O-09-91
"Do you really think so?"
"Of course! We'll be fine!"
Charles felt a kindling of hope spark inside his chest. The trip was harsh and cold. It taxed his mind whenever the pull of gravity made him slip and lose their grip on the mountain's wall. However, he truly felt fortunate to have invited Mark to the mountaineering trip, for he made him hold fast to hope and enthusiasm.
The cold embrace of the night fell upon the campsite and the incessant wind sang a lullaby to the climbers. Shivers were had, but one of them found a place where to find warmth. Next to each oth-
"Praise be the lord and his magnificent mercy."
"Praise be."
"We are your mere servants and will be forever in your service."
"We serve you, our lord."
"In life and death, we reach for you; you, who always show us your benevolence."
"Don't leave us alone."
I. Can't. Focus.
The freaks from my team disturbed me too much with their synchronized chanting. Worst of all, they had multiplied and added more numbers to their ranks. I was fine with extracting energy or whatever from monsters, but mingle with a cult and put up with their creepiness? Sorry, but no. Not really sorry.
The administration censored my complaints and even punished me for warning them, but I was not going to sit tight and watch those zealots have it their way. I knew what was going on. That 'Plague Doctor' gave them a blessing. Their medical examination concluded the blessing only reinforced their virtues, which granted them a promotion for their luck. Even the counseling session came out clean! The faith made them more resilient to psychological stress, which was the main reason the manager kept tunneling more employees to O-01-45 to gain its benefits.
I was also tasked to receive the blessing and join the other six apostles, but I refused and attached myself to my Sephirah, who was the only sensible person in my department. More or less.
Chesed's body was comprised of a dark grey rectangular box with two protrusions to the top and the side, as well as mechanical limbs, one of which usually held a coffee mug. Two openings were visible on the front, with the right one displaying a blue digital eye and the left one resembling a mouth into which his coffee is poured. His name was displayed beneath in blue letters.
"Don't you think something is wrong, Chesed?"
"It's unusual that an abnormality is more useful than harmful, but it's not unheard of. If praying to a superior being makes them happy, I say we allow them to pray."
How lax! No other Sephirah would let any of that go unchecked, but I just had to be at that goof's department! Everybody was charmed by him, but it was like they didn't even care about us because they knew we would die anyway!
I received a warning and the head of the Training Department told me she would investigate they religious freaks, but Hod accomplished nothing! Was I truly being overdramatic?
Whenever Chesed turned his back away, I met the gazes of the disciples. I gulped. I knew. They knew. We knew something was going to happen the moment we were alone.
After returning from my kidnap, they tried persuading me to go meet their savior. Disappointment would have been a better response to my rejection than their silence. It would have meant that I would no longer suffer their persistent requests. The way they treated me… made me paranoid.
I could not even enjoy my novel in peace.
I am a pure bookworm with zero redeeming qualities. After ruin befell the humble library I owned, I was literally picked from the Backstreets to work for this Wing. My weak constitution gave me little margin to negotiate and I just accepted to enter the Nest in order to work in an underground facility where the sunlight wouldn't reach me. I reckoned something shady was going on if they were so desperate for workers that they would even recruit an albino like me.
My hope for working in such a deadly place is dying a painless death. In the meantime, I would distract myself with stories of better worlds, where happiness and friendship can be truly forged by one's hands. My life is not a book I'm interested in. Neither is religion; I'm not willing to let go of my pathetic self, not to a deity I owe nothing to.
"Oh, dear. Look at the time. I'll be going now, Neal. Tell everyone I'm assisting a scheduled meeting for the heads of the BRIAH layer."
Chesed saying goodbye marked the start of the inevitable. I attempted to accompany him half of the way, but a hand retained my shoulder where it was. Despite Brook's gentle grin, they terrified me.
"We are alone, now."
The prize for the creepiest observation goes to…
"Please, don't make that face. We have reflected on our errors and have accepted your decision. If there is no place for our lord in your heart, then nothing can be done about it."
That was… surprisingly easy.
"Really?" I naively asked.
"Yes. However, as your teammates and coworkers, we worry about you. You have been accumulating a few warnings now, and nothing good could happen if your poor performance up. Are you afraid of the abnormalities?"
"I assume they are a threat and leave at that. My fear means nothing in the face of death."
"Then why do you hate working so much?"
"Because I'd rather be reading some novel. I love them."
"I see. While it is a wonderful thing to have something so close to your heart, by neglecting your work you're only going to create obstacles that prevent you from doing what you love. Do you realize that?"
How unexpected. To think a fanatic would give me good advice…
"In that case, would you allow us to assist you?"
There it was. The twist.
"The Welfare Team enjoys the highest approval rating, so we would like to help you develop a good working attitude. We will just be on our guard whenever you enter a containment unit to help you in case something wrong happens. All we ask from you is that you give it your best shot. For your books."
That may be a good idea. I had been postponing the task of examining the abnormality tool O-09-91 for a while. To have teammates make guard outside to help me sounded nice…
I… may have been too paranoid. They may have been… 'enlightened'… but at least their intentions were good.
There, in the middle of O-09-91's room, was a tall empty canvas held by a black metallic ornamented support. It was dusty, but besides that, there was no color on it.
When I approached it, an image of myself was imprinted on it.
A hooded albino who wore long sleeves and covered themselves as much as they could. Their timid red eyes portrayed the insecurity their weak constitution presented them. Instead of a novel, they held close to their chest a notepad.
The illustration was quite good, but, who painted it? It just reacted on its own to my presence. I tried poking the canvas. Nothing happened.
Well, it was an abnormality tool. It wasn't going to give us energy by interacting with it, so I filled the report and exited the chamber. I was welcomed by the relieved expressions of the disciples.
"How did it go?"
"Are you okay?" They worried.
Really… why did I despise them so much before. They were just… different. I've met many intolerant people who mocked me for my silly white hair or my red eyes. They would pull my clothes to expose my skin to the sun and watch my reactions, just so they could get a kick out of me. When did I become a horrible person like them…?
"I am okay… but what is that black fog surrounding you, Brook?"
"We don't know, but it hasn't hurt me or anything yet, so we can keep going."
I dared to smile.
"Good. What's my next work?"
I worked with abnormalities from the whole facility. I met the first abno, One Sin. I petted Punishing Bird. I fed the spiderlings. I threw garbage onto the floor so that Little Helper could clean it. I complimented Shy Look and Red Shoes. I cleaned Singing Machine and even met a Magical Girl. Throughout the day, the disciples stayed close to me and made sure nothing happened to me. If each day were to be just like that… I could even learn to enjoy working for Lobotomy Corporation.
"There's only one left for you. Shall we go, Neal?"
I managed to work with a WAW successfully, so I felt like meeting Little Red. Qwerty talked to me about her and she resembled one of the characters from a novel I read some time ago, so I wanted to work with her at least once.
The thought of looking through the window before entering didn't even cross my mind.
Heavy huffs that drilled into my ears. Huge blue eyes that observed me. A body made by human parts. That wasn't Little Red.
"Hello?"
I froze as my sanity skydived. I tried moving back, but the door was tightly shut behind. I knocked on it to let my teammates that we got the wrong chamber, but they didn't respond.
I glanced back.
Smiles behind the glass.
"You were taking too long to break. If there's no place for our lord in your heart, we just have to remove you!"
"If you survive, we'll just bring you to our master. He will cure your every sickness, just like he did to us."
"Praise be the lord."
I couldn't even react. I wanted to go mad, scream and pull my hairs, but Nothing There was watching me. What did I have to do again? Beg for my life? Feed it something? Play with it? Fight? My mind only managed to draw a blank.
My legs gave out and I crumbled before O-06-20. Its mouth was so close I could see its insides. My eyes itched.
It had been a long time since I cried. I thought nothing could hurt me if I sought shelter inside my novels, but life will always find a way to hurt me once again.
See? This is what you get, Neal. This is your punishment for hoping for something better. You are a piece of shit destined to be hated. You should just die. It would hurt less.
Slowly, I accepted my fate and crawled inside Nothing There's mouth.
Noise. A scream. Bones breaking. Muscles snapping. No pain? Nothing There chewed on me, but I didn't feel a thing. I pushed myself out of its munching teeth to see what was happening. My… My body was fine. I was alive! I was fine!
Confused but my sudden luck, I showed my back to the ALEPH and grabbed the phone next to the wall. Why didn't I think of that before? Every chamber with WAWs or above had a phone to quickly sound the alarm. My voice trembled.
"P-Please, help me. I don't understand what is happening…"
"This is Emergency Response. What's the problem with O-06-20?"
"It… It attacked me, but… I'm fine? I should be dead, shouldn't I?"
"You survived Nothing There's attack? What's you ID?"
"00703…"
"You're just a newbie! How are you able to withstand a monster that bit off the Inspector's entire arm?! Ugh, forget it, that's not important now. We'll send an immediate response team to your location. Gebura is already on her way. For now, try to exit the chamber and put some distance. Are you hurt?"
"N-No, but I can't leave. My team… my team has trapped me inside. They wanted to kill me! They betrayed me!"
Nothing There was fascinated by my conversation through the phone, so it just stared at me. Each second that passed, the desire in its eyes become shinier and shinier.
A voice reached from outside.
"Neal! It's me, Qwerty! I'm going to open, so get ready to exit!"
A terrible and monstrous scream roared as the door closed behind us. I wept onto Qwerty's arms, refusing to contain my feelings any longer. Why do we have to feel misery? What sick god instilled that feeling into us, humans? I was jealous of the Sephirahs. If they truly were AIs, they didn't really feel anything. I wished I could just become one…
A monochromatic clown opened the chamber and shoot cards towards the abnormality, subduing it before it could smash through the door.
…my thoughts wavered after watching Zero-senior conquer the ALEPH. They didn't feel anything. Nothing at all. Not even an ounce of anger or intensity while they battled a monster.
…did I really wish to end up like them?
I grabbed onto Qwerty's lap tighter.
Report on the accident that occurred at the ALEPH hallway from Discipline Department.
A group of employees from Welfare and Central arrived to the scene, seemingly amiable to one another. One of them was surrounded by a weird black fog that they didn't notice or decided to ignore. The albino employee entered O-06-20's chamber and their colleagues stack next to the door. After a while, the employee that was surrounded by a black mist suffered an attack from an unknown location. The pattern of the wounds was quite similar to the ones 00703 suffered inside Nothing There's mouth. Employee 00705's remains were taken by their colleagues and promptly abandoned the hallway without attempting to help their trapped coworker.
From these events we can make two assumptions.
One, the abnormality tool O-09-91 was responsible for the redirection of the damage 00703 suffered. Further inspection revealed the Portrait of Another World had a canvas with 00703's image. The cameras showed how the image reflected the wounds that never reach said employee.
Two, the warnings 00703 gave about the adequacy of their 'blessed' teammates were ignored and this accident happened. According to their testimony, the group of individuals who call themselves 'apostles' lured them there and tricked them into working with Nothing There despite being ordered by the manager to go to Little Red. However, the suspects admitted their error about mistaking F-01-57's chamber with O-06-20's. However, they reassured many times that they tried to open the door, but it had 'malfunctioned'. The recording showed them operating the mechanism, but further investigation is required.
After these events, 00703 begged to be fired from the company, not caring one bit about the penalties that would follow. However, the corporation has wasted too many LOB points and cannot give up any of its employees, so 00703 will continue to work at the Welfare Department.
[Hey, Lin. Can I go give this kid a hug later? I want to comfort them so bad…]
[I'll go too. Have you seen their 'team'? Ekpmephtil told me a member of Control and a bunch from Central are joining their cult…]
[For real?! What is the manager doing? The rules forbid us from harming other colleagues without a justified cause, but… If I were 00703, I would have snapped much sooner. Aaaah, I'm going to have nightmares tonight! To think that poor 00703 has to continue working with those devils!]
[I'll have a word with Yesod about it.]
[And, hey, about Yesod… What is going on with him? After that lazy green bot visited one day, all of the ASIYAH Sephirahs have been meeting much more frequently…]
[Maybe they are trying to decide what to do with the Inspector's absence. Either that… or something confidential is going on behind our backs. My advice: if it's not in your documents, do not ask. You saw what happened to Lolly the other day…]
[Memory Erasure… They questioned Angela too much and their memories were reset. Scary.]
[Scary indeed.]
[I'll make sure to erase this conversation later, so, please, focus on your work and abstain yourselves from gossiping through official documents. Who do you think ends up reading these?] – Yesod
[Snap.]
[Thanks, boss. We owe you one.]
