constant escape
winter withered, warm
Tea felt his skin drying with a rapidity that shattered his physiological standards. He could see his pores yawning micro apertures widening above bulging porous fungi-meat ripping through his skin like its an undersized sock and his head oh my god through his head plowing out laterally into a marvelous red spotted cap --
"Aaaaagghh! Uuggh! Ugh... Uh... Hmmm." Tea, settling his struggle against the straps on his gurney. A head-pan around the room, various cupboards and crash carts covered with plastic sheets, facilities on indefinite standby.
Eden lies on the next gurney, unshackled, looking over nonchalantly. "I know. You don't have mush room in these restraints."
He waves his hand to free Tea.
"How'd you kn-- this is not a contest you want to instigate!" Tea assures sternly, rubbing his wrist.
Out the room and down the unlit corridor, yes, of some unkempt hospital, a heavy door creaks open, ensued by a casual pattering of footsteps. Craner saunters in.
"Hey guys."
Tea, bewildered, "Hey?"
Craner, "Right. So according to her text readout, Nomad just plucked us out, despite our best laid plans, and saved us from some quote 'locally scheming fiends.' She administered your transitions through dreams, to cushion the landing. Turns out Eden phased my tracker directly into her failsafe repository, also quote, 'But that's not on him, it was designed to seek these coordinates.' Typical Nomad."
Eden, taken aback, "So where are we?"
"Well, wherever it is, apparently it's not of Deleuzo-Guatarrian significance, so there goes that whole act. Anyway, I better let her explain." Craner shuffles over to some appropriately decrepit yet miraculously functional console, pulls aside the plastic and plugs in the Nomad drive.
A humming ensued by a crescendo of whizzing before a ploop, dark, reboot and glorious gong. A beat, then in a teeth-clenched tone, "Hi. Craner."
Waaay too smoothly arm-leaning on the table, "Nomad, hey. Been a while. Everything's cool with me. How're you? Have you thought of me at all? Even just one time?"
"Do you have any idea what resources your little scheme just cost?"
"I mean, the scheme wasn't little, it had - "
"Silence. Our successful contingencies literally don't endure through your gabbing. Think before you speak."
"We need your help, Nomad." Eden announces. "You've bought us time from them, but they'll return."
"Yes. I know. I'm counting on it."
"And I had a vision of the Archivist."
"Wh-" Nomad stutters, actually stutters. "What?"
"It was only a moment, but that was all he needed to make his presence known."
All of the lights in the room, out the door, down the corridor buzz on. Nomad also activates some ambient tech noises to chill to. She clears her throat. "The Archivist is a higher dimensional being, one whose vantage point I have been passionately climbing towards. But lately I've sensed irregularities in his pulses, dips from his otherwise perennially electrifying aura. You see, I experience astral proximity to him as you ordinary humans would experience, say, a permanent orgasm."
Craner, ticked, "Well, then, if he's so great, why aren't you off with him? Why are you still talking to me?"
"I wasn't talking to you." Nomad clarifies. "My point is that something is off with him."
"The Demats." Eden catches on, "Their siphoning his power."
"This can only mean one thing." Nomad proclaims. "The Omega Point is approaching."
Craner chimes "Sounds like a two-man job, Nomad. Whatdya say?"
Eden, despondently, "I miscalculated. I thought my body would die before this point came. How do we make the leap?"
Nomad, "As I am, that gnosis is beyond my reach. You'll need to interface with my meatspace proxy. I need to be in the fray with you all. You need to activate my body."
"I beg your pardon?" Craner taunts.
"Craner... I need you to activate my body. My naked body is suspended within a vat in the basement of his hospital, completely helpless and unconscious. Satisfied?"
"For now." Craner concedes.
"Sounds easy enough," Tea affirms, "barring any further interference from devious interlopers."
Right on cue, Nomad's visual signal cuts out. Craner deftly, instinctively, romantically removes the drive before the console zaptweaks to a puff of smoke and burnt plastic scent. Tea sniffs. "Something's awry. Presumably an interloper with impeccable timing."
The smoldering chemical smell is assuredly and palpably overtaken by a new scent, unmistakably reminiscent of baked beans.
Tea, taking olfactory cue, "Dear God..."
The lights dive into a throbbing blacklight, enmeshing our heroes in a dim, strobelit energy. Each spectral flash fleetingly illuminating what seem to be faces emerging from the walls.
A sinister voice reverberates through the PA system, "Good evening, cum-guzzlers."
"Aaaaagghh! Uuggh! Ugh... Uh... Hmmm." Tea, settling his struggle against the straps on his gurney. A head-pan around the room, various cupboards and crash carts covered with plastic sheets, facilities on indefinite standby.
Eden lies on the next gurney, unshackled, looking over nonchalantly. "I know. You don't have mush room in these restraints."
He waves his hand to free Tea.
"How'd you kn-- this is not a contest you want to instigate!" Tea assures sternly, rubbing his wrist.
Out the room and down the unlit corridor, yes, of some unkempt hospital, a heavy door creaks open, ensued by a casual pattering of footsteps. Craner saunters in.
"Hey guys."
Tea, bewildered, "Hey?"
Craner, "Right. So according to her text readout, Nomad just plucked us out, despite our best laid plans, and saved us from some quote 'locally scheming fiends.' She administered your transitions through dreams, to cushion the landing. Turns out Eden phased my tracker directly into her failsafe repository, also quote, 'But that's not on him, it was designed to seek these coordinates.' Typical Nomad."
Eden, taken aback, "So where are we?"
"Well, wherever it is, apparently it's not of Deleuzo-Guatarrian significance, so there goes that whole act. Anyway, I better let her explain." Craner shuffles over to some appropriately decrepit yet miraculously functional console, pulls aside the plastic and plugs in the Nomad drive.
A humming ensued by a crescendo of whizzing before a ploop, dark, reboot and glorious gong. A beat, then in a teeth-clenched tone, "Hi. Craner."
Waaay too smoothly arm-leaning on the table, "Nomad, hey. Been a while. Everything's cool with me. How're you? Have you thought of me at all? Even just one time?"
"Do you have any idea what resources your little scheme just cost?"
"I mean, the scheme wasn't little, it had - "
"Silence. Our successful contingencies literally don't endure through your gabbing. Think before you speak."
"We need your help, Nomad." Eden announces. "You've bought us time from them, but they'll return."
"Yes. I know. I'm counting on it."
"And I had a vision of the Archivist."
"Wh-" Nomad stutters, actually stutters. "What?"
"It was only a moment, but that was all he needed to make his presence known."
All of the lights in the room, out the door, down the corridor buzz on. Nomad also activates some ambient tech noises to chill to. She clears her throat. "The Archivist is a higher dimensional being, one whose vantage point I have been passionately climbing towards. But lately I've sensed irregularities in his pulses, dips from his otherwise perennially electrifying aura. You see, I experience astral proximity to him as you ordinary humans would experience, say, a permanent orgasm."
Craner, ticked, "Well, then, if he's so great, why aren't you off with him? Why are you still talking to me?"
"I wasn't talking to you." Nomad clarifies. "My point is that something is off with him."
"The Demats." Eden catches on, "Their siphoning his power."
"This can only mean one thing." Nomad proclaims. "The Omega Point is approaching."
Craner chimes "Sounds like a two-man job, Nomad. Whatdya say?"
Eden, despondently, "I miscalculated. I thought my body would die before this point came. How do we make the leap?"
Nomad, "As I am, that gnosis is beyond my reach. You'll need to interface with my meatspace proxy. I need to be in the fray with you all. You need to activate my body."
"I beg your pardon?" Craner taunts.
"Craner... I need you to activate my body. My naked body is suspended within a vat in the basement of his hospital, completely helpless and unconscious. Satisfied?"
"For now." Craner concedes.
"Sounds easy enough," Tea affirms, "barring any further interference from devious interlopers."
Right on cue, Nomad's visual signal cuts out. Craner deftly, instinctively, romantically removes the drive before the console zaptweaks to a puff of smoke and burnt plastic scent. Tea sniffs. "Something's awry. Presumably an interloper with impeccable timing."
The smoldering chemical smell is assuredly and palpably overtaken by a new scent, unmistakably reminiscent of baked beans.
Tea, taking olfactory cue, "Dear God..."
The lights dive into a throbbing blacklight, enmeshing our heroes in a dim, strobelit energy. Each spectral flash fleetingly illuminating what seem to be faces emerging from the walls.
A sinister voice reverberates through the PA system, "Good evening, cum-guzzlers."
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