The corner of Lunge's mouth twitched and he glanced towards the projector screen as Jones mentioned the afternoon's film. There was some sort of irony in there, he was sure of it- but looking for significance in the film choices was perhaps reaching, even for him. Still, it was hard to miss that none of the choices had been from before the 1970s. Perhaps an attempt to induce a feeling of cultural as well as physical isolation, given that many of the patients here claimed to be from some sort of distant past or future?
He took a seat at the opposite end of the sofa at a professional distance away from Jones, running through what it was he'd been meaning to ask the man. There were the events of last night, of course. It would be useful to gauge any quirks or differences between his and L's experience and someone els-
Jones, it seemed, had his own ideas. Lunge gave the man a cool, level look, face betraying nothing- though for a moment, he realised afterwards, his expression might have flickered once, just as the question had first been asked. The dark of the room could cover his transgressions, but... "I'm fine," he answered briskly. "I'm sorry I missed the meeting." Deflection, of sorts. The sooner they moved on to business, the better.
Indy thought he'd caught a quick flash of--what?--in Lunge's expression before the deliberately neutral look reasserted itself, but it was possible he was just seeing things. Wishful thinking, maybe--not that he wanted Lunge to suffer, but it was always nice to know the people you were dealing with were human. It was obvious that the inspector didn't want didn't want to dwell on it, though, so Indy didn't push it.
"I'm sure you understand my interest in the subject, but I also understand if you're not interested in talking about it," he said simply, just to get it out there. Then he followed Lunge's lead and moved on. "And don't worry about the meeting." It hadn't been all that productive anyway, as far as he was concerned.
Then directly on to the meat of the discussion: "Was there something in particular you wanted to talk to me about? I spoke with Ryuuzaki this morning; he told me a little about your 'prize.' My night wasn't quite as lucky."
Too briskly, perhaps? It had been a trick to move the conversation onto less personal grounds, but- well. He certainly didn't want Jones to think that. Never mind that it ran counter to his aims, it also brought with it the slightest chance of pity, and while he'd hardly had Jones down as the comforting sort, the possibility of inspiring any sort of pity was unacceptable.
Still, his wording had been encouragingly stark on that front. Inspector Lunge arranged his features into a compliant smile. "It's alright. Learning as much as possible about the Institute's methods is vital. I don't mind answering any questions you might have." Provided the Institute is all you want to ask after.
Which, fortunately, was how it seemed to be- Jones moved onto other matters swiftly enough, never mind whether or not he'd picked up on any discomfort on Lunge's behalf. It sounded as though L (Ryuuzaki again- he's still using the alias) had already at least started to cover some ground with the man, so he simply nodded. "From the Sphinx, yes. I take it you experienced something similar with the doorways?"
Indy had plenty of questions, and he let his eyes flicker to the movie screen for a few seconds while he decided whether now was the time to ask them. No time like the present, while the memory of what had happened was still fresh on Lunge's mind (which, if Dent's report of the memory experiment had been accurate, wouldn't be the case later on). And with no way to be sure whether they'd still be around tomorrow, information needed to be transmitted quickly. Since tact was such a luxury, and since Lunge seemed willing enough to talk, Indy gave a nod of thanks and went ahead and asked.
"Harvey Dent gave me a rundown of what happened." He contemplated adding I'm sorry, but decided sticking with professionalism was the best course of action here. "Did you learn anything that might be helpful? See any faces, remember anything about where they took you?" It was probably a long shot--if there was much knowledge to be gained from the brainwashings, he'd expect it to be in wider circulation already--but he had to ask.
Lunge's return question he could answer easily, if not exactly happily. "Yeah. We ended up all over the building, both main floors and the basement; a couple of places in town," Indy replied. And since Lunge was being game about allowing him to ask questions, he went further: "Actually...the last one led to my office back home."
Dent again. Hmm. Lunge's expression flickered again briefly, a candle-flame of expression, before he shrugged it off. Or he forced himself to shrug it off. The end result was the same. Jones was their- how had the man put it? "Mutual acquaintance"? It stood to reason they'd discuss the matter, particularly when one man was his roommate and the other a work colleague of sorts. Besides, he hadn't forbidden Dent from sharing the matter with anyone else- even if, he couldn't help but think with a touch of resentment, he disliked the idea of the two of them discussing his injuries. It echoed uncomfortably of muttered exchanges in various headquarters across Germany, lips that parted only when his back was turned and eyes that seemed to slide past his face and over his shoulder in guilty deference- or was it something else?
Jones had, at least, the decency to ask in person. But that was irrelevant; he was personalising. And personalisation was the last thing he needed, when he could already feel a trickle of dread trail down his spine. "I never saw the man's face- he was behind me the entire time. I would, however, know his voice. Most of the chemicals used were labelled, too." Subject 97A-3, Heinrich Lunge. Dehumanisation for dummies. His fingers rapped on the arm of the chair with soft thuds as he pulled them out, before pausing thoughtfully. "Of course, there's a good chance the information is false, if they knew that I could memorise whatever they told me."
False, false, false. Everything here had the potential to be false. His expression barely changed at Jones' next point. "Your office?" And here was his chance to ask after the night on a more detailed level; veiled references were fine for bulk evidence, but what he needed were finer points that he could connect. Jones had barely begun to speak and he'd already found several. "A similar thing happened to Ryuuzaki and I- I don't know if he's told you, yet? Actually, we covered about as much ground as you did, from the sounds of it, including the basement, Doyleton and another world." Better to keep his own references vague until he found out how much L had said already- the man was secretive enough that he wouldn't be surprised to learn that he hadn't told him anything about it. "Was it exactly the same as how you left it?"
If what Dent had said was true, they'd be hoping Lunge couldn't memorize whatever they told him. But Indy didn't think they'd bank on that. "Any idea if it was one of the regular daytime doctors?" he asked, though he wasn't expecting an affirmative. Indy himself had never had one of the rumored "therapy sessions," but the doctors were conspicuous enough when they passed through the halls; he thought he might recognize one of them.
He'd anticipated Lunge's interest in that point and had his answer ready. "My office at Barnett College, in upstate New York," he explained. "I can't remember if I ever clarified the title, but I'm a professor of archaeology there. Dent, I and another person walked out the ballroom door and straight into the room." As for whether it was exactly the same as how he'd left it--close, but not quite. "It looked like time had passed there at the same rate as here. My mail had piled up, and my colleagues were discussing my disappearance. But they didn't seem to be able to hear or see us."
The disappointment of that still stung. Marcus, and even Irene and the undergraduates, had been such a welcome sight after the last couple of weeks. To move through his own building like a phantom had been--well, Indy had other concerns to pursue right now. "What do you mean by 'another world'?" he asked Lunge with keen interest. It wasn't the first time he'd heard that theory pitched, even obliquely--not by a long shot. Indy still didn't buy it, but he wanted to know whether Lunge had evidence of there being more than just time travel at work here, or whether that had just been a colloquialism.
fsasfdsah I am so sorry for taking so long with this ;_;herr_inspektorJuly 15 2010, 16:15:40 UTC
This time, the question gave Lunge pause. Then, after what had felt to the inspector like an eternity when it had only in truth been a moment, he sighed. "I don't know." Three little words he was loathe to say aloud- it was as good as admitting defeat. "I'd only know from the voice, and I haven't yet had one of the sessions here." Even if he did see them, he doubted they'd do anything so obvious as to place him with the same doctor; they'd set the man up as a far more unearthly creature, able to slip into the night without a second's notice. And they wouldn't want to shatter their daytime ruse, would they?
"It's impossible to be sure, but from what I've heard from other patients, it seems as though many people weren't pulled from this 'world'. There are gaps in knowledge, for example, between Ryuuzaki and I that should not be there were we from the same timeline." The 'Kira' case that L apparently seemed to be pouring so much energy into was a more understandable gap, given the lengths to which L seemed to go to keep his personal business personal, but L himself should not have presented such a mystery to him, particularly not now that he had managed to verify his identity. "It's not unlikely that the place we were taken to- Ryuuzaki's base- was another 'world', if not a clever reconstruction of it."
But it was in the details of those 'worlds' that their experiences diverged; time had passed in Jones' 'world'? Jones and his partners for the night (Dent too- they work together frequently, then) had from the sounds of things moved through it as though they were ghosts, which would make sense if it were some sort of illusion, but the introduction of 'real people' was altogether more troubling. Creating convincing doubles that reacted in the appropriate way to a friend's disappearance required a far more complex illusion, far more work- it also reintroduced the possibility that some part of what they had experienced was real. Hmm. "Did the people you saw act as you would expect them to? It all seemed 'real'?" Lunge had a feeling he knew the answer already, but it was worth asking.
Lunge's answer to that question was the anticipated one, of course. Indy didn't have any other immediate queries--he wanted to know about the specifics of the experiment but figured he'd be better off getting information in that vein indirectly from Javert--so he nodded and let the subject drop for now. Even if that hadn't been his intention, Lunge's next statement might well have sidetracked him anyway.
Gaps in knowledge. Even if you took out the incredible elements like magic and dragons from others' accounts of where they came from, more mundane distinctions--differences in what people knew, in how historical events had gone--fit with what he and Richter had discussed. Indy realized that idea could even explain why no one from the future seemed to have heard of him except as a fictional character, even though he'd hoped at least one or two of his finds would be significant enough to be general knowledge. Or was that simply ego talking? "What kind of gaps, specifically?" he asked. What he needed was concrete fact, not vague generalization and speculation. Unfortunately, the latter were in much greater supply than the former around here.
He didn't have to speculate about his answer to the inspector's question, though; as loath as he was to admit it, Indy trusted his senses and instincts enough to be confident that what he'd experienced last night was the genuine article. "Down to the last detail," he answered. "I'd like to say it didn't seem real, but I was right next to them, and I've known one of those people all my life. There's no mistaking that it was actually him, and he wasn't acting." One corner of Indy's mouth quirked up in a brief flicker of amusement. "He couldn't put on a performance that convincing to save his life."
Then, shifting topics, "What did Ryuuzaki say about where you ended up? Did the base seem real to him, or just a convincing fake?" He was willing to share information about what had happened to him in the interest of expanding the collective knowledge, but talking about others' nights was nonetheless more comfortable ground.
Lunge hadn't expected to feel quite so relieved when Jones decided to leave the matter of his session for now- he also hadn't realised that the man's questions had made him as tense as they had. Uncomfortable, yes. That was only natural. But it was only afterwards that he noticed the tightness in the pit of his stomach discussing the matter had brought about, and it was... worrying. No, disappointing. He'd have to work on that.
Just as he would have to work out a way of discussing Ryuuzaki's business without giving away more than L would be comfortable with giving away. It was fairly clear that he didn't distrust Jones at all- it was likely just that paranoia back at work- but still. Better to be careful.
"According to his status as a detective operating at least partly in Europe and given that he comes from eight years ahead of me, he should know of both myself and the case I worked on already- it was made headlines across Europe fairly steadily throughout the investigation," he explained. Particularly in regards to the final act. He hadn't yet been able to read the newspaper reports on Ruhenheim personally, ostensibly to keep his testimony as clear as possibly- but also, perhaps, to avoid it entirely. It was harder to forget when you were pinned to a hospital bed. "It would have been impossible for him not to know about even if the details later became sensitive, particularly given his links to the police. As it is, neither of us knew anything about each other until we met here."
There. If L found fault with that report later... well, that was his problem. He nodded, recording Jones' testimony with his hand- and he seems genuinely convinced, that smile wouldn't be there if he didn't- part nostalgia, part disappointment. Just like L, until they'd reached the computer. "He seemed equally convinced- until we discovered that everyone in the building had vanished. The building was entirely empty." Which explained why he and L had found it easy to think of everything as a trick- it allowed at least a glimmer of doubt, and that was all a person needed to latch onto the least stressful conclusion. Lunge knew that first hand.
He took a seat at the opposite end of the sofa at a professional distance away from Jones, running through what it was he'd been meaning to ask the man. There were the events of last night, of course. It would be useful to gauge any quirks or differences between his and L's experience and someone els-
Jones, it seemed, had his own ideas. Lunge gave the man a cool, level look, face betraying nothing- though for a moment, he realised afterwards, his expression might have flickered once, just as the question had first been asked. The dark of the room could cover his transgressions, but... "I'm fine," he answered briskly. "I'm sorry I missed the meeting." Deflection, of sorts. The sooner they moved on to business, the better.
Reply
"I'm sure you understand my interest in the subject, but I also understand if you're not interested in talking about it," he said simply, just to get it out there. Then he followed Lunge's lead and moved on. "And don't worry about the meeting." It hadn't been all that productive anyway, as far as he was concerned.
Then directly on to the meat of the discussion: "Was there something in particular you wanted to talk to me about? I spoke with Ryuuzaki this morning; he told me a little about your 'prize.' My night wasn't quite as lucky."
Reply
Still, his wording had been encouragingly stark on that front. Inspector Lunge arranged his features into a compliant smile. "It's alright. Learning as much as possible about the Institute's methods is vital. I don't mind answering any questions you might have." Provided the Institute is all you want to ask after.
Which, fortunately, was how it seemed to be- Jones moved onto other matters swiftly enough, never mind whether or not he'd picked up on any discomfort on Lunge's behalf. It sounded as though L (Ryuuzaki again- he's still using the alias) had already at least started to cover some ground with the man, so he simply nodded. "From the Sphinx, yes. I take it you experienced something similar with the doorways?"
Reply
"Harvey Dent gave me a rundown of what happened." He contemplated adding I'm sorry, but decided sticking with professionalism was the best course of action here. "Did you learn anything that might be helpful? See any faces, remember anything about where they took you?" It was probably a long shot--if there was much knowledge to be gained from the brainwashings, he'd expect it to be in wider circulation already--but he had to ask.
Lunge's return question he could answer easily, if not exactly happily. "Yeah. We ended up all over the building, both main floors and the basement; a couple of places in town," Indy replied. And since Lunge was being game about allowing him to ask questions, he went further: "Actually...the last one led to my office back home."
Reply
Jones had, at least, the decency to ask in person. But that was irrelevant; he was personalising. And personalisation was the last thing he needed, when he could already feel a trickle of dread trail down his spine. "I never saw the man's face- he was behind me the entire time. I would, however, know his voice. Most of the chemicals used were labelled, too." Subject 97A-3, Heinrich Lunge. Dehumanisation for dummies. His fingers rapped on the arm of the chair with soft thuds as he pulled them out, before pausing thoughtfully. "Of course, there's a good chance the information is false, if they knew that I could memorise whatever they told me."
False, false, false. Everything here had the potential to be false. His expression barely changed at Jones' next point. "Your office?" And here was his chance to ask after the night on a more detailed level; veiled references were fine for bulk evidence, but what he needed were finer points that he could connect. Jones had barely begun to speak and he'd already found several. "A similar thing happened to Ryuuzaki and I- I don't know if he's told you, yet? Actually, we covered about as much ground as you did, from the sounds of it, including the basement, Doyleton and another world." Better to keep his own references vague until he found out how much L had said already- the man was secretive enough that he wouldn't be surprised to learn that he hadn't told him anything about it. "Was it exactly the same as how you left it?"
Reply
He'd anticipated Lunge's interest in that point and had his answer ready. "My office at Barnett College, in upstate New York," he explained. "I can't remember if I ever clarified the title, but I'm a professor of archaeology there. Dent, I and another person walked out the ballroom door and straight into the room." As for whether it was exactly the same as how he'd left it--close, but not quite. "It looked like time had passed there at the same rate as here. My mail had piled up, and my colleagues were discussing my disappearance. But they didn't seem to be able to hear or see us."
The disappointment of that still stung. Marcus, and even Irene and the undergraduates, had been such a welcome sight after the last couple of weeks. To move through his own building like a phantom had been--well, Indy had other concerns to pursue right now. "What do you mean by 'another world'?" he asked Lunge with keen interest. It wasn't the first time he'd heard that theory pitched, even obliquely--not by a long shot. Indy still didn't buy it, but he wanted to know whether Lunge had evidence of there being more than just time travel at work here, or whether that had just been a colloquialism.
Reply
"It's impossible to be sure, but from what I've heard from other patients, it seems as though many people weren't pulled from this 'world'. There are gaps in knowledge, for example, between Ryuuzaki and I that should not be there were we from the same timeline." The 'Kira' case that L apparently seemed to be pouring so much energy into was a more understandable gap, given the lengths to which L seemed to go to keep his personal business personal, but L himself should not have presented such a mystery to him, particularly not now that he had managed to verify his identity. "It's not unlikely that the place we were taken to- Ryuuzaki's base- was another 'world', if not a clever reconstruction of it."
But it was in the details of those 'worlds' that their experiences diverged; time had passed in Jones' 'world'? Jones and his partners for the night (Dent too- they work together frequently, then) had from the sounds of things moved through it as though they were ghosts, which would make sense if it were some sort of illusion, but the introduction of 'real people' was altogether more troubling. Creating convincing doubles that reacted in the appropriate way to a friend's disappearance required a far more complex illusion, far more work- it also reintroduced the possibility that some part of what they had experienced was real. Hmm. "Did the people you saw act as you would expect them to? It all seemed 'real'?" Lunge had a feeling he knew the answer already, but it was worth asking.
Reply
Gaps in knowledge. Even if you took out the incredible elements like magic and dragons from others' accounts of where they came from, more mundane distinctions--differences in what people knew, in how historical events had gone--fit with what he and Richter had discussed. Indy realized that idea could even explain why no one from the future seemed to have heard of him except as a fictional character, even though he'd hoped at least one or two of his finds would be significant enough to be general knowledge. Or was that simply ego talking? "What kind of gaps, specifically?" he asked. What he needed was concrete fact, not vague generalization and speculation. Unfortunately, the latter were in much greater supply than the former around here.
He didn't have to speculate about his answer to the inspector's question, though; as loath as he was to admit it, Indy trusted his senses and instincts enough to be confident that what he'd experienced last night was the genuine article. "Down to the last detail," he answered. "I'd like to say it didn't seem real, but I was right next to them, and I've known one of those people all my life. There's no mistaking that it was actually him, and he wasn't acting." One corner of Indy's mouth quirked up in a brief flicker of amusement. "He couldn't put on a performance that convincing to save his life."
Then, shifting topics, "What did Ryuuzaki say about where you ended up? Did the base seem real to him, or just a convincing fake?" He was willing to share information about what had happened to him in the interest of expanding the collective knowledge, but talking about others' nights was nonetheless more comfortable ground.
Reply
Just as he would have to work out a way of discussing Ryuuzaki's business without giving away more than L would be comfortable with giving away. It was fairly clear that he didn't distrust Jones at all- it was likely just that paranoia back at work- but still. Better to be careful.
"According to his status as a detective operating at least partly in Europe and given that he comes from eight years ahead of me, he should know of both myself and the case I worked on already- it was made headlines across Europe fairly steadily throughout the investigation," he explained. Particularly in regards to the final act. He hadn't yet been able to read the newspaper reports on Ruhenheim personally, ostensibly to keep his testimony as clear as possibly- but also, perhaps, to avoid it entirely. It was harder to forget when you were pinned to a hospital bed. "It would have been impossible for him not to know about even if the details later became sensitive, particularly given his links to the police. As it is, neither of us knew anything about each other until we met here."
There. If L found fault with that report later... well, that was his problem. He nodded, recording Jones' testimony with his hand- and he seems genuinely convinced, that smile wouldn't be there if he didn't- part nostalgia, part disappointment. Just like L, until they'd reached the computer. "He seemed equally convinced- until we discovered that everyone in the building had vanished. The building was entirely empty." Which explained why he and L had found it easy to think of everything as a trick- it allowed at least a glimmer of doubt, and that was all a person needed to latch onto the least stressful conclusion. Lunge knew that first hand.
Reply
Leave a comment