Doc code 1278803-4576b

-mindlink initiated-

Entry 19-

Why am I doing this? Why am I sprocking doing this? Grife I could have been doing anything else, something legal tonight so why am I going through with this? There must be better ways to determine the identity of a sprocking impostor. This whole idea is stupid.

I need to get in before I lose my nerve.

First the security protocols.

1101010101001111010101010111 00101001011100101… 1101010101001010101001010100 10101… 0100101010101001010100101010 1001010100101001… 1100101010111110101010100011 0101011… 1110001010101010101001010100 1010… 1010100101001010100101010010 101001010101001010… 1001010011010101001010001011 0101010010101001011… 1010010100101010100001010010 1…

Well that went better than expected. It appears I still have a good handle on basic binary. It did take a bit of my concentration to merge the mindlink with COMPUTO for the security override. I should have invented this sooner, it's quite useful to be able to speak to computers again.

I'm inside. Sprocksprocksprock it's all just like I remember and it hurts. I can't be here. I need to leave

NO

NO, SPROCK YOU QUERL YOU WILL GET IN THERE AND YOU WILL DETERMINE THE IDENTITY OF THE SPROCKING IMPOSTOR AND YOU WILL

Oh grife, security cams.

101010101001010101…

COMPUTO. My metaphorical knight in shining metallic defensive apparel. There will be no evidence of my entry.

These walls are smoother than I remember. Or perhaps it's because I've never touched them with such poignant awareness of my human senses. The floor has ridges and rivets, but fortunately it is silent to move across. I am wearing the AMESS, but with an additional silencing apparatus added to keep the plastisoid materials from making noise if they impact the walls or floor. Most ingenious, if I do say so myself. Which I do.

Why thank you, Querl, I appreciate the compliment.

Oh no, thank you Querl, you are the one who expressed the need for such silencing materials.

Querl, you are positively too kind to a mere inventor like myself.

Oh no, do not sell yourself short, marvelous Querl. It is not as though level 12 intellect presents itself on a regular basis.

You really are too kind, Querl.

…

…twelve simultaneously-processing thought tracks and I choose to talk to myself. Perhaps when I have returned to the Legion I should discuss my state of mind with Saturn Girl.

I need to find the lab. I simply hope the impostor isn't holed up in the one I need. Otherwise this could be a long night. The hallways are eerily silent at night. I never realized how quiet it can get here. I hope Saturn Girl is not alerted to my presence. She knows me. She knows I mean no harm. Though admittedly I may choose to strike my impostor because he has caused me a serious amount of mental anguish.

All right Querl, this is it. The lab. Don't freak out. The impostor has probably moved things around and has probably reworked the lab…

Oh.

Oh.

It hasn't changed.

Well, the countertops have different experiments on them. But it's organized in the exact same way I left it. Components left scattered exactly how I would scatter them. Materials being analyzed even as I work in another lab. COMPUTO running scans on various ways to improve designs that I have supplied.

This is all too much. How long has the impostor studied me to understand exactly how I would run a laboratory? It looks as though I never left!

Oh, I did miss having a good laboratory. Hotel rooms and apartments are no substitute.

Now is not the time, Querl. Get to COMPUTO. Find information on the impostor.

All right COMPUTO, let's set your scanners to something else. What is the genetic structure of the current Brainiac 5 residing in these walls? Oh good, it's on file.

…

This can't be. That allele. Those sequences. No. NO.

NO NO NONONONONO

SPROCK NO

darknesspainsadnessdespairdo omDARKevilfearstopno

SPROCKING GRIFE I CAN'T

angerstopDARKevildarknesspan icdestroyterrorDARK

THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE

dangerdarkevilDARKsadnesspai nangerhurt

NO

darkDARKdarkdarkDARKDARKNESS DARKEND10DARK0010STOP1010100 0NO

NO

DARK100101DARK101010101DARK1 000101010DARK110101010100101 0101010101001010101000010101 0010111101010101010100101

~end~

A/N:Ahahahaha I love the mindlink to death. Brainy has a dirtier mouth when he doesn't get the chance to filter it through his hand-written journal. even though he has a perfect memory (eidetic only with a level twelve intellect on top of that), he tends to self-edit. The mindlink is great because you really get to hear exactly what he's thinking in the moment. Gosh I loved it when he talked to himself, I do that all the time and I just... it seemed so like him. Also. It's great that he refers to himself in the third person as Querl and not Brainy because I seriously LOVE the name Querl and I'm so happy that I get to use it because I like it. The strings of binary are filled with ellipses because obviously strings of binary are long and the mindlink kindly truncated them for our sake. so there you have it. I really loved this chapter.

A/N x2: Hey yo peoples who are still bothering to read this! So today's chapter is a vague shout-out to AtramentousAile, who has been bombarding me with unnecessary flattery and basically making me feel like a literary genius, so I've been super motivated to write. So motivated that I felt okay about posting this chapter a little early. So yeah. Some readers are really too nice. Every review makes me want to sing and dance (fortunately there's no one around to watch or they'd likely go blind), so I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been so faithful to review even when this story has taken so long. I appreciate the time you take to comment and it really means a lot to me! :D

Enjoy, and sorry for the cliff hanger. ;)