13.
SYSTEM REBOOT. TIME REMAINING: 14:45:03
_FILE CHECK. BASIS OF IMPUT: THE BASIC PRINCIPLE OF THE AMNESIA MACHINE.
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In order to maintain greater control over all citizens, the repression of civil liBertIes createS intellectual anestHesia, and the reinfOrcement of Perfect allegiance.
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His fingers slid up each of the bruised and cut lengths of her legs in turn, his hands at last finding their place of rest on her inner thigh, a few inches above the knee. He pressed his fingertips carefully against her damaged flesh, raising his head slightly, listening for any hint of protest. She was silent, lightly resting her palms on his shoulders for support. He could hear the soft hiss of her breath through her nostrils.
He would try to be gentle about it.
He drew the plastic needle down quickly, splitting the wound. Before she had a chance to respond, he jabbed it under the edge of the disk, prying it up. "Walter-!" He felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck as her fingernails pierced his skin and she bared her teeth with a soft grunt of pain. He could tell that Olivia was the type of woman that could not tolerate pain without causing a bit of her own.
How exceedingly attractive.
Walter plucked the chip from her leg as she retracted her claws from his flesh, breathing through her teeth, "All done," Walter said cheerfully, and she took the disk from him, "I'm very sorry, I know it was not pleasant."
"Yeah. Sorry about your neck, I…"
"It's nothing," he took a strip of Peter's torn shirt from Astrid, winding it around her thigh, "nothing compared you, I think."
"I can't say much for your method of detection," Peter grumbled disapprovingly, holding a rag over the open wound on his scapula.
Walter's ears heated slightly, "I have not yet found a more effective method," he answered reasonably, "It any other instance I would have extracted it differently."
"What are these things?" Olivia asked, taking Peter's hand and getting to her feet.
"I am uncertain. But to be rid of them will help us, I know it," Walter rubbed away the blood from his hands on the front of his shirt as he stood, "We pay the price of being unable to benefit from their aid and healing properties, but I also believe they are the very thing causing the lapses."
"So you're saying that we're forgetting that we're walking in circles?" Astrid questioned.
But still, the brains tended to be more alluring than the fangs, "The Möbius is metaphysical, really. If we are now aware of our continuous passage of consciousness, we then become able to manipulate it."
"So… we're aware, now," Astrid said, "and we can finally see where we're going."
"So where next?" Olivia asked, leaning on Peter slightly for support, "we've got these things out of us, but we still can't split the strip or whatever."
Peter seemed to take her leaning as a slight sign of trust, "Well, if we're going on a theory that goes completely against the laws of physics, I'd say tap our heels together and call for Toto."
"I used to teach physics! That was it, physics, hah. Good times."
"Dr. Bishop, you have to try and focus," Astrid said, and the lights flicked and surged again as she took his elbow, "You seem to know a lot about this place, so you have to tell us what to do, now."
"We have to start walking again," Peter frowned at Walter, whom was lost in inattentive memories with a wide grin on his face, "There's no telling how long the lapses have been, or how far between. We could have been here minutes, hours, maybe even days."
"That's how I forgot my counting," Olivia realized, "every other time, I could never stop the numbers. But lately, I've been able to stop them… because I keep forgetting that I'm counting."
Walter had returned to coherence, "An interesting hypothesis has been raised. Perhaps you were controlling these lapses yourself, although I am unable to find a conclusive method of manipulation. A pity I've now removed the disks, we could have tested it."
"It doesn't matter, now. Finding a way out of here before we run out of anything important- namely patience- is what matters," Peter said.
"I hate walking," Olivia grumbled painfully.
Peter wondered if he should offer to carry her, but his thoughts were interrupted as the lights flickered and died, plunging them into the dark. Olivia's hands tightened on his arm, and he suddenly had the urge to cover and protect her. But his bruised throat reminded him not to do anything stupid- she was still a cop.
xXx
Astrid stood perfectly still in the dark, her heart hammering in her chest, and her eyes wide and panicked. Something cold touched her hand, and she immediately retracted it with a gasp, "Walter!" She cried before she could stop herself.
"What's going on?" he questioned in the dark, still blindfolded.
"Walter, something's touching me!" Astrid said, her voice slightly higher than she had wanted it to be as cold brushed her abdomen.
"What…?" there was a shifting, and she could only assume he had removed his blindfold, "…Oh."
"What is it?!" Astrid demanded.
"It's, um… it's nothing," Walter replied sheepishly.
Astrid frowned, "It's you, isn't it?" she questioned flatly.
"No," he lied, "But see that the lights have gone out again. This is problematic, for you three, at least."
"You can really see in the dark?" Peter questioned.
There was silence for a while, and the dreaded notion crossed Astrid's mind that Walter had left them. There was a small, odd noise, something a sharp inhale and a sob.
"Oh. You look just like your mother, Peter." Walter whispered.
There was a scuffle, "Don't touch me!" Peter exclaimed, "What the hell is wrong with you?! I'm not your kid, you're screwed up in the head!"
"'Sorry," Walter replied, clearing his throat.
"Dark or not, we need to get moving," Olivia said, "If you can see, even better. I say we hit the walls again, and keep going right. We may have to walk the whole way again, but it'd be a better bet than turning and doing lefts again."
"It's just a ways up ahead," Walter said gruffly, and Astrid felt him take her hand once more, and it felt slightly damp when she realized that he had wiped away tears.
"How do you know?" Peter question, his voice even more cynical than his messages had been.
"I don't know how I know. Maybe I remember, maybe I can smell the fresh air. I don't know. Everyone keeps asking me things I don't know, and it's getting annoying," He lead Astrid along, and she shut her eyes, deciding long before that it was the easiest way to traverse the dark halls.
What could have been hours in the silence passed, the only numbing noise being their soft footfalls, and the gentle scrape of fingers along the walls.
"Walter, do you feel something?" Astrid asked suddenly, and he paused, "not like when the lights came on, it's something else."
"A vibration," Olivia said, "I feel it, too."
"It's a fan," Peter answered.
"How…?"
"Stop a second and feel. The walls are moving, but the vibrations are being emitted from the ceiling. And Walter's right- the air is colder and heavier. We must be near some sort of ventilation," Peter reasoned.
"Is he always like this?" Astrid questioned with an amused smile.
"Pretty much," Olivia responded.
"As usual, I will blindly accept that as a compliment," Peter grumbled.
"Don't put your hand there, Olivia," Walter warned quietly, "there's a hole, and I don't want it to scare you."
"A hole…?"
"Careful. Ah!" Walter let out a quiet laugh of amusement, "Eureka!"
Before any of the three could demand what he meant, there was a soft sound of chimes, and Astrid's eyes sprang open, taking in the marvel of a blindingly white doorway.
"El-li-va-tor!" Walter mused in singsong, blinking and squinting with ignored pain. Astrid, Olivia and Peter gaped in amazement, and Walter re-donned his blindfold before their attention could be returned to his freakishly pale irises.
"The chimes were a god-damn elevator," Olivia breathed, reaching out to touch the shining steel threshold, "unbelievable."
"Well, there is good news," Peter said with a grin, "It's not stairs."
xXx
SYSTEM REBOOT. TIME REMAINING: 12:48:09
_UNKNOWN FEED DETECTED. SECURITY MEASURES DISABLED.
yhckfformatEVER676_syst.[OVERRIDE]physicalcommand12:SAVAGE[!]
_ADMIN. ACCEPTED. IMPUT COMMAND.
yhck[COMMAND]_'up'_//
_COMMAND ACCEPTED. REROUTING POWER TO OBSERVATION LEVEL ELEVATOR 745.