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You followed 47D inside as she held the door open for you, and you surveyed the familiar interior of the commissary facility. You recognized the ancient interior from when Naravelia brought you here, the fabric and thread on the far wall, the bottles of concentrated grain alcohol and containers of flavoring (which, somehow, the androids could stomach), and a mind-boggling number of replacement components. Already, 47D had moved toward one of the interior aisles, where you knew the most interesting items lay, ignored by most of the androids in the camp.

The relics from when humanity walked the earth.

It was… a little sad, honestly, seeing all these things rusted, discarded, neglected, forgotten. This was all stuff that you remembered, that you might have even used. If these were items from a bygone era, what did it make you?

"Theo," 47D said, rising as she showed an item to you, "what's this?" In her hands was a diminutive circuit board, crowded with components. A few USB ports here, a number of pins there, an ethernet receptor nestled in the corner. Though the white paint was scratched and faded, you could still make out the distinctive logo.

"That's a Blueberry Tau. A microcomputer usually used by people for smaller programming projects. I remember toying around with one, but that was years ago. -Well, more than a few years now, but… still." You looked nostalgically at the item before letting out a small laugh. "This might very well have been your ancestor, pods."

"Negative," 904 responded. "Pod designs were wholly new creations untethered to archaic designs like this."

"I- Uh, I thought so, 904, I was just jok- look, nevermind." Deflated, you turned back to what 47D was perusing over, still deciding what to show you.

"For future reference, please avoid drawing comparisons between self-aware entities and unthinking components."

Surprised, you whipped around to face 904, who sat there as though he hadn't just rebuked your earlier statement.

"So Theo, what's this?" 47D carefully picked up another relic from the shelf, trying to move the conversation forward. "I've seen a few things like it, but nothing quite similar enough." The item she held had two frames, one nested in the other at an angle. On the edge of the smaller frame sat a circular opening connected to the larger frame by moth-eaten articulated fabric. As 47D shifted it in her arms, a few metal rods clattered down out of the assembly and onto the floor.

"…I don't think you're getting this camera working again."

"Wait, what? Is that what this is? I thought it was supposed to be… smaller."

"It's a really old camera. Not one of the first, but it's certainly not cutting-edge. I think it used chemical reactions to record images, and you had to use really noxious chemicals to turn the negatives into proper photos."

"…Negatives?"

"A version of the photo taken where bright and dark were flipped. It was a limitation of the time. Honestly, I don't know enough of the process to tell you what happens during the process."

"Huh." She turned to set it back on the shelf then collected the fallen rods, muttering 'I thought it was an instrument' to herself. "Oh hey," she pulled something else off the shelf, "I've been wondering what this was for months now."

"Can't find anything to identify it?"

"No, that's the thing. No one can really identify it."

The excitement in her eyes and voice pained you to do this. "You'll have to count me in there. I'm sorry," you shrugged, "I can't tell you what this is."

You could see the energy in her eyes ebb away as your words sunk in. She looked down at the object in her hands before slowly turning back to the shelf, muttering. "Maybe it just… isn't important."

Acting off the gnawing guilt, you skimmed the shelves for something else you recognized that would be interesting. Granted, most of these… 'relics' were nowhere near as mystic to you as they were to the androids, so you figured your instincts weren't the greatest thing to listen to. The problem was, there was just so much to sift through.

Your eyes landed on a book, ancient by your measure, considering its bindings. The blue-painted metal engulfed the cerulean leather like a cage, the leather swelling slightly where it met the metal. Intrigued, you grabbed the book and pulled it off the shelf, a bit surprised at its heft.

The metal formed a meandering, tessellated maze on the cover, which never once came to a dead end. In the center sat half of the remains of a face embossed in the same kind of metal as the maze, struck in a state of horror. Near the broken parts, the paint had worn away and the metal had a perplexingly azure rust. Briefly, you opened the book to look at its contents. Well, you tried, at least- you struggled to hold it properly as the book refused to be held in your hand. It took some maneuvering, but you eventually opened it to show…

…Empty pages.

"Hm?" 47D noticed the object of your attention. "What's that?"

"It's a book, 47D."

"Theo." You smiled at her disappointed tone. "I'm serious. I don't… I don't think I saw that on the way in."

"Wait, you didn't?" You tore your gaze from the book, a little worried at her words. Now suddenly more aware of the oddity in your hands, you paused. What was it, then? Slightly discomforted by the chill from the metal binding and with moderate difficulty, you closed the book and moved to set it back for the next android to gawk over it- or potentially not- when your eye caught something on the cover.

Underneath what the face would have covered was what you had simply thought to be some irregularity with the material. Now unsettled and less willing to overlook a few oddities, you scrutinized the deformation again. It didn't look right. Leather was supposed to be flat, why would anyone use a piece like this? You reached toward it and ran a finger along its edge.

The leather was warm, almost feverishly hot, and you almost swore you could feel the slightest beads of sweat. What you expected the least, however, was the pulse of something beneath the surface.

Every single alarm went off in your head. Your skin felt like pins as adrenaline coursed through your system. With a yelp, you scrambled to drop the book and step back, running into the shelves behind you.

With a slam that both filled the room and made no noise at all, the book hit the ground, unmoving after its impact. The cracked face on the cover stared up at you through its nonexistent eye, and you felt like every single aspect of yourself was being…

Watched.

"Are you okay, Theo?" 47D looked concerned as you felt your body reeling from that moment of terror and horror.

"I'm…" you paused and focused on your breathing, desperately trying to calm down. "N-No, I'm not fine." You heard her heft the book up and slide it back to where it was.

"Then let's go," she set a hand on your shoulder and gently urged you toward the door. "Maybe next time we can ask Ludovica for some of the safer relics." You nodded, keeping your head down as you pushed forward. Barely above the sounds of your combined footsteps, you heard the sound of something sliding from where the book once sat on the shelf. You knew you shouldn't. You knew things would be far better if you knew no further about the book. But you had to risk one last glance at the shelf.

The shelf was empty where the grimoire once stood, the disturbed dust being the only indicator that it even existed at all.

You turned back to leaving the facility, silently vowing to never seek the book again.

What better way to bind a soul than its former cage?