Reading

Open fileNeed to knowMy clearance

A.Journal

Checks

9,179 checks

When whatever happened to him, happened.

All music? Inhuman.

Hunch correct. Snooping vindicated.

That's an interesting camera he's carrying. Professional-class. No consumer model.

'Loaded gun'. Your hair stands on end.

Requesting assistance.

A crackle of recognition behind his eyes as they meet yours.

A lonesome utility shack high above the city, its door broken on its hinge. A white cat tracks bloody prints in the dirt. Sadness overwhelming.

Restless eyes, evasive demeanour. This man may not have zeroed out your double, but you're sure such things aren't beyond him.

Gripped tightly in her hand: a star-headed screwdriver.

It reminds you of the faces in old portraits.

She's evaluating you just as you are her.

You've not seen the last of him. The two of you are bound by a hideous orange thread.

This toolkit looks so empty, barely usable in its current state. Fortunately, it appears highly expandable.

We shouldn't let her find one of our own up there without warning. Very un-gäng.

This woman could be a valuable source of information, if you can prise it from her.

Your controller was clear: She doesn't need to know anything beyond her station. Compartmentalise.

Her voice: tired, thin. She's been at her desk for many hours.

For your pomegranate red folder, she means. Material for future reviews, case studies and post mortems.

Four hearts, four points of light, waiting for you to draw the constellation between them.

To assemble and guide the rest.

A tensing deep in your gut as your name is committed.

He's already turned once. He could just as easily do it again.

That's assuming it's a legitimate defection and not a double bluff from a vastly superior operant.

The man has nowhere else to go. There is no one better for the assignment.

The names feel heavy, irreversible. Marked in blood for offering.

Sounds like a band.

DEFEAT LEADS TO AN IRREVERSIBLE IMBALANCE UPON THE WORLD STAGE. EQUILIBRIUM DISINTEGRATES FROM A SINGLE POINT -- YOU.

Her eyes reflect the glow of the terminal screen. She's been at her desk for fourteen hours today.

The world is so heavy its mass can only be measured in septillions of kilograms. That is the incredible weight you'll have destabilised by your actions.

AN IRREVERSIBLE BLOW TO ALTER THE WORLD'S AXIS. IT WILL TAKE CENTURIES FOR EQUILIBRIUM TO BE RESTORED.

There will be no 'extraction'. Just a box of tools discarded at the worksite.

There'll be plenty of time to think of a more personally satisfying answer while you're on the boat. Alone.

She hesitates for a second.

A deeply off-putting answer, she thinks.

It sounds like a hit list.

A pleasing symmetry. She likes that very much.

A pleasing symmetry. She likes that very much.

'Sounds like a first stab'.

The one who must only bend and never break.

Stopped in her tracks.

... she should call off the assignment.

A heart without its ribcage.

You'll only know it's gone wrong when a body shows up on the other side, punctured and bloody.

Even as you've been speaking your controller's silently been gaming out every possible manoeuvre. She knows what she's doing.

Except for the old Kohilan hands, who used to call it 'potatoes two ways'.

Hesitation in her voice.

9,179 skill checks - ZERO PARADES field manual - Page 107 of 184