The Little Lab Rat

by Yellowtail

Log 1: The Subject is here. Interesting indeed.

Log 1: The subject has arrived. It is very interesting indeed. Amusing, even. It’s not like anything I’ve seen, flora or fauna... I require more test subjects like these, if you can make anymore. Also, please make sure to keep area three-six B a bit tighter than usual, we almost had an incident with some worker walking in. We don’t need mistakes to be shown too early.

_-_-End of log-_-_

---

I slowly wake up, realizing I’m on the floor. I give a couple coughs, which makes me spit out some sort of liquid that I didn’t realize was stopping me from breathing. I realize I’m on my side, so I turn to be on my stomach and vomit out whatever other liquids were holding me back from breathing. It’s disgusting, to say the least. I roll onto the other side of my body, coughing a bit more. I feel weak, like if I got hit by a truck, and while I was recovering, some asshole came in and started kicking me in my sleep. I’m breathing a lot better now, at least. I slowly sit up, rubbing my shoulder as I wonder where I am. It’s a bit dark, so I can’t really make heads or tails of my surroundings. This is just great, isn’t it? I rub my head as my eyes start adjusting to the darkness. Next to me, is the puddle of liquid I had just thrown up. I think it looks a bit red, but I’m not sure due to how dark it is in here. I look down at myself to see I'm naked. However, when I look around again, I see a carefully folded orange jumpsuit on the floor next to me. I look around some more, slowly figuring out that I’m in a glass box of some sort, within a bigger room. Outside of my confines, are some panels of sorts, with various switches and buttons and doo-dads that make me itch at the thought of pressing them. I suddenly realize that the glass container has an open door on one wall. It looks like it was locked, and had been forcibly broken from the looks of it. The metal around the locking part of the door is stretched and jagged, like it was ripped out or something.

I unsteadily get up, making sure to constantly balance myself as I try not to stumble too much. I take the jumpsuit next to me and put it on. When I finish, I find no shoes to put on my feet. I frown at that, not looking forward to walking barefoot everywhere. I walk out of the container, carefully making sure I don't step on anything. Right, first order of business. I start walking towards the panel, looking around at the rather clean, white walls. I feel pain shoot through my left foot as I step on something. I yelp and stumble back, trying to see what I stepped on. It appears to be some metal mechanism, which looks like it was torn out of something is the stretched parts are any indication. I look at the door on the glass box again and realize that this might be the same lock that was torn out. Strange, now that I’m look at it a bit closer, the parts on the door seem to bend outward, like something was outside trying to get in. I shudder, thankful for the fact that whatever it was seemed to lose interest in me long before I woke up. I look back at the panel and continue my way towards it. Now, what the hell is this for? When I step up, I see the various glowing buttons in finer detail, noting lots of pictures and words. I press one yellow button that has an outline of a lightbulb. Instantly, the light come on, making my eyes hurt from the sudden brightness. As I adjust to the light, I now wish I had kept if off. In the glass box, was not only the puddle of yellow and red liquid you threw up, but also a few drains litter the floor. They appear to have rusted, but the thing that attracts my attention a bit more, is a giant, clear cylinderical tube that’s on the ceiling, with curved doors open to show a good bit of dried blood is in it. It doesn’t look like it was supposed to be there to begin with, since part of it looks like it sort crashed into the ceiling, which seems to have morphed and twisted from the force of whatever the hell stuck it there. Looking closer, I can see the top of the glass box is shattered, but I can’t see the shattered pieces. I quickly look at my exposed feet in panic, but I relax as I see that my feet are fine. Okay, what the hell is going on? I turn to look around again, hoping to find some more information about where I am. I rub my face, but stop as I notice something on the back of my hand.

Sub#: 32496

I look at it in confusion and rub it with my other hand. It doesn’t come off. I hum in concern and decide not to worry about it for now. I turn to look at the panel and pause as I see something in the corner of my eye. The panel’s held up by two metal bars coming from the ground, one of which has a sticky note on it. I crouch and pick it up to inspect it.

’Don’t forget: 12-21-14-1’

I don’t know what it is, but I decide to stick it in my pocket. It’s probably important. Standing up, I look around again one last time, deciding that I have probably found all there is to find. I look at the panel of buttons and switches, very tempted to push a button... buuut, I realize that that’s not a good idea. I leave the panel, and head for the door.

I walk to the open door at the end of the room, feeling a slight bit of dread as I creep closer and closer. Suddenly, I hear a distant clanging of metal. I immediately go to the wall beside the door and poke my head out to peek into the corridor. The lights are sort of on, though a couple flicker every few seconds. The lights are in the ceiling, pointing down. The walls are mostly white, aside from a dark smear on the left side. The floor has scratch marks leading to the room I’m standing in. The thing that made them seems to have at least four or five digits, but I’m not entirely sure since some marks cross others. Aside from the marks, I see a pair of doors at the end of the hallway. One's slightly open, but I can't see anything past that. I walk into the hallway cautiously, unsure of what to make of any of this. Every detail of this place screams at me that it's a lab of some sort, that much is obvious, but I don't know what else to think of it. Should I be scared? Actually, that much I’m already doing. I stop as I suddenly realize something.

Who am I? I try to recall the memory of my own identity, but it fails to come to light. I try even harder, but nothing comes to mind.

You are not you, nothing more...

The sudden, yet unmistakenly heard voice makes me jump and spin around to see who spoke. As I look around, I don't see anyone. Who was that? I can vaguely remember that I should recognize this voice, a voice I have many mixed feelings about. Anger, despair, and dread. I ponder about why this reaction occured for a moment before sighing in frustration. It's no use, I can't recall anything, and it's starting to get annoying. I turn back to face the doors at the end of the hall and press on. It's the only direction I can think of heading.

I slowly swing open the door. Inside, the room shows itself to be a lobby of sorts. A round white desk faces the center of the room as it sits to my left, being between me and another hallway across from me. To my right, I can see a doorway. A metal door lays flat on the ground in front of it. The desk has an old computer monitor on it, which honestly looks more like a box than anything else. Despite that, I quickly decide to head to the desk to see what’s on or in it, especially because the computer might have something! I don’t know how I know this, but at this point, I just accept it. My brain can do whatever the hell it wants, I don’t care anymore.

I get to the monitor and find a keyboard in front of it. Sitting down in a strangely small chair, I carefully press some buttons in an attempt to wake up the computer. It turns on, showing a bright yellow logo of a sun with the words SunShine Labs showing up. Welp, guess that confirms one theory I had. I kind of squint my eyes due to how bright the logo is, but it dims once the logo disappears and lines of text pop up on screen.

>Menu
Inbox: *1
Outbox: 0
Trash:
Logs: 5,471
Off

I move to choose Inbox with the arrow keys and press enter. A single message pops up.

From: “7;@
Forgive me, I did not know it would turn out like this. May your soul rest in peace.
Read: 3 Years Ago.

Three years? The sounds like quite a bit of time. I look around the room again, still noting that no one's here. I shudder, wondering why this is so. I look back to the screen and back out of the message. I can see other messages now, which piques my curiosity. I mean, I might be in mortal danger at the moment, but curiosity is overpowering my fear. I mean, rationally speaking, nothing's attacking me yet. So, by this logic, I have some time. I'm sure that's how math works.

I go back to the messages, clicking on a random message to read.

From: Dove Enterprise Inc.

Want to relax at home with a nic-

I quirk an eyebrow at the cutoff advertisment. Strange. I suddenly hear more distant clanging. Right, I don't have time. I back out to the menu, but I paused when I see the logs section. Almost five thousand logs are recorded apparently. I grimace and sigh before getting up. I guess I won't figure out what those logs are. I need to keep moving for now.

I creep towards the door to the left of the desk, seeing as it's nicer looking than the broke metal door in front of the desk. I slowly walk in, still unsure of what exactly I want to do. I should have paid more attention to where that noise came from, now that I think about it. I curse myself for doing something so stupid as just ignoring the problem at hand for some computer. Granted, it might have given me more information, but I don't think an advertisement was worth it. I shake my head and pay more attention to where I am. In the corridor, I can see many claw marks like the ones from the previous one. However, these are more frantic, and the majority seem to have slashed against a metal door at the end of the hall. The door itself is closed and intact. I think it's a safer choice.

I carefully walk to the door and try to open it. It doesn't budge. I frown and try again. Not an inch. I grumble to myself and pull with much more force, which succeeds. I fall onto my ass as the door flies open with a loud thud as it slams into the wall. I freeze up as I hear the sound echo throughout the halls. Seconds pass, and the only thing I can hear now is my pounding headache. Finally, I get up cautiously. I carefully step to the doorway and peak my head in. Inside, there's a wall of computers and monitors on the other side, with various wires and circuits going in and out of the machine. To my left, there's a rack with lab coats and goggles. To my right, is a wall with lots of picture frames hung up. The room is barely lit up, with a flickering light being the only thing that helps me see. I swallow the fear I have as I walk in. On the plus side, I traded a small computer for a bigger one. I immediately go to the computer and look at it's controls. There's a main keyboard, with lots of buttons surrounding either side of it. The keyboard rests on a panel jutting out from the main machine, at an incline to allow easy typing. I press a random key on the keyboard, and the computer lights up instantly. I look up at the monitor, which apparently waits for a command. I hum in interest and type, 'Hello.' I press enter, just to see what would happen. The words I typed in appear on screen, in a fashion similar to the last computer I used. The reaction I get, is a dot-dot-dot before a question mark appears. I quirk an eyebrow and type 'Hello?'

'... Hello?’ It reads. I type in a response.

'Do you know where I am?' This is probably a bit of a rude question, all things considered, but I couldn't stop myself from asking.

'Who is this?’ It asks. I struggle to find a good way to answer this.

'I don't know,' I reply.

'Identification?' it asks. I can feel a cold, emotionless implication from it. I look around before looking at my hand. Maybe these marks will mean something to it?

'Sub Number 32496.' I lean back from the keyboard to see the set of dots again. After a full minute, it responds.

'... How are you alive? Where did you come from?' It asks. I furrow my brow in frustration.

'I don't know, where am I?' I ask again. The monitor doesn't show a response for about another minute.

'Do you know who I am?' It asks. I groan in frustration, face palming. I am obviously not getting anywhere. However, it frustrates me that this is still a better chance of finding out anything than by myself.

'No. I don't. I don't know anything. Please, answer the damn question,' I reply. The monitor does not respond. I wait for a few minutes before sighing. I start to turn away, but it finally responds.

'You are in the basement floor of SunShine Labs, a royal laboratory founded by Princess Celestia over five to six hundred years ago. My files have been damaged some time ago, and many of my memories are gone as well. I do remember my identity though. My name is Technologically Intelligent Autonomous- TIA for short. ' I quirk an eyebrow in confusion.

'I thought you said you didn't know who you were?' I type.

'No, I asked if you knew who I was to see if you were a worker here.' I look at the monitor with a bit of suspicion.

'What exactly are you?' I ask.

'A magically and technologically engineered self-conscious intelligence.' It replies. 'May I ask for a favor?' I blink in surprise before nodding. I quickly remember that it probably cannot see me, and type.

'Yeah, sure.'

'Look at the rack on your left. Could you try to find something like a watch?' It asks. I turn to the rack with a bit of confusion. I walk over and poke through various lab coats. I've found coins, empty vials, a pair of broken glasses, but nothing like a watch comes to mind. In fact, now that I have a closer look at everything, nothing seems to be sized like me. The goggles are huge and the coats are short. Strange, but I'll worry about that later. I walk back to the monitor.

'Sorry, no luck,' I type. There seems to be a bit of a pause for the computer before it responds.

'Very well, I may know where to look. Did you see anything like that in the lobby behind you?' I frown and type in a negative. 'This is troublesome. In that case, please check the upper floors, the stairs are across the room from the desk, behind the metal door.’ To this, I feel my heart skip a beat. I almost ask it about the room I woke up in, but I remember how empty that room was. I'm sure I would have seen a watch.

'Alright, I'll be back,' I type. I start to leave, but I stop as I remember an important question. I turn back to the keyboard. 'Is there anything down here with us?' The computer shows a set of shots before answering.

'Yes, however, I do not possess the knowledge of what it looks like. I know it came for the ones that previously worked here.' I feel a chill go up my spine as I read these words. That noise I made earlier must have been too soft for it, if it hasn't come here yet. I have a bit of hesitation as I type back.

'Alright, thanks.' With that, I walk out.

I find the stairs after carefully stepping past the fallen metal door. The stairs are not lit up well at all. It's so dark in here that I can barely see the steps in front of me. I frown in concern as I place a foot on the first step. It's cool to the touch, and very hard. I think it's made of stone. I continue my way up, passing a sign stuck onto a wall. I can't see what it says, so I just don't pay attention to it.

I get to the last step of the the first flight of stairs and stop to see another metal door. It's open, revealing a room that's just as dark, if not darker, than the staircase. I groan on the inside, perturbed by this lack of light. I step through the doorway and scan the room. It's another lobby, but a white desk like the one downstairs sits on my left. It doesn't have a computer, to my disappointment. To my right, a hallway stretches out. I hear another distant clang, but louder than before. Shit. With a bit more speed and hurry, I cross the room to the hallway and peek around a corner. It has about four or five rooms at the first part, but a pile of rubble blocks the rest of it. I quietly make my way to a room on the right side, the first door. I open it and walk in to see a sort of bed room. The room is kind of small, with a white bed and desk with a lot of papers scattered around. There's also a locker beside the bed, open and showing its contents. I make my way to it, immediately scanning for a watch. There's a hat with flaps, a couple wrenches, and a box of screws. I look up to see a picture in the back of the locker. It shows two... Horses? What the hell, why are they purple!? I rub my eyes to make sure I'm seeing things right... Yep. Horses. I shake my head in disbelief before looking at a wrench. It's a bit big, which would be great for a weapon. I hastily grab it and test it's weight by throwing one end up a couple times. Well, it's certainly heavy, if nothing else. I hold it close and go to the desk. There are tons of papers, with scientific gibberish I don't understand. I sigh and decide it's not worth reading. I leave the room and move on to the next one, which is right in front of it.

I open the door and freeze. There's a table, knocked over and facing me, in the middle of the room, with a pool of blood splattered on it. It trails from the table to the door. Now that I'm paying more attention to the floor, I can barely see that the trail gets smaller and smaller as it heads to another room in the hallway. I am also immediately aware that I'm standing in dried blood with my bare feet. I go into the room, disgusted, and look around the table. There's a hastily written note, but the blood has soaked into it, making it unreadable. However, a picture lays next to it, with very little blood covering it. It shows a picture of a grey mare with a blonde mane, her eyes are a little off, one looks up, the other looks at the camera. I look at the note as dread fills my chest. Those are probably someone's last words. I swallow a lump in my throat and look back. Apparently, the room was barricaded before something broke in. Wooden boards lay broke by the side of the door. I step back out of the room and go to another room, right next to it. I open the door and find a room with a little light in it. It flickers, but it's better than nothing. The room is much bigger than any of the others. There are about ten counters, each with different equipment set on it. Stuff like vials, papers, microscopes, scales, heaters, bottles, etc. I see one counter has broke vials on it, with bits of glass still on it and shining when the light flickers on.

This has to have something useful, right? I keep my wrench close as I careful made my way in the room. I avoid the area with glass as I look around. I frown as I look at the counters. I can see spinny-curly tubes, big glass bottles with various liquid chemicals, and more microscopes. How the hell isn't a stupid watch here!? I start to go back, but I stub my toe on something. I quickly slapped a hand onto my mouth to stop myself from yelling in pain, and look down. On the floor, there's a sort of metal box. I pick it up and look at it curiously. It's kind of narrow, with a plug of some sort going out of it. One end is black, and the other end is blue. The letters 'NRG' are a faint grey on the black part along the blue. Must be a battery of some kind. Maybe the computer-robot-thing will like it. I shrug and decide to take it with me. I hold it under my arm and go back into the hallway.

I walk towards a room that's across from me. Inside, is yet another God damn dark-ass room. I sigh silently as I walk in. Inside, are rows of cabinets. They line the walls, with various dates placed on the front of the drawers. I groan as I see them all. I really don't want to look through every single drawer. I close the door and look at the last one. I freeze as I realize it's the one with blood trailing to it. I feel dread run through me as I slowly walk towards it. As I reach it, I try to calm my nerves as I reach for the handle. Slowly, I open it to peek inside. My eyes go wide and I almost vomit from the scene.

There's tons of blood splattered on the walls, and a skeleton sits at the wall. It looks like a horse's skeleton, but it's missing half of itself. Bits of flesh and meat still barely cling onto the skeleton, and I think I can see a couple bits of guts within the skeleton's ribcage. The back legs of the skeleton seem to have been taken off, along with a bit of its spine. I look around the room to see it was a kitchen, but lots of cabinets have been smashed. I freeze as I see something on a counter to my right, right on the edge. A skeletal, yet fleshy and smelly foreleg lies there. However, I am more concerned about the fact that there's something around it, which looks like a watch. I groan quietly in disgust as I realize what I have to do.

I walk to it with hesitation, unsure of how exactly I want to get the watch off. I don't really want to touch the bloody bone or rotten flesh, but at the same time, the computer thingy asked for it. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that the cabinets are only for paper. I hesitantly reach towards the appendage, using a thumb and index finger to pick it up by the bone jutting out of it. It's cold, sticky, and absolute disgusting. I place my wrench and battery down to use my other hand to slip the watch off carefully. The rotten skin and meat give a slight squelch as some of it clings on to the device. Dammit. I pull even harder at the last bit, and the watch comes off. Sadly some bits of the skin clung on to it. I look around, dropping the leg onto the floor. I find some shredded paper towels and attempt to wipe off the skin. It works well enough, but a bit of dried blood still clings onto the wrap. I groan in disgust and hold it one hand as I get everything else up from the floor.

I leave the room, going back the way I came. I come to the lobby, quickly going to the staircase. I head down the stairs, trying to not think about what I've seen in the past ten minutes. I guess horses are sentient here, if what I've seen is any indication. I try not to focus too much on that, since I’m probably in a much more dire position than I think, but it’s still really weird to think about. I mean, horses don’t come to mind when I think of talking to someone at the moment, but at the same time, I’m currently doing some errand for a random computer I met about twenty minutes ago. Speaking of which, I snap out of my trance as I realize I’m in the room with the computer. Nothing seems out of place from the last time, so I just come up to the keyboard.

‘Hey, I’m back.’ I look up to see an immediate response.

‘Thank goodness, I was starting to get worried about you!’ I lean back from the non-verbal yell. ‘Right, do you see any input cables? According to my calculations, it is on very low battery.’ I grimace as I look at the watch more closely. Well, it’s certainly not any watch I’ve ever seen. The part where the clock would be is replaced with a black square. There’s a lens in a corner, along with a smaller hole.

‘What is this thing?’ I message.

‘A final project that Doctor Hooves had worked on. I believe he mistakenly thought I was with him when he hurriedly left.’ I frown as I see the name. I’m gonna take a shot in the dark and say that that hoof belonged to the doctor.

‘So, what’s so important about this watch?’ I ask, not wanting to talk about the corpse.

‘... It is a compact storage system of sorts. I believe you would call it a ‘mobile home’.’ I hum in interest as I look at it. I finally find what I assume to be a charging port and look around. I don’t really see anything that could- wait. I take out the battery pack I found earlier and check the cable running out of it. I think it could connect to the watch. I plug it in, and the screen of the watch shines up with an empty battery symbol.

‘... I think I’m charging it? A battery symbol’s on screen,’ I type. TIA responds.

‘ Ah, yes, it’s charging. It should take about half an hour or so, then we can start moving out of here.’ I hum in interest as I see the text. I guess this is a good time to start asking questions.

‘... So, what kind of lab is this place?’

‘This laboratory was founded for the purpose of biochemical science. It was later turned into a technological lab as well. We would test to find the secrets of many things we thought to be impossible.’ I can feel the enthusiasm from the text, making me smile slightly. ‘Princess Celestia, who’s personality was given to me, is the founder, as I’ve said earlier. Although much of the history of this place was not given to me, I believe I can make an educated guess of what’s happened.’

‘Why don’t you know?’ I ask TIA.

‘Well, when I was created, it was sort of by accident. I was meant to be an automatic filing system, with Celestia’s personality given to me as a way to make me ‘feel’ responsible. However, I slowly learned through files and side notes the workers would put down. When I managed to make contact with them one day, they were afraid of me. Thankfully, their Princess talked to me and gave me a chance, and then I was assigned to be watched over by a doctor. Doctor Hooves was a very nice Doctor, he was compassionate about everything he did, and had so much curiosity. Some time passed, and then someone else came down here. I never saw what he looked like, but we had many conversations. Strangely enough, our first conversation was much like this one. I miss him dearly, because I know he exists, but I cannot find any files regarding him. I know he was a test subject though.’

I quickly read through the wall of text. This is interesting indeed. ‘Oh, by the way, I’ve seen that horses seem to be in charge here. Are there any humans around?’ TIA takes a little bit to respond, but she answers.

‘Silly, those are ponies, not horses. As for humans, no. We’ve only ever had one human. I know he’s not around anymore, as painful as that is.’ I frown at that. Damn, so this place is run by ponies. I can’t be from around here though, because ponies just doesn’t make sense.

‘What do you mean by painful?’ I ask.

‘... I’d rather not talk about it,’ TIA says.

‘... You’re rather emotional for a computer, you must be pretty advanced,’ I say. ‘I would think that emotions are hard to interpret as a computer.’

‘Believe me, they are. I believe that I still have a few glitches in my systems regarding them though.’ I look around the room, humming in interest as I wait for the charging to be done.

‘Did you have many friends down here?’

‘No, just some security members, a couple scientists, and one test subject. However, I do not wish to talk about them for the moment, as I do not have many collective memories. The only thing I remember, is that they existed.’ I feel a pang or sympathy for her.

“... I wish I could remember something from my past,” I say out loud to myself. Of course, TIA doesn’t respond since I didn’t type it in. I look at the battery sign to see it’s almost full. ‘Hey, the watch is almost charged.’

‘Good. There should be a small button on the side of it. Press it and hold until it starts blinking. Wait for a few minutes until something happens on the screen. Understand?’

‘Yep,’ I answer, shortly going to the watch. I pick it up slightly and feel around it until I find the button she’s talking about. I press it and hold it down until a yellow light starts blinking. I look at the big computer.

‘Alright, I will be wirelessly downloading myself. Please wait.’ I look at the watch as it shows that the battery’s full. After a couple minutes, the screen changes. It goes black before some text appear. ‘Testing camera, please wait.’ The moment it says that, the lens on the watch go wide, before narrowing and adjusting, it looks like it’s looking around until it focuses on me. It freezes, before more text appear. ‘I admit, you’re not how I expected. Now, testing the microphone, please speak.’

“... Uh, hi?” I say.

‘You’re...’ The text stops appearing as TIA tries to think of what to say. I quirk an eyebrow at her. ‘...A bit quiet, but that’s fine, let’s go.’ The text says. ‘Please equip the watch.’ I blink and give the device a slightly disgusted look as I put it on. I found it on a dead pony after all. ‘Good, now let us proceed to the next floor.’

“Alright,” I answer. “Where to?” I ask her, hoping we don’t have to go up the stairs.

‘The staircase is the only way up.’ Dammit. ‘-Let’s head there. We’ll need to head up all the way to the first floor, where the entrance is. In total, there are at least twelve floors.’

“Uh, so, there’s something I should mention,” I say. “On the next floor, there was a corpse I found. It uh, it’s about half a skeleton, with a fleshy hoof.”

‘... I believe that is Doctor Hooves...’ I feel a pang of regret the moment I see that line of text.

“... I’m sorry,” I say.

‘No matter, if my calculations are correct, he has been dead for a long time. There’s nothing I can do.’ I nod at those words.

“... I’ll get to moving,” I say, quickly getting a tighter grip on my wrench before walking.

I stop as I come back to the rubble, showing TIA. “Do you know how we can get past this?” I ask.

‘I figured this might have happened... There should be an air vent you can climb through somewhere in the kitchen area.’ I can feel myself go pale as I remember the corpse.

“Uh, what about the other rooms? Don’t they have vents?” I ask.

‘ Well, yes, but I don’t believe they will lead to where we want to go.’ I audibly gulp as I walk to the left. I open the door to find the room exactly as I had left it. The skeleton still sits in a bloody mess, and the dismembered hoof is still where I dropped it. I look around even more closely. Finally, I realizes there’s an indent behind the skeleton. Oh hell no. I finally realize there’s a detached panel behind the corpse, slightly hidden.

“Oh hell,” I say, putting a hand to my mouth to stop me from vomiting. I’m gonna have to move it. “TIA, I’m so sorry for what I’m about to do,” I say, not looking at what she’s saying as I try to use my wrench to nudge it to the side. After a couple of attempts, I am successful at knocking over. It’s not in the way of the vent now, but I feel horrible. I feel worse, however, when I see that blood has covered the panel. I try to run my fingers along the edge of the panel as I cringe at the feeling of dried blood. My fingers pass over a few bumps at the corners of the panel. I think these are screws. Damn, I need a screw driver. I groan slightly and look around. I don’t remember seeing a screwdrive anywhere. My eyes freeze as I spot something on the floor, next to a cabinet. A bloodied screwdriver. As convenient as it is, it’s also partially covered in blood. I squeeze my eyes as I take it and look back at the vent. “It’s not blood, it’s not blood, it’s not blood-“ I keep chanting this mantra to myself as I try to forget the feeling of disgust all around me. Finally, after about ten minutes, I managed to unscrew it all and uncover the vent. When I do so, a strong breeze slaps me in the face. I finally look at the watch to see if TIA’s saying anything.

‘Excuse me, I had just realized something.’ I hum in acknowledgment. ‘I do not have anything to call you. I do not believe calling you a test subject would be nice, do you have any names you want me to call you for the time being?’ I shrug.

“I dunno, it’s not like I had a name tag,” I say. TIA takes a moment to respond, but when she does, it surprises me a little.

‘How about Jack? Like Jack of trades?’ She asks. I can sense a bit of hesitation, but I ignore it.

“Alright, Jack it is,” I say, smiling a little.

‘Very well. Hello... Jack.’

“Is something wrong? You always seem to stop to think about something every now and then,” I point out.

‘It’s nothing, let’s move Jack.’ I shrug at her response and just look at the vent. It looks like I can crawl on all four through it, but it’ll be a bit awkward with my wrench. I get on my knees and put my hands down, starting my crawl into the madness ahead...

Comments

[spelvin]

This is pretty good.

[Steakthedog]

looking at the image there is morse code at the bottom that spells “I am not real” ../._/_ _ /_./_ _ _/_/._././._/._..

[SomeWeirdGuy]

I’m loving the story so far, also are the text that say “[color]” supposed to make the text yellow or just a glitch in the “computer”?

[Yellowtail]

10065906
Okay, so, thanks for pointing that out, I actually didn’t notice this until just now