So naturally the first thing I do is reGlass, which is a huge relief because I no longer have to look at all the boring white plastic but instead get to enjoy all the flashing blues and reds and oranges, and I'm, like, “hey, Claudette, got any ups?” Then I remember that I’m being held hostage by a Withouter, and I start to feel excited and nervous at the same time, but this feeling of nervous excitement is quickly replaced by confusion when I turn and see Claudette’s glitch dissipate as it zooms down the corridor, and I'm all, like, “hey, Claudette, you forgot your hostage!” and when she doesn’t turn, I start running after her, which is kind of like watching goo run after water, and even though I should totally be dashing the other way, I find myself continuing to chase after Claudette, totally unable to comprehend why I’m begging to remain a hostage, and then she turns down another corridor, and I’m certain I’ve lost her, but I keep going anyway, totally winded, so winded, in fact, that I can’t even think, and then I finally turn and see Claudette’s glitch, and I see that she’s interfacing with another glitch, so I unGlass to see better, and for a brief moment, I catch the image of a hooded figure, and then I see, beneath the hood, an old worn face turning toward me, a face as old as time and bearded. I recognize the face but can’t place it.
“Take it,” Claudette says, holding out the beeping thing, but the hooded figure is shaking his head as he dashes down yet another corridor, muttering something I can’t hear, and that’s when Claudette sees me and is clearly furious that I’m there, so she pulls her gun and starts blasting lasers right past my head, and I'm all, like, “hey simul, what the inefficiency?!?!!?” and she’s like, “I swear to Abzu, if you don’t disappear right now,” but she doesn’t finish the sentence because she’s too busy bolting down the corridor that swallowed the hooded figure. I hear beeping and see the device on the ground, so I pick it up and click a button at the top, and the beeping stops, and I’m kneeling there holding the dry texture and the strange device, and that’s when I hear the lasers blasting in the distance, so I rush down the corridor, totally courageous in retrospect, and when I finally catch sight of Claudette again, she’s climbing up a rope ladder, Security Guards standing below her, all of them blasting away, and that’s when Claudette’s head turns, ever so slightly, and her blue eyes flash my way, blink, and there’s so much sadness in those eyes, so much longing, that I feel like crying, but instead of crying, I do the bravest, most reckless thing I’ve ever done in my life: I swallow the tiny device.
And when Claudette smiles, I know, even if The Board fires me for ingesting evidence, I can die in the knowledge that I helped at least one person.
Claudette, turning her head, dissipates up the ladder, escaping into The Without, and next thing I know, The Security Guards are on me, and my hands are cuffed behind my back, and they’re marching me to HR, where a mound of paperwork awaits.