Technoflex

The grinning 'Financial Citizen' welcomes you back, his offer still on the table.

The carabinero and his controller are deep in conversation.

She spins toward you, arm raised.

Movement at your peripheral vision.

"Welcome back to our program, Lieutenant Prophet Wilk." He raises his hands and claps slowly for the cameras.

You wake to blurry vision, thudding ears, and a dull ache in your lower spine.

You return to the shelves.

"You should probably find your colleague."

The two teenage girls refuse to look at you.

"Welcome, welcome."

The Luzian device smoothly unfolds, its twin faces looking away from each other.

You return to the rack.

You find yourself staring at the dummy once more.

"Hersh."

Another plastic wolf cup in your hand. As before, '1/6' is stamped on the hard bottom.

You step up to the terminal again.

The wall where Bagman once stared at you is now blank.

You stare up at the high filing cabinet.

There is no response, just the sound of your own breath against cool plastic.

The stall remains as haphazard as ever, its payment bucket near empty.

"Hard to believe, but it seems the gap is widening, even as we speak!"

You're in the clear. Give it a go.

The Editor-in-Chief's desk is somewhat orderly. A few notebooks and proofs, a terminal, and a collection of pens -- laid out side by side.

"Yo, habibti." Goat Eyes flicks his cigarette.

"Hello, again."

"Did you have a chance to tidy up Admiral Rigau's shrine?"

The brightly-coloured cans and cigarette packets seem even more vivid upon your return.

The bomb is where you left it, looking completely innocuous.

"Wolf time!" The children glance at you before turning back to the television.

"A cipher -- intriguing. Sounds like you're making progress."

"Alright. Communion with the cricket." Ramses initiates the session with a deft hit of three buttons and a switch.

"Whatever you did to the hogger, he looks proper sad for once." The old pilot tips his drink to you.

The automat continues its electronic meditation.

You have arrived at Eszti's doorstep.

The hot tub's wrecked. There are cracks in the fibreglass, old water gone viscous. The filter sounds like a drowning goose.

The trio goes silent at your return.

The tabletop is splattered with the drying blood of your old friend.

You open the Renotel distribution panel once more. After pressing the ON button, you push the Voskol Auto-Negotiator's cord into the…

Among the many sections of the cabinet you find a small stack of papers. The first page is filled with what looks like a set of printed…

You should now have everything you need to make your very own killing device.

"I'll be off soon so get whatever you need now."

You return to the wasteland.

You return to The Animal Zone.

Water sloshes quietly against the hull of the boat. The door is closed firm.

The monkey is still hiding in the shadows.

You unfold the cipher and remember the instructions extracted from the novel:

The vending machine awaits your selection, yet seems utterly indifferent to it.

You take out the medical dummy once more.

The metal drawer slides out nearly soundlessly, revealing rows of official-looking folders.

"Back again, CASCADE? Might want to, you know, get the fuck on with it."