"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.
It's kind of a drop to get down onto the tracks and mostly Dr. Schreber can take care of himself, but he has already said he can't jump. He needs Dovev's help to get down but once he's there he's okay. He's also stuck once he's there because he can't get up out again without help. That must be why Dovev asks then.
It is nice of Shirley to try to make the question gentler, but Dr. Schreber cowers a little and looks back and forth between them. He's nervous now. "I... please, don't..." Saying don't hurt me never works. The people who will hurt you are not going to be stopped by that. "They made... me work for Them. Help... Them in their experiments." His voice is shaking a little and he tries to hurry up the subway tunnel. "I got... away. But I've gotten... away before. They... have punishments for... that, but this time I'm not... the only one They have to wo...rry about."
Dovev glanced around briefly as he formed the new few questions. There's not enough people, it was enough to set off every warning bell in his head.
"How did you work for them? How did they force you?" His voice remained steady as he continued to watch, and note places where someone could feasibly hide.
At first, when she hears that Schreber worked for them, she feels angry. But then the 'made' clicks, and she hears that they have punishments for running away, and it really makes her wince.
Mickey glances at Dovev. She wants to ask Isn't it obvious? but.... well, that would be rude. And it's possible the injuries are old, from before the Strangers.
"I... mixed memories. Re...imprinted people." He would like to be running ahead of them to get away but he is just not that fast. He kind of cowers as he walks instead and glances up at Dovev. Then he gestures to himself with his free hand. "I... think my heart might... not have been good be...fore, but the rest..." He's embarrassed but he feels like they deserve the truth. Whatever they want of it. He's not going into details about all the scars the suit hides. "But I don't... have my own memories. They made... me take those, too. I only kept... my skills as a scien...tist, because They needed those. They... can't understand humans the... way another human can."
He turned over the information. There's a ring of truth to how the man spoke, the injuries where too many to all be natural.
"So you were their tool," Dovev remarked as he folded his arm across his chest as the tunnel as he tried to fit in the fragments he heard, seen - and remembered. "A tool doesn't need to remember, just to act."
Even traveling through the tunnel, he could feel how the city spirals. "It's strange how little anyone notices the oddities of the city unless it's been pointed out."
Shirley listens, frowning slightly. "Could we use that for our advantage? That they don't understand humans?"
Dovev's words make something rattle in her mind - a young man, screaming and shaking in her arms, in a basement, trying to break into the Vault -
The Vault?
She shivers, holding onto the shotgun. "Why do we keep remembering who we used to be?" What's going on with her? The man (Ryan) was terrified. What kind of place does she come from?
Dr. Schreber nods a little sadly and keeps one hand on the tunnel wall now. It's getting darker the further away from the platform they go and there is a wind blowing trash around and sometimes grit in their faces. At least there are no trains coming along to kill them all!
"Humans are adap...table, and They change things of...ten. I... don't know, They're... very powerful. They can change... anything with Their minds. Make... you sleep, or lift you up in... the air or snap bones or..." He stops and shivers. "But They're distrac...ted, now. I met other... people remembering too. I think... I'm..." He trips a little and catches himself with the cane. "I didn't imprint... people this time. They... must have done it with...out me. They must... have done it wrong."
"Lucky us," Dovev replied rather grimly. "If other people are remembering, wouldn't a good number of them be out in the city trying to catch them?" He asked rhetorically.
As they got to a fork - from same another broadcast.
What about you, do you have any Family? It was a woman's voice - a crisp Ivy League cadence, slightly garbled by underlying static.
Nope... just a bunch of people who raised me, wait there was someone who said he was my father.
You mean...? Then a loud burst of static.
You did it, even though you knew... but that's Patricide!
I think he wanted it. Besides, some people needed a killin'. The second person sounded like Dovev.
Shirley winces as she hears the words 'breaking bones.'
"Maybe it's good they did it wrong," she says softly. "Maybe there are other people causing more chaos than us? They could be scrambling for damage control..."
"Yes but... They're as likely to be look...ing for us as for Them. We're... all trouble. And They know I... know Their secrets." Dr. Schreber does not like to think he is more important then most people here because being important in this case can get him killed. But that is the way he thinks it probably is.
He does not know what to think of the broadcast. "If... it's not Them doing..." He makes a hand flapping gesture at the intercom. "I don't know. It's nev...er been like this."
Dovev tried to ignore the insinuations of what this other him said, and what the static had covered. He swore it was no coincidence the broadcast broke up in the way it did. Did it relate to the psychopathic older man in the first broadcast?
"We'll deal with it once we get there. Let's see, by the map, we should be close to the center." And not a single obstacle. Something's funny about this. He ran his hand over the walls, expression fixed with determination.
"We need to go deeper." Dr. Schreber stops and frowns at the wall too. If he could just Tune and make a doorway appear. Like Them. Like John.
Who...?
He shakes his head and beats his fist once on the wall, but not hard enough to hurt himself. "They make the doors, we... need a way to get through.. the walls, or the floor..."
It is not completely quiet because there are lots of blowing garbage and rat noises down here. There have been all along but it is getting louder now that they have stopped. There are eyes in the dark. Lots of them at ankle level and moving closer in the dark. They might just be curious, but there's really a lot of them...
"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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"Yeah - and I think someone threw a Spanner into their works." Dovev waited until everyone is on and the subway is on it's way.
"So how did you know what was going?" His voice was like a piece of steel.
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"More like an entire toolbox," Shirley mutters. Not that she isn't glad someone did.
"It could be helpful to us," She says, trying to put him at ease. They don't need him to be afraid of them.
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It is nice of Shirley to try to make the question gentler, but Dr. Schreber cowers a little and looks back and forth between them. He's nervous now. "I... please, don't..." Saying don't hurt me never works. The people who will hurt you are not going to be stopped by that. "They made... me work for Them. Help... Them in their experiments." His voice is shaking a little and he tries to hurry up the subway tunnel. "I got... away. But I've gotten... away before. They... have punishments for... that, but this time I'm not... the only one They have to wo...rry about."
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"How did you work for them? How did they force you?" His voice remained steady as he continued to watch, and note places where someone could feasibly hide.
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Mickey glances at Dovev. She wants to ask Isn't it obvious? but.... well, that would be rude. And it's possible the injuries are old, from before the Strangers.
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"So you were their tool," Dovev remarked as he folded his arm across his chest as the tunnel as he tried to fit in the fragments he heard, seen - and remembered. "A tool doesn't need to remember, just to act."
Even traveling through the tunnel, he could feel how the city spirals. "It's strange how little anyone notices the oddities of the city unless it's been pointed out."
Reply
Dovev's words make something rattle in her mind - a young man, screaming and shaking in her arms, in a basement, trying to break into the Vault -
The Vault?
She shivers, holding onto the shotgun. "Why do we keep remembering who we used to be?" What's going on with her? The man (Ryan) was terrified. What kind of place does she come from?
Reply
"Humans are adap...table, and They change things of...ten. I... don't know, They're... very powerful. They can change... anything with Their minds. Make... you sleep, or lift you up in... the air or snap bones or..." He stops and shivers. "But They're distrac...ted, now. I met other... people remembering too. I think... I'm..." He trips a little and catches himself with the cane. "I didn't imprint... people this time. They... must have done it with...out me. They must... have done it wrong."
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"Lucky us," Dovev replied rather grimly. "If other people are remembering, wouldn't a good number of them be out in the city trying to catch them?" He asked rhetorically.
As they got to a fork - from same another broadcast.
What about you, do you have any Family? It was a woman's voice - a crisp Ivy League cadence, slightly garbled by underlying static.
Nope... just a bunch of people who raised me, wait there was someone who said he was my father.
You mean...? Then a loud burst of static.
You did it, even though you knew... but that's Patricide!
I think he wanted it. Besides, some people needed a killin'. The second person sounded like Dovev.
In the darkness, Dovev's expression darkened.
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"Maybe it's good they did it wrong," she says softly. "Maybe there are other people causing more chaos than us? They could be scrambling for damage control..."
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He does not know what to think of the broadcast. "If... it's not Them doing..." He makes a hand flapping gesture at the intercom. "I don't know. It's nev...er been like this."
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"We'll deal with it once we get there. Let's see, by the map, we should be close to the center." And not a single obstacle. Something's funny about this. He ran his hand over the walls, expression fixed with determination.
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"It's been... quiet, hasn't it? I'm not... complaining. It's just odd."
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Who...?
He shakes his head and beats his fist once on the wall, but not hard enough to hurt himself. "They make the doors, we... need a way to get through.. the walls, or the floor..."
It is not completely quiet because there are lots of blowing garbage and rat noises down here. There have been all along but it is getting louder now that they have stopped. There are eyes in the dark. Lots of them at ankle level and moving closer in the dark. They might just be curious, but there's really a lot of them...
Reply
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