Hokma

Everyone gathered around our Sephirah. The old bot kept checking on their pocket watch as if he awaited something. Any employee in the facility would have been disturbed by our synchronized entrance and silent focused stare, but that robot had nerves of steel.

Our wish was simple.

"You want me to negotiate with the manager the reincorporation of [DATA EXPUNGED]." Hokma guessed.

When we entered this hellhole, confusion, nerves and panic were our bread of the day. We were able to group up and move as one thanks to [DATA EXPUNGED] senior. As Multiple, we may have a knack for replenishing our numbers, but if the situation gets really bad, we might collectively lose it. Self-preservation was paramount.

"We need a leader."

"A figure to guide us."

"A flame to follow."

"A light to reach."

"You can make as many copies of Garcia as you wish. What's stopping you of making another [DATA EXPUNGED]?"

Nailed it! Just as we practiced. Ominous speech attained! Multiple has achieved a mystic image after training hard! If people were to find out how goofy we actually are, ruin would come to our family. We had the perfect chance to do all the cool stuff we always wanted to, so we had to keep it together!

Hokma closed his pocket watch.

"The order of this place is that an empty spot shall be filled. It is futile. Their life was as meaningless as their death. Do not miss them. You, of all employees, should understand why none of you really matter here."

We looked at Five, who was usually the first of us to call the shots. We recognized on our face the anger Hokma's careless remarks awakened.

"When will it end?"

Our question confused Hokma.

"When will you stop playing god in this cave?"

"Never. That chick wants to fly away, but it is too small to overcome the weight of the world. I will remain by his side forever, even if I must become a sentinel to oppose him."

"Ah, so egocentric." Garcia muttered collectively.

This person disregards us like mere tools. Their sense of life and death have been tarnished, yet they fear the end of their little world.

"Is it really worth it? Is the end product worthy of our sacrifice?" One asked weakly to the distorting figure of a tree with huge clocks instead of leaves. In the biggest one, their green eye fixated onto One as the Sephirah swayed from one side to the other, his clock pieces circling around at a normal pace.

I don't wish things to end. We will not lose anyone, as long as the cycle repeats.

"Don't listen to him. He thinks he's being considerate, but he's only utilizing our lives to purchase more time for himself!" Seven roared.

Do we really need to change?

"'We can change anything'… X Inc sold the faulty machinery that took [DATA EXPUNGED]'s life with such a catchphrase. Change, however, is inevitable. You can reset us, copy us and multiply us as many times as you wish, but time will take away everything you love, eventually."

Please, do not steal away the last glimmer of what I treasure.

Nine's timid voice filled the silence.

"Are we really the ones paying for that time, though?"

Even though we were the same person, there was some moments were we couldn't understand ourselves. The alarm blasted through the speakers and a female voice announced the meltdown of Hokma.

Suddenly, half of us were struck by heartache and squirmed to our deaths.

There is always a price of silence.

I am always paying my price.

There is always a price of silence.

I am always paying my price.

Everyone died but me. The third trumpet was sound and my sanity waned. What did just happen?


…announced the meltdown of Hokma.

Since we needed to regroup and plan out the day, One took over Neal's duties with WhiteNight and gathered at Welfare's Main Room. We had no time to lose.

"It's the final countdown! Tiroriiitooooo!" Somebody sang.

"Tirori to taaaaaa!" Another employee sang along.

That was random. Oh, hold on, that was Four. That imbecile singlehandedly will ruin our image! The Garcias shared a collective sigh and shook our worries away. Rather than protecting our pride, what we needed to accomplish was shutting down that dreadful boss of ours. Despite him being the gatekeeper of time, he apparently has forgotten that there is an end to everything.

"Record Team, if you will, share with us your impressions on the issue at hand." Izzy requested politely. We decided that Seven would be the one to answer that.

"Time. That is the issue. The TT2 protocol will not be available today, which doesn't really mean anything for us. However, the manager may have gotten way too accustomed to skipping the minutes and allowing us to do our tasks while they focus elsewhere. Additionally, the manager will probably lose the ability to pause time. He always gave us perfect orders because they had infinite time to consider what to do next, but that won't be the case today. Our greatest enemy today is the manager's errors."

"What's stopping us from forgetting about him and managing the corporation we know by heart?" Qwerty suggested.

"Theoretically, nothing. Practically…"

Our gaze helped everyone notice the cyan-haired lady that joined our meeting.

"Your directives are to follow the manager's orders and avoid taking decisions of your own."

O'Neal raised their hand.

"Can I breathe?"

Angela ignored the question and teleported away. The last thing she showed us was her grin.

"Ugh, I don't get it! Why can't we just do our thing? The manager will only slow us down." Neal continued, before taking refuge inside the pages of their novel.

"There must be… some sort of purpose to this rule. The manager is sure to suffer with this challenge, so that may have something to do."

Izzy was probably right. When it came to Angela, that captain had started talking more enthusiastically as of late, almost as if they were in love or something. I mean, is such a thing really possible? We won't be the ones to judge, but… …

The blonde captain that was recently seen carrying around music sheets sighed.

"We have such a long day ahead of us…"

"You should get something to distract yourselves throughout the day. I sure will."

"Hey, O'Neal, can you lend us some books?" Four thoughtlessly requested.

We totally forgot about One's misdeeds with Two and Three during their first day. Apparently, they asked to be lent something and they took advantage of looking the same way to deny its return. We mean, that totally sounds like something we would do, but looking back on it, that was quite silly.

"I-It's fine if you don't. We… um… will continue staring at the ceiling… or something…"

Yay… I can't wait… Ugh…

The grumpy albino noticed their companion's expressions and shrugged.

"Come with me. Fair warning. If I find a folding anywhere in the books I lend you once you return them, all of you are in for a beating. Am I clear?"

"Loud and clear!" We chanted.

Hurray! Hurray! If only [DATA EXPUNGED] was around to see us now… They would be proud of our progress making friends.

After that, Nine went away with Discipline's captain to help them with the soundtracks they were composing. Five accompanied Izzy and pondered about their apparent love towards the cruel AI. Four went with Neal to take the books. Meanwhile, I returned to Records and called Hokma some names to entertain myself. An employee named Fabb visited to pester me about their silly theories on how Lobotomy Corporation was involved in the spark of the Smoke War.

Five years later, the manager actually made a decision. Work started. We finished our tasks quite fast, but the manager took forever to give us new orders. Somehow, we couldn't help but remember Hokma's comment. The chick wants to fly away, but it is too small to overcome the weight of the world. The manager actually sucks at his job, doesn't he?

As clumsy as the orders were, they never stopped coming. As long as we were given the command, we would complete the work and produce energy. It was nerve-wreaking to simply watch as chaos unfolded during the Ordeals… and the subsequent breaches… but we were capable of dealing with most dangers. When an ALEPH broke free of its containment, the manager was bright enough to request Little Red's services. We had to evacuate a few departments to welcome the Rabbit Team, too.

Bad things happened. [CENSORED] happened too. The Inspector was right. Multiple cannot work with that… [CENSORED]. We might corrupt beyond recover and pull the others down with us. Thankfully, Izzy was our savior. In fact, Seven became their fan. After all, that greedy person shouted their love for Angela while suppressing a freaking ALEPH. How much cooler can you get than that?

Maybe… Maybe the Inspector is really gone… but things would be alright even if they weren't here anymore. We could take care of things. Everything would be fine.

As long as one of the Garcias survived to pass on our growth onto the next generation, we would support everyone, allowing for a fertile soil where to build the future.

You could move onward, in spite of everything…

Given enough time, a rock will become a planet. The impossible, possible. The improbable, certain.

After an eternity, day 45 finally came to an end. I am not joking when I say it felt like we spent a couple of years there.

At long last…

Welcome to the last arc of Lobotomy Corporation as you know it.