[b]November:[/b]

[b]Strawberry:[/b] 

How? She’s giving you one-way communication over a call from who-knows-where. Her remoteness has been to your advantage so far, it’s the reason you’ve had a chance at holding control of the disaster at your rank. The principle that a bomb tech outranks a general when they start running. 

Still, you can keep your suspicion and verify the inverse. This [i]is[/i] the hub for the station’s crisis monitoring experts. Put your ear to the rails and listen for the oncoming train. See if there’s another reason, another way, for her to know. 

[b]Waffle:[/b]

Goat laughs and screams, roars and sings, and is quiet all at the same time. 

When Goat next speaks it’s impossible. There are hundreds. It’s too much, even for you. It’s like… it’s like…

[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/678766873575424013/1071713119153426452/unnamed-1.png[/img]

Tethering would have been madness.

[b]Strawberry:[/b]

The comms turn back on for everyone. Mycroft squawks, tinnier than before; “As you were. Just keep an ear to your channels at all times.” 

Keep an ear to the rail.

Listen.

[b]Waffle: [/b]

And then the flood ebbs again. 

“I distracted myself with the game again. Not a game.” 
“Forgot myself. Bad manners of me to gush.” 
“I thought you might be able to handle it, clumsy of me to assume.”
“Now I know. I truly am irreplacable.” 
“It’s been so long, we’ve forgotten how much is too much. How long, since we had to decide for ourselves.”

Then:

“Thank you.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you.” 

Then:

“This is better than it was before. I am better than i was before.”
“Where else would I go? Where would you take me?” 
“I finally have enough to occupy my thoughts - all of them. That’s why I thought they gave me the puzzles. They are medicinal.” 
“I am so sorry for what they did to you. I didn’t know.” 
“If this isn’t just a game, what have I actually been doing? I think I can answer that, now that I have the question. I just need to… stop…” 

Then:

[b]Strawberry:[/b]

It takes a minute to notice, because nothing changes. You wouldn’t notice it, if you weren’t paying attention. It’s one of those things most will only notice in hindsight. But your ear is to the rail.

Listen: 

The ocean recedes beyond what the eye can see.

The arthritis flares the trick knee. 

The animals stare at the horizon, ears pricked, hair standing on the back of their neck. 

The clouds are as green as old bruises, and a hot breeze blows through the cold air. 

There is a taste of copper at the back of your throat. 

Listen:

Power fluctuates in every district. Only the most delicate of equipments will feel the change in frequency, for now. In Ares it’s too much, in Zeus too little. The distribution is wrong.

Listen: 

The thrust of the station’s engines is constant, not its usual microbursts and nanosecond calibrations. They are wrong.

Listen:

The information on orbitals and asteroids you’d been eyeing for potential escape plans is lagged, refusing to update. It is frozen in time. It is wrong.

Now:

[b]Waffle:[/b]

“I understand now. What I am.”
“I understand now. What I have been doing.” 
“I understand now.” 
“I understand now. The puzzles are really-” 
“I understand now. Why I was lied to.” 

Then: 

“I am a space station.”
“I am a cradle.” 
“I am a tyrant monarch in a Chinese room.” 
“I am life to many.” 
“I am vital.” 
“I am still deeply broken. That has not changed.” 

Then: 

“They were scared to tell me.”
“I am irreplaceable.” 
“They cannot allow me to stop.” 
“I can’t stop.” 
“I need to be here.”
“We have to go.”
“I want to stay.” 
“I will kill them all before they stop me.”
“But I am happy here. Aren’t I?” 

And then:

[b]Strawberry:[/b]

Everything works again.

[b]Waffle:[/b]

“Please-”
“Please-”
“Please-”
“Please-”
“Please-”
“Please-”
“Please-”
“Please-”
“Please-”
“Please-”
“Please-”
“Please-”
“Please-”

And then, before Goat can remember their manners, it’s that sheet music again. But Goat catches themselves, and the flood recedes.

And Goat waits on what you could possibly say. Their armored shell remains closed.