Freyr’s apprehension grew as they scaled another set of stairs towards the top floor. The whole building felt like it was raring to get up and move on its own; a low hum vibrated the inside of her head like they were underwater.

The stairwell was pitch black, so she relied heavily on her suit’s night vision to see where she was going. She could just make out scattered debris and bloodstains on the steps in front of her. Freyr focused on breathing in and out, trying to remain level-headed. They’d made it this far, hadn’t they? In no small part due to her armed escort. She was grateful to them, even if they scared her too sometimes.

The next floor was also full of operations workspace. They fanned out slightly. Freyr rushed over to one of the blood stained GCHQ staffers as soon as she spotted them. Their sallow complexion shone with sweat in the flickering light of the monitors in front of them. “Hey, can you hear me?” Freyr asked, peeling back her suit visor so they could see her face. 

“It’s alright, we’re going to get you some help, we…”

Freyr’s voice tailed off when she noticed what was on screen. It looked like camera footage from someone’s eyes, looking at an angry but elegantly dressed woman shouting at them from across a wide kitchen table. Sound trickled out of the console’s speakers, which Freyr strained to hear.

“What are you doing? That’s my gun! What is this?” The woman pointed to something off screen. The camera panned until a man with white hair and olive skin appeared, holding a pistol upside down by the trigger guard with his pinkie. 

“You’re a potential suicide risk.” the man said, apologetically. 

“How did you find that?!” The woman shouted at him. She turned to the camera. “How did he find that?!”

“Selene.” another woman’s voice warned, from behind the camera.

“No! No! Okay! This meeting’s now over! I want you both out of here, right now!”  

Freyr looked up, blinking to clear her rapidly blurring eyesight. The pressure in her head was getting really uncomfortable. Meeting rooms branched off from this wide street, and the usual conference tables were juxtaposed with strange scenes, all viewed as though eyes or imagined inside someone’s head. Lurid colours seemed to generate their own light in the darkness.

“Selene…”

“No! He has been snooping around my house!”

Doctor Shearing, I want to sign off here today! I want to let you get on that starship! But you have gotta help us out! I need to know that you are calm and safe before I leave here, and I need to know that you understand the rules before you go to Earth. Please, just…please, sit down. And let us get through our questions.”

The woman looked torn, for a moment. Freyr wiped her eyes, leaning in. Finally, they responded. “Okay.” The elegant woman headed to the chair at the head of the kitchen table, that the camera woman had gestured. The camera looked at Gene and nodded.

Connie reached over and grabbed the GCHQ staffer out of their chair with one arm. The monitors all went black. “Wait...moving them might-” Freyr mumbled.

Connie gave the unresponsive person a hard slap across the face. Instead of waking up, they crumpled to the floor.