Segmented

"So, Entroop was gone by the time you got here?" Controller Gustav asked, preoccupied with the enormity of the room they were standing in.

"Yes, at least I couldn't find him," Pedaf said, laying his sword down on a table amidst some clutter.

The room smelled vaguely of chemical and grass. Overhead lights strummed and went dark, only to flicker back to life, making the shadows dance macabre. Tables were scattered around the room in some tantric pattern, but there were no chairs. On top of the tables were papers, everywhere, but completely blank, some crumpled or ripped, but blank; there were no writing instruments anywhere.
In the center of the room some hulk of a machine stretched into the shadows overhead, humming softly. Cables poured from its center axis, thick and greasy, but didn't seem to lead to anything, diodes raced up and down in tiny constellations, the ribs of it heaved.

"What do you make of it?" Gustav said, holding his palm to the machine as if it were a fire.

"Sir? I don't know," Pedaf checked the battery of the 460 Rifle and slid the clip back in with a satisfying snap. "I'm sure it's responsible for the distortion waves, but whatever else it does, hell if I know."

Gustav flipped through some of the papers on a table, sorting them into neat stacks, "I wonder what all this is, I'll have to get it to a tech."

"What are you going to do with the body?"

"Subject: J? Send it back to VChicago," Gustav shrugged.

Pedaf picked the sword up, then set it back down. He rolled his neck and looked towards the ceiling, "I guess I thought he'd be the hardest one to find, just, I dunno, from the pictures. From what archives said, it's a little strange, feels strange, right?"

"All it means is: One Down, Pedaf. Three to go."

"Three? What about Entroop?" Pedaf asked, lowering his eyes to the Controller.

"When Entroop is apprehended he will stand trial on VChicago," Gustav said, then added, "according to the Director."

Lucidity flits through Pedaf's face and disappears just as quickly. He's tempted to pull out the card he'd been fingering in his pocket to see what it says, knowing it's something important but for some reason doesn't want the Controller to see him do this. His fingers also touch against something else, something he took from Subject: J, but he doesn't want the Controller seeing that, either.

"Pedaf?"

Pedaf, that's it. Pedaf. Everett. VChicago.

"Pedaf, you still with me here?" Gustav pressed.

"Y-yes," Pedaf stammered, "I was just wondering if you'd be contacting the Director, to report."

Gustav seemed to study Pedaf before answering, then shrugs, "Soon enough, if we can establish a link. I'd also like to find out what the military's doing here."

"Military?"

"Forget about all the bodies piled up out there? Forget you're holding a Class 460 Rifle?" Gustav's eyes penetrated.

Pedaf gripped the device in his pocket, yes, some listening device Subject: J had been wearing, that's what it was. What did it do? Something about the distortion waves? Why didn't he want Controller Gustav to know he had it? He pulled his hand out of his pocket, lest he give himself away. "No, I didn't forget, it just seems too...clandestine to be military."

"Really? I was just thinking it was too military to be clandestine. But you're probably on the right track, this just may be sand in our eyes, this whole thing," Gustav said, abruptly turning to the exit.

"What about all this?" Pedaf said.

"Well, we'll have to talk about that," said the man cutting Gustav off at the door, dressed in fatigues and leveling his own 460 at the two. "What are you two doing down here?"

Controller Gustav didn't offer an answer, or even step back, "Lower your weapon Captain Davis," he said, crossing his arms.

"My God, is that an Everett?"