Silas took half an hour to call back, it was stressful to wait, but maybe knowing that the show may never end made me feel some ease.
Infinite time equals infinite chances, right?
Perhaps my assumption was wrong from the beginning but I needed something to make me feel better, even if it was delusions.
"So, listen well."
Silas started. All of us sat on the ground on cycle to lessen.
"Alex is such a useless being."
"What a nice thing to start with." I replied while keeping my tone as calm as possible, as if I didn't want to choke Alex and Silas altogether.
"Yes, imagine my feelings when I asked him about things and all he could remember was 'maybe?'. His memory is a whole mess."
"So?"
"I scanned his memory instead." The sound of papers flipping was so obvious. "Shop. The place they came out to was a shop in one alley in the festival. To be specific, there was a sign there: 3rd alley."
"Third?"
"What?"
"I just remembered something."
"What is it?"
The paper I got out of the festival the first time using has something to do with the 3rd alley.
It said: [Do you want your system back?
What about looking into your hand to see?
Your mothers last words?
Do you want to know why you end up in these situations over and over again without warning?
Consolation advice and answering questions: street 1, 3rd alley, 03]
"Is it the third shop? Or has something to do with 03?"
"03?"
All of the three stay silent, waiting for any explanation, which I would never give.
"Just tell me what you saw. I may figure out what 03 is by it."
It was a reverse process but who cares.
"After getting out of the door in the carnival, they ended up in an empty place. Like the one we entered the moment we read the festival paper… then moments after they were in the alley."
Just like the one we entered after reading the paper…?
So it is another portal?
Could it be a common empty space?
"There's no other shops on the alley. And it went straight to the festival."
"Could it be their intention?"
"...?"
"Just an assumption." I already regretted saying my thoughts out loud so I changed the topic. "Now we know that this is a place in the festival,"
"So it may not be the carnival." Silas continued.
"This is so complicated." Dean interrupted, his hair was messed up. "We are in a carnival, but somehow you are saying that it's not 'The Carnival.' when we already used the usual carnival portal to enter."
Ah,
That's right.
But the only trick was that this place, unlike any other time, has a bigger event on it.
"Let's do it this way…"
I took out my notebook and drew a street in the middle of a random paper.
"This street can make you lose your mind, and if it doesn't, you'll find something you really wanted inside it— but you have to pay for it, depending on what you want."
I drew some alleys then pointed out at the third.
"Imagine that you end up here somehow, in a shop. Then what will happen?"
"It'll give you your wish?" Dean answered.
"Exactly… Now, what wish?"
"..." both of them looked at each other before answering. "We entered this place while wanting to do our mission and get out as fast as possible."
"And our mission was to get out, typically."
"So anyone who entered before just watched the show and got out, right? They got what they wanted."
I really felt as if I was a teacher. But at least somehow the conversation itself helped me to organize my thoughts.
"But what was the price they paid?" Adeline asked, and Dean was the one to answer. "Their time. The show itself was the price."
"Yeah, I feel like this is the most accurate thing too."
The wish was simple, so the payment was simple too; it was that easy from the beginning.
"And now, what's the difference? You must watch the show to the end then get out. Why complicate things any further?" Silas stopped, as if he was ordering his thoughts, then continued. "Even if this was a small part of something big, or even if it was something in something. Why think about it when all we wanted was to get you out of there?"
"That's right."
Even if we were the show. What could harm us if we get out as expected?
"Okay, let's return to the stadium then."
I stood up, ready to go.
"And forget about that 'lets end the show'"
"Yes. But let's wake Drew up first."
"Oh, right." Dean stood near his brother then just kicked him to the point he rolled two times. "Wake up, you lazy. Your recovery must be done by now."
"Recovery?"
Was this something that could humans assume to happen so casually?
"His specialization." Adeline replied while warming up as if she was about to kill another couple of anomalies. "He could recover from nearly anything within one hour. But If he died before it ends then it won't work, of course."
Ah.
Another crazy specialization again…
"you cruel." Drew woke up and just kept his hand on his stomach where Dean hit him. "How could you do that?"
"Let's go."
"Where?"
"To the stadium, again."
"But our tickets are gone?"
"Nathan said he has more."
All their curious eyes landed on me, with 'How did you get it' written all over their faces.
"We need to go now." I took out four tickets and gave it to them, not answering anything. "Just make sure of one thing: don't lose yourselves there. Don't ever change your 'want', keep it to get out of this hell."
"Shall we take off our watches too? Since we did enter one time with it."
Drew asked, then Adeline just got closer to him and did something to his watch. His mask turned to that blank white mask that everyone used to wear in the company.
"This will do too, right?"
"Yeah…"
She changed hers and Dean's mask too before making sure that their equipment was fine and ready to be used.
Now I have gone from dealing with freaking people to dealing with aliens.
Nice,
No way to know who's Dean and who's Drew that way but it was totally fine.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
I put my ticket in my jacket's pocket and decided to put on my mask if I ended up being separated from them.
But the hat was an unquestionable thing to wear.
Wait, wait, wait…
If anomalies couldn't see my face because of the hat, then how could that Silas see my face?
Or he saw the mask so it was fine?!
"What are you standing there for? You remembered something?"
"No. It's nothing."
I just canceled my thoughts and rewear my glasses. Before following them, I opened the map in a hurry to see what happened to the golden glow on the Control room.
It was still there, shining more than before, making me want to go there even for just a simple look—
But no. I followed the others to the stadium again without much thinking.
Surprisingly, things went on too smoothly when we showed our golden tickets, we even sat near each other this time.
But where could I go without facing any critical problems that may end my life?
"My dear poor life…"
My luck was so terrible that I couldn't do anything about it except sitting in the cramped space between the seats, and just… wait.
"What are you doing?"
"Sitting, as you see."
I was so lucky that the legroom was too wide.
"Why?"
"The Disaster Management Authority's agents are sitting too close. They got me out before so I couldn't just show up again with you." Since you are too eye-catching with those white masks.
"Right…"
No one said anything after that. I on the other hand was too comfortable with the fact that I couldn't see anything from the show this way.
Boredom was always better than losing your mind,
Of course, boredom came with consequences… such as thinking.
And thinking needed to be written so I took out my notebook and started to pour my thoughts on it.
"The most immediacy thing is—"
Maybe giving Alex a severe beating?
That was a good point but there's worse things.
Something like the files I found on the storehouse computer, and 'Silas's information' I got…
And Tristan's files.
Wasn't the Old Company Vessel about a company that already collapsed? Why is its network still working?
How?
So it didn't collapse?
Then the System lied?
Haha.
If yes then Why?
And then there's another thing to focus on… The control room here.
What is the 'want' I had so it appeared as something I need? Why would I ever need to go to the Control room?
"Just forget about it."
I slammed the notebook shut, and somehow all my surroundings changed afterwards.
Again…
I was in that empty interrogation room.