Karolina

"Ch... k... wha..."

Beautiful. The whole machine seems relieved.

"Did you fucking unplug my girl?"

"See you later." (Leave.)

"What the fuck's going on in there? What'd you do to her?"

"What?"

"Where'd KINDRED come from?"

As the object grows larger you can make out the shape of a cosmonaut, rotating gently along with the machine's flowing rhythm. It is ringed with a sparkling white circle.

There's nothing to do here anymore.

You return to the console.

You still don't know where to start.

You turn the dial again, narrowing its lens to focus on the anomaly.

You've used it before, same button, right in the centre of the console. INTERFACE. You press it.

It's like asking a child with no experience of the world who they'll work with. He has no frame of reference.

Close her eyes.

Karolina lies still, a doll of herself.

She will not look at you.

"We're almost back to the city."

"Yeah... no problem, Hersh."

"KINDRED was already susceptible to all sorts of manipulations, primarily yours. And after a stint in enemy captivity.

"..."

He whispers something as he unceremoniously disarms you.

Another conclusion follows, half inference, half intuition...

That voice. It wafts out to you from some obscure recess in your memory.

Right after his name slipped from KINDRED's bloodied lips.

Slowly populating itself with your crew members, around you the Fogged Mirror begins to take on the appearance it had five years ago, before your network collapsed.

The device isn't making any sound; it's triggering a psychoauditory response -- tuned specifically to the individual.

"But... you just said I was the best. What did I do wrong?"

"I told you. He doesn't... need me anymore."

"Why do you keep bringing him up? It's me who's here, it's me who got picked up, it's me who wants this."