Day 43: Sun Room, Second Shift

[arc_wrench]

When the shift changed, HK stayed put. Even after a long night of zombie killing, he had no interest in meatbag fuel, especially after all the discussion of chocolate with that rather strange meatbag. It was just making him crave the stuff even more than he had previously, if that was possible

Comments

[mister_fine]

Apollo was a big fan of the truth, actually -- while it didn't always make life easier, it definitely made his job a lot simpler. After all, it wasn't like he was a trained detective. Everything he'd learned in school revolved around the cumbersome courtroom procedures and the countless laws, clauses and subclauses that came along along with them. Actually going out and getting his hands dirty was something else.

Maybe it went to show that book smarts and street smarts were entirely different things. Apollo had a feeling he was sorely lacking in the latter, but that didn't mean he couldn't learn.

He'd probably have to if he wanted to get by in Landel's. That wasn't exactly the most comforting thought, though, so he forced himself to focus on the matter at hand.

The somewhat nosy part of him was interested in hearing more about Hanekoma's background, but his more practical side was quick to remind him that this line of questioning wasn't necessarily relevant to their predicament. Pursuing the matter any further would not only be a waste of time, but it'd put them both in an even more awkward position.

Maybe some baggage was better off left undisturbed -- for now, anyway. That didn't mean he couldn't at least sort of keep an eye on the guy.

The abrupt change in subject was obvious, but at least Hanekoma openly admitted to it. Apollo sighed and flipped through the notes he'd been taking.

"Sort of," he admitted. "I've only been here a little more than 24 hours, so I've still got my work cut out for me. It sounds like there's a lot of history behind this place that spans even farther than anyone here can remember. If that's the case, I have a feeling that we won't be getting out of here even if the Head Doctor really is dead."

[catstreetblues]

[mind a backthread?]

Oh good. He'd taken to the change in subject much better than Sanae had expected. Now they could start talking about some relevant things. After all, his background wasn't too interesting if you didn't know half the things he was talking about.

"Well, if the intercom's anything, I'd have to agree with that conclusion of yours. It's gonna be an interesting next couple of days; wonder if this 'iris' deal's gonna really shake things up or just kind of sneak in all quiet. Doesn't sound like they're changing much except for the automated play-by-play."

Really the intercom messages had seemed less for them and more for some unseen observers who apparently liked their tour guides metallic and boring. Personally he would have wanted a more human touch if he was checking out this place, but some people wanted the information minus the build-up.

[mister_fine]

[Yes pls!]

"Or changing anything at all," Apolo said with a small frown. His gaze briefly wandered to the nearest intercom in the sun room. "Not that I have a lot of personal experience with this place yet, but...well, the nurses don't seem to be acknowledging the I.R.I.S. system at all. Actually, they're just going along with it like it's business as usual."

If the messages were anything to go by, then the automated system was probably something left from before they started abducting people against their will. After all, why would they need to go through the effort of selling the idea of this place to people they could just kidnap anyway? At some point, something had possibly happened to make the institute deviate from its original purpose. Was it the rivalry that had supposedly existed between the Head Doctor and Alec Doyle? Or did that only make the consequences of the split even more drastic than they would have been otherwise?

"Either they're under orders from someone to act like nothing's wrong," which was just ridiculous, since it was obvious that something was, "or the brainwashing stuff is true, and the staff are, er, somehow being tricked to do their jobs no matter what happens." Which was just plain uncomfortable to think about.

[catstreetblues]

Sanae shrugged. "Eh, what the nurses do, it's no big deal. I don't think they hire those guys for their brains anyway, because from the looks of some of them, the criteria's just muscle and the ability to be a mindless drone - you know, good skills for pinning people down when they're jabbing away with those syringes."

His observations were mostly reinforced by his own nurse, who seemed like she only had enough social skills to ask how he was and if the day was as nice as she thought it was. It got really boring after a while - just as boring as this place's interior decorating.

"But you know, this 'federal training' and patriotic stuff that they're spitting out, it definitely makes it sound to me like some wheel's gonna start turning real soon. Like we're gonna become some kind of military project." He grinned. "Can't see what they'd do to you - although if you think about it, a super team of deranged, expert lawyers is definitely secret weapon status."

[mister_fine]

"That might be partly true, but..." Apollo glanced toward a couple of the nurses who were supervising the patients currently relaxing in the sun room. "You'd think at least some of them would be put off by all this. If my boss suddenly disappeared, and it was obvious some outdated robot was taking his place? I'd be more than a little concerned, but that's just me."

They already knew patients could be controlled and forced into attacking others at night -- at least, if the primers were anything to go by. If that was the case, who was to say they couldn't use those sorts of means to brainwash the staff into behaving?

Yeah, this was starting to sound like a really bad sci-fi novel all right. Apollo could scarcely believe it himself. Maybe Mr. Hanekoma was right, and they really were trained to follow orders right down to the letter, no matter what.

Either way, it meant the same thing: they were far from finding a way out of this place.

He had a point about the federal training thing, which took Apollo right back to what he'd been thinking about before Mr. Hanekoma had shown up in the first place. What could that possibly mean? It was referring to some sort of military project, apparently, but for whose army?

Apollo hoped that last crack wasn't meant to be a joke, because it wasn't a very funny one. "I heard a lot of people have special powers or something," he said. "It seems like they'd be prime specimens for some weird military project, right?"

[catstreetblues]

"And if I were the admin of this place, I'd make sure to definitely weed out the independent thinkers from the very get-go," Sanae pointed out. "Less fuss down the line. I mean, sure, maybe a few of them could have an inkling that something's up, but really...are they going to say anything? Probably got a lot of fear in them - way more than their sympathy reserves."

And besides, not that he had anything against legitimate crazies, but who in their right, sane minds would want to side with the mental patients? Minded, sanity's definition could get kind of subjective, but seeing as most people didn't believe in alien abductions let alone Earth abductions of aliens, it was probably right to believe that no guy off the street would consider anyone spouting tales of being from another planet sane.

And Nerves apparently didn't like his joke or something, because he hadn't even managed one of those fake laughs out of the guy. Well, his humor wasn't for everyone.

Sanae nodded. "Of course, because if you toss in the brainwashing, you've got the makings of your very own completely obedient army with epic powers to boot and then boom! It's off to conquer the world." Or if you were named Megumi Kitaniji, it was off to reform Shibuya.

The barista paused and considered what he'd just concluded. "Wow, that sounds cheesy."

[mister_fine]

That was true -- with the kinds of resources Landel seemed to have, it wasn't a stretch to think that the people who served under him could have a decent amount of fear toward him. Especially if they were being coerced into all this somehow. But to act like the I.R.I.S. system wasn't even running? Talk about weird.

Then again, he couldn't even name a single thing about this place that wasn't weird, so maybe that was just par for the course. Still, Apollo couldn't help but frown at the speculations about brainwashing some kind of super-powered army into obedience -- because while it was definitely pretty out-there, it was downright scary to contemplate, cheesy or not.

"Well, whatever he's up to, it can't be any good," he said. "With some of the technology he's got, I wouldn't be surprised if he had world domination or something equally insane in mind." That seemed like the sort of thing a mad scientist would be aiming for.

"Sorry if this is a really personal question," Apollo added after a moment, "but do you have any special abilities, Mr. Hanekoma? I've met at least two healers since I've been here, and I've been curious about the percentage of patients with 'powers' ever since."

[catstreetblues]

"Or he's got a really lucrative defense contract with the states," Sanae said, scratching his chin. "Money's always a factor." These mad scientist types were always easy to predict; he was looking forward to the day when one of them didn't go according to script. That'd be one scientist he'd be willing to meet.

Apollo's question hardly threw him for a loop; he was especially good with this one. Without missing a beat Sanae's eyebrow rose. "Me? A barista...with super powers?" He laughed genuinely. "Gotta be kidding me! If you're looking for a Japanese Superman, you're looking at the wrong guy. I'm a pretty good artist, though. My stuff seems to connect well with people; they get the message loud and clear."

[mister_fine]

Given how running a place like this couldn't be cheap (he'd discussed as much with Haruno in the cafeteria earlier), Apollo was certain they had to be making a profit somehow. Otherwise, it was only a matter of time before Landel ran out of resources, and this operation tanked. It wasn't something he liked to admit, because that could only mean there were more people in on this than they even realized. But Apollo knew he couldn't deny it was a very real possibility. That just would have been impractical.

"Hahah, yeah...a barista with super powers," he said feebly. It sounded ridiculous on the surface, but then, so did a lot of the things he'd heard lately. Really, a barista with powers would be almost normal. Heck, he was basically a defense attorney with weird powers, right?

He was about to ask more about Mr. Hanekoma's art when the intercom sounded, and, sure enough, the I.R.I.S. system was there to greet them.

Apollo turned back toward the man as the nurses began to round up patients. This "visitor" stuff sounded pretty creepy, and he just had to hope he wouldn't get called for anything like that today. "Well, it was nice meeting you." Sorta, anyway. "I'd like to talk again in the future, if you don't mind."

[catstreetblues]

"Anytime, Nerves." Sanae waved goodbye and then sighed as a nurse stopped dead in front of him. Time to go; maybe he'd go find Joshua. The kid hadn't replied to his board message, but he knew his boss would want to talk as soon as possible. Or he could have some fun...

"Arts and crafs, I think," he said without thinking as he stood up. Without even bothering for any further conversation, Sanae had wandered out of the room.