Priya Echo's Adventure - Part 2

CHAPTER 10 - THE PHARMACY AND DRAMATIC!

Back in the lab she pulled open the drawer with the curious greeting card and looked it over once more. Where it was once blank, the front had a word that was cursive like a signature, “Dramatic”. Opening it up, she held her eye close and read each line carefully, “It must be quiet in there. That is what I have thought since the first day I saw you. Maybe one day that will be different. Priya, there are things that are special about you that are even beyond your wildest dreams. I have selected you for the task at hand, not only for your unique qualities and aptitudes, but because of your exquisite, inexhaustible creativity. If you care to respond to this summons, come to Albatross Convenience Pharmacy on Sixteenth St and place this card in the aisle of greeting cards where there is an empty space”. Visualizing the route and all the stop lights, Priya realized it was not more than twenty minutes away. “Hey, are you ready for the night screening?” Eric asked as he walked in through the door, stretching out his hand to offer her one of two tickets. “Ah … I’m so sorry. Not tonight. I’ve got to go on a solo mission”. Priya could see how the letdown weighed on him, “Oh, I thought you really wanted to see this. That’s okay. We can do something tomorrow”. “Can I take your jacket, I feel like changing my look today”, and she threw it on since the night would be cold and kissed his cheek before locking the lab behind her. Rumbling down the road, she could feel a palpitating dread of the mysteries that would soon be laid bare. Then, in her heart she felt a weak, incidental spark of audacity, with the knowledge truth would set her free. By now, only a few random cars eked down the twilight encrusted roads. Looking at the clock, she could see midnight had passed without her notice. After rolling into a space and shifting the stick into park, the driver got out and peered into the brightly lit building. “Guess I’m the only one,” Priya noted, throwing open the door. Pleasant shopping music wafted through the store like a lullaby as she turned the corner into the greeting card aisle. “Not a lot of people appreciate you, do they?” Priya thought as the different colors and patterns dazzled her eyes. Hesitating for a moment, she placed the card into the single empty space in the middle of the aisle, and as she did the music ceased, and a voice came over the intercom. “Stand back” it ordered in a deep resonating voice. Flames crept across the assortment, until, enhanced by the flavoring of the colors, they swelled. Translated into fuel, the cards bent into limp and blackened forms until the aisle disintegrated itself and the flame abated. Wiping away the smoke from her face, she found a stairwell and walked down, then through a long hallway that had at its end a door, the kind that you would see for a maintenance room. “Here we go '' Priya said and pulled the coat around her for warmth before twisting the handle. Inside was a little room, not much larger than a lounge, with a box of an old timey television with antennae sitting on a stand across from an easy chair and a coffee table. Priya picked up the VCR tape that sat on the table and pushed it into its slot, then plopped into the seat, musing on how its comfortableness would be the takeaway from this whole experience. Fuzzy static lingered on the screen until the face of a gray bearded man became apparent, “Hello Priya, you are the most beautiful part of my conspiracy. If you’re watching this now, I’m already gone. My name is Dramatic, one of the Voices of Reason that were conceived in the primordial time. We are Gazers who witness the focal element … the ultimate reality of this place. By now, you should have seen it as well, as your genetic potential has allowed you to achieve the phenomenon. I have explored outside, and seen how our place is separate among many, a Bacteriae slithering on a nugget of shiny silver. The ultimate reality of ours is Imagination, disembodied and chaotic. It is turbulent. To renew itself it fills vessels with its essence, separating it for a time until the boundary is broken and it returns to the ocean of its source. This is the RODI which is the “Re-manifestation-Of-The-Divine-Imperfection '' which brings about the Matryoshka Realms. Realms within realms, the process is continuous. We live in the Bacteriae Elementum that is a construct of that focal element. From grand studies our race instructed the cosmic tree to help oversee the RODI, and we noticed that the breeze through the foliage brought about life through the many realms, including your own. Eons passed and countless realities faded until I knew with certainty the labor of the Maelstrom Allegiance, must end, for the chaos must be given order. It is that which our people gather magic to accelerate the RODI beyond its limits. . To that end I spoke with Telenon, the alpha and leader among us, but by that suggestion he cast me out as an exile. By that time our Bacteriae was visited by new friends, with technology the likes of which we had never seen that rivaled our powers. The Rikiral were friendly explorers, but Telenon and the followers who are my brothers and sisters of the Voices of Reason could not abide any further interruption, and descended to earth, loaning them with our incalculable magic to fight against them. A small faction of your people joined the Rikiral in their struggle, your father among them after gaining the abilities granted by them. Priya, it is true that your mother was a Rikiral woman. Her true name was Cala Amnilow, her human imposter name being Claire Aphrodite, but that guise faded quickly, and the extent of her family is unknown to me. Do not think that is the sole and pivotal reason I chose you. The reason is clear and I will not restate what you already know. There is no alternative to our present dilemma. An individual must become the MIND of the Imagination, that disembodied essence which has no vessel, and bring order to that which is uninhibited. Telenon will be the final obstacle, so do not underestimate him. Well acquainted you are already with the cancer of his shadow, for I could not stop it from seeping into the phenomenon. Time can cause problems sometimes, and cruel fate has made it so the instructions here in this tape are the most help I can provide to you. From the primordial soup we came like virtual particles. Me and the other Voices of Reason by nature pass into hibernation within void for a cycle and return. At first, they only lasted for a day or so, but as time passed, they extended to a week, and then years, and then ages. Telenon was the first to discover that reincarnating within another can stave off a hibernation cycle. But the others have elected to do so in honor of the Maelstrom Allegiance so that their strength will be undiluted when they return. Roughly sixty years ago, it was my time as well, but I came here, and was reborn into the body of a convenience store employee who just happened to be walking down the greeting card aisle. I saw their shapes and colors, and it was as if they called to me. I accidently fell upon the aisle of greeting cards, and the sharp tips of the cards pierced me like falling upon a bed of spikes, and my blood spilled over the assortment. From the Intercom came a voice, “Hey Chris, stop being so dramatic and get back to work”, and I found myself inside it, until I reverberated outwards, escaping, and the sound of the intercom materialized into my new body. Since then I have preserved this spot. This quiet age has one guardian. I am sorry for this, but it is just you and him. As a Voice of Reason, I have complete confidence in you. Either way, when I return, I will see someone different than what I did that day when you stood under the canopy of umbrellas. Take the lessons you have learned and apply them. Good luck”. Later that night a car came screeching to a halt at about half past one. Wiping the sand out of his eyes, Eric stumbled to his apartment door and looked down. Priya leaned against the passenger’s door and waved at him with one hand. “Just thought I would test out the new guy” she yelled. “Ohh … okay” he reacted. A devious smile crept across her face, then jumped back into the car. “Later” she called and drove off into the night as Eric stood there, slightly confused. Closing the door behind himself, he laughed at what he had gotten himself into. And so Priya took the comfy chair back to her apartment and placed it in the center for her to get the best view of the TV.

CHAPTER 11 - THE GIRLS WONDER ABOUT PRIYA

“Have you ever had the feeling you’re being watched?” Felicia whispered to Nadine. Her legs were tired from over an hour of unbridled bicycling. Nadine turned to spy the creeper at the back of the spin class, but he had already gotten up and was headed towards them. “Oh shit, he’s coming this way” Dominique gasped with circumspect vigilance. Nadine braced herself for whatever brilliant adjectives he had for her ass, which was inevitable, and to jettison him forthwith from the spin class. In sweet reversal, the lecturer breathed a sigh of relief, jumped off and pecked him on the cheek, “Eric, Sweetie! How are you doing?”. Alighting beside him, Felicia and Dominique saluted him with a smile. “I didn’t know you liked to cycle,” the former teased. “Actually, I came to see you girls because I need your help” Eric confessed as Nadine rhetorically glanced at the other two. “With Priya …” she acknowledged being indeed the authority on the matter. “She is very low maintenance!” Felicia chimed in, severing the natural affinity betwixt the two. “Felicia, can’t you see Eric over here is in desperate need of our advice? Eric, of course we’re here for you” she admonished, her last word coinciding as the wheels slowly clicked to a halt. Dominique snickered discreetly as Felicia crossed her arms. Arriving at consensus on their mutual plight, they changed, then embarked to the café across the street from the university gym to discuss. “It’s just that she’s too … timid” he relented, finishing off a plastic container filled with savory quiche. “You mean shy” Nadine corrected; her fingers arched in concentration. “Yes, of course. It’s just that she’s too shy and doesn’t communicate the way other people do. Like she has her own language. I’m having issues understanding her” the boyfriend despaired, voicing their own inner monologues with witty masculine charm. “Good thing you came to us” Dominique bolstered, whilst looking nervously at the other two across the table. “Can you tell me about the real Priya?” Eric appealed, looking squarely in the palatial eyes of the proud Nordic blonde. Nadine felt the heat of the silence around her, the great dynamic mystery of the timid researcher who bumped into them one day in the cafeteria was suddenly all that could occupy her academic mind, “Absolutely, I’ve got this down to a science”. For about thirty minutes they talked and argued. Felicia gripped a crumpled soda can, the rough edges not even angering her as every detail they added was like an answer that only raised more questions. Spoken aloud it seemed very … funny. “She picked out one piece of furniture and everything else you three chose, what does that mean?” he asked, tossing back the anecdote across the table. Nadine thought about the lab girl, how the two had spent the most time with each other, and how she had taken it completely for granted. The story was starting to become clearer, with every witness of her personality. “Most likely comes from modest beginnings” she settled, taking the pitch. Eric’s eyes widened in surprise. He regarded the three of them, who had gone to considerable lengths to distract the public from their academic pursuit. Nadine had on a spiffy blue getup. Felicia’s blouse had a peach base and yellow polka-dots. Dominique wore a black tank top with a green alien on it, a band that he had liked in high school. But Priya almost always wore her white lab coat. “Wait a second … Is Priya not materialistic?” Eric pondered. The thought had occurred to him before, yet never so blaringly bright. Circulating around the table, each of them offered an opinion as to whether the subject was indeed materialistic or shallow. In math, the easiest solution is often correct, the disciple recalled, briefly cupping her mouth. Nadine leaned over the table at the guy, who with their effort would surpass their own understanding of the silly lab girl, “Hey, have you ever seen her look in the mirror?”. “Come to think of it, she doesn’t” Eric realized. Felicia snapped her fingers as an idea blossomed, “Do you know Yellow Summer at the court? Flip yes, that place is really expensive. Try buying her a dress and see how she reacts, you know … as an experiment”. Dominique leapt up, feigning protest, “Are we sure that’s ethical …”. The fellow across the table ignored the play at theatre. He was already mapping it on his phone.

CHAPTER 12 - ERIC TALKS TO A FRIEND

Behind the glass of a hockey game, a conversation more intriguing than the war dance on the other side was afoot. Eric leaned over to his brother’s roommate Maurice, who had asked a rather frank question, “Um, yeah, going well”, then slurped a bit of root beer for good measure. “Really, what’s her deal?” he shot back, focused, perceptive, without questioning the interference from the other team. Eric coyly shrugged his shoulders, smiling in that dumb way when you are rewarded by your parents but they won’t tell you the reason, “It’s been a rough start, but I like her a lot”. Maurice burst out laughing and craned over to grip both of his shoulders at once for a good pinch, “Stop trying to figure them out, bro”. Eric recovered, throwing a handful of popcorn at the screen for good measure as the rivals scored a goal. For a second, he thought about just letting it go. It would probably be useless to talk about someone his friend had never even met. And really, how could that someone understand … but it was just something he needed to get off his chest. Eric compared the options before making his decision, “Tell me about it. We went out to Jacksons … you know the place”. “That high class joint?”, Maurice whistled at the price, then smirked in the knowing way a man does to recognize another’s plight. “Have you seen Nadine, you know, the hot one? She convinced me to buy her a dress from Yellow Summer, but she didn’t react the way I thought she would. I don’t know, maybe she’s been in that lab too long or something. Try buying a dress for a girl that isn’t materialistic” he chronicled, rambling emotionally. That evening had certainly been an interesting test. Impulsively he glanced down at the gift bag by his chair again, sizing it up. Fashionably literate people milled about a classical interior with a modern open-air twist. Yuppies and wannabes dotted the bar, many relegating their attention to the virgin classical emanating from the stage. A waiter that actually cared daintily illustrated the appetizers to a beefy woman draped somewhat in fur. Lights limping on thin strings were timed to dim and brighten at just the right times for the eye to adjust to feel out the shapes of humanity. He took a look at the bag once more, gauging a reaction, not noticing her arrival. Priya’s presence leaped into his awareness. She was wearing a lab coat, one with a few stains from their date from last week. Taking into consideration their conference she had straightened her hair, knowing that was the preference of boys. Eric followed the girl’s plan to the letter, waiting till after desert to subject the real world to hypothesis. “Geez, that was a really good flan” Priya noted, quietly patting her lips with a white napkin. His heart beat blood into effervescence. Reacting with swiftness, he picked up the bag and laid it on the table, “So I found this at a shop near the university, I thought you would like it”. Conscious of his effort, she spurned the desire to play with the curious handfuls of tissue paper as she pulled the contents from the bag. Like the lab coat it was white, but a thousand times more beautiful. Priya’s eyes tinted with interest, observing the scope of it like a spectacular powerpoint slide, “Where did you find me?”. “I found you at the pharmacy, don’t you remember?” he immediately reacted, not expecting the modification or his voice to carry that particular sentence. The girl smiled as she looked away from the gift and back towards his keen, handsome face. “Eric, don’t be silly. I found you” she replied. The memory washed over him as the blur of the game endured. What she had meant from that still didn’t make sense, but she was happy, which was all that mattered. “Damn, you’ve got it made” Maurice grunted as he stole a buttery first full of popcorn. Eric took the comment in stride, folding the past back into the past, because that’s where it belongs … like origami, “Uh huh, so what’s the deal with your cousin’s new gig”.

CHAPTER 13 - HANCOCK RICHARDS

“Do you know if there are any details?” Priya asked Felicia the next day whilst slurping from a juice box in the cafeteria. “I have to admit the record is silent on that point. That’s pretty much everything I know” her friend articulated contritely. Nearby, the maintenance man Hancock Richards was mopping the floor, and stood to listen. “Talking about that are you … hehe … you’re much too young to remember those times”. “If you’re from that generation, you must have lived through it. Did you see him?” Priya enquired. Resting his hands on the tip of the pole, he furrowed his brow as if to remember, “Yup … I sure did. Saw him on the telly. He looks like a guy that just walked out of a bowling alley in full uniform, you know, the kind of douchebag that thinks he would look good dressed up as a pirate, only he’s the most powerful guy in the universe”. “Blimey. … are you pulling our leg?” Felicia blurted out. “Excuse my friend … Do you remember anything about that time before the loan was returned?” Priya asked, and under the table she stepped on Felicia’s foot to quiet her down. “The only thing would be I remember sitting on a bench with my daddy. He was reading the newspaper in the park and ignoring everything as usual. He loved to read the newspaper in the morning. Nearby there were chickens pecking on breadcrumbs. Then a chicken flew onto his lap with a tortilla in its beak and rolled up into it. Then it became a chicken enchilada and he ate it. After that I noticed that around the four corners of the park were walls with the background painted on them that I thought was just the background a moment ago, and we walked out one of the doors, and he told me that was one of his favorite restaurants, but I didn’t really understand what he meant till much later”. “Priya … I think this guy is trying to butter you up” Felicia whispered. “Must have been one of the virtual reality rooms back then. I’ve heard of that as well, how silly” Priya said, vindicating the storyteller, and he walked away, mopping the other end of the cafeteria.

CHAPTER 14 - PROFESSOR HOOK’S BIRTHDAY PARTY

It seemed like a prudent use of time, and so Hook cleaned his apartment three times over until it was entirely spotless. Earlier that day he completed his official duties. Neat stacks of paper lay on his desk. Satisfied, he reclined back onto the couch and adjusted his glasses when all of the sudden the doorbell rang. He wasn’t expecting company. A summer sweater was all he had on to entertain. Luckily, as he opened the door it was no other than Priya and the girls. Nadine, Felicia and Dominique to be specific. A delightful cake ringed with candles.“Happy Birthday!” Priya bellowed. They all walked in and … it was clean as fuck. Almost like her apartment, but better, and with a vague smell of vanilla. Priya gave him her best happy-to-see-you smile and please-reinstate-my-funding eye blinks. Felicia came with a green Chinese dress borrowed from her aunt. Dominique was in a long bodied gray coat with big buttons with a sliver of a white dress shirt. And Nadine had accidentally put on something too red and sexy for the occasion with long dangling earrings. With four versus one, they easily put him in his place, which just happened to be in a chair at the table in front of a birthday cake. Hook was confuddled at the tradition, as he normally went to the library for a good rental on his birthday. Priya leaned in close and he smelled like a warm bran muffin freshly drawn from the oven at a shelf of some café that is slowly going out of business. The remainder of the quarters had remarkable upkeep. From the windows slipped nice ambient light whose consolation could not be ignored. Priya turned her cheek, knowing the moment needed no entourage. “Well old buddy … what do you wish for?” she prodded. Hook stared deep into the nostalgia of the candle light. The question lingered on his tongue for some minutes. From audacious youth his temperament had smoothed. Academia worked him to the bone but restored him every day with fertile thoughts. Coffees every day of such assortment of flavors. And the perennial meetings with faculty that marked the passage of time. He had no complaints. Lightheartedly, Hook turned and brushed the inquiry aside, “Actually, I have everything I want. By that I mean … I have you wonderful girls to make my day”. Priya stepped back at the assertion. Its vigorous thrust assailed her usual apathy. Clinging to the emotion, she cupped her mouth and turned back at the others. Restraint was no longer an option. The onslaught of it made them dewy eyed. A partial faint moved the ladies to embrace one another in fast motions. Concessions of friendship. A long overdue exchange. Nadine looked on, weak for a second. There he was. The cake and its phosphorescence brushing his face like a hearth. Felicia held her arm, as new sensations came, enough to engulf her humanity. Dominique felt the beat of a song but it was akin to emotion. Through the window cars rolled past, ready to move students from home to university. Soon they would don shirts without holes and jeer at each other in the cafeteria. Homebound, their parents would yawn more than usual. They would pick up a hobby, like painting. But the rush continued. Cars cast in primary colors since that was the acceptable thing to do. The winds that day made them aerodynamic. But in the apartment the cross examination was not complete. Priya ran around the table and sat on the other chair facing her beautiful bureaucrat. She slammed both palms onto the maple wood, “Come on Hook, are you going to sit there and not ask for anything? Try to think”. Hook began the long process of decision making. Sundry thoughts flocked deep within the hollows of his soul. Gears twisted. Steam rose. Men in chains slammed hammers against railroad tracks. Priya looked to the others who were dumbfounded. She got up and leaned over the table gracefully. Her back arched, she stuck one elbow on the maple and let the other push against her cheek. Now she was locked with him. A starting contest unlike the world had ever seen. It was not for sport. It was the maternal thing to do. But as the time dwindled on the clock, and the educator, normally insatiate for knowledge fiddled on, quietly she could not help herself. Hook would think for hours. Preoccupied. Confined in a riddle that was meant to be an easy chore. Ironic pleasure slowly marched across Priya’s face. Sly humor. It would be redundant to articulate. A delinquent smile fanned across her face as the pressure mounted. Dominique tried not to laugh. Felicia considered breaking the stalemate. Power hungry Nadine leaned in, wanting an answer. Irregardless, his mind labored on. In Priya’s chest she could feel the weight as ideas for very funny and very bad things that were possible to say. Like thuds. Hook sat there; his inability goofy in the furthest extent. Waves of it bashed against the lab-girl. But in the contest Priya knew she had to claim ascendancy. Her eyes narrowed. Her posture strong like a statue. “A cucumber sandwich, '' Hook replied. Without missing a beat Priya raised her other arm and snapped her fingers, directed to the girls, “cucumber sandwich”. Felicia went to the refrigerator. Inside was a serendipitous vegetable tray. Around it, pungent smells of a sheep’s milk cheese. The second in command closed the door. Nadine went and got the bread and took down a cutting board. Dominique just sort of waited and helped with the project management, such as the organizing and making certain that its deliverables were on time and within scope. And she chose the white cream cheese. With a clack the plate hit the maple and slid towards its person. Nadine backed up three feet. An auspicious participant no longer. She noticed that he did not have the usual gray in his tufts. As he munched, Priya waited for the inevitable critique of cucumber sandwich. Enigma to the others, she had echoed Hook with the name of the refreshment. In unity they felt his appetite. Those tufts wagged with joy. “Do you want anything else?” Priya submitted as he wiped thick cream cheese from his mustache with the back of his hand. Hook would tend to his business, flailing his arms with the delight of bread and cucumber. Still, she stood firm. It was victory or nothing. Finally, he stopped and was trapped helplessly in her gaze, “Hummus”. Not missing a beat, the lab-girl answered in kind. Its repetition pure and kind. It's copying a thing of envy. Its iteration a thing of seamless song. Priya lifted her head just so. The words departing in good sequence, “Hummus”.

CHAPTER 15 - THE ECHO GAME

The girls were not so accustomed to a hard push in the small of their back. Priya weaved them through the square, past secluded buildings. Leading them to their destination. Her fingers thrust in deep. “It’s like a knife!” Felicia squealed. But Priya didn’t budge. Her countenance beamed in harmony with the thought. The day had a special design. And so, she poked them mercilessly, ushering them forward. At a higher elevation, the clouds were delightful and plump. A day meant for picnics. Their eyes tied in blindfolds; the girls witnessed none of it. They were busy dealing with Priya’s antics. Lonely, unsung university buildings lined their path. The windows were smeared gray from weathering. Within those walls stood empty rooms with forgotten pamphlets. But Priya redirected them from that effigy of academia. Along its width a creek caked with mud met a rather anticlimactic end on dry ground. Still, the humble clouds queued in the air. Boundless like spring cotton. From the night before the last raindrop descended onto the handsome earth. Priya had gathered them all regardless of fleeting time. Nadine gasped as her hair and nails were an unmitigated disaster. Dominique stuck out her arms sideways, pretending to be an airplane until the scientist was forced to nudge her away from that misadventure. Still, she led them onward. Pieces of brick tumbled down an incline of a dilapidated building like kids riding down a slide. Another had windows in excess. Its neighbor was wider than usual and drafted in a circular architecture. This was it. Priya quickly untied the three of them. Dominique spun around to face her. “Are you kidding me?” she ridiculed. The auditorium rose above them like a monument to obscurity. It's dark portals begging for light. “This place is old news … is this like, funny or something?” Dominique tossed up her hands, exaggerating her displeasure in graphic detail. Felicia looked Priya up and down, wondering if she actually was a robot and whether there was a glitch in the system. Yet all systems were operating smoothly and the aforementioned android booped Dominique in her nose with an outstretched finger to shut her loudmouth up. Priya had worn a new lab coat just for the occasion, and she wasn’t going to give this up. “It’s the perfect place for a game. I made it up. It’s called the echo game” the lab girl revealed, profuse with inexplicable joy. Nadine pivoted on her heels, “You mean like your name?”, she gathered. “Exactly!”, Now Priya’s cheeks were rounded and filled with wonderful things to share with all of them. But the game was afoot and so she ran inside and waited for their company. As the girls wandered in, they couldn’t help but notice the columns at great intervals, arrayed in vague garments of dust. Felicia paused with charming meekness at the scary stuff. Arms close to her chest. Nadine looked up. There was a second floor sporting a balcony. Up ahead was Priya, with a gallant expression on her face. In her presence, the surrounding darkness attained new life. Beautiful like the silence at dawn. Nadine was simultaneously enraptured and at wits end trying to figure her out. “Alright friends, here’s the game. This whole auditorium is so big that its walls will let the sound reverberate off of them, making echo’s. That’s why it’s the perfect place for a game of tag” she began. “I think you mean hide and seek,” Felicia offered. Priya nodded her head in affirmation and hid the suspicious smile from her face. “It’s so funky in here that the game will last an hour” Nadine tended. “Oh, I’ve got something else up my sleeve,” their friend boasted. Sharp reflexes awoke, and the lab girl ran towards the wall, and bounced off of it onto the second floor. “Wow, that was amazing!” hollered Felicia, thinking that it was simply an athletic jump from the wall to the balcony. And with that the game was set in motion. Dominique spent much of the ensuing time daintily prancing over curling shadows and unkempt floorboards from the shipwreck of a floor after Felicia. “Ah!” she whimpered, unforgiving of the former friend who had bested her at tag. In the distance, Nadine’s voice trailed behind as she weaved around the columns sowing fine reverberations like bait. It was irresistible. Despite exhaustion, Dominique fed her heart with courage. Her feet barely brushed the ground, except to pursue what had to be acquired. A swift deer, darting behind immemorial columns. The Latina snarled as she neared the heels of her prey. A wily plunge behind a tall column was not enough. Dominique tapped the shoulder. Nadine wept from the sting of injustice. The Latina giggled in her face, knowing she had become her teacher, if only for a second. By that time Priya had arrived on the scene. Dominique grit her teeth. Now there was one. Likewise, the game renewed, invigorated with the lifeblood of the chase. Priya was not so fast as Nadine, the girl thought. Her white lab coat flapped like a sail sprayed with saltwater, its craft advancing towards dancing waves. Then, through some fault of the dimness, she lost her. Behind, Nadine and Felicia huddled for warmth. Draped in black, the auditorium’s precedence gripped them. Hushed memories of academia and its endless appraisals swirled around. It's austerity. It's cruel discipline. Nadine looked hazily at the scene. In her dream-state, the bones of academics shook in the foundation of the auditorium, knowing they had studied to their heart's content. But then with furtive glance the Latina spied her. That pleasantly nerdy voice. Dominique leapt into action, seeking her across the breadth of the room. The auditorium was inaugurated long ago, but its dust made shifting what was plain to the eye. Like a plucky runaway Priya zigzagged through the place, escaping her pursuer. The game was going well. The lab-girl began to smile partially when a fit of laughter descended, slowing her down. “Newbie!” Dominique called. Priya ringed around a certain column, and her pursuer knew just what she would do. “Can you hear me!” rung out, multiplying, obscuring the source. “I’m too good for that to work” Dominique insisted under her breath. Greedily she crept forward, the prey within grasp. Undeterred, longing for the body. She ringed the column like the sun in its unearthly station and … NOTHING. Where was she? Another clone of the scientist’s words navigated her away, across the stretches of the room to another place. Yet it likewise ended empty handed. The process continued, sending her in vain around columns, dizzying her senses. It would continue like that for an hour. The two others would join in, and they would do their best. They would split and reunite, searching the recesses. They would find only shadow. A smiling Priya alighted on the grass outside, her form materializing. “Not bad for a first round” she surmised, rubbing her hands together in glee. She took a moment to stare at the other derelicts. Squirrels casually skipped along the tops of buildings, like knights of the realm guarding turrets. It was going to be a fun day.

CHAPTER 16 - PRIYA AND NADINE AT THE BANK

“What do you mean there’s nothing to be concerned about!” Nadine slapped the counter as the bank teller tried to lessen the tension. “There has to be a good explanation for this, mam. Please stay calm” the teller promised half-heartedly. “Can you even see what’s going on! Those aren’t my withdrawals, and they’re happening every hour on the hour. I don’t make electronic withdrawals for those amounts” she gesticulated wildly as Priya looked at the ledger, seeing the palpable regularity of the debits. One hundred units every hour, to the second. “There’s a hacker taking all of my junk! Make it stop right now before I lose my shit!” Nadine ejaculated. The teller tried several things to no avail, and then retreated in terror as she witnessed the intervals shorten to every ten minutes. “Um, let me go grab the manager, be right back” the teller offered, skulking away. Sweat began to glisten on her forehead, and she pushed her hand to her temple as the account continued its descent, “…. Oh no, everything is spinning!” Nadine whimpered. Priya grabbed her by the shoulders and took her to the center of the room, where the desks were. “Don’t worry, I’ve got your back” she said and raised a hand to snap her fingers, then led her friend back to the counter when they both had returned. The teller looked at the screen, squinting and moderately confused, “The last digit of the account number, which was a 1 changed to a 2, how could that have happened? It looks like a random glitch, but it’s closed out the hacker’s ability”. “We’ll take good care of this mam and file claims on your behalf” the manager assured her, and they both left the branch, cutting across the area where the ATM’s stood. About ten steps out, Nadine realized what had occurred, and stopped dead in her tracks, “Newbie … your magic!”. “You must be famished”, Priya said as she touched the ATM machine, and it turned into a food dispenser and opened up, providing a fish taco. “How is that even mathematically possible?” she gasped, then bit into the delicious tortilla. A digital smiley face played across the screen and winked as she took the first bite. “Shhhh” the scientist replied, pressing her finger to Nadine’s lips, “I’ll let you know on the ride home, and while we’re at it, I'll tell you a little bit about Euclidean Husbandry as well”.