Episode 10: Of Mice and Mendacity

VIOLET: I guess it’s too late now, I might as well tell you. The alarm, the lock-in, Scarlet on the line. This whole thing. It’s part of your training, Jasmine. You’re still in orientation.

JASMINE: Good one, Violet. Now tell me.

VIOLET: No, really. The power outage, the stuck elevator, the flood. It’s all theater. But something’s not right. I was told to walk you through the mail room puzzle. And Scarlet…she was supposed to stay on the line with you. Jade definitely shouldn’t have been here. Something’s really rotten, but I don’t know what.

JASMINE: I…I don’t believe you.

VIOLET: Think about it. Have you gotten hurt so far? Even a scratch?

JASMINE: N–not that I’ve noticed.

VIOLET: Scarlet seemed to know a lot about what you were going through, and how to fix it

JASMINE: I guess…

VIOLET: And knowing her, she got all weird when you told her about the janitor.

JASMINE: She did seem a little off.

VIOLET: That’s because he wasn’t part of this. Neither was Jade.

JASMINE: What about Copper…or what was left of him in the lab?

VIOLET: Jesus, it got Copper, too. He sucked ass but he didn’t deserve that. 

JASMINE: I think I’m going to throw up.

VIOLET: Sit down. Here. Gum?

JASMINE: N-no, no thank you. 

VIOLET: Your loss. Mint always calms me down. 

JASMINE: Does this mean…Scarlet…

VIOLET: I…I haven’t heard from her. 

JASMINE: Oh god…she lied to me. For so long. And she was mean!

VIOLET: Hey, it sucks. Now you know, though.

JASMINE: I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel.

VIOLET: Dude, same. I was just supposed to be a voice in your watch. Now I’m fucked, too.

JASMINE: Was all of it–everything she said–an act? Did she really cut her finger? See something in the woods? Does she care…

VIOLET: All that’s true. 

JASMINE: Why should I trust you?

VIOLET: I was there, in the woods. 

JASMINE: Oh. It’s just…this is a lot. Can I quit now? If it’s all fake? I want to end the charade and go home.

VIOLET: No, you can’t. Something actually happened before your tests started. Larks were not part of the plan. Neither was losing contact with literally everyone else in the building. 

JASMINE: Great. And I’m just supposed to believe this isn’t another layer to the ruse.

VIOLET: Yeah, pretty much.

JASMINE: Dream within a fucking dream. What about Scarlet? I’ve got a few choice words for her.

VIOLET: I…I think she’s in real trouble. So are we.

JASMINE: We need to keep going, then. Now more than ever. Do you think we tricked…is the lab below us?

VIOLET: It doesn’t look like Sterling’s door.

JASMINE: Great, let’s go.

*door opens, steps*

JASMINE: Whoa, what is this place? You guys have a theater at your office?

VIOLET: This is the screening room. It’s more for informational stuff. Debriefing and whatever. Scarlet did sneak a copy of the Ring onto the projector once and we had a movie night. That was sick.

JASMINE: This floor’s small, I’ll give it that. A few rows of seats, a projection room, and–it looks like storage. There’s even a helpful exit sign right over there. Seems empty, too.

VIOLET: Do you want to sit for a second now?

JASMINE: I would love that. Ew. How is there even gum on the seats in here?

VIOLET: I think that’s like…a universal constant. Like the speed of light or something. There’s always gum on the seat in a theater.

JASMINE: It’s not yours, is it?

VIOLET: I don’t have to answer that.

JASMINE: Hey, by the way, is there a shark in that flooded office?

VIOLET: What? No way. Did Scarlet tell you that?

JASMINE: I’m going to kill her. 

VIOLET: I know she’s a lot sometimes. But if you somehow got her to care for you, she’ll do anything. She’ll fight God for you, if she can. She’ll blow up the whole world.

JASMINE: I guess. Well, since we have a minute, can you tell me what the hell this “orientation” was about?

*projector starts up*

STERLING: You’ll be participating in what we’re tentatively calling the Protagonist Initiative. The Department has discovered so many frightening and otherworldly things in our years of study: spirits, earworms, energy beings and monstrous toys. So we have the villains of our story made manifest. Now we have to ask ourselves: do the heroes of myth also exist? Heracles, Cú Chulainn, Gilgamesh? If they ever did live, surely they’re here no longer.

However, if things like the Larks can be created, not just discovered, could we not also imbue similar strength in one of our own? Could we induce variance, so to speak. The latest results from our lab suggest it’s possible. Temporal transference is the key, I believe, in unlocking these abilities in the human mind. If we can avoid the subject becoming lost in the past. There’s the catch.

In order to properly test this, we need someone with almost no variance whatsoever. A completely average person, the mode Ohioan. A control. We can then place this control and one of our more experienced employees in a variety of settings with different levels of danger–all carefully monitored, of course–and increasing variance levels. Logic dictates that with the correct environment, guidance, and stimuli…well, we could have a hero on our hands.

Picture this: a team of five enforcers with the ethereal particularity of the colloidals. Or a group of investigators with the telepathic synesthesia of the Larks. Imagine how much work could be done! We’ve all seen glimmers of what Lapis can do. And Green…

*projector stops*

JASMINE: So I’m a guinea pig. A lab rat. A fucking science fair project.

VIOLET: Rough stuff, yeah?

JASMINE: And you’re saying he called me “completely average.”

VIOLET: A real wordsmith, that Sterling.

JASMINE: And you and Scarlet were here to, what, babysit? Make sure the little rat doesn’t get hurt?

VIOLET: Bingo. 

JASMINE: But it all went south almost immediately. 

VIOLET: Yup. Now you, me, Scarlet, probably even Sterling. We’re all dead.

JASMINE: Well, he was wrong. I’m not a hero.

VIOLET: I don’t know, but shit’s fucked, for real for real.

**************

SCARLET: Wow, this place is huge. I always forget how damn tall it is. That domed ceiling really is a sight to see. The stained glass windows give the whole room a smoky blue vibe. And the shelves are like three times my height.

LAPIS: Oh, yes, Green’s work here is stunning. I think this place was like a temple for him. 

SCARLET: Sure looks like it. One of those old school churches in europe.

LAPIS: Sometimes, when no one is around, I sneak on top of one of the wider shelves and stare at the ceiling. Sometimes I often do this for hours. 

SCARLET: I don’t blame you, Lapis. I kinda wanna do that right now. But I’ve got folks to find. Have you seen anything weird here?

LAPIS: Well, I opened a book, and inside it was a little city made of words, and–

SCARLET: Anything dangerous weird, I mean.

LAPIS: No, why? Should I be worried?

SCARLET: You didn’t hear the alarm?

LAPIS: Oh, not at all, I was divining my cards.

SCARLET: Sure, of course. Listen, Lapis, shit is bad. Like “our managers are trying to kill us” bad.

LAPIS: Is there anything I can do to help?

SCARLET: I was hoping you could find people for me. Jasmine Control, new hire, and Violet Lull, HR.

LAPIS: Violet, like your girlfriend Violet?

SCARLET: We…ex girlfriend now. 

LAPIS: I’m so sorry, when did that happen?

SCARLET: After that game night a while ago. You were there.

LAPIS: Ahhh, I had no idea. 

SCARLET: It’s cool, we’re chill now.

LAPIS: I see. Chilly.

SCARLET: Do you think you can find them?

LAPIS: Hmm…Let me ponder my orb.

SCARLET: Sure. I’m in a rush but…be thorough, okay?

NARRATOR: Lapis closed her eyes and pictured a perfect sphere in her head. She rotated it several times, then added color to it: silver, like a glowing moon. A perfect celestial entity. Then she hammered the sphere out into a round, reflective disc. A mirror, with a hole in the center.

LAPIS: She’s in a place with a lot of mirrors. Or reflections. 

SCARLET: Mirrors…

LAPIS: Colors bounced back. A shiny disc, empty in the center.

SCARLET: Oh shit, that’s a dvd, Lapis. She’s in the screening room. You’re incredible. A true clairvoyant of ye olden times.

LAPIS: Happy to help! Visit me sometime in my tiny book city, and bring fried dough circles.

***********

JASMINE: Is Sterling in charge of this whole thing?

VIOLET: Kind of. My guess is Red’s got final say.

JASMINE: One of the Primaries.

VIOLET: Yeah. Red Edict, Yellow Access, and Blue Prudence. Executive, communications, finances. 

JASMINE: I’ve met Yellow Access.

VIOLET: Whoa, really? I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of them outside of like training vids.

JASMINE: I don’t remember everything we talked about, but she seemed nice enough.

VIOLET: “Nice” isn’t usually something people say about those guys.

JASMINE: Yeah, you said Red’s mean as hell.

VIOLET: No I didn’t.

JASMINE: Must have been Scarlet.

VIOLET: Probably. She has to deal with Red sometimes. I’m under Blue.

JASMINE: Total dweeb.

VIOLET: Yyyyyeah…

JASMINE: Well, is there anything worth checking out in here before we move on?

VIOLET: I mean if educational videos are your thing, go nuts.

*********

*projector starts*

STERLING: These creatures we’ve captured, these…worms. They’re able to travel through electromagnetic waves, through our broadcast transmissions, through some speech!

GREEN: My god. So every phone call…every signal…

STERLING: Correct. 

GREEN: This was the impetus for requesting the vacuum chamber.

STERLING: Correct again.

GREEN: And then they…implant themselves.

STERLING: It would appear so, yes. Around the temporal lobe.

GREEN: And what is it they do once they’re implanted?

STERLING: I…we don’t know yet, not the full extent. We’ve had few volunteers, of course.

GREEN: We haven’t had any casualties, have we?

STERLING: No, not yet. 

GREEN: What have we found so far, then, Sterling?

STERLING: Well, anyone exposed to these earworms seems to get…well, they get stuck on something. They repeat sentences. Whistle the same tune nonstop. Their minds seem to work in spirals, acting out patterns over and over. Some have experienced an almost feverish wave of nostalgia, as their brain processes images from their past on loop. Throughout all this, these parasites are able to control the host’s body, to an extent.

GREEN: What is it exactly about these creatures that causes this? Is it their physical presence within the host? An excretion?

STERLING: We believe it’s a sound, Green. We can’t hear it clearly at the moment, but we are trying to amplify it in select settings. We don’t believe it originates from these creatures, but they do channel it. The sound creates a psychic link between the parasite and host, and stimulates areas of the brain. It overclocks consciousness, so to speak, and allows for telepathic communication, and perhaps even telekinesis.

GREEN: Surely that’s not how the human brain works.

STERLING: No, certainly not. This is just our best approximation. The best way to describe what we’ve seen. Sound and memory are key, it seems.

GREEN: Are we sure they have any physical presence at all? They travel through sound and frequency, and they utilize sound.

STERLING: No, we can’t ascertain that yet.

GREEN: Do you think it would be possible to…recreate this sound? To channel it ourselves?

STERLING: Possibly, but to what end?

GREEN: You say this sound creates psychic phenomena.

STERLING: We think it does. We haven’t fully tested it yet, and we don’t know the extent of its reach or ability.

GREEN: But if we could recreate it, if we could harness it for ourselves, perhaps we could exhibit those same phenomena sans parasite.

STERLING: It’s…it’s theoretically possible, but practically insane.

GREEN: Good. Then you have your first volunteer. Early bird gets the worm, they say.

STERLING: Y-you can’t be serious.

GREEN: I am. Let me hear the song this worm uses to lure in the bird.

STERLING: You could be killed, or worse!

GREEN: Sterling, is there anyone here more qualified here, more shielded from this variance than I?

STERLING: Not that I am aware of, but–

GREEN: Then let me be the subject. Allow me this indulgence. Then we may test my psychic aptitude. Say, we begin with the Zener cards. Run a control test before exposure and compare how I perform after.

STERLING: I…there’s no potential universe in which Red signs off on this.

GREEN: Why seek Red’s approval? This is clearly a transnatural resource, strictly under our group’s jurisdiction. We run this lab. We know more than any of the Primaries about variance, about these creatures, about this department. Sterling, we make the Bureau of Transnatural Resources tick, not them. Hell, we are the Bureau. If we say something must be done, it is done.

STERLING: And you’re saying this must be done.

GREEN: Let it be so.

*projector runs*

*********

SCARLET: So you just let it happen?

STERLING: It was the only way to get Blue to approve the funding. He figured it might…reduce costs.

SCARLET: Well fuck me, then. I guess I’m just a line on a spreadsheet. 

STERLING: Not to me.

SCARLET: To everyone who runs this place I’m just another bug under a microscope.

STERLING: I don’t appreciate this treatment any more than you do, Scarlet. We were both let down by management here. I have to think there’s some reason. Something stopping them from contacting us.

SCARLET: Maybe! Who knows anymore. All I know is that I’m tired, sore, and want some fucking answers.

STERLING: We all do–

SCARLET: Don’t patronize me, Sterling, and don’t tell me to relax.

STERLING: I didn’t say that. You have–

SCARLET: Damn right I’m angry! Where the hell are they? Where’s the leadership here?

STERLING: I haven’t–

SCARLET: You told Violet what was going on but not me? You said it was all fake, a test for her. I didn’t sign up to be tested on. Those colloidals could have done some real damage–

STERLING: Scarlet.

SCARLET: What.

STERLING: What’s my favorite color?

SCARLET: Green.

STERLING: I’ve never told you that. How do you know?

SCARLET: I just…I mean it makes sense. You and Green have a history, and–

STERLING: How many fingers am I holding up?

SCARLET: How the fuck should I know. 10. All of them.

STERLING: Hm. What’s on the card here on my desk, Scarlet?

SCARLET: What? What are you doing?

STERLING: Nothing. Just keep me updated in regards to Control’s location and health.

SCARLET: I will. You’re the only one I can get on this stupid thing. And I’m sorry I yelled. I just don’t like being lied to. 

STERLING: I know. And–

SCARLET: I’m sure she’s fine, but I’ll tell her. Scarlet out.

***********

VIOLET: Whoa. I didn’t understand any of that.

JASMINE: Whoa is right. 

VIOLET: We should go.

JASMINE: No. I want to finish this batch. There might be something useful here.

VIOLET: I’ve got a bad feeling that we should stop.

JASMINE: Just another few minutes.

NARRATOR: Violet and Jasmine sat one seat apart in the office screening room, awash in the glow of the screen. 

STERLING: Take this, for instance. An entity composed entirely of ice! It was recovered from the site of the Aisling incident.

NARRATOR: They listened as Sterling detailed the anatomy of various creatures they’d never seen before. After that he ranted about a variant fast food sandwich called the Big and Clean. A burger which contained no sauces and was thus “clean,” that Dave Thomas stole from the Department and briefly sold to unsuspecting diners. Then there was a reminder on the use of phones in the office and an earlier version of the training video Jasmine had watched that morning. Finally, a shadow appeared on the screen. It seemed to walk closer to the viewers, growing in size as it did so, until it nearly filled the frame. The projector sputtered and whirred, and smoke rose from the projection booth. Jasmine turned to see what was happening, but another sound drew her attention elsewhere. A tearing sound. This shadow had reached through the screen and began tearing at the canvas prison that held it captive. It squeezed its huge body through the frame and menaced Violet and Jasmine. 

VIOLET: I told you.

JASMINE: Is everything here cursed, or is today just exceptionally bad.

VIOLET: Little of both.

JASMINE: Quick, the exit.

The two ran for the door, but a giant column of shadow landed between them and their escape.

VIOLET: I told you.

JASMINE: Not now.

The shadow moved toward them, buzzing as it came, and Jasmine could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. It made a sound like a broken speaker, or microphone feedback. It reached a wavering tendril toward Violet. Then from the projection booth came a boom, and all fell silent. A bubble of air, like an anomaly in spacetime itself, burst through the room and enveloped the shadow. A wave ran through its body, and then it dissipated. Violet and Jasmine looked up to the projection booth, and saw the silhouette of someone holding a weapon at the ready. Violet knew just what it was.

VIOLET: Scarlet! 

JASMINE: You…

The silhouette jumped down from the booth and landed on the opposite end of the theater from Jasmine and Violet. Jasmine had never seen her before, not in the real world, anyway. But she knew, too.

JASMINE: Y-you–

VIOLET: You look like shit.

SCARLET: HA! Ever seen the inside of a Lark? 

VIOLET: I’d rather not.

SCARLET: Well now you have, cuz I’m covered in it.

VIOLET: You’re disgusting.

SCARLET: And you kissed disgusting, so what does that make you?

VIOLET: Full of regret.

JASMINE: You’re here. You saved us. And…you lied to me.

SCARLET: I know.

JASMINE: I trusted you. A-and you betrayed that.

SCARLET: I did, and I’m not proud of it.

JASMINE: You…

NARRATOR: Scarlet walked down the path between the rows of seats to stand with the two of them. She put a hand firmly on Jasmine’s shoulder.

SCARLET: I’m sorry. Really. I didn’t know it would turn out like this. All they said was I should walk you through any problems in your testing, and make sure you followed the rules. I didn’t know the extent of it. I want you to know: I’m one-hundred-percent sincerely fucking sorry.

JASMINE: Can I ask you one thing?

SCARLET: Yeah. Go for it.

JASMINE: Why? Why did you do it?

SCARLET: I put my trust in the bosses. I thought they knew what they were doing. I thought it was going to be like an obstacle course, not fucking Bikini Atoll.

JASMINE: Looks like you’re bruised up.

SCARLET: I ran into some trouble on the way up.

JASMINE: You should have left. Gotten out of here while you could.

SCARLET: And leave you and Vi up here to fend for yourselves? No way. You’d be dead in an hour. No offense.

VIOLET: Fair enough.

JASMINE: *sigh* God damn it, Scarlet. 

NARRATOR: Jasmine turned toward Scarlet and wrapped her in a brief hug before separating. 

JASMINE: Thank you for this. I can’t be that mad since it all evened out.

VIOLET: Not really. I think we’re pretty well fucked.

SCARLET: Maybe. But there’s no time to think. Let’s move.

Jasmine, Scarlet, and Violet kept close, Scarlet leading the pack with the jaunt in front. They took the exit to the stairwell, and descended into the dark below.

VIOLET: Great, now we’re a party. We can all die together.

SCARLET: Dibs on melee.