Suzanne leads Sherman Chex through a long red hallway into a door labelled “Ideas”. As they walk through, they see a normally sized room. Inside, there is a single computer and two mannequins wearing black clothing. One wears a red hat, tie, and shoes, while the other wears red gloves. There isn't even a desk.
Suzanne is visibly annoyed.
“Why do they keep doing this?!”
Suzanne kicks down the wall behind the computer. Behind it is a room containing many more mannequins.
Each of the mannequins is wearing different clothing, but they all are wearing something red.
They wear red hats, red shoes, red bows, red suits, and other assorted red clothing.
Notably, they're all arranged as if they're in the middle of a sort of dance.
As Suzanne leads Chex towards the mannequins, they begin to move, dancing around the two as they walk to the other side.
Sherman Chex is quite confused.
“Ma'am, why are there so many mannequins?”
She hesitates a moment before answering. The answer to this question doesn't come out as enthusiastic as one usually would.
“They're people I've turned into mannequins.”
“Why?”
“Don't worry about them.”
Sherman Chex is about to speak, but she quickly changes the subject. In her usual cheer, she asks,
“What's being made of dirt like? When you were being washed away by those sprinklers, did it feel like dying, or what?”
As they continue to walk, and the mannequins dance around them, Suzanne continues to steer the conversation away from them, despite how curious Sherman Chex is.
Once they make it to the other side, the mannequins slow to a halt.
“Okay! Stay here Mr. Whatever your name is!”
She runs back through the mannequin crowd, and after about 3 minutes, she comes back with 2 people. Chex recognizes the clothes the pair are wearing. One with a red hat, tie, and shoes, and the other with red gloves.
Suzanne starts to walk away again.
“Mr. & Mrs. Booth will explain the idea!”
Mr. Booth, the one with red gloves and now a moustache, starts first.
“ Mrs. Harper wants you to deal with a bunch of problems you see. There's been a big thorn in the side of The Orange for a while, you got that? She wants you to take it down, understand? ”
Mrs. Booth, in her red hat, tie, and shoes, steps forward.
“ My husband hasn't been out since we were first put in, so he's not up to speed. She's Dars now, not Harper. ”
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Her hat starts to smoke, as if it were on fire. Chex is intrigued.
“Why is your hat on fire?”
Mr. Booth is outraged.
“ That's a terribly personal question, you understand?! ”
His gloves start to burn.
“ The plan is, you learn how to pluck that thorn in our side by taking smaller ones out of the rosebushes, you see? Then, when it's all done everything will be all fine like it was meant to be, got that? ”
His gloves continue to burn, and he tries to blow away the fire, but once they completely burn away, he turns back into a mannequin, with his red gloves replaced with black gloves.
Mrs. Booth speaks up, her hat and tie completely gone, and her shoes burning away.
“ We're running out of time, any questions? ”
Sherman Chex has several questions, but feels he only has time for the most important one.
The answer comes quickly.
“ What do you think? She didn't stay dead, so she thinks ‘Why should any of the other victims?’ ”
As her shoes disappear, she turns back into a mannequin, red accessories replaced with black ones.
Both mannequins dance with each other all the way back to the computer room. Suzanne makes her way back through the mannequin crowd with a cup of water, which she throws at Chex. Sherman Chex is made of dirt. Thankfully, dirt doesn’t feel pain.
Sherman Chex wakes up outside The Orange’s building. Suzanne’s walking in circles.
“What?”
She turns to look at him.
“It’s the fastest way to get you out of the building!”
Sherman Chex gets up.
“How?”
Suzanne starts walking towards a gate.
“When you’re that piece of glass, you’re a piece of cargo!”
“Why am I luggage?”
“If I don’t file the proper documentation to let a new person into the building, Ricky will probably destroy the entire continent.”
As they reach the gate, Suzanne types four numbers into a keypad.
As they walk through the gate, they are met with a mob of reporters—
There are no reporters outside of the gate as they walk out.
Suzanne pulls a map out of her pocket. Sherman Chex notices that several pieces of land are actively moving around and rearranging themselves. She points to a line between two cities labelled with stars.
“Success Road! We’re not going there!”
Sherman Chex is quite confused.
“Ma’am, why are the districts moving?”
She looks at him like he’s crazy.
“You think Ricky could keep them in place while asleep?!”
“What?”
“Ricky’s asleep, the second one’s nowhere to be seen, and neither I nor Virgil have decided on who the Angel of Life should be yet. Who’s meant to keep the continent intact?”
“What?!”
“Read this book!”
She pulls a book out of her pocket and throws it at Sherman Chex. It begins to burn as soon as it leaves her hands, disappearing before getting anywhere near him.
They reach a blue vehicle, it’s not quite a bus or train, but it’s similar. As they board, the driver of the vehicle, a lady wearing a blue hat, hands Suzanne a slip of paper.
She writes the words “Red Hills”, and then walks into the seating area. As Chex looks around at the seats, he sees they’re full of mannequins wearing red accessories, just like those from the “Ideas” room from earlier.
Suzanne sits down in a seat touching the left wall, while Sherman Chex sits down in a seat on the right wall. After a few seconds, the operator begins to move the vehicle. It starts on the road, and quickly moves to its tracks. As Sherman Chex looks outside, he sees many skyscrapers, as the first Capital of Columbia is full of them. The sidewalk is bland, the buildings are bland, even the people are wearing bland clothing. This is intentional, so that The Orange will stand out with their colorful vehicles and uniforms.
Though, to Sherman Chex, this environment looks terribly oppressive.
