11.

SYSTEM REBOOT. TIME REMAINING: 17:51:20

Astrid suddenly saw a flash, leaving her dizzy and blinded, and she heard a short yelp as Walter released her hand, "Walter?!" she cried.

A few feet above them, a long fluorescent tube light flickered to life. Astrid blinked, squinting painfully as her eyes adjusted to the new, brilliant, artificial glow that flooded the long, cement hall.

Walter stood against the wall with his arms around his face, which he had pressed against the cement, hissing with pain. Astrid approached him, "Walter, are you okay?"

"It stings-!"

"What? Are you hurt?!"

"The light- turn it off-!" he pressed his palms over his eyes, "It burns my retinas!"

"You're sensitive to light!" Astrid exclaimed, "that's why you can see in total darkness; you've been out of bright elements for so long that your eyes can't take it."

"Not true. The human eye is not built to see in- just turn off the light, damn it!"

"I can't turn it off, there's no switch. And I can't break it, it's too high," Astrid said, "listen, I have an idea," she gathered the hem of her shirt, biting it and tearing it.

"What is it? What are you doing?" Walter asked, tensing.

Astrid tore off a long, uneven strip from the bottom of her shirt, "Here. Put this on like a blindfold, it should help." Slowly, painfully, Walter wrapped the makeshift gauze across his eyes and tied it at the back of his head, "There. Now just keep your eyes shut, and you should be fine."

"Good thinking, miss. Damn good," Walter said, tentatively reaching out to feel for the wall. Astrid grabbed his arm.

"Come on, Walter. I'd never leave you, either."

xXx

Olivia did not know if the place was scarier with the lights on, or the lights off. At least in the dark, she could somehow imagine each of the halls differently, even if she did not know that she had been doing it. Now, it was like an endless, featureless, grey maze of turns and hallways.

One thing, however, was not anything like she had imagined or expected; her companion.

Peter, one she had somehow placed as one of the many homely, arrogant, misogynists that she had dealt with during her entire career as a law keeper. Almost to her annoyance, he was not. He was a little paranoid, perhaps, but surprisingly handsome.

His hidden glances at her indicated that she was not what he had expected, either.

They sat down for a rest at last, and he addressed her, "Well, no towel. I guess we're on to something."

"Yes and no," Olivia replied, "We haven't found anything that makes this route distinct from any other one we could have taken. We haven't passed any doors, either."

"So my theory was incorrect," Peter sighed, "I thought that there might have been a large collection of rooms, but the sheer size of this place…" he shook his head, "there are probably only four rooms, possibly on the four corners of this place, noting its square construction, that is."

"How do you manage?" Olivia asked.

"Well, Occam's Razor, you've heard of it? The simplest answer is usually the best one. I can tell it's square for a number of reasons; no curved walls, nothing circular. I haven't seen and slanting walls, have you? No angles, so no triangle. And… this is going to sound completely crazy, but… square is the theme."

"like an 'interior decorating' type of theme?" Olivia asked flatly, "You've got to be kidding me."

"Nah. It makes sense, if you think about it. This place is massive. The point of it was to be massive, to confuse and intimidate. It had to have a 'theme' like that, to evoke the proper psychological response of hopelessness and despair and fear. Everything is square," Peter made the shape with his hands, "a simple geometric construct to add to this kind of primal fear, as a square translates a dungeon-esk feeling in the psyche, something inescapable. It would only show that this place, being a human construct, would not deviate from this 'theme'."

"What do you do, again?" Olivia questioned cynically, attempting to hide her astonishment as his sheer process of logical thought.

Peter laughed, "Lady, I've done a lot of things. People like you think that just because someone refuses to settle into their 'place' in life, that makes them a criminal."

"But the effort, the careful calculation of everything here," Olivia continued, ignoring his comment, "…they must have been a genius."

"Must have been," Peter agreed, "That, or a madman."

xXx

SYSTEM REBOOT. TIME REMAINING:17:40:59