters on Quelte Quan. All he had to do now was gaze at his unlikely passengers throughout the control room.
He found Bonnie and Clyde on the ceiling. They had removed a panel and were now up to their shoulders in the ship's wiring.
"We nabbed one 'a these models back in the old days, right?" Bonnie asked.
"This one's a newer make, though," Clyde said. "So, you thinkin' we can cut the heat-sensin' functions?"
"Yeah, then Captain Jacques can't read 'em as we're comin' in. He won't know just how many people are comin' to rain on his parade."
"Nice. Ya remember which cable that is in these ones?"
"Fifty-percent sure it's the red one."
There was a bright yellow flash and a short bang from the open panel, followed by a few thin smoke wisps. Bonnie and Clyde were silent for a while.
"Before ya get mad," Bonnie finally said, "I did only say fifty-percent."
Elsewhere, Hammerface and Heat sat against the wall, their hands clasped tightly together as Hammerface breathed long, calculated breaths.
"It's gonna be okay, Hamster," Clip said, stroking behind his ear with a long claw from her free hand.
"I'll be with you the whole time. We all will."
"I know, booj," he said. "I'm more grateful for that than you'll ever know. And I know I'd just feel worse staying on Earth while my cousins are in trouble...Still, seeing Gantu and Hamsterviel again..."
He shut his eyes. Clip squeezed his hand in both of hers, waiting for what may have been hours. He then turned to her, forcing his face into one of conviction.
"I can do it," he said. "This time, I know I can."
Most everyone sat cross-legged in the center of the room, surrounding Angel, Stitch, and Flute as they gave a calm performance with their guitar, ukulele, and flute. Elastico, Dupe, and Kixx were among the most attentive listeners, gazing at the performers' strumming claws as if drawn into some intense trance.
"I want to break free,
"I want to break free,
"I want to break free from your lies,
"You're so self-satisfied,
"I don't need you,
"I've got to break free,
"God knows,
"God knows I want to break free..."
"628?"
He blinked, and Lilo, Chopsuey, and Daniel reappeared in his vision.
"Sorry," he said. "I was..."
"It's okay," Lilo said.
"We're just going over the plan again," Chopsuey said. "Can we hear you go over it just so we know we're all on the same page?"
628 thought. There was a plan-sized hole in his memory. He tilted his head, looking between Chopsuey and Daniel at Stitch, Angel, and Flute.
"I've fallen in love,
"I've fallen in love for the first time,
"And this time, I know it's for real..."
Oh. There it was.
"Team A is 621, 627-..." He began. "Oh, blitznak."
"It's okay," Daniel said.
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
"I've gotta stop doing that."
"You'll have plenty of time for that," 621 said. "But right now, we need to make sure that you're ready."
"Right," 628 said. "Right..." He took one more peek.
"God knows,
"God knows I've fallen in love..."
"Team Aerosmith is Chopsuey, Daniel, and me," he began. "You're going to pretend to be my prisoners, and I'm going to pretend that I'm a duplicate sent to take you to Hamsterviel, just like before. We're going to be distracting him.
"Team Bowie is Finder, Bonnie, Clyde, Reuben, Sample, Belle, Hammerface, Clip, Yin, and Yang. They're going to sneak to the Dean's office and shut off the university's power. They'll also incapacitate Gantu if they come across him.
"Team Creedence is Stitch, Angel, Flute, Kixx, Heat, Elastico, Remmy, Dupe, Plasmoid, Thresher, and Ace. Once the power's out, they're going to storm the place, break the prisoners out, and then head straight back here. They'll also deal with Gantu if there's no other option.
"Team Dylan is Lilo, Nani, David, and Jason, staying here on the ship. They'll be in contact with your friend in the Federation, Pleakley. Once we've all completed our objectives and return to the ship, they'll give him the all-clear to have the Galactic Command take over and capture Hamsterviel."
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Chopsuey said. "Oh, and one more thing..."
"I'll be holding onto your bow and quiver," 628 added. "As well as the button to release your restraints. I can keep it hidden when I'm..." He glanced down at his inky, formless body. He'd never been undisguised for this long. It felt strange. He hated it.
"When I'm like this...If we have to fight at any point, I'll set you free and pass you your weapons."
"Excellent," Chopsuey said. "Now, we should go make sure everyone else is up to speed."
With that, he and Daniel began their final check-ins, leaving 628 with Lilo.
"You did really good," she said.
"All I did was memorize a plan," 628 said. "That's all I've ever done."
"I mean remembering everyone's names."
"Oh...Well, I already knew them. It's thinking of them before the numbers that I need to get the hang of."
"It's a great first step."
628 sighed. "A better one would've been to have left you all alone."
Lilo's face fell at that. "You know, I once punched someone in the face."
"That so?"
"Well, it wasn't once; it was a few times. And I also pushed her. And pulled her hair. And bit her."
"Why?"
"I was angry at something she said about me."
"What'd she say?"
Lilo thought for a moment. Her brow furrowed as she strained to remember but then relaxed.
"It's funny; I can't remember anymore. I know it was something about me, and it made me really, really, really mad at the time...But then I just felt worse. I tried apologizing to her later, and even though she didn't accept it, I felt a little better knowing that I was trying to fix my mistake."
"Well, I did a lot more than just hitting or biting any of you," 628 said. "And I didn't do it because of anything you said about me. You didn't even know I existed until...Flute found me out."
"But Hamsterviel said something about you, right?"
628's mind froze for a moment.
Disguise...Capture...Send...Infiltrate...Integrate...Reeducate...
"Yeah," he finally said. "He did."
"Sometimes people do things because somebody says things about them," Lilo said. "It's weird because even though they're someone they don't like very much, what they say still seems so important when really it isn't."
"I know..." 628 said.
"It's better to listen to people you do care about and who care about you."
628 dropped in on the performance again. He'd been drawn to the defective Experiments' shows many times during his assignment. They'd been among the most strenuous parts, as he had to keep reacting and playing along as he figured that whoever he was replacing would. He never heard the music over the voice in his head screaming, 'jump higher! Shout louder! Dance better! They're going to figure you out again, you idiot!'
But now that pressure was gone, and he could finally hear the lyrics.
"It's strange, but it's true,
"I can't get over the way you love me like you do,
"But I have to be sure,
"When I walk out that door,
"Oh, how I want to be free..."
He could memorize lyrics easily. If anyone there had asked him to recite an entire album, he was certain he could do it. He didn't feel as confident about figuring out what they meant. This one, however, seemed to be on the tip of his tongue...
But he couldn't quite narrow it down.
"You mean like all of you?" He asked Lilo.
"Yeah," she said, lighting up.
"Really? After everything I've done?"
"Really. After everything we've done."
628's mind froze again.
When he returned, all he had to say was, "Okay."
With that, he slithered away, going towards the performance. He found a spot at the edge of the circle of audience members, not wanting to disturb any of them.
"Oh, how I want to be free,
"Oh, how I want to break free."
He caught Flute's eye. He tried to jerk his head away, but it wouldn't budge. He hoped that Flute would find something more interesting to look at, but she held his gaze.
628 wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a smile curling from behind her flute.
II
"Everyone ready?" Chopsuey announced.
628's right ear crackled with a choir of yes, ih, and as I'll ever be.
"I'm ready," he said.
Chopsuey nodded. He turned around so his back faced 628, while the metal box restraining his four arms faced the ship's airlock door. He looked at Daniel, who stood beside him wearing his own restraints.
"You sure you want to come?" He asked. "You could be on one of the other teams."
"I'd rather stay with you," Daniel said.
Chopsuey smiled. They leaned in to touch their noses together.
"I need to stop making you do crazy things for me," Chopsuey said.
"You never made me do anything," Daniel replied.
The airlock slid open. 628 clutched Daniel and Chopsuey by tufts of fur at the base of their necks while they hunched over. Through the reflection in the rising metal, 628 could see them putting on defiant glares.
The door opened to the rooftop of what had once been the Quelte Quan Insitute of Science and Technology. A crimson suit and wide, white grin stood out against the foggy sky.
"Good day, Experiment 628," Hamsterviel said. "My, you really are the gift that keeps on giving."
His voice was loud, yet it went through 628's ears like a corrosive slime.
628 stepped out, pushing Daniel and Chopsuey hard enough to look convincing but not so hard as to make them stumble. The air was much stuffier than he remembered. He already missed the seaside.
Looking up, he found a hovering platform following behind Hamsterviel. Jumba was on it, his arms held down by metal straps to a chair and desk. He went pale at 628's gaze.
"Look who's come to join us, Jumba," Hamsterviel said. "Isn't the triangle-headed one the one you went and made behind my back?"
"So it is being okay when you do evil genius things without me," Jumba said, "but not the vicing of versas?"
"Yes, precisely. I am glad that you are finally paying attention." Hamsterviel approached Daniel, taking hold of his ears, eyes, nose, and teeth in turn and examining them.
"Hey, uh..." Daniel said, "if you tell me what you're looking for, I could help you find it."
"Hmph," Hamsterviel said. "Clean, polite, well-spoken, jovial. This one was supposed to be the most evilly evil of all my evil Experiments. Instead, it is exactly the opposite."
"That's right. I'm a complete and utter failure. If it disgusts you so much, imagine how I must feel."
"I cannot be bothered. And this one..." Hamsterviel turned to Chopsuey, taking particular interest in his mohawk and teeth.
"I am thankful to have this one back. I always thought it would make an ideal captain. With a little convincing, it may yet still."
Chopsuey growled. "'This one' is gonna need a lot more than a little convincing, Jacques."
Hamsterviel only blinked at that. "If you ask me, Jumba," he said.
"Nobody is," Jumba said.
"Then I would say your influence is almost completely gone. All the ones I've already reclaimed, I see more of these stupid Earth people in them than you or even my own genius self. These two are no different. It is as though that small female has taken our work, smeared her own ignorance all over it, and waved it around saying, look at how much smarter I am than that monumentally stupid idiot Jacques Hamsterviel! But then, as they say, things will stay the same the more they change."
"Well, they don't say it like that," Daniel said.
Hamsterviel turned in his direction, only to look as if it had merely been the wind.
"Oh, but it is getting rather chilly outside, yes, 628?"
"It is, Dr. Hamsterviel," 628 said. The words fell from his lips like drool.
"Then why don't we give our new guests a tour?"
As he spoke, 628's right ear crackled again.
"Team Bowie," Finder's voice said. "Mission go. Youga good, Team Aerosmith?"
628 looked at Hamsterviel. His red eyes felt like daggers aimed at his throat.
"Yes," he said, "Dr. Hamsterviel."
III
The tour was torture. Hamsterviel's endless ramblings made the dark halls of the university as suffocating as outside. It was only made worse by the silence of Daniel, Chopsuey, and Jumba. The only other sound was 628's occasional "yes, Dr. Hamsterviel."
Every so often, some momentary relief from Hamsterviel's lecture would come in the form of the members of Team Bowie checking in. Apart from the tingle in his right ear, 628 appreciated the fleeting distraction.
"Yeesh," Bonnie said. "No wonder this place is so stuffy. These air vents are dustier than Yang's taste in music."
"Excuse me," Yang said. "At least I have taste."
"Oh, no," Clip said. "Belle, please don't sneeze."
"I think this new decorum is an improvement," Hamsterviel said, kicking aside a fallen ceiling tile. "The outdatedness of the former faculty's philosophies is laid bare for all to see. Don't you agree, 628?"
"Phew," Clip said. "Good catch, Sample."
"Yes, Dr. Hamsterviel," 628 said.
Being there at all made 628 feel slimy. Not long ago, this had been his break. The pressure of perfecting so many voices, mannerisms, and minds would slide right off of him, and he could revel in the simplicity of being 628. Now, he was wearing the place backward. He wasn't sure what was worse, that a place so familiar could feel so malignant, or that pretending to be 628 was his easiest role yet.
Finally, the tour passed under a plaque reading, Engineering Wing. It seemed as if they'd stepped through a portal to another planet. The rest of the campus' darkness and decay were replaced with bright lights and pristine steel walls. It was the only living vein in the whole place.
"Gantu spotted," Clyde said. "Looks like he's on his lunch break. Works out for us."
"Huh..." Hammerface said. "Feels weird seeing him again."
"No kiddin'," Reuben said.
"Get him now?" Finder asked.
"Temptin'..."
"No," Hammerface said. "We're only here for our cousins. We only deal with Gantu if he gets in our way."
"Yeah..." Reuben said. "You hopin' he does?"
There was radio silence for a while.
"A little bit...But I'll get over it. Won't be the first time, after all."
The tour passed a reinforced glass wall, separating them from Hamsterviel's 'subjects.' 628 had always tried to ignore this part. This time, he had a piercing feeling in his gut, reminding him of the gallery.
Felix was stretching his arms over his head, trying to grasp his raised left foot. As he caught hold of a single toe-claw, he noticed the passers-by and fell to the floor. He rushed to the glass, staring after them with wide, hopeful eyes.
"Experiment 010," Hamsterviel said. "One of your minor successes, Jumba. There's some simple satisfaction to the ones you made purely to rectify the petty inconveniences of your life. That in itself might be as evil as creating an Experiment for actual destruction. Perhaps one day, when I feel a need to repurpose the rest of this place, this one will be of some use."
The next cell was the darkest one. Sparky sat in the corner, looking pale and exhausted. He nodded at Chopsuey and Daniel as his eyelids heaved themselves open.
"Once I have repaired Experiment 221," Hamsterviel said, "It will be endlessly useful against the Federation. It alone could rob entire planets of power within mere minutes. I could even tax people for electricity, for brief periods, of course. Until then, it cannot be trusted with too much energy. Only enough to keep it on standby."
628 didn't recognize the creature in the third cell. He was tall and thin, like a humanoid pin, and wore a red suit identical to Hamsterviel's. His glaring red eyes latched onto the passing scientist.
A sign on the glass warned; Experiment 300 may assume the form of other individuals or creatures! Do not approach glass or attempt to free subject under any circumstances!
"Who's the sign for?" Chopsuey asked. "Gantu can't be that dim, can he?"
Hamsterviel didn't answer. He simply moved on to the next cell, where Drowsy lay on the floor, facing the ceiling, with his eyes shut. His lips moved, but 628 and his accomplices heard nothing.
"The only thing more irritatingly irritating than getting my Experiments back," Hamsterviel said, "is keeping them here. No more Federation-issue trash like Gantu used the first time I attempted this operation. Only the finest reinforced, soundproof, fireproof, iceproof, forehead-proof glass and steel for my future army."
After that was a cell glowing orange. 628 felt humid just being a few feet away from it. Inside, a reddened Slushy sat cross-legged, eyes shut, and fists closed.
"Experiment 523 has been much too calm," Hamsterviel said. "That wretched blue planet has made all of them into passive, peace-loving nitwits. Jumba, you and that girl talk about change, but you can never truly change anything without ripping up what has come before."
"I think that is depending on what needs changing," Jumba said.
"Everything needs changing. That much should be obvious."
The next cell was covered by a tall screen. On it, Houdini's orange silhouette absent-mindedly twirled her hat on her finger.
"I've thought long and hard about it," Hamsterviel said, "but I think I am most disgusted by the ones that misuse my gifts for the entertainment of the unambitious masses. Even someone as insufferable as you, Jumba, must find it insufferable that they call us wrong, while they go off and build their livelihoods off of our work."
"I thought so once..." Jumba said. "But not anymore. We create them, but we do not own them."
Hamsterviel scoffed. "Who owns an idea if not whoever first thought of it? What point is there in creating anything, in trying to change anything, if it cannot be controlled?!" His red eyes fell to 628, and his glare softened.
"628, you're grateful for your gifts, aren't you?"
628 wanted to bite his lip.
"Yes, Dr. Hamsterviel."
"Alright," Bonnie said. "We're in the Dean's office. Just give the all-clear when you're ready for lights-out."
628 choked on his leaping heart.
"So," Chopsuey said, "what sort of special accommodations do you have for Dan and me?"
Hamsterviel didn't answer. He only stared at Houdini's cell. 628 was reminded of Stitch in the gallery, but something about Hamsterviel's face seemed much more anxious.
When he finally did look away, he grinned at 628.
"Today is shaping up to be one of my favorites," he said. "I am glad you brought these two to me today, 628. I believe I have finally narrowed down mine and Jumba's original mistake in each of my Experiments. I think these two should be the first to be corrected."
The tour was led to the end of the hall, where a wide entryway led to an octagonal laboratory. The walls were practically made of computer screens and consoles. Its centerpiece was a workbench decorated with neat stacks of files and a perfectly symmetrical assortment of tools. It might've looked more at home in some sort of office.
"So, what are you..." Daniel began to Hamsterviel, then looked up at Jumba. "Hey, Jumba, can you ask him what he's going to do to us?"
"No need," Jumba said. "He was explaining it before you arrived. He is wanting to put you and your cousins back into chambers. He will be writing new programming that will make you all like how you were, without possibility of ever changing."
"Very good, Jumba," Hamsterviel said, opening a drawer behind his desk. "So you are capable of paying attention."
"While you are being very incapable of learning," Jumba said. "You tried doing just that to Stitch ages ago to amusingly embarrassing failure!"
"Failure is the greatest teacher, and you have been oh-so remarkably informative, Jumba. But now that I have told your friends something, perhaps they might enlighten me in return."
Hamsterviel took something out of the drawer. Bringing it to his face, he revealed that it was a black metal mask, wide enough to cover his mouth and nose.
"How many others are joining us today?"
628 felt like ice, then fire. He released his accomplices, reached into his inky form, seizing the restraint release button and Chopsuey's bow and quiver. A second later, Daniel and Chopsuey were free, and the former was armed.
"Punch it, Bonnie!" Chopsuey nocked two arrows.
In one moment, it was pitch black, and Hamsterviel let out a short yell. In another, the lights were back, and Hamsterviel was dangling on the wall from arrows in his jacket's shoulders.
"Oh, come on," Reuben said.
"I realize this place is not in the tidiest of conditions," Hamsterviel said, "but I am not so woefully disorganized as to overlook the benefits of a backup generator!"
"Don't worry about it," Bonnie said. "We can still get those cell doors unlocked from here. Just means our little show's gonna have more spotlight than it did."
628 heard a symphony of clicks in the hall far behind him while something hissed from up above.
"Okitaka, Team Creedence," Stitch said. "Tookie bah-wah-bah!"
"Hah," Jumba cheered, reeling back in his floating seat. He looked as if he would've flung his arms into the air if he could.
"I knew you were having rescue plan!"
"Well, I hope we're at least not being too predictable," Daniel said.
A new voice echoed in 628's ear. He hadn't spent much time with Captain Gantu, but that trenchant voice wasn't easy to forget.
"Well, well, what have we here? I haven't been surrounded by so many tiny creatures I despised since my high school reunion."
"Aloha, fishlips," Reuben said. "Look at you. The more things change, the more they stay the same old big, stupid loser, huh?"
"I could say the same about you, 625."
"You know something, Gantu?" Hammerface said. "I remember you being taller."
"Hmph. Maybe this will jog your memory..."
"Alright, Jumba," Daniel said, leaping onto Jumba's levitating platform.
"I think it's time for spring break."
628 heard another noise behind him; the sound of roaring metal. The next few seconds were a blur, and then he was taking Stitch's form, keeping a tremendous steel door aloft over his head. He could feel it fighting him, trying to press him into the floor like an insect under a thumb.
"What are you playing at, Jacques?" Chopsuey said, nocking another arrow.
Hamsterviel made no sound but the scratching breaths he made through his mask.
628 heard more hissing. He smelled something, too. It was like the eggs from the hotel, but much, much stronger.
"Have no fear, cousins," Ace said. "The Remarkable Requitors are here to liberate you!"
"We never agreed on that name," Thresher said.
"Why not the Swingin' Lovers?" Plasmoid said.
628 felt as if something were squeezing his brain.
"Dan," Chopsuey coughed as the room grew ever more pungent. "Hurry. We need to...To get...Jumba..."
"Trying..." Daniel wheezed. "Restraints...Reinforced...Same as glass..."
628 looked up. Jumba's head hung back over his seat. Daniel's hovering eyes flickered red like a broken TV screen.
The door pressed harder. 628 switched to the form of Flute, getting the door further up, but it continued to fight him.
The place shook. In the distance, 628 heard an echo proclaiming, "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da!"
"Wow," Clyde yelled. "You've got him on the ropes, Belle!"
"Quick," Hammerface shouted, "someone grab his blaster!"
"On it," Yin declared.
628 held his breath. He couldn't see any clouds or any trace of gas at all, but he felt like he was standing in a smokestack. His eyes were becoming as heavy as the door.
He burned up as he saw Daniel fall from Jumba's desk. He cooled down when he landed in Chopsuey's arms.
"Got you..." Chopsuey said, "Okay, Dan...Don't worry...I got..." He fell on his back, Daniel stretched across him.
628 turned to Hamsterviel, finding him free of the arrows and slowly approaching him.
"Come, now," he said, his voice crackling through the vents in his mask.
"Just relax. Take a nap. I promise all this will be better when you awaken."
The door forced 628 onto one knee. He turned into Kixx, getting himself back upright, but he felt like he might go again at any moment.
He looked over his shoulder. The cells had been emptied, while the cold hallway had become a merry crowd of joyous reunions.
Elastico and Kixx, with Heat on his shoulder, squeezed Felix and Houdini between them in a hug. Elastico planted a long kiss on Felix's cheek.
Dupe picked a dripping, scarlet Slushy up, wrapping his arm over his shoulders. Slushy managed a faint, pained, yet grateful smile.
Remmy and Drowsy clung to each other. Drowsy's eyes were wide open.
Angel laughed as Spooky landed playfully on her head, his inky form ruffling her skunk stripe.
Stitch pulled a pale Sparky onto his back as if he were a backpack. Sparky looked beyond exhausted, but he perked up a little when one of Stitch's lower arms emerged with a D battery in hand.
628 watched them undo the precious little progress he had made in his original mission. He felt something in his gut, something he thought he should've felt with each successful capture.
And then lightning struck in his suffocating mind. He couldn't sing or dance or recite poetry. He couldn't win at board games or do magic tricks or make delicious ice cream. Perhaps he couldn't do very much at all.
But he could complete missions.
With the strongest heave he could muster, he pushed back against the door, sending it back towards the ceiling. He then morphed instantly into Elastico, lassoed Daniel and Chopsuey in one elongated arm, then Jumba in another, and spun around, sliding them into the hallway.
He caught a glimpse of Flute running to retrieve her cousins. He saw her eyes as two purple pools amid the encroaching darkness of his vision.
And then he fell backward. The impact of the door against the floor came like a pillow hitting carpet. He barely felt his body dissolving from fur back to ink.
He was being carried. He couldn't even see Hamsterviel's silhouette.
In the darkness, he barely heard a scratchy, muffled voice.
"This time..."
IV
"You will obey all commands issued by Dr. Jacques Hamsterviel!"
"You will assume the form of the Experiment best suited to the mission at hand!"
"You will destroy any person, place, or thing bearing any symbol associated with the Galactic Federation of Planets!"
"You are a tool! You are a weapon! You are an asset!"
"You will obey all commands issued by Dr. Jacques Hamsterviel!"
The words formed towers around 628. They grew and stretched into a town, then a city, then a planet, then a galaxy. There was nothing anywhere but the words. The words were the sky. The words were his body. The words were his mind. He knew nothing but the words. He tried to imagine a place without the words, but the words were there, too. He had just discovered the words. He had known the words for centuries.
Yes, of course. It was all perfectly simple.
And then there were more words. Different words.
"Does your memory stray to a brighter sunny day...?"
"I wish I could swim...Like the dolphins..."
"When the rain washes you clean, you'll know..."
"Hey, baby, I'm just about starvin' tonight!"
"I'm naked, and I'm far from home..."
"Anyway, you'll never know...The many ways I've tried..."
"You can check out any time you like..."
"But I have to be sure when I walk out that door..."
They came like meteors, ripping through the skyscrapers and forming a swirling inferno in the sky.
Why were they knocking down the city?
Why was the city in their way?
He tried to scream for them to stop, but his voice was nothing but the words.
And then there was a flash of light, and the words all flickered away like fireworks. Only a few remained.
"And the most she will do is throw shadows at you..."
And there was only one other thing with them.
"You," 628 said.
"I could say the same about you," Flute said.
"...I don't understand. Why are you here?"
"Don't ask me."
628 looked around. He wanted to see the words again, but there was nothing. Only a white sky above and below.
"So..." He said. "That's it, isn't it? I had a little break, and now I'm back where I started."
"Maybe," Flute said.
"Maybe?"
"Well, look around. What do you see?"
"Nothing...But those words...?"
"Who do you think put them there?"
"Hamsterviel...Then where did they go?"
"They're still there. You've just done what all of your cousins did. You broke your programming."
"Wait, so...Hamsterviel wants to reprogram us, but you've already betrayed your programming. All he'd be doing is giving you different things to ignore."
Flute smiled and nodded.
"But they'll still be there...And you have them in your heads, constantly, every day."
Flute's smile faded, and she nodded again. "We usually have it down to a whisper, but sometimes it gets a little louder."
"...I never asked for any of this. For Hamsterviel. For you."
"Nobody does, but that doesn't mean that you don't have a choice."
"But no matter what, I'm always going to have those words in my head..."
Flute nodded again.
"Right..."
He thought for a while.
"You will obey all commands issued by Dr. Jacques Hamsterviel!"
"And if you see my reflection..."
"If I stop..." He finally said, "what will be in here?"
"Just you," Flute said.
"...And if I don't?"
She smiled.
He felt warm when she smiled.
"Just you."
V
"Welcome, esteemed representatives of the Galactic Federation! A lifetime of willful ignorance, unambition, and stagnation has brought you all here, to me, and to my greatest creation! I invite you to do whatever you like! It will only make this first of many demonstrations all the more engrossing!"
628 was awake on the university's rooftop. He always had and never been there. He saw his cousins gathered around their ship on the ground, looking up at him with eyes that mixed hope with terror. Above, three Galactic Command ships hovered like hammerhead sharks before their cornered prey.
The number of gazes on him made 628 feel like the nucleus of the universe.
Hamsterviel was in front of him, his white grin and crimson eyes as wide as they might ever be. They were like supernovas that seized 628's attention in their gravitational pull.
"Now, my Experiment," he cackled, "show me how quickly you can destroy these ships!"
628 heard somebody whispering in his ear.
"You will obey all commands issued by Dr. Jacques Hamsterviel."
It echoed in his brain.
He stood still.
Hamsterviel's left eye twitched.
"Get to work, 628! Time is of the essence!"
"You will obey all commands issued by Dr. Jacques Hamsterviel."
The voice got louder. It made 628's head throb.
He stood still.
"Did you go deaf during the reprogramming procedure?! I gave you an order!"
"You will obey all commands issued by Dr. Jacques Hamsterviel."
628 felt like two hands had seized his brain and were throttling it.
He stood still.
"Are you listening to me?! You have only one purpose: to follow my orders! That should not be difficult to follow! I have already done all the difficult parts for you! I know what must be done! Why won't you just do it, you stupid, stupid, stupid creature?!"
"You will obey all commands issued by Dr. Jacques Hamsterviel," the voice grew slightly softer.
"Do you know how long I spent making all of you?! Do you know what I had to give up just so you ungrateful trogs could open your eyes?! The least you could do is the one thing I designed you for...Please?!"
Spit sprayed onto 628's face.
He stood still.
"Please!"
Hamsterviel seized where 628's shoulders would be.
He stood still.
His red eyes were wider. They were still like supernovas, but not because they had any kind of gravity.
Now, it was because they were dying.
"Please..." He gasped.
628 finally thought of something to say. Only then did he notice his tears mingling with the spit.
"Baby, can't you see,
"I've got to break free."