EXSILIUM - contact.

[hostage]

UNIT№409



_“ Hey, it's me. Wait for the thing. _”

Comments

[vaccination]

Yeah. At least they let you keep your tablet.

[hostage]

Yeah, thank god.

[vaccination]

Just don't break all of it. [No more exclamation point wars.]

[hostage]

I almost smashed it when I saw that shit Sonya put up.

[vaccination]

Me too. And the responses from the shit-for-brains that ate it all up.

[hostage]

Christ. What if I really was crazy? Something like that... Like, what if I blamed Tempest for it? I mean, I know she didn't put Sonya up to it, but it sure as hell coulda looked like it. I hope that bitch don't pull that shit with all her clients. It's asking for trouble.

[vaccination]

I don't think she cared. She just wanted people to dogpile you. I can't believe she has fucking influence here.

[hostage]

Me neither.

[vaccination]

I'd like to see her face if some nutjob went after you because of this. She'd be the one locked in a fucking room. [If Ellie had any say in it, which she wouldn't.]

[hostage]

Nah, she'd pin the blame on somebody else. I know her type. Nothing's ever their fault.

[vaccination]

You and me can't be the only ones that see how terrible she is.

[hostage]

We probably ain't, but when somebody acts like they're in charge then people believe 'em.

[vaccination]

The other one isn't as annoying. Roslyn?

[hostage]

She stopped Chloe from killing me in my cell so that ain't so bad.

'cept for the part where it's her fault I'm here in the first place.

[vaccination]

[Thanks for just dropping that so casually, Jesse. He can probably catch Ellie swearing under her breath. Chloe. She'll remember that.]

Soooo they all suck.

[hostage]

Yup.

[vaccination]

I miss the city. I keep thinking shit wouldn't be as bad if we were still there. [And, you know, not nuked.]

[hostage]

I miss it, too. It was home, you know? And at least if I was there, I'd have somewhere to run.

[vaccination]

Yeah. There's nowhere else to go here unless you want to maybe stumble into more goddamn monsters.

[hostage]

I shoulda stayed in Hawaii. Just stayed there 'til they figured out a way off the fucking moon, at least.

[vaccination]

Probably. But at this rate I don't know when we'll get out of this place.

[She misses going outside whenever she feels like it. Space lost its novelty a week in at this place.]

What's Hawaii like? Just sand and beaches?

[hostage]

Sand, beaches, jungles, sunsets...

[He sounds so wistful.]

It's beautiful, yeah.

[vaccination]

I wanna see a beach one day. A real one. [She's sure she could get one in the VR room, but that's cheating. And there's not really anyone willing to go on missions with her right now, especially not to a beach. One day.]

I'll pass on the jungles if there are lions and tigers in that shit.

[hostage]

Nah, they're touristy jungles. It's safe.

We're going when I get outta here, okay?

[vaccination]

[This is Ellie trying to not sound too excited, but it slips into her voice anyway.]

What, really?