Martin stepped inside, and was relieved to see that the guard wasn't wearing the mask any-
ERROR
If Martin's body wasn't currently undergoing a system reboot, he would have seen the reason for the ERROR, a disk of pale yellow light, right into his eyes, where he'd stood up in the top right corner of the office.
When Martin came to again, he saw the guard, staring at his flashlight in bewilderment.
Martin's spirit came back to itself. A barely perceptible aura of light returned, and Bzzt. The light seemed to funnel into Martin's eyes, like iron filings into a magnet.
As the ERROR began again, Martin hoped that Charlotte would come, so that they could figure out what to do about that strange, not-quite-painful, but definitely unpleasant feeling that came with it.
The canned laughter was cycling around the office now. Jeremy wished it would stop.
So he could live.
He checked his flashlight's power. 25%. There was still juice.
He squeezed the flashlight's hard, cylindrical exterior, hefting its bulky weight, clicking it up and down.
Click. Click. Went the flashlight in Jeremy's hand. It clicked, therefore it was.
But it wasn't working.
Why-