“I'm not sure what I was expecting but this tastes like shit.” John comments. Amy swallows a mass of nutrient block, gagging as it is consumed.

  “Ughh… well, nothing new there.” She says. “How's your leg?”

  “Numb.” John replies. “It is always numb when it's turned off. I could slam it into a wall and feel nothing.”

  “Wow that's cool.” Amy comments, preparing for another mouthful of nutrient block, as does John. As she chews it she has a pained look on her face. As John chews his, the homunculus flavor grows.

  They are in a makeshift cafeteria, featuring a walk-in pantry where the food on offer is, along with a storage room for the food and medical supplies on the opposite side. Natural-enough light comes from a large wall-window to Amy's left and John's right. He manages to swallow the thing first, amused at the expression on Amy's face.

  “Y’know, it's not that bad after a couple. It's like the opposite of alcohol.” Amy coughs as she finishes the bites.

  “Ugh, ohh… speak for yourself John, that's horrible.”

  “Whatever.” He replies, a couple of the others seemingly annoyed at their conversation. “Your taste will be refined with age.”

  “Pfft, you're barely older than me.” She retorts, grabbing her plate and wiping the crumbs off into a bin. That is considered clean for their standards. John just has to get another comment in as she sits back down.

  “Age is not just a number. It's about wisdom. Knowledge.”

  “Oh, it must be your first birthday! Happy birthday John!” She says, his effort to annoy thoroughly destroyed. He gets up from his seat and cleans his plate, Amy coming with. “Ughh. Yeah yeah okay whatever you win. But yeah, that is why I'm here early.” He already explained the encounter with the golden-eyed man back at his workplace.

  Amy was disturbed and scared by the story, though she is trying to get better at processing such feelings. “I'm just glad you're okay John.” She says. She remembers a detail from the story and asks him.

  “Hey I… don't suppose you ever learned his name did you?”

  John stood in the doorway into the cafeteria as he tried to recollect.

  “Uhh… it was something with P. Proton? Ahh no I'm horrible with names!” Amy goes next to him as he tries to remember.

  “It was uhhhh… ummm. A fucking mc… mc… Proteus? Proteus!”

  He remembers now and looks at her, her face slightly judgmental. “His name is Proteus.”

  “Well, that's a weird name. Wanna see how I do my research?”

  She asks him. “Oh! Shit! Yeah! That's a good idea!” He replies.

  Not just her showing him her process, but also researching Proteus. They go to the basement. The deep blue basement, under the ground. There's only one other person there at the moment, that being— “Hiiiii guys!”

  “Hi Delta.” Amy says amicably. “Oh God.” John thinks in his head.

  They go to her claimed computer as Delta resumes playing with that spring thing from before. Amy sits down and John joins her. She looks back to Delta for a moment. “I feel sorry for her. She has it really rough.”

  “Yeah, she's a couple signatures short of a cheque.” John comments rather meanly.

  Amy slaps his hand, more like a tap, after she turns on the screen. “Don't say that!” She says, a bit more dramatic than she means to be.

  “She has enough problems. Also, that thing she's playing with? That's called a slinky.”

  “Oh, cool.” John says, turning to the screen. “So, show me the magic.”

  Amy opens the file explorer and enables the computer’s LAN connection.

  “Alright, so long story short... we need to run an emulator which converts this computer’s language into one that is comparable with modern contentsphere file formats. We don't upload them here as that could be tracked, or so I’m told. Anything we make here is run through the emulator to be delivered to a modern server physically.”

  “Uh-huh.” John says, processing what she said as something akin to reading local books, writing letters about it then sending them via carrier pigeon. A screen seems to pop out of nowhere which must've been the emulator or something. It disappears again, and then another tab pops up, this one saying ‘Internet Explorer’ which she closes soon after it appears. “Looks like pop-ups haven’t much changed since the old Internet.” He says.

  “Ehhh, it's alright. The user interface is retro, but I quite like the minimalism.” Amy replies, with LAN connection now fully established.

  “Alright, so it's actually much simpler and easier here. Pretty much, there's a bunch of data on the servers here, a lot of which was archived stuff off the internet. Especially an old website called Wikipedia.”

  “God that sounds old.” John comments.

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  “Yes, it is old. Over eighty three years ago. It's older than pretty much anyone alive.” Amy replies, getting back to showing John what she does.

  “Anyways, what I do is I input a keyword into the search bay and press enter, and it'll show results for the keyword.”

  “What?” John asks. “So like… there isn't an AI optimizing your search result? It just does what you tell it to?”

  “Exactly!” Amy says, turning around in her chair to face him, her body well lit by the monitor. “That is one of the reasons why it is so much easier to find stuff. It still takes a while because things are misnamed.”

  John puckers his lips and nods, sitting a little more upright looking at the screen the Bliss image in the background. “That's actually quite interesting seeing how they used to do things. I assume there's less data you haven't access to given you aren't really online.”

  Amy tilts her head side to side in consideration of the comment. “Ehhhhh… I mean… yeah I guess. But honestly, back in the apartment was so much worse. There might have been more information, but most of it was useless or distracting or contradictory. This is way better.”

  John gives a smile and puts his hand in her hair, messing it up as he stands. “Well, I'm grateful to hear. I'll let you search up Proteus with all your focus.”

  “You're going?” Amy asks with a hint of disappointment… or maybe sadness in her voice. John lets her know just before he leaves.

  “I really would love to stay but I've got to make myself useful. See if there's anything I can do on the outside.”

  “Maybe I could come with you sometime?” Amy suggested. “Maybe.” John answers. “Maybe. It is dangerous out there. But I'll… let you know when I know okay?”

  “Okay. Please be safe John.” She tells him.

  “I will.” He promises, heading to the staircase past Delta. The ascent is becoming mundane which is actually a good thing. He recalls Crosby's plan, and so he ascends to the office to go check if they’re still together.

  As he passes into the doorway to the office to his right, his suspicions are confirmed. He is met by Crosby and Gary bantering, sharing a drink.

  “Come on in!” Gary yells, waving John in with his hand. John nods and takes a seat at the table, the three forming a trifecta. John talks to them in good spirits. “Looks like you two are getting along quite well.”

  “Yeah, you could say that.” Crosby replies. “My fucking arms hurt like a bitch though.”

  “Yeah I heard that happens when you lift weights. God knows I was sore when I first got here. Anyway!” John changes the conversation to a more serious tone.

  “Gary, now you know you've got good men. You've got me, Crosby, Jimbo, yourself. You've also Amy who is doing great work researching and a few others I'm sure.”

  Gary leans back relaxed, taking a sip of his drink. “Yeah, there’s a few others. Gilbert is good when he isn't a gawd-damn hotrod stuck to a wheelchair. Delta does good for the sick and a few others do good work.”

  “Yeah for sure.” John replies, continuing. “Anyway, you have good men who are willing to go out there and do shit. I think we would be wise to expand our operations sometime soon. Maybe begin exercises in preparation.”

  “Son, that is a great idea.” Gary says kicking up his feet.

  “The only problem is your friend Crosby's workmates aren't in a position to coordinate yet. But training? That is a good idea. I'll take note.”

  “Oh, you told him already?” Asked John to Crosby. “Yes, one of the first things I made sure to since it really fucking important.”

  Gary gets up and pats Crosby on the back. “Now that's the type of shit I like to hear. Good communication, John. You should take some notes.”

  “Oooookay that was unnecessary.” Replies John, standing up with Gary followed by Crosby. “What are we doing?” He asked.

  Gary puts his arm on the door frame, doing a dramatic turn towards the two as he answers. “This place has been a mess for too ‘fawkin long. It's about time we get everyone on the same page as ours. I'll get you two to rally everyone outside the museum so I can talk.”

  “Alrighty.” Says Crosby. “On it.” Says John.

  Gary gets out of their way and the two split to go find people, all while Gary draws up some plans for the future.

  The search to find people isn't particularly long but very tedious. Crosby takes it like a champ with his love of meeting and knowing new people.

  John, on the other hand, treats it as a chore.

  Though he has hope that soon enough, it won't have to be once they're rallied. The last person they need is Amy, who John retrieves. She has to drop her work for now to pick up later.

  The two join the rest outside, John counting around twenty seven people. Less than he had thought. The only ones missing were Jimbo and Gary. The former still on the hunt, and the latter, sure to appear any second.

  The group stand around idly while they wait, some confused as to why they're there. Amy looks at the hole in the roof, while John inspects the ground they're on. It is super hard, but not any material he knows of. It is a beige color, super dry and somewhat cracked.

  At last, Gary kicks the front door open and yells. “OH YEAH!”

  A couple people in the crowd laugh. Maybe it was some reference the two don't understand. Gary lays down a soap box and stands on it to appear taller than the crowd.

  “Welcome, everyone! I'ma be blunt with half of ‘ya. Ya FAWKIN useless! I won't name names, but you probably know who you are. ‘Doe fortunately, we have been graced with some newcomers who will help expand our operations. Now, if you refuse to go to the outside, I want you to form a group to your right.”

  A majority of the people present move to the right. John, Amy, Crosby, a familiar man in a wheelchair, Lou, another girl and two men stay stationary.

  “Alright, that's good to know.” Gary yells out. “So everyone who moved to the right will be reporting directly to Lou from now on.”

  “What?!” Lou yells out; the man Amy spoke to before. “You heard me bud, you've got a good work ethic. I'll brief you on the details later.” Lou looks to the crowd of people to his right now under his command.

  “Alright boss whatever.”

  Gary arranges a new set of orders. “Alright, now with that out of the way we're gonna sort out jobs. Anyone who doesn't care or has no interest, stays on the left. Everyone who wants to be involved in propaganda, research and computers come to the middle. Anyone who is willing to deploy on the inside on missions, go to the left.”

  John, Crosby, and the man in the wheelchair stay. Amy and Lou move to the center as do most of the others. Only around three stragglers stayed on the right.

  “Excellent!” Says Gary. “Everyone remember what you choose. Lou, I'll fill you in first. John, Crosby, Gilbert. I'll talk to you after Lou. Everyone else, you're dismissed!”