Is there a hole in your mind...

[Demenzia]

In a large and well-furnished appartment of Jobe, the warm light of the setting sun quiety pouring through the high bay-window, five people were gathered around a low table, all clad in the dark black and grey uniform marking their rank within Omni-Tek. They were all sitting cross-legged on the comfy cushions, at the exception of one, keeping standing at the end of the table with his arms folded. A small and slender Opifex woman with long black hair stricked with white locks and black tatooed lines around her eyes. Two men, two Opifexes as well, one of them distraitly puffing on a cigarette while his fingers were sliding on the hilt of his dagger, the second one with his head slightly tilted, his moves swift and silent. A third man, the one who was presently standing as it was his habit, tall and bald. A Solitus woman, of average height and thin build, her eyes hidden behind dark glasses, her fingers distraitly tapping on the cup of hot coffee in front of her.

It was at her that they were all looking, their facial expressions steady if slightly worried, as she was quietly going on with the matters scheduled for the meeting. Regular matters, promotions, serious matters too, just as the one she was coming up with now. Her voice, deep and quiet, didn't need to be strong to reach them, in the cozy silence of the room. From time to time, she would take a sip from her cup, out of habit, then go on, knowing what she had to report.

"...I admit that so far, none of tha people I've talked ta had any inf-"

Her voice abruptly stopped, all of a sudden. For a little moment, they went on talking, thinking to what she had said, asking questions, asking her advice, too. But she wouldn't resume her sentence, her attitude even quieter as before, unmoving, not even blinking behind her mirrorshades. The four other people looked at her, waiting for her to go on, slightly surprised at first, yet surprise soon leaving room to worry. What they had in front of themselves was nothing more than a living statue, breathing, sitting as nothing had happened, but completely disconnected from the world around.

"A Phase?" said one of them. "Impossible - it doesn't look like it!" answered another. The Opifex woman waited for a moment, then got up and walked to the Solitus, tapping a few data into her NCU. "She's probably Phasing. She'll get mad as a fiddle once she comes back." Her words were confident, as she was walking back to her cushion; soon, her friend would be out of the Phase again, and....

"-ormation 'bout it... well, not more info that what I gave ya, that is."

For a split second, they all looked at her with a very odd feeling. The Opifex stopped tapping on her wristpad, casting a brief glance around. She was back, but it didn't look like anything they had seen before. She was back, yet it hadn't been a normal state of Phase.

They asked her what had happened, but she claimed she hadn't Phased. They told her she had suddenly frozen, yet she wouldn't understand what their words meant. "You froze, Jen. Like you were phasing, in the middle of a sentence. Except you continued it when you unfroze." She tilted her head, still not understanding."No, nuthing's wrong... Why ya saying I "froze"? I was just talking..." And in truth, to her, nothing had happened, nothing had changed. The course of time seemed to have stayed the same.

In a quick exchange of glances, they implicitly decided to drop the matter and act as if nothing had happened, for she didn't seem to acknowledge that for a few minutes, she had been... away. The Opifex woman briefly locked her out of their private channel though, and there they freely expressed their worries, while she went on, unaware of the incident. Yet what could be done? Was it just an accident? A one-time, random little glitch, as it sometimes happened to people of her condition, working so often with the Grid that from time to time, it was impossible for it not to have a few side-effects?

Or...

[Swiftmind]

Or....

??

Hmm maybe we should look into this. This may be related to some malfunction in the old machinery.

[Demenzia]

She sat in front of her desk, her trembling hands still holding the recording unit - sat, or rather let herself fall on the chair, her legs refusing to carry her any longer.

"Shall I replay the recording?" echoed the quiet, synthetized voice of the AI in her comm. Jen slowly shook her head, before realizing that she needed to voice her orders for them to be taken into account.

"...Nah. File... just file it in my private folder, please."

The Fixer went back to the contemplation of her recording device, her fingers clutching at it so strongly now that they began to slowly ache. What Hayley and the others had said, at the last meeting... what had been said a few hours earlier, when they had met up with John Rm and discussed the contents of the disk... What had been said, as dangerous and worrying as it was, still couldn't worry her more than what she... they... had experienced. Something was wrong.

Hayley saying that she had "frozen"... again. Hayley talking, then suddenly seeming to forget that she had mentioned the glitch to her. Later on, talking with Don, then suddenly seeing him a few steps ahead of her, wondering how the hell he had been moving so fast. Confusion. Hayley claimed that nothing had happened, but Jen still remembered her pointing what she had called the "frozing effect" to her, worriedly, once John had left - and claiming, two minutes later, that she hadn't said anything and didn't understand what it was about. They had almost ended up arguing on this point, the argument fortunately cut short by the need to behave at the Infinite Circle meeting on that evening. And Jen had really begun to wonder if she was still sane... or if she was, maybe, experienceing sequels from the accident again, though it had been more than one year before now.

Can it be... it was awful at tha time... forgetting tha places I knew... being in there yet feeling that I din't know 'em... I thought it was over... I thought it was over, dammit!...

As she had been alone at home after the meeting and dinner, worrying more and more, she had tried to understand. There was strictly nothing she could remember. To her, conversations and acts had been following their regular course, and this was the reason why she had decided to review through all her recordings from the past two weeks, checked the logs taken by VectorNet as well, started a search process in her files, even. Something was wrong.

"...I blanked..." Jen muttered for herself, hoping that in their mind, Heiji would react and tell her that everything was allright. He wouldn't though. For the first time in quite a long period, he seemed to be as lost as herself.

"...Several times... at tha department meeting... and when talking to other people... and this evening again... I dun't unnerstand? It's like I... just stop... then resume... what's happening to meh...?"

Her whispers didn't raise a single echo in the silence of the room. It wasn't like anything she had ever experienced or heard of, and the closest comparison she could find, perhaps because of her training with computers, would have been that to a mechanism suddenly stopped, then resuming at the exact point where it had been left.

Jen let the recording device fall back on the desk, her elbows heavily leaning on it now, then burrying her face in her folded arms. There wasn't any doubt left about one point. She could have believed it was her. She could have believed in losing her sanity - she was walking the narrow margin for so long now, anyway... - and in being the only one affected. But Hayley's behavior had been a little odd too, a few hours earlier - she was certain of this! And what her comm-unit had recorded the day before... a small detail she hadn't paid attention to, at first, because it had been so discrete, when she had met RUR's security officer in Rompa's. A simple, everyday discussion, and yet...

"...Nashka. I must... I must talk to 'im... See if it's only me, or... or...."

Her voice faltered and died, as she was closing her eyes, backing off the burning tears of fear.

Something was wrong.

[SinisterCake]

It was quiet in Rompa’s, some staff were there, and busy with cleaning up the place some. Nashka slowly cleared up his equipment, whilst looking slightly paranoid at the shadows in the corners behind the bar. ‘Something isn’t right with this place - I’m sure as hell about it’ He thought as he walk around the bar casually looking for a clue, something that would make sense of his experience a few nights before.

Time travel… was it possible? Why not when such strangeness existed and abounded this World and the one of Shadow? He recalled playing out an old Earth track, two off duty officers were at the bar being served a couple of cocktails. Small groups at the tables - the usual banter and merriment around him; lovers dining over candle light, the smell of smoke and perfume. Then suddenly the track was no longer playing, the two officers drinks were almost empty, some people at the tables were staring, some shaking their heads at the bad performance. Nashka staggered back slightly as if loosing control of his legs from the shock. It was as if he’d travelled in time to the future.

Unole was beside him and smiled nervously and then reassured the customers as Nashka quickly played some music. ‘Yes time travel, or someone’s screwing with my mind?’ - He thought back to his Father, he had gone insane with a rare disorder when he was just thirteen Years of age - assaulted his Mother in his madness, carried away by the ‘men in white’, cursing them all with promises of demonic vengeance.

His mind strayed to his Stepfather, his harsh words shouting at him like a spitting cobra, one of many times.. "You no good for nothing bastard… you know what they say, like Father like Son!.. " Nashka had dropped some expensive cutlery for the household, and shame turned to anger when he heard that from the man who he had to now call ‘Dad’. That’s when he launched himself at the Man, something that got him beat up, and sent to Rubi-Ka in the first place.

He sighed and carried on looking into a Quantum measuring device, not sure of what he was looking for, perhaps a spike in the oscillator view screen? Walking to the corners of the bar. Flamedance observed the behaviour noticing the strangeness of the mans actions but regardless, continued with his duties.

Nashka gave up and eventually sat down at a booth, and forced his thoughts onto other matters, such as an interview that would shortly be conducted for a prospective new employee of RUR (IC). His Boss Dabblez arrived, he was glad to be distracted but was not going to mention trivialities to her, after all there were too many questions he had yet to find some answer for. Alnor arrived shortly after and the interview was conducted, with very little input from Nashka, he tried his best to be part of it, but was concerned about what was going on in his personal life.

Alnor left after a successful interview. At this point it was still rather quiet, after Flamedance had attended to the needs of the duo, he sat with them. They talked of Ice cream, Dabblez was rather partial to it, and had two portions to which she was teased by Nashka, his mood lifting now that official business had ended - almost forgetting his woe’s.

Demenzia had arrived after her days work to the table, "Mind if I sit 'round a lil, Charissa?" she referred to Dabblez, Nashka hadn’t known her name till now, it made him feel a bit guilty, her being the ‘Boss’ an all.
"Sit down with us... we are not doing much", Dabblez smiled to her fellow IC collegue.
Flamedance immediately got up asking, "Do you want anything to drink?" to which she replied she was fine, to the slight disappointment of the Rompa Entertainment employee.

Nashka stood up like a gentleman should in the old days, "Yo! How are ya Dem? Have a se-" Demenzia sat down and asked how they all were, Nashka was still standing even after she had sat down and talked with Dabblez about RUR’s disappearing shipments of robots to a customers delivery site.

They stopped talking when Nashka spoke again, "-at Dudette." They all turned to look at him still standing there, He looked surprised all of a sudden, everyone was suddenly sat down and talking. He couldnt stop the words from escaping him, "Whoaa how, how you get there so fast?" Demenzia frowned slightly, "I din't, ya just stood there silent, and.... and...." She fell silent for a long moment, looking clearly worried, then trying to hide it as fast as possible.

"What I was stood up? For how long?… You guys are joking right?" Nashka almost jumbled the words as they came out, looking to the three sat with him.
"A good few minutes" replied Dabblez with a slight frown, she’d never seen him ‘be like this’ before. "Maybe you should go see Dr Sizzleen next time you get a chance? She's the compnay doctor.. its not like it costs you anything". Flamedance looked at Nashka as if the man was mad.

Demenzia looked down, staying silent while Flamedance recommended various doctors to a baffled Nashka. Nash felt cold fear rise up, but fought hard to conceal it, to which there was some success.

Demnzia then whispered to Vectornet on her comms, not heard by the rest or the seated people, "VectorNet, please... transfer conversation log... Sunday 25th, 6 to 8", she listened in and gasped, then shut it tight after hearing the replay.

Nashka glanced sideways to Demenzia noticing that something wasn’t quite right with her, and did his best to detract from the ‘demons’ that seemed to mock him inside. "So Dem, how’s your daughter?", ‘Smile dammit! Smile as if its the best day of your life.’ He forced himself to think that way.

He could see Dabblez eyes upon him, as if examining his soul, but ignored it as best he could, focused on Demenzia’s pale face. She looked now like as if she was about to be sick, a shadow cast upon her face. ‘Could she know what’s wrong? Is it me? Is it her daughter? What’s wrong?’ He thought to himself as she still hadn’t answered his conversational pleasantry. He’s have to find out what was wrong with her, at least to distract from his own problem.

"Dem you got a moment? need ta talk to ya...", he smiled to her, she looked up to him, even through the glasses he could see something was up, maybe it was her daughter after all?
"..Ah- ... sure." She replied still seemingly worried about something, she slowly got up as Nashka made his excuses, the walked to an empty booth, far from earshot.

As they sat together, she asked what this ‘talk’ was all about. Nash was unsure what to say. He was concerned for her, he respected the lady, never seen any weakness from her, even intimidated by her authority and leadership at times. He decided to forget all of that, for at the end of the day, ‘were all human’. "What’s wrong ?... Something’s up.. I saw it in your face D." Smiled but with a look of a father or strict school teacher would.
"...Nah. It's nuthing. Just.. .something i'll need t'check.... later" She smiled a little.
"Hey Maybe I can help? Stranger things happen dudette" Nashka Laughed.
"I dunno... I'd say yes, if only I... knew…"
"Your Daughter? She in danger, or are you ? or is anything up for that matter?"
"Hell no… It’s not her… make it that…" She shook her head slowly, as if unable to explain, yet in strife. Nashka placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.
"I dunno. Really. There's something weird, but I can't tell what."
"What kinda wierd?" Nash frowned once again.
"Weird, as in... something that is supposed to have happened, but....." She looked up to him for a moment, unable to decide to continue or not.
".. But . Didn’t?" he paused to smile at her, "Its OK, I aint gonna say a word".

Nash was worried for her, and his over active mind thought of kidnap, her daughter maybe? Remembered the lessons he’d studied in a failed Police course.
"No, no, it's.... hell, i dunno how to explain. Everything tells me it has happened.. everyth-" She stopped abruptly looking into his eyes, frozen was the best way to describe it. Nash felt a cold chill run down his spine after nearly a minute had passed with her still ‘fixated’ on him. He felt familiarity somehow to do with his time travelling. He smiled awkwardly then, "Its... OK.... you cant tell me..." he caressed her shoulder in a comforting motion. Finally she suddenly snapped out from her stare.
"-ing, but meh. Seems... weird". He tired to hold back his facial expression, but must have given away that something was wrong as he flinched slightly. Demenzia noticed his surprise, "...What?" she asked in response.

‘Travelling in time?… or maybe time stands still?’ He tried to convince himself of that, whilst images of his Father being carried out in a straight jacket, foaming at the mouth and cursing swam though his mind. "Its nothing, I thought I saw someone I recognised is all he he", he laughed looking to the bar to make the point. Demenzia looked away with a look as if she was frustrated, "...Well, it's that", she fiddled with her wristpad nervously. It wasn’t travelling in time, he knew that really. Maybe it was nothing but some strange illness? In a way he was relieved, he wasn’t entirely sure she had experienced what he had, but it was something at least.

"Hey…" He smiled to her, "Maybe its some bug like the cold or something?"
She looked to him with a raised eyebrow, "...A bug?..."
"Yes... a cold or something silly is all probably, Dudette" He winked to her as to reassure where others would slap him.
"... Yeah... probably....", she smiled back to him with a nervous expression. He wasn’t so afraid now, and knew Sizzleen well enough to hopefully help them with the least fuss. He reached over and held Demenzia’s hand tightly.
"I tell you what... How about we both go see Sizzleen? We’ll get checked out, I’ll go if you do, how about it?… I’m sure its just some illness that'll pass. " Still though in the back of his mind, he worried, ‘One damn bad-ass illness then… maybe something that will get you on your way to your Dad’s path?’ said the voice of reason to him.
"You’re probably right, but....", she hesitated, "...Oh well. Okay." She looked down to the sofa seat, seemingly unconvinced to him. He bowed his head and peered over his rose glasses to her eyes and smiled.
"Just... lemme know when she's available, and I'll.. .go have a check. Okay." She said.

Nashka nodded, and reached around his neck and unbuckled a necklace with a pendant which hung from it. He tentatively placed it into her hand. "Sure... and meanwhile... you borrow this." She held the chain and pendant between her fingers, and looked to the engraving. "Its an old Earth tradition…" He looked into her dark eyes for a sparkle of light.
"How's dat?.." She looked up to him with a confused look, it was what he was used to when people looked upon the pendant, it was a very old tradition indeed.
"Well its been in our family for many generations… See this pendant? It’s St. Cristope. A protector if you will..." He imagined his Mother smiling upon him when she handed it to him many Years ago.
"St... Cristope?" she asked.
"Yes a wise man who was close to err... a God of some sort… He's looked after me ever since I got here... now, he will look after you." Nash grinned slightly. "Its only a loan mind, and will cost ya 100 creds per hour." He laughed as he usually did at his own jokes.
Demenzia raised her eyebrows, "Well... I ain't sure I really understand all tha stuff 'bout "gods" an' all, but... thank ya."
"Just humour me... and wear it, please… And I’ll make sure Sizzleen is discrete, no one need know." Nashka clasped his hands as if begging her. She simply gave a nod, then placed it around her neck, with a slight smile, He patted her shoulder, content.
"Oh… And if its any conciliation, something isn’t right with me either." He left it short, didn’t want to add to the worry she already had, trying to not show he was ‘human’ too.

Upon returning to where they were sat, they were greeted by a smiling Dabblez, "All done you too? I tried to send the gypsy with the violin to your table, but I guess he isn’t working yet." They laughed and joked the rest of the night, he was glad that there was something to take his worried mind off of the 'illness'.

[Tussa]

Sitting in the back of Rompas, just after John Rm had left, Hayley looked at Jen with an expression filled with worry. She had just jumped another sentence, just like she had done during the department meeting a few weeks back. Trying to explain it was even harder than trying to understand what would cause such a thing to happen. Something was wrong, and Hayley couldn't puther finger on it.

- Jen, what was that?
- What was what?
- You hiccuped again
- I what?

Jen looked at her with astonished eyes, not sure what she meant. Best to explain.

- Remember what happened a couple of weeks back? When we thought you were phasing?
- What ya said, yeah, but...
- You did it again. Is your neural checks to the NCU running ok?

She confirmed and then looked at Nathan who was sitting in the couch, slumbering a little. Jen leaned in to Hayley and spoke again.

- ...Hayley... seriously. Ya... ain't runnin' a joke on meh or whatever, eh?...
- Hell no! Why would I joke about....

Hayley blinked a couple of times and hesitated a little. What was the topic of conversation again? She felt..empty, like there was nothing on her mind and she couldn't quite remember the words she had meant to say.

- ...about.....

Scratching her head a little, she looked back at Jen who was now looking puzzled. Why was she puzzled? Did Jen have anything to tell her?

- ...about?
- About what, Jen? What were you saying?
- ...Well this. Whatcha told me. "Hiccup" or whatever ya called it. I... just dun't se *what* I did. Eh?

The two women looked at eachother, both clearly confused now. Hayley didn't understand...did Jen say anything? Hiccup? Did she mean the thing that happened at the meeting a while ago? What an odd way to strike up a conversation..

- What are you talking about? That thing that happened a couple of weeks back?
- Er yeah, dat's whatcha meant right?
- Me? I didn't say anything
- ..But ya said I "did it again"?... What tha ****... stop joking, it ain't funny..

The woman in front of her looked paler than her usual self. Her thin fingers clutching her cup and her eyes deeply burrowed in Hayleys. This was uncomfortable. She surely hadn't said anything about any hiccup or whatever?

- ...the hell Jen, I'm not joking, I don't know what you're talking about!
- Hell no, ya told meh I "did it again"! Not five minutes ago... I think... i haven't dreamt!
- I haven't said that! At least not as I remember
- ...What tha.... ya told it, i'm sure!

She shook her head in denial. Nope..she had said no such thing. Jen was probably just tired.

- It's been a long day, Jen... We're probably mixing something up

Jen turned towards Nathan and raised her voice so he could hear her.

- Okay... we'll see that very easily. Nathan! She said it right?Unless ya were sleeping!

But there were no answer from the corner of the couch. Nathan was solemnly asleep and hadn't caught the conversation. Even so, Hayley was positive she hadn't said what Jen claimed. Althought the thought of it was peculiar. Jen wasn't one to lie, and especially not to her. She didn't put to loafs of bread between anything, so why should she foll around about this? It wasn't a joke, that much was clear. Shaking her head slightly she got up and reminded Jen that the party for Obsoleets membership in the Circle was about to start. The two women walked out of the bar, clearly in thoughts and both confused.

[SinisterCake]

Nashka stood in the dusty ‘luxury apartment’ in Jobe, with folded arms he looked through the large windows of the bedroom. Absently watched the ships flying about the place to the orbital station, to other regions of pick up on planet and off. The rays of the suns penetrated in, almost as if through his very soul. He had come to this apartment he hardly visited, merely to clean it up, to cleanse the stifled air within - his place in Jobe.

At this time he wondered at how such a place is able to float up in the air; perhaps the islands were ripped from the sea bed below? Does it use energy to float that is made by the Jobians? Or merely siphoned via the portals, through the Xan’s technology he had heard about from Avrik? If the latter, it begged the question, could such rifts appear here on this World, upon this dimension? Did JAME truly know how to control the new-found so called Novictum materials? The man sighed and returned to cleaning the kitchen area; grimacing at the food stuff’s that had gone rotten as he placed them in the disposal shoot.

HE walked about the apartment, feeling like a stranger, since his main ‘home’ was Newlands. And since in reality he had no friends here, thus the call to Curtains, to front him the creds to get here, loneliness was a demon on the mind of the unconscious that was rarely acknowledged. He moved back to the bedroom after he was done and once again stood watching the suns set below the islands of Jobe, he grew tired. Turned to the luxury sized bed, and tapped on the Duvet, dust rose into the few red rays of the sunlight. The bed called to him, and he laid himself down upon it and feel asleep before even knowing he had.

He was at the funeral again, the people of the wake were Curtains Father, Mr. Rail. All of them bodies different but the faces the same man. He was standing in front of them all to say the obligatory speech.

"Well... *looks up and smiles briefly, brings out a datapad* I'd like to, firstly thank Dabblez for her services... *coughs slightly, and adjusts his glasses* ...And to all of you.. err *pauses as he feels a well of sadness build up inside, and swallows hard to suppress it* Curtains, or Curt as I liked to call him, was a guy who saw the brighter side of all things... *wipes his eyes without removing his rose glasses*... He was by all accounts, a guy who everyone could get along with... *Looks up and thinks with his voice wavering slightly* I don't think I ever knew... Err *puts a finger in his mouth to emulate thought* ...knew one person who had a bad thing... *gulps down again* ...a bad thing to say about him. We kinda grew up together back on Omni Prime, and he helped me out a lot in school... *pauses again and looks to the ground* ...In truth he took the wrap for me a few times even... Anyway, I am babbling... Here’s to you, Curt *Nashka Salutes* May you travel along that mysterious road, passed the blinking of the eyes... Passed the troubles of existence, and fly free... *pauses but unable to hold back, wipes his weeping eyes under his glasses* Fly free to where the Angels are singing. *switches to another screen on the pad* ...I err. Got a note from Mr. Rail... *smiles through the tears, and laughs a lil* Believe it or not, he’s Curtains Father, *looks down to the pad and laughs again*. It reads... Dear Stefan and Ms Jurik… Thank you all at RUR... For looking after my boy... *has to turn to face away and apologises as he gets out a handkerchief to wipe the tears, before continuing with a shaky hand holding the datapad* ...He was always fond of going to Rubi-Ka, but he had to remain to look after myself till I got better, and always marvelled at the wonders you told him Stefan. And I don't regret him going, and I... *hand shakes more as he tries to read on* ...I, don't blame you Lad. I hope he found some joy in the time he had there, as I witnessed on his face with every mail you sent him. Please take good care of yourselves, all of you. And remember to think of your parents too, before taking risks... *smiles with a tear remembering his Mother back on Omni Prime* …Yours respectfully, Mr Dee Rail. *Looks up and smiles briefly* ...Thank you."

The faces of Mr. Rail wept as only a regal man could, with a look and a tear running down the cheeks. Now he was in Rompa’s, Cratty jack opposite him in the booth they sat at. Cratty was moving some miniature dolls around his lap, emulating as a child would, a battle between the ‘Mighty Doom Bunny’ and the main enemy ‘Frogula - En-Jumpina’. The goofy looking sales man looked up and smiled to him. " You OK Nashka? You blanked out again… You should see a doc ya know.. I would if I were you, so I would" The ‘man’ smiled again as if enjoying tormenting, or at least not sincere with concern.
" I already have seen a doctor dude" Nashka said, he felt funny, like his legs were in motion although sat down. It was a struggle to speak, he was sure he was sleeping still, another episode in ‘Nashka sleeps’.
"Yes you have haven’t you?.. And what did the Good Dr. Sizzleen say?.. Lemmie guess chapper hehe…. She said you’re A-O-K… Okily dokily Doo even!" The Salesman of RUR smiled to him almost sardonically so. He waved a hand as if to dismiss the statements he made and asked Nashka another question, "And Elixus… He pans out does he?"
"Yes he does, everything pans out as you say. And I know where you are going with this dude. So please spare me."
"Oh spare you?… I’m your subconscious, I can do no thing, no-siree! Hehe" Nashka figured as much, the only person he really had disdain and no respect for would manifest itself as his consciousness, ‘marvel at the mind and its workings’. "You blame the Elixus don’t you?", The walls started to skew in his vision as Crattyjack crawled over the table towards him, with a maniacal grin upon his pale skinned- flat topped haired head.

Nashka wanted to jump up to punch the annoying Salesman in the face, but was strapped down by holdings he could not even look down to see. Crattyjack stopped close to his face and moved the miniature of Frogula upon his frozen face, starting from his chin and moving up to his mouth, trying to force it in slightly. Nashka gritted his teeth and willed it to not let the toy pass. HE knew it was a dream, but he’d not let the idiot do this to him regardless. After half a minute of the struggle, the Salsman retracted and sat back upon the table, "So you don’t want the evil Frogula to enter your mind and be a big bad meanie?" Cratty pouted and floded his arms flinging the toy passed his shoulders to the bar.
"What?… I’m not evil, I’m me you *******.. let me awake… I don’t like it here anymore." Nashka felt his legs moving yet he was seated and felt whatever restraints were upon his wrists were now gone.
"Make amends with yourself, make amends with Elixus, ‘forgive that which should not be forgiven in the first place’… Said Doom bunny in Episode 3.8 in the fight against the Atroxi of greed!"

Suddenly he was standing, Demenzia grabbed his fall, she looked to him with a stern expression as if he had done something wrong. "What the Hell!?" he exclaimed as he looked about himself to see he was at an Omni Outpost, and sure he was awake. Demenzia nodded to the Omni Elite guards, they nodded back to her and walked away, his wrists hurt from handcuffs placed upon them.
"Hum… ya see, I told ya… This is bad, now ya walking too… " Jen frowned at nothing in particular.
"So I just didn’t blank out, but walked? Great, just great!" Nashka cursed out loud as the some of the Elite guards monitored his actions, ready to open fire should the need arise.

[Demenzia]

The huge mass of rock was gathered still on the edge of the cliff... at the border between the known land and whe re the oblivion began. unmoving, solid, asleep. Yet Jen knew that it was only an illusion , and that the slightest move on her part could attract its attention. The Hecklers were never sleeping. They were just... waiting.

She would have wanted to wipe the beads of sweat on her brow, but the hermetically sealed helmet was preventing her to, and she had learnt that opening it would have been a bad idea. It was only in the Jobe-enhanced suit that she could fell approximatively comfortable in the Shadowlands, or at least in their closest areas. Sheol was still a pain, and more than once, during one of her short trips, had she found herself coughing blood or collapsing in the garden after having penibly managed to enter it. Here, in Nascense, things were easy enough, but something else was frightening her now - the sharp feeling of attraction, that would lead her steps to the Brink more and more often, without her being able to understand this new kind of leash on her. She ated the place - yet she kept on coming back. She hated the feeling - yet she kept on seeking it, more and more...

Oblivion...

The Fixer shook her head, her gaze still locked on the Heckler. It had slightly moved now, its black holes of eyes staring right at her, as they often were before it got up and walked toward her at this astonishing pace that was common to its type, and nevertheless still so surprising. The pain in her body was just a slightly throbbing ache now, barely noticed, as she kept focused on it. If it let her pass, she would pass. If it attacked... she would shoot it. There was no way of dicussing with a Heckler, though something, in the depths of her heart, went on vibrating, whispering dangerous words of kinship to her.

"C'mon, ugly mug". A mutter. "Move or dun't move, but do something, dammit. I ain't havin' all my day..."

And as if answering her, the Heckler suddenly seemed to acknowledge her presence. Raising on its feet in a clatter of rocks, it took a step forward, then a second, more and more quickly, and...

...Jen gasped in shock, her head jerking backwards as the pain was tearing her newly-reconstructed flesh and bones, her head still spinning of the terrrible transfer. She barely managed to unfasten the locks on her helmet and throwing it away before her stomach revulsed for good, even though it didn't contain anything to vomit anymore. Words flashed on a screen near her, the tears in her eyes causing them to appear terribly blurred during the first long seconds. Swallowing a whimper, she leant on an elbow, blinking in the crude light. "Your bodily remains will be made available in 1 minute 35 seconds. Have a safe day, Ms Markarian", read the words on the terminal, and she felt her eyes open wide.

Reclaim... Reclaim?! How come she had reclaimed? The young woman frowned in confusion, trying to remember. Last she knew, she was in the Mil area, ready to shoot at the Heckler who...

"...Terminal... Cause of death, please?" she coughed, her voice still rasp with pain.

"Cause of death: several fractures and heavy internal hemorragies, due to repeated and multiple hard commotions. Hour of death: 21:45:57, RST. Details?"

Feeling drained and numb, the Fixer leant her back against the wall behind her, the nausea suddenly threatening to hit her again. "Details?" flashed the screen again, but she didn't care to give an answer. She could remmeber the brink, and the Heckler, and that it had attacked her... but then? Why hadn't she riposted? Why hadn't she shot it? Why had she died?...

"...What's happening... again...."

The words died in her throat, and she closed her eyes, definitely unable to remember...

[Demenzia]

It had been a few minutes now that Jen had been looking at her cold cup of coffee, lost in her thoughts, thinking back again and again to the previous days, to her conversations with hayley... to all the little things that were going wrong. She felt like crying now, terribly powerless, unable to understand the cause to their problems... unable to do anything. And worse of all, she wasn't sure of being able to trust her mental abilities anymore.

It wasn't enough to know that she tended to black-out more and more regularly, her mind freezing for a few seconds, or a few minutes - the longest she had experienced, according to the personal recordings she was carefully listening to and analyzing several times a day now, had been of exactly twelve minutes and thirty-two seconds. It wasn't enough to realize that she was forgetting, at times, as if her thoughts were suddenly wiped out, leaving her unable to remember what she was about to say or do. It wasn't enough to notice that she had been inverting tasks now, just as she had been not very long ago, when Hayley had come back from Reclaim, still weak and dizzy, and she had hit herself with a heal-over-time program instead of sending it to Hayley's NCU... only realizing it when her own NCU had warned her that the program was terminated. It wasn't enough.

Hayley was blanking out too now. Some time ago, she had called her in a panic, confessing that she had been seeing Arielle in her bathroom, Arielle, the mute little Opifex who had died so abruptly, months ago. Some time ago, she had also seemed unable to remember what she was about to say. Just a hour ago, she had sighed about not understanding how a Heckler had killed her, nor how it could have only happened, and this had sent shivers down to Jen's spine, reminding her of her own unfortunate experience. Then - it had happened. Hayley haa frozen too, and this time, even herself had noticed it.

The Fixer let out a trembling sigh, pressing her gloved hands together, feeling chilled to the bones now, in Rompa's atmosphere that was yet so warm and cozy. Herself. Hayley. Nashka. She wasn't going insane, she was sure of that now, but then... what was the reason to all of this. A little more than a week ago, she had accepted to let Sizzleen examine her, but neither in her nor in Nashka had the Doctor found anything uncommon. physically, the both of them were allright. Mentally... mentally, that was another matter now.

She closed her eyes, their names dancing in their heads. Hayley. Stefan. Herself. Perhaps Frida to, Frida who had been behaving so oddly, her body so diferent than that of a regular human being that it was impossible to foresee what the reactions would be. It had hit her the first time they had really been on a mission together, when Frida, Jessia, Tua, Frederica and herself, Jen, had gone to Stret West Bank and helped in finding back the lost R.U.R ship. Jessia had immediately noticed that she was "blanking out" again , and Frida... they had put that on a faulty NCU suffering from a severe short-circuit, but had it really been the reason to her odd behavior? Or had there been... another one?

The young Director looked at her bag, at the three nano-crystals still inside, in their protective anentropic containment field. They were the reason she had met Hayley here at first, for her friend needed them. But then, the both of them had simply forgotten, and this was worrying her even more. She had no idea about what was happening, what would have caused these odd glitches... nor where it had come from. Biologically, there was nothing that could have caused it. Mechanically, she had had her neural connexions checked, and they were relaying the NCU signals as they always were, quickly, efficiently. Now, they were at a loss about what to check. Faulty implants? Frida hadn't any, and yet she was behaving oddly too. Hers and hayley's were old enough for them to be approximatively sure that if "implants" were the cause of the problem, it was really a weird coincidence that it was hitting them at the same moment. And even if they had suffered a deregulation during an assignment - what about Nashka, then?

Jen bit her lip in frustration, blinking a few times to prevent herself from crying in a public place. There was a last reason for her to be so worried, a reason she couldn't tell to anyone, a reason that was hers only.

If it's meh who's going wrong... how come ya can't unnerstand yerself tha reasons why, Heiji? How come? Ya should be able to see it! Ya've always been able to spot what was going wrong in me... so why not now!...

She waited for a few seconds for the dreaded answer to come. Dreaded, because she knew it even before he thought it, in their shared mind. Dreaded, because it wouldn't comfort her the way his words would usually do.

"...I don't know, Jen. I don't know..."