“The world is the closed door. It is a barrier. And at the same time it is the way through.

  Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall.

  The wall is the thing which separates them but it is also their means of communication.

  …Every separation is a link"

  —SIMONE WEIL, Gravity and Grace

  function annotate204(){ codex.updateEntry(“Connection | Every boundary is a conversation waiting to happen”); }

  // Separation and contact are written on the same line. Every wall that divides also teaches us how to speak through it.

  Remi had woken first, and the first thing he did was check on Nel. Her breathing had been deep and steady. She was curled in a tight ball on her side, as if huddling for warmth, even though the room was damn hot. He wasn’t sure if it was because of their night spent next to the campfire, or that the rocks of their stone chamber had absorbed the inferno’s heat, but regardless the place felt like a dry sauna.

  He checked the back wall with his hand gingerly. It was warm but not hot, so he leaned his back against it and waited for Nel to wake up.

  The air still tasted faintly of ash; thankfully, it was now from the campfire. Remi pushed the button on his vest, causing it to disappear in a patchwork of static. His movement drew his attention to his inner wrist, where the HUD clock still glowed. They were down to just under six days. The seconds spun down in a dizzying display of blurred neon blue. The spinning hurt his eyes, and every tick felt like he was spiraling closer and closer to oblivion. Remi could hardly look at it. So he decided not to.

  He traced a finger across the display, rewriting the line of code in his mind. The ash on his fingers smeared over the spinning seconds, masking them in gray. He cast Edit Strike, thinking you don’t belong here. As the spell resolved, he cast Margin Write, cutting the seconds clean and sealing the edit before the system could blink.

  He spat on his wrist and rubbed the smudge clean. He was happy that it had worked. I’m getting better at this. His timer now only counted down to the minute. Maybe Nel would want the same—sans spit of course.

  Remi returned his attention to the sleeping woman. She looked at peace. He was glad. He was considering reusing her jab of “Morning, Sleeping Beauty” when she finally woke, but decided it probably wasn’t the time. It felt even less appropriate when she woke up in a panic.

  Nel rolled from her side into a seated position. She aggressively patted her calves. “My legs. My legs. My legs.” By the third one, she had realized she was no longer burning.

  Remi moved faster than he thought he could. He crouched, bringing his face inches from hers.

  “Look at me, Nel. You’re safe. The fire is gone. You’re in a safe place.”

  She turned her face so that their eyes were locked. With each phrase, her breathing slowed, becoming less desperate. He saw a flash of discomfort flicker across her face, but it quickly disappeared as she summoned and snapped open her laptop. By the time the glow of the holographic screen fully illuminated her face, it had returned to the placid calm that Remi was used to. Knowing better than to probe, he got up and changed the topic to give her some space.

  He moved towards the door. “Looks like we have another door to deal with.”

  Nel took the offered detour. “Yah. Actually, that's the real door to the locked room. This looks like it's a sort of landing area.”

  Sure enough, a quick check of his HUD showed that the safe room quest was still there. It felt a bit needlessly complicated. Remi told Archie so.

  Remi: Two doors? Are they both really necessary?

  [AI]: Of course they are.

  Remi: Really?

  [AI]: There’s more than one type of door. Some are physical barriers; others are the ones we put up ourselves. Both lock people into and out of spaces. I decided that for this first safe room; you were going to need to open both.

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  Remi was about to fill Nel in, but she beat him to the punch. “What did the AI say?”

  He hesitated.

  “Let’s stop pretending, okay,” she said. “It will just speed things up. I know you talk to it, so do that. Just loop me in.”

  “Sure. If you want me to tell him anything for you, I could.”

  She shook her head. “No thanks, Uhura. It and I have nothing to talk about.”

  “Fair enough,” he replied.

  Nel had gotten to her feet, and together they took in the room. They were in a stone box, about forty feet across. There was no way to go back through the door they had entered through. Its brass body had apparently melted in the heat of the inferno. A close inspection revealed it had fused itself to the wall. That meant that even if it wasn’t necessary for the quest, their only option was the door that sat opposite it.

  The door wasn’t a door in any ordinary sense. As they approached it, they could see that while it had appeared physical at a distance, it was in fact more of a force field. What Remi had mistaken for wood grain was actually runes gliding through the semi-transparent barrier like fish swimming in an aquarium. There was the image of a lock on the door, but as they got within arm’s reach, the runes locked together above it, forming what appeared to be two palm cut-ins. One larger than the other.

  Remi looked at Nel. “One each?” She nodded. He was correct, and they both pressed their palms to the barrier. The wall was surprisingly cool to the touch, which was the complete opposite of the stone that surrounded it.

  The surface seemed to inhale, and then it exhaled. From within, the sound of countless overlapping whispers echoed. It was too low to make out anything distinctly. It was more like the sound of a classroom when students were pretending to work. The runes reappeared from beneath their hands, and unwound. Thin lines of gold appeared to mark the edges of the door. Archie’s voice filled the room, echoing the notification that popped onto the HUD.

  [SYSTEM MESSAGE: LOCKROOM SEQUENCE INITIATED]

  SPEAK YOUR FEAR TO ENTER

  The key to this door wouldn't be metal. It would be a confession. Remi responded with the seriousness that the situation merited.

  “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.” He smirked at Nel.

  She apparently wasn't amused. “It isn’t kidding, Remi. We’re going to have to tell it what we're scared of.”

  “Oh, that’s easy then,” he said. “I’m petrified of clowns and spiders. I was once chased by a drunk carny once.” He looked at Nel. “Long story, but since then clowns have creeped me out. Also spiders and snakes. But mostly spiders. Too many legs. So, Pennywise is my greatest fear. He is both. A spider-clown! Total nightmare fuel.”

  Nel couldn’t help herself. She smiled indulgently. “We all float down here, Remi!”

  “Nice,” he replied. “Didn’t take you for a King fan.”

  “I like his Twitter,” she said. “Also, I had a crush on Tim Curry when I was younger.”

  “Me too!” Remi said with a laugh.

  While they were pleased with themselves, the door apparently wasn’t. The dull whispers rose an octave. The door flashed red. Then again, before locking into place.

  [STRIKE ONE]

  The message was also red, and Archie’s tone had flattened. He too, wasn't amused.

  Remi looked at Nel. “Sorry.”

  She shrugged. “It’s fine. It might actually have worked. We had no way of knowing.”

  Remi: Are we really going to do this again?

  [AI]: Obviously.

  He was annoyed, but knew that he had no choice. He steadied himself, fixing his eyes on the runes instead of on Nel, as this moment of confession felt harder than it should. Was it because of their old relationship? Was it because of what he was afraid that saying his name aloud might do to their new one? Remi wasn’t sure, but knew that the door was only going to accept the complete truth.

  Remi locked his eyes on the door, intentionally avoiding Nel’s reaction. “When I find my brother Dorian in this place, I’m scared he will still hate me.” He clenched his teeth. “That what I broke is in fact irreparable.”

  The whispers slowed, returning to their previous dull hum. The door returned to its original chestnut hue, the runes happily resuming their lazy swim.

  [Remi’s Response Accepted]

  Awaiting secondary response.

  At the word secondary, Nel stiffened. She looked at Remi hard for a second, but then snapped her attention back to the door. He could almost see her calculating it—the percentage of truth that would be just enough to unlock the door, but not enough to expose her.

  Not that he blamed her. Any secret you gave this place was a weapon that could be turned against you. Archie already knew Remi’s truths, so there was a lower risk for him.

  Nel looked at the door, sighed, and stated her truth—quick and cold. “I'm afraid of being erased. That what I do here won’t matter.”

  Remi noted the subtle emphasis she had placed on the word “I.” He said nothing, however, instead letting her finish.

  “And that if I trust anyone again, I will be punished for it.” She tugged once at the sleeves of her hoodie. He saw it too. Nel caught his glance and stopped the tell immediately.

  The door flashed green, and there was a click.

  [Lock 1 of 2 OPENED]

  You’ve got to be shitting me!

  PLEASE PROCEED INTO THE MEMORY CHAMBER FOR LOCK 2.

  The chestnut door evaporated to reveal a long tunnel. At the far end glowed a square of light. A wave of moist air rolled out, heavy with the scent of stone and mildew. Remi gagged, shaking his head as he turned to Nel.

  “It looks like we're going to get to travel down memory lane.”

  “Yippee,” she said dryly.