O-02-40
"WhiteNight caused 60 deaths. Every single clerk in the facility and the following employees: 3 from Control, 2 from Information, 1 from Training, 1 from Safety, 6 from Central A and B, 3 from Discipline and 4 from Welfare. Every single Apostle died at the end of the event, including the twelfth. I understand that the manager was forced to handle a very difficult situation, but I wished less people died…"
"Is that all from Safety, Netzach?"
"It is…"
"In that case, Malkuth, your turn."
The mechanic girl dropped her papers accidentally, mixing all of them. Hod helped her pick them up. Tiphereth decided not to poke fun at her. Not that time.
"The… The situation is grim. We lost too many employees. We don't have enough LOB points to hire enough. The final headcount in each department is as follows: 3 at Control, 4 at Information, 4 at Training, 4 at Safety, 6 at Central A and B, 3 at Discipline and 3 at Welfare."
"That's enough to gather the day's energy quota, though."
"They're newbies, Chesed." Tiphereth retorted. "Half of them will die, leading the seniors to an early death for their mistakes."
"Is their training that bad?"
Hod shrunk.
"It's not a matter of their virtues. The employees are losing their leaders. With Ekpmephtil gone, Control is…"
"We're no longer able to lend as much help as we once could. "Malkuth concluded. "I'm sorry, Tiphereth, but I'll need your department to take the lead while I adjust my team."
The little child nodded. How fascinating. Overcoming a core meltdown must have unlocked some degree of her memories inside the facility. How old does she feel?
Yesod redirected our attention to Hod, who had not finished.
"The ASIYAH captains had a very tight relationship. Kikas and Gregory are more or less okay, but the counseling session with Lin didn't go so well. They may need a day off, Yesod. They just lost someone irreplaceable for them."
"Irreplaceable is not a word belonging to our world, but… I'll find a rule to give them a break."
How wonderful. Even the up-tight researcher was willing to show some sympathy. I want to experience a meltdown like that too. Hod continued to give me scared looks. My incorporation to the team surely displeased many of them, considering I was the proof of her betrayal. The little traitor coughed to calm her nerves.
"As for our newbies… If they follow their seniors, they will adapt soon. It's just… WhiteNight was so discouraging for everyone that most of them have lost their motivation."
"Then think of something." Tiphereth ordered. "If the manager finds out they are no longer useful, they will shoot an execution bullet."
"I've lost count of how many clerks have disappeared since I researched that bullet."
Gebura showed some remorse. Hers was the next meltdown, perhaps?
"I don't know what we can do for them…" Hod continued. "They need hope. Some of us have attained such a thing, but… there's no way to share that hope with someone else manually. It wouldn't even make sense to lend your hope. They need their own…"
It was amusing to see that little traitor rack her head searching for answers she was unable to obtain. After all, she wasn't the head of the Extraction Team.
Chesed drank some coffee.
"By the way, how is the situation with [Confidential ID] going? I saw the manager yesterday. He didn't look very pleased about them."
An anomaly in the cycle. An error. A tried to integrate them into the equation to save the cycle, but something went wrong.
"Extract them."
The duties of the Extraction Team are closely related to the origin of abnormalities and the nature of the Bucket. We reached for someone's light… and forced it out. The process of refining somebody's mind in a physical form is what produces what we call abnormalities. In that regard, every single abnormality in Lobotomy Corporation used to be a person… before their light was taken with the Bucket and drafted by my team.
I looked at the scared employee who held their borrowed magical staff. They trembled so much it was even endearing. With my black with golden hexagons body, I showed them to the Well.
"Are these dark crypts full of… sleeping people?"
"These sleeping people who make 'good dreams' are the Well."
I pushed them into their own Well.
"Why did you have to do it?" Someone questioned. It was surprising to see Malkuth confronting me. I was an existence to be feared.
"For the same reason I don't cause havoc across the facility. I don't want Angela to deactivate me. I can witness so much more… I'm not willing to give up this torture."
A thin line separates sadism from masochism. Pain is my cologne. I chose not to avert my eyes from the void inside the eyes of the many people I injected Cogito. The employees at my department would soon lose their humanity and suffer a similar fate to [DATA EXPUNGED]'s.
"What went wrong, Binah? Why did their extraction fail?"
Gebura was the only one daring enough to question me again. I adjusted the black feathered cloak that fell behind my chassis.
"It didn't. We successfully extracted that employee's light. The Bucket entered their Well… and it yielded a new abnormality. Perfect and pure, no Ordeal will come from this one. According to the reports, [Confidential ID] suffered severe trauma at 1.76 MHz. Said interaction molded their mind and turned them into what we call an 'Aberration', a variant of the abnormalities that we already know."
"They turned into 1.76 MHz's aberration?"
"Yes. At first, it was relatively easy to detect them. At a frequency of 1.45 MHz, we could hear their hums. However, unlike the original, they reacted to our voices pretty easily, almost as if they were a true living being. They didn't remember anything, but they had to hum or else the noises would come. Their song healed our researchers' sanity and increased their White damage resistances, but it also reduced their Prudence levels. It may end up being the abnormality tool for our department."
"How did 1.45 MHz breach?"
Malkuth was the most invested one in learning more about her former team captain.
"Randomly, they stopped humming and listened to the silence. After a while, they remembered their own name and how to open a door. Since then, their frequency has been wandering the facility like a ghost."
"Hold on. They remembered their name? I thought abnormalities were distilled minds that were not capable of retaining a concrete shape. How did they even…"
Yesod halted their question, realizing he just revealed some secrets to his colleagues. He failed to maintain discretion. It didn't matter, however. All of the ASIYAH Sephirahs had already gone through their meltdowns. They contributed their part towards A's goals, so their mind's contents were no longer relevant.
"That employee was already broken when A took them to my Extraction Department. Their light was so close to the surface their own EGO could have just manifested on its own, regardless of Cogito. The originals still sleep because they are not ready to face their own light. This employee is different. They are bound to return."
I looked to my own documents.
"Until then, we need to replace all the EGO gear that was lost to WhiteNight."
I proceeded to give my report on the pieces that would need to be re-extracted.
Extraction Department was quite a lonely place. My ghastly hums echoed through the hallway.
"Hmm, hm, hmmmm, hm, hmmmmm. Ah, this one feels familiar. Is it your friend?"
Beak. Beak. Beak. Beak. Beak.
"Come on, Punishing Bird. I no longer have a proper body. You cannot hit me like you used to. Why don't you go mess with A for a while? I heard he's quite the sinner."
Finally, O-02-56 left me alone. We were at the deepest layer, so it would take it a long time to make the journey back to Control. I sighed.
The idea of not being able to support Lin after Ek's death haunted me, but nothing could be done about that. I witnessed Ek's death many times throughout the resets. I learnt of their secret, along with their regrets. I hummed for them every single time they died. I couldn't leave my junior alone on their last moments…
Greg and Kickass were taking turns at bothering the depressed cotton candy employee, but they… they weren't okay. Lin forced themselves to go back to work, but then they had to start censoring Ek's name through all of the documents and reports.
"Hang in there, Lin. I just need some more time until I get rid of that blasted Cogito."
In the meantime, I decided to go back to my duties. Zero warped to the hallway and awaited the beginning of my work.
"Hello there, buddy. You a big birb. So many eyes. Cute lamp."
O-02-40 was a big, round, black, featherless chunky bird who, instead of wings, had arms that held a lantern. It had 47 yellow eyes and a sharp beak.
If it was a justice deliverer like Punishing Bird, Repression work might provoke it. Insight… Hm… It had many eyes to watch over me and everyone else. Its lamp's purpose was to illuminate things around it and allow it to observe and detect evil. If I were such a guardian, I wouldn't appreciate to be distracted by constant chat.
I am a birb, so I want to be fed. I am a guardian of the black forest, so I want to be praised. Instinct and Attachment.
"Who's a cute savior of the forest? You are. You even kill innocents so that they don't have to meet a worse fate. So merciful! You're the epitome of gallantry!"
Being extracted from my own body made me… even more perceptive than ever. This silly bird thought it was doing everyone a favor by patrolling during the night and killing anyone it found. At least it had a good conscience about it.
I looked at the door, but no face ever appeared on the window. I sometimes forgot I had turned into an abnormality. Without a body, I cannot actually work like I used to.
"Ready your pen." I commanded my pupil.
This bird patrols the departments when it breaches, enchanting 'evildoers' with its lamp and chopping their heads. If you see their light fixed on you and 47 eyes follow your steps, run for your life.
This bird thinks it's doing everyone a favor, so it wants Attachment and Instinct.
It also reacts to the deaths of employees, reducing its Qliphoth Counter whenever 5 deaths occur. Coming soon, Big Birb vs Mountain of Smiling Bodies. –Inspector
"Are you really sure you want me to paste these? Everyone will know of your return."
"I'll be back soon, anyway. That damned A… He thought he could steal my light for the project… Guess what? I'm not even mad! Still, I would have appreciated it if the coffins from Extraction Department were a little bit more comfortable. I long to stretch my arm and run around like a kid."
"Will you truly be permitted to come back? Discipline unlocked Execution Bullets."
"I know. I studied how everything works behind the wall. Resets. Bullets. Memory Imprints. The cycle. Cogito. Light. Salvation. I learnt everything… everything except one thing. Angela. I know what she was meant to be and what her role in this charade is, but… I cannot figure where she fits into the formula. It bothers me."
"Help her?"
"We are already helping her. We need to reach day 50, Zero. As for you… well, I'd recommend you to let go and dive deep into your void, but I know how scary that can be. However, if you succeed, you may find the person you used to be."
"I don't care about finding myself."
"I get it. You're empty and all that. I'm not telling you to do it, Zero, I'm just informing you of your possibilities. Whatever you end up choosing, I'll support you. That's what teachers are meant to do, aren't they?"
Zero swung their arms. I had no body, so they couldn't hug me yet. It was funny how incoherent nihil was. Void. If there's a word for it, there's a limit to it. There's no true freedom. Just layers.
The third act begun and the ATZILUTH layer was expanded.
