Drop Island

Annie woke up. She wasn’t in the glass room. She saw the sharp face of the tall man.

"Next time make sure you get enough sleep before work," he reproached.

She was back in an office, different from the one before. "And I don’t want to know about your personal life, but don’t do drugs if you want to ever have a career."

He motioned dismissively. He motioned for someone else to handle. 

It was getting blurry again. She thought she recognized the voice of one figure that approached her. There seemed to be two of them.

Dizzily, Annie felt obligated to stand. The figured became focused again. The two spoke quickly and pointedly at each other, but motioned impatiently for Annie to follow them. Then they stop and looked angrily at her, then gestured fiercely at an overflowing box. Annie dragged her limbs to lift the heavy box, took a step and stumbled. 

They paused from their chatter, looked annoyed at her and strode back. Once roughly pushed her away from the box and grasped two of the. sides. Pulling them up, the box became a thick, tall backpack with reinforced arm straps and side pockets. They cradled the large bag between them, and one of them waggled an elbow back toward the office. Annie turned and saw her own little bag was slumped in the corner. Sheepishly she shouldered it and hurried after them. They continued chattering pointedly at each other all the way through the winding glass corridors, down an elevator and into a dim underground. 

They waved her to a van, muttering, "Wait for driver. Maybe you can check equipment inventory."

Then they walked away. Annie lifted the flap of the equipment bag and found the list. As she tried to read the first item, and the darkness took over again.

Mountain

Annie woke up again.

Mi, Muffy

She walks through the mountain, falls asleep and misses the glyptodon and the elasmotherium.

She wakes up and there’s Muffy, talking about stuff and being there.

Barbecues

She meets the various people and tries to understand the system in which they live.

Levels of Conspiracy

Some people ask her what she knows and what it’s like back in Spiral City.

Stones, News and Soup

There’s a little bit of hubbub about the stuff that’s missing. 

The Firework Factory

The crowd pressed in and Annie was reluctant to push back, feeling rude. All faces were intent on the weird little platform. Muffy and Lac stepped onto the platform. At the center was some kind of sculpture like a terrible merry-go-round that didn’t rotate. It was four perpendicular arches meeting in the middle, or like two crossed wire hearts. The two people each held two of the arches as though they were the handlebars of old bikes.

"Power to the people," said one.

"Power to the people," said the other.

"Back, once again," chanted the crowd. 

That bar of light behind them wavered, the lights shooting up at the top. Then they stood there. The counter rolled furiously through its numbers. They still stood there, endlessly, as though magnetically stuck to those arched handlebars. Muffy gazed confidently at Lac, while Lac’s gaze flashed between her, Kri and the numbers on the screen. Sometimes he closed his eyes for a long time.

Then Lac let go of the bars, but more like the bars let go of him, and he was backing away while Muffy remained. But then Annie saw more clearly. He wasn’t stepping, he was falling backwards. The people didn’t move. He hit the mat around the platform and bounced a little, splaying his limbs. Then he was completely still.

Annie gasped in horror, choking on a scream that was a little to squeaky. Those who weren’t hugging Kri turned to give her dirty looks. She looked around. No one was moving. Then some grey-robed folks were walking up to the platform. They bent elegantly, picked up up Lac and carried him away.  Annie tried to look at Kri, but she was completely hidden from view.

No one went after Lac. Muffy let go of the bars, turned gracefully and stepped off the platform.

The number screen cleared. 

Two more people stepped up to the platform. The crowd continued to watch. 

"Power to the people."

"Power to the people."

"Back once again."

They also held the bars as the numbers scrolled, and one of them fell. The gray robes came. The other person walked away. 

"Power to the people," everyone chanted and then scattered. A stream of people trailed after where the gray robes had gone. Annie tried awkwardly to get into the current, got lost. She couldn’t see Kri. She couldn’t see Muffy. She couldn’t find anyone she knew. 

Next Chapter: Undersigned Equipment