The lump of flesh you extracted from HOLOCENE's head sloshes about in the mysterious red liquid.

The lump of flesh you extracted from HOLOCENE's head sloshes about in the mysterious red liquid.

Its 'eyes' find yours, even through the haze of crimson.

What is this thing?

No different to what it was before. A clump of deactivated matter.

Debrief the Small Controller.

This being has no external voice, but it may have an internal one. Close your eyes. Reach out. Commune.

Small Controller? Are you there?

Keep reaching. Push your elbow against the psychic rails, splay the fingers on your ghost hand:

Small Controller, answer me.

<<CASCADE. I'm here!>>

... No way.

<<CASCADE. Listen very carefully. The operation has failed. You've extracted me, not the traitor within.>>

<<The Small Controller now has full, unbridled rein of my body!>>

You'd know that cadence anywhere...

... HOLOCENE?

<<Of course it's me, CASCADE. Put me back in, right now -- M.I.H.O. must prevail! The director is compromised entirely!>>

Hold on, if this piece of flesh is HOLOCENE, then...

You take a moment to seriously consider the implications.

You extracted a small lump or organic matter. You did not extract the brain.

Ergo, whatever is left inside HOLOCENE is whatever is native to that body...

Then HOLOCENE is the one who is the intruder, and the operant you've known all these years was in fact a brain parasite.

Far past the realm of ordinary paranoia, you have stumble into the territory of superstition, the unknown areas of maps where monsters once proliferated.

Get out. Now.

Oh, okay, good, then I got the right one.

That is the more calming conclusion.

What's the other conclusion?

That HOLOCENE is the one who is the intruder, and the operant you've known all these years was in fact a brain parasite.

Great. I choose calm.

A display of flagrant intellectual cowardice.

No. There's nothing to consider. Your brain cells rebel at the thought.

Isn't this exactly what the Small Controller would say?

<<CASCADE, no time to waste on idle musings! This container was made to hold samples, not a living being! We have no way of ascertaining how long I will survive in here.>>

<< Put me back in, CASCADE. Quickly! >>

'Small controller' or 'former double' -- both possible entities are devious in their intelligence.

This ends here. Close the door on the madness you have unleashed upon yourself.

I'm just talking to myself. This isn't actually happening.

<<Suspend your disbelief, CASCADE. What's required now is an act of faith!>>

Imagine for a moment that I believe you: What do you want me to do about it?

<<I told you, CASCADE, put me back in! >>

It's a moot point. HOLOCENE is no longer sedated, and he will never submit himself to the process.

<<CASCADE, no, please! I hate to make an appeal to sentimentality, but, after all we've been through...>>

YOUR ORDERS COME FROM THE OPERANT BUREAU, NOT FROM GRISTLE IN A JAR.

Parasite. Deceiver. Kill.

Take this, you lying brain parasite. (Destroy it.)

A gush of red jelly squirts out to every side as the glass explodes beneath your foot.

Death, real death. Whatever it was, you feel its little life force being violently snuffed out.

Did I just... zero out HOLOCENE?

The shards of container crunch beneath your heel. Globs of jelly drip onto the ground.

Never look back at what happened here today. For all intents and purposes, you have recruited HOLOCENE, and that is the only thing that is going on the record.

That was surprisingly awful.

Done. I'm not thinking about this anymore.

Sorry, HOLOCENE, or whoever you are... I can't deal with this. (Put the vessel away.)

<<No, CASCADE, no! Don't do it for me, do it for yourself! You have no idea the harm he is capable of doing...>>

The tiny voice fades from the fringes of your mind as you return to yourself.

Even if HOLOCENE is still sedated in the chair, it's a miracle he survived the first incursion into his skull.

No way. Nope. I'm not even considering this. (Open your eyes.)

<<Repeat, director compromised entirely! Small Controller has the upper hand!>>

What have you got against the old Crew, you little prick? (Shake the vessel.)

<<No time, CASCADE, no time. Operation failure! You've extracted me, not the traitor within.>>

Forget it, this is dumb.

Debrief... the lump of brain matter?

"Hey, Small Controller. How'd you get inside HOLOCENE?"

No answer but the gentle slosh of liquid.

"Maybe this will make you talk." (Shake the vessel extremely hard.)

You lose sight of the flesh lump as the red water churns and swirls. When it settles, you see that it has broken into two separate chunks.

"Consider yourself debriefed."

The two halves sink to the bottom of the container and settle beside each other.

"That was for the Crew."

"Let this be a lesson to controllers of all sizes."

Yeah, this was a stupid idea.

It was worth a try. Barely.

What have I done?

Probably nothing.

This never happened, operant.

This cannot have happened.

He may be a liability, but he is a beautiful one.

Put the entity and its vessel away. [Leave.]

Probably for the best that you don't take this out and stare at it again. Especially in public.