"I don't know but... the library wasn't... where it was supposed to be." Dr. Schreber stops just inside the subway station to catch his breath. He is really glad for the cane now. That was a lot of stairs and he is very tired. "They re...arrange things all the... time, but I think... it's all breaking down." He has said so much and they have not asked him how he knows. There is a part of him that keeps waiting for them to ask why he knows everything about the city and the Strangers, and waiting for them to hurt him when he explains.
"We... need to get to the center. Wherev...er that is." Dr. Schreber limps over to look at the subway map and he's not just looking at the train lines but the spaces between them too, the spaces where there maybe should be trains and aren't. The whole city is a spiral. It's not that hard to find your way when you know the shape that's underneath it all.
"What?" Shirley looks over at him, blinking. The sudden outburst was startling.
The radios crackle. Her voice comes over the radio, but it's hushed and intent. "... send your cur... back unto... a thous... fold!" It repeats, growing more angry, more serious, more intent. Then, she hears a loud wind coming through the radio, like a hurricane was suddenly taking place.
Shirley's eyes go wide. "That's... that's my voice!"
"I'm not sure They un...derstand humor e...nough to mock us." Dr. Schreber shrugs a little and runs his finger backwards on the spiral to find a train that might get them close. He thought he was at the center but then it keeps moving around. He stops and blinks at the intercom though.
"That's... never happened be...fore." His voice is very small and his eyes are very big. Or at least the unscarred one is.
"Perhaps they evolved," He remarked grimly as he glanced to Shirley, and then up at the intercom.
"That Carnivale, it's name was Lotus Eater. It's an Odyssey Reference." Dovev answered even as he tried to make out the words. "We're here.... to get to the center we uh -"
He paused as he glanced to a cigarette vending machine. Almost mechanically, he stepped back, and went to the machine, his eyes narrowed in confusion, having an urge to vandalize it.
"Lotus Eater... that seems familiar," she says, frowning. "I think I remember it now... the Lotuses were like a drug, weren't they?" She might have read it in school...
Upon Dovev stopping and staring at the vending machine, Shirley blinks. "What is it?"
"They... can't evolve. That's... why They started this ex...periment. To study... us because we're so a...daptable, and that's what... They need to survive." He taps the map. "There's... a train that might get... us close, but the entrance... if there is one, wouldn't be ob...vious."
He turns to look and is not sure why Dovev is staring at the vending machine.
He looked back as he slammed his good hand against the machine. It clicks, and a packet falls out by the sheer luck of Dovev hitting just the right spot. The man found a match box in his pocket.
...Cigarettes, his little toxic comfort.
Wait. He never smoked before. Even as he realized this, he already had one lit and exhaling, the tension in his body leaving.
"Sorry, seems like I got a habit they were hiding." The man looked at the route. "It might be in between the stops there, so we either have to risk jumping out, or walking in and hope no train is coming down our way."
Shirley jumps when Dovev hits the machine. There's a thud when the cigarettes fall out, and Mickey blinks when he lights one up.
"... d'you think they were trying to do? See if a person could overcome an addiction if they didn't remember they had one?"
At Dovev's comments about jumping off the train, Mickey cringes. Well. "Perhaps we could find some other way, than jumping out?" She glances over at Schreber. Could he take jumping out of a moving train?
Dr. Schreber jumps a little when he hits the machine but it's just to get cigarettes so that's okay. Everybody smokes in the city. He doesn't because he has enough trouble breathing already but he doesn't care if anyone else does. "Maybe. Probably."
He looks at the tunnel and plays with the raven head on the cane. "The tunnels prob...ably widen away from the plat...form. We... I can't jump. I'm... sorry." He looks down and his expression is embarrassed. He is supposed to be the one who knows where they are going so why does he feel like he's slowing them down?
"I was joking about jumping out of the train." Dovev sighed in exasperation. "Come on, let's get get a ticket and try to get close to the center before we start exploring." The man stuffed the pack into his pocket.
As he headed to the ticket booth, the radio crackles to life again.
"I came to get rid of the nightmares I've been having for the past three years." The first voice, if roughen up a touch sounded exactly like Dovev's.
"The... hell? Isn't that-?" The man snapped his head, his eyes widened in shock.
"The nightmares? They never go away.... Bbbzzkt. Once you've been on the battlefield, tasted the exhilaration, the tension... it all becomes part of you. Once you've awakened the ... Bbkzzt ... within... it never sleeps again. You crave even bigger tensions, ever bigger thrills. As a ...zzzkt, I'd think you would have realized that by now. You care nothing for power, or money, or even sex. The only thing that satisfies your cravings... is DEATH! All I've done is give you a place for it. I've given you a reason to live."
( ... )
What a terrible thing to say. Can killers really be trained that way? Is it all conditioning the way the Strangers would like to think or is there something deeper? "We... I'm not sure we should... listen." Dr. Schreber shakes his head but he limps to the ticket booth and feels in his pockets and gets tickets for all three of them. He cannot jump the turnstiles either after all. Also he is giving Dovev a minute to recover but when he comes back he gently pushes tickets into their hands. "I'm not... sure what it means, maybe They... are trying a new experiment."
"That... other voice. I recognize it. It almost sounds like me but..." And he hated that voice, feared it - no, feared becoming it. "...Nevermind, we should hurry." The man tried to brush off how his thoughts an emotions got turned upside down at the broadcast. Worry later, focus on the situation now. If one isn't one hundred focused on task, might as well not do it.
The possible soldier got to the turnstiles, scanning, wary - tensed. A passerby in the otherwise stark station stared at the bruising on the side of his face before hurrying on.
"What kind of use would they have for an experiment like this?" Shirley asks.
She follows Dovev, trying to stay between him and Schreber. The passerby looks away from Dovev before seeing the shotgun, which makes Shirley breathe in relief. That would have raised awkward questions.
"I don't know, I... think their experi...ments are instrinsic...ally flawed anyway." Dr. Schreber goes through one of the turnstiles and gets his cane a little tangled up but once he is free he limps toward the platform and the tracks without waiting. They will probably catch up and pass him anyway.
"We... need to get to the center. Wherev...er that is." Dr. Schreber limps over to look at the subway map and he's not just looking at the train lines but the spaces between them too, the spaces where there maybe should be trains and aren't. The whole city is a spiral. It's not that hard to find your way when you know the shape that's underneath it all.
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"In the center of the labyrinth lies the minotaur," He muttered as he glanced around warily for the strangers. Then something hit him like a brick.
"They were mocking us!"
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The radios crackle. Her voice comes over the radio, but it's hushed and intent. "... send your cur... back unto... a thous... fold!" It repeats, growing more angry, more serious, more intent. Then, she hears a loud wind coming through the radio, like a hurricane was suddenly taking place.
Shirley's eyes go wide. "That's... that's my voice!"
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"That's... never happened be...fore." His voice is very small and his eyes are very big. Or at least the unscarred one is.
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"That Carnivale, it's name was Lotus Eater. It's an Odyssey Reference." Dovev answered even as he tried to make out the words. "We're here.... to get to the center we uh -"
He paused as he glanced to a cigarette vending machine. Almost mechanically, he stepped back, and went to the machine, his eyes narrowed in confusion, having an urge to vandalize it.
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Upon Dovev stopping and staring at the vending machine, Shirley blinks. "What is it?"
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He turns to look and is not sure why Dovev is staring at the vending machine.
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...Cigarettes, his little toxic comfort.
Wait. He never smoked before. Even as he realized this, he already had one lit and exhaling, the tension in his body leaving.
"Sorry, seems like I got a habit they were hiding." The man looked at the route. "It might be in between the stops there, so we either have to risk jumping out, or walking in and hope no train is coming down our way."
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"... d'you think they were trying to do? See if a person could overcome an addiction if they didn't remember they had one?"
At Dovev's comments about jumping off the train, Mickey cringes. Well. "Perhaps we could find some other way, than jumping out?" She glances over at Schreber. Could he take jumping out of a moving train?
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He looks at the tunnel and plays with the raven head on the cane. "The tunnels prob...ably widen away from the plat...form. We... I can't jump. I'm... sorry." He looks down and his expression is embarrassed. He is supposed to be the one who knows where they are going so why does he feel like he's slowing them down?
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As he headed to the ticket booth, the radio crackles to life again.
"I came to get rid of the nightmares I've been having for the past three years." The first voice, if roughen up a touch sounded exactly like Dovev's.
"The... hell? Isn't that-?" The man snapped his head, his eyes widened in shock.
"The nightmares? They never go away.... Bbbzzkt. Once you've been on the battlefield, tasted the exhilaration, the tension... it all
becomes part of you. Once you've awakened the ... Bbkzzt ... within... it never sleeps again. You crave even bigger tensions, ever bigger thrills. As a ...zzzkt, I'd think you would have realized that by now. You care nothing for power, or money, or even sex. The only thing that satisfies your cravings... is DEATH! All I've done is give you a place for it. I've given you a reason to live." ( ... )
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The voice comes over the radio, and - that's definetly Dovev's voice. But who is the other one?
"Dovev...?" Shirley asks, quietly. Of them all, he seems the most frightened and disturbed by the voice.
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"That... other voice. I recognize it. It almost sounds like me but..." And he hated that voice, feared it - no, feared becoming it. "...Nevermind, we should hurry." The man tried to brush off how his thoughts an emotions got turned upside down at the broadcast. Worry later, focus on the situation now. If one isn't one hundred focused on task, might as well not do it.
The possible soldier got to the turnstiles, scanning, wary - tensed. A passerby in the otherwise stark station stared at the bruising on the side of his face before hurrying on.
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She follows Dovev, trying to stay between him and Schreber. The passerby looks away from Dovev before seeing the shotgun, which makes Shirley breathe in relief. That would have raised awkward questions.
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