The Curiosity

Tuesday

11h12

P and I walked to the gym in an unusual silence. Perhaps he was feeling a bit anxious himself. Has he been in a similar situation before? I wondered as I glanced at him.

"What are you going to do if you find anything?" P asked.

"Tell Management, of course."

"And if you don't?"

"Do my best to ignore the situation," I said.

"Hm?" P raised an eyebrow. "Even despite receiving that message?"

"How..." His words brought me to a stop. "How did you know of the message?"

P nodded toward the ceiling. "Hades told me after he got approval from Management."

"That's strange. Management said I'd be fired if I told anyone else."

P shrugged. "Management must have thought we're in the same situation."

"Yeah." I kept my gaze forward as we walked into the gym.

Management's clean up crew was thorough. They left no trace of yesterday's tragic events. The stain against the wall had been removed, the bench-press had been cleaned, and the carpet was spotless. Only a hint of lemony freshness suggested a cleaning had happened recently. "Almost like it didn't happen at all," I muttered to myself.

"Hm?" P asked somewhere behind me. "Did you say something?"

"Not really," I turned my attention to the rest of the room. Nothing seemed out of place. "Say, do you think they found the anomaly that messed with Hades?"

"Didn't ask."

"I wonder..." I bit my lip as I let my right hand activate the Sleeve. "Hey, Hades? Are you there?"

"How may I assist you, Researcher V?"

"Are your systems back to normal?"

"Yes. The affected systems came online approximately fourteen hours and thirty-seven minutes ago."

"I see." I drummed my fingers against the Sleeve. "Tell me, did the clean-up crew ever discover the source of the anomaly?"

"No. The anomaly appears to have stopped on its own. Management's teams have run a full diagnostic on the affected areas, but didn't find anything of interest."

"I see." Well, if there aren't any clues here, maybe...

"Don't go down the rabbit hole, Veebee,"

"Hm?" P cast me a concerned look when I turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"You're about to ask Hades something strange." His eyes fell on my Sleeve. "Leave it to our benevolent overlords to figure this one out."

"My, is that concern for my well-being?"

P shrug couldn't hide his smile. "Figured I'd keep you off the Firewalker's radar. I won't have anybody else to tease if he got his hands on you."

"Your concern is touching." I rolled my eyes. "Hades, as my friend suggested, I have a strange request. Will it be possible for us to investigate F's lab?"

"That is a highly unusual request," said Hades. "What reason do you have?"

"It's where F spent the most time, other than the gym and his room."

"I will have to refer your question to Management. Please wait one moment."

"Bet you a province they already thought of it," said P.

"Researcher V?" Hades interjected before I could answer. "Your request has been granted. I have loaded the necessary access codes onto your Sleeve. Management requests that you inform them of any information you might find. Failure to do so will result in a pay deduction."

"So?" I grinned at P. "Which province are you giving me?"

"Technically, you didn't agree to the deal. So, I'll be giving you... nothing!"

"Of course."

"Are there any other questions?" Hades asked.

"Not at this time, thanks." I turned to P. "It seems they haven't thought about it at all."

"You had to win some time." He bumped me against the ribs as we headed for the door. "Do you think we'll find anything in there?"

"I have no idea." We fell into silence after that. The scale of the facility once again dawned on my as I looked down the corridor. A building of this size could easily house about twenty researchers on a full-time basis. The facility felt empty with only nine researchers in it. The emptiness became eerie once it was just the two of us walking down the completely silent corridor. Barring Hades' cameras, it would be so easy to kill somebody on walks like this. Maybe that's what the killer was hoping for when they attacked F. Being alone like that, it would be easy to sneak into the gym and do the deed. They clearly knew of Hades' cameras; having T nearby would provide a possible alibi.

"You seem to have taken this investigation to heart."

"Hmm?" P's voice broke my thoughts. "Why do you say that?"

"I haven't seen you this motivated about something other than work in a long time."

"It's uncomfortable knowing there's a killer among us."

"Is that all?"

"Huh?" I narrowed my eyes. "If you're insinuating..."

"Just wondering..."

"No... no! There wasn't anything between F and me."

"So you say." I ignored his chuckle. There was nothing I could say that would break his train of thought, so I busied myself by pressing my Sleeve against the laboratory's scanner. Hazy shadows performed puppet shows in their cubicles as I stepped in. Some sat idly while others wandered around. Not wanting to disturb the silence, I stole to the fourth cubicle on the right. A green flickered to life when I pressed my Sleeve against the scanner, and the door unlocked with a soft click.

"Oh my..."

"Wow."

F's lab seemed to be the unfortunate victim of a trash tornado. Even P, known not to be the cleanest of people, was stunned.

"Maybe this is why the centrifuge got the better of him."

"I'm surprised he got anything done at all." P pursed his lips as he scanned the room. "V, this is going to take ages. How the hell are you going to find something when you don't even know what that something is, let alone in all of... this?"

My eyes fell on a black-stained cupboard. "Got anything planned for the next few hours?"

"Not really. Wait, no. No, no, no, and no. I'm not cleaning all of this!"

"Make it a challenge." I chuckled, pulling open the door before throwing P a rolled-up plastic bag. "First one to find anything alive, wins."