They entered into a long hallway with double doors on the far side. Another door was set into the right wall near the end and a staircase was in the wall to the left, a bit closer to Mr Frog's position. Mr Frog noted that the large expanse of hallway in between the staircase and the door behind him -- almost three quarters of the hall's length -- was completely-empty, with no doors or any ornamentation. Odd. Another camera hung from the ceiling on the far side.
Silena lead Mr Frog down the hallway and opened the double doors, ushering him in. They were now in an expansive room; it appeared to be an auditorium of some stripe. Many curved rows of chairs went down a slope, all facing a massive screen taking up most of the opposite wall. The walls were a matte black. Mr Frog looked at the screen; he had a hunch what it was for.
"This is the audience chamber," said Silena brightly, "where we receive commands from our leader." She looked at Mr Frog. "You've met Joseph, yes?" she asked, her eyes sparkling as she mentioned his name.
Mr Frog nodded, still staring at the enormous screen. Joseph clearly enjoyed being the center of attention.
Silena gestured towards the door and moved to exit the room; Mr Frog followed after her. She lead him to the near door in the hallway; she pressed a button on a panel next to it, and the door slid open. They entered into what appeared to be an elevator.
"Before we go any further, there's something Joseph requested that we do," stated Silena placidly; "No worries, it'll just take a moment." She pushed some buttons, and the elevator began to move. Mr Frog raised an eyebrow, curious. He couldn't get a read on the woman's intentions. It didn't seem intentional; she was simply so uniformly cheerful that it was impossible to discern what she was thinking.
"So, tell me a little about yourself, Mr Frog," said Silena conversationally; "You're part of the team now, so I want to know more about you." She looked down at Mr Frog and smiled invitingly.
"I'm a bioengineer," stated Mr Frog.
Silena tilted her head, her smile still firmly in place. "Oh, come now," she said cajolingly; "There has to be more than that. Why did you decide to join up?"
Mr Frog felt a spark of annoyance. The woman's cheeriness was wearing thin. "I had my reasons," he said, with a note of finality. Telling her exactly why he was here seeemed like a terrible idea to Mr Frog.
"Aww, why so secretive?" said Silena playfully; "We're all equal here. You can tell us all the gory details."
The door slid open. It had only been a few seconds in the elevator, but it had felt like a lifetime. Mr Frog had never met a woman so attractive that he was so desperate to get away from. Her inexhaustibly-upbeat disposition was suffocating.
In front of them was a small room exiting into another long hallway. The walls were a sunny yellow, and a small potted plant was in the far left corner. On the right side of the room was an odd machine.
A few seconds passed; Mr Frog stole a glance back at Silena, who was still looking at him expectantly. Mr Frog pointedly gestured towards the room ahead; Silena thought for a moment, then appeared to remember what she was supposed to do and lead Mr Frog into the room, looking mildly embarrassed. "This is Quantum and Nuclear Physics Research and Development Sector A," she recited; "Bioengineering is a few floors up."
Silena gestured towards the machine. It appeared to consist of two pods with a clear hatch, each big enough to hold a person. The hatch on the left pod was open. "Get inside," she said placidly.
Mr Frog looked at the machine with guarded interest. "What is it?" he asked.
"I'm sorry, but Joseph told me not to tell you," said Silena apologetically; "No worries, though. It won't hurt you or anything. It'll just take a few seconds."
Mr Frog considered this. He supposed that, had Joseph wanted him dead, he likely wouldn't even have gotten this far. "If you say so," he muttered; he walked forward and lowered himself backwards into the pod. Silena closed the lid over him and pushed some buttons on the side. It's okay, he told himself; You're Joseph's ace in the hole. He wouldn't do anything to compromise your safety.
Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light, and Mr Frog was blinded. He pounded the lid frantically, but it wouldn't budge. "You're going to be fine," he heard Silena say hurriedly; "It's almost done. Just relax." Mr Frog responded with a loud stream of cursing, which was shortly drowned out by a high-pitched keening noise from the other pod.
After a few moments, the other pod went quiet, and Mr Frog heard the hatch in front of him swing open. A loud pounding started up from the other pod, along with a disturbingly-familiar string of profanities. A few moments later, Mr Frog's sight began to return; he struggled out of the pod, unsure as to just what exactly had happened but absolutely furious about it nonetheless. Mr Frog glanced around, looking for Silena; she was over on the right side of the machine. What he saw in the other pod, however, cleanly derailed his train of thought. He wheeled around away from it, feeling nauseous.
In the pod was another Mr Frog, fully-clothed (even the mud stains on his suit had been perfectly-replicated) and absolutely-furious. Of all the horrible things Mr Frog had seen, none came remotely-close to seeing himself.
The shouting and pounding stopped; Mr Frog felt Silena's hand on his shoulder, and he wheeled around, glaring lividly at her. She backed away hurriedly, raising her hands in front of herself. Mr Frog stepped towards her threateningly.
"I-I'm sorry," she stammered; "But if I'd told you what it did, there's no way you would have gotten in." Mr Frog took a clumsy swing at her, which she effortlessly dodged. "Please try to understand," she said placatingly; "If Ballpoint realizes that you're gone, they'll know right away that we did it. Once they know we're involved, they have the technology to track us to here and... end us. Fortunately," -- she gestured towards the other Mr Frog, now apparently-unconscious -- "'You'll' be back before anybody even realizes that you're gone. With some key memories altered, of course."
This, while true, did absolutely nothing to sate the rage of Mr Frog, who was very much not in the mood to puzzle out the ethics of producing a quantum-accurate replica of himself. One of him was bad enough. He took a deep breath and forced himself to, if not calm down, then at the very least stop trying to murder Silena. He shot her a simmering glare.
Silena bit her lip. "I really am so, so sorry," she said; to her credit, she at least looked suitably-guilty. The guilt vanished just as quickly as it appeared, replaced by her usual chipper smile. "I'll lead you up to your room, okay?" she said calmly; "We'll continue tomorrow. Just try to get some rest, okay? You're probably pretty shaken." Mr Frog continued to glower at her, irritated by how she spoke to him, as though he was an angry child; she flinched slightly and walked towards the elevator, motioning for him to follow. They rode the elevator upwards in silence.
They were back in the entrance hall; Silena lead Mr Frog up the staircase, going up two floors before exiting into a gently-curving circular hallway with doors on the inner and outer curves. The lighting was softer here; the floor was carpet, and the walls were a muted beige. Mr Frog counted the doors as they went around; they had passed by ten doors on the outside going clockwise before stopping at a door on the outer curve. Silena opened the door and ushered Mr Frog inside. They entered into a large room. The walls were sky-blue and the floor was a cream-coloured shag. A window opened to the outside on the far wall; the other side of the building was visible a short distance away. The near left corner was taken up by a small kitchen. In the center of the room were two leather sofas facing a table with a pair of notebook computers resting on it. Two doors were in the left wall and one was in the right.
It was a nice enough room, Mr Frog supposed. Interesting scenery, if nothing else.
"Bathroom and laundry's through the door to the right -- something I'm sure you'll be glad to hear," said Silena brightly, looking at Mr Frog's filthy suit; "We have a shipment of new clothes coming in for you shortly, though looking at you I'm almost sure Joseph got the size wrong." "Your bedroom's the far door to the left," she added; "Mine's the other door, if you need me for anything."
Mr Frog's heart dropped into his stomach. He'd rather room with an HS-X than this vapid, inscrutable woman. On top of that, he wasn't sure what species she was, so he couldn't even use her as a makeshift test subject.
"I work in bioengineering too, so I'm sure we'll get along just great," continued Silena happily; "Though I guess you're still angry about the replica right now." She turned and walked out of the room. "Looking forward to working with you," she bubbled as she closed the door.
Mr Frog staggered across the room and collapsed on the sofa, completely numb after Silena's assault on his patience. It was clearly going to take every once of strength he had to get this done.
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2278216 times)