The walls were close. Too close for comfort. But that was okay. They actually preferred it like that. The colours of the walls had faded with time, and only a tinge of the original colour left: white.

They could listen to the humming of machines in the distance. The sound of a fan was particularly noticeable; what did it try to blow away so hard? The tick-tack-tow of a hammering chisel almost lulled them to sleep again.

The previous day had been a lull. How many times had they heard the words "failure" or "give up"? "110 times the first one. 16 times the second one." How many times had they heard the words "unacceptable" again? "12 times." How many times had they given up? "Query returned 0 results."

Yet, how closer were they to results? "Based on the model proposed, the chance for positive results are: Unable to Process. Cannot comprehend suggested Model. Please, revise the model before further enquiries."

That was why they always ended up hearing those same-y words. "Failure." "Give Up." "Bothersome."

Sometimes they wondered if they should just do that: give up. It would have been so much easier indeed. But the only reason they had not yet given up was because there still lied some hope. A fudge of hope, indeed, but it was better than nothing.

Whenever things were going for the worse, they remembered when they met "THAT". Well, they knew what "it" was. It was not so much a question of what it was, but rather, why it was. They never understood why others would stop at the "what"s when things were so much more interesting when you could figure out "why"s. Was it because a "why" requires answering perspective and a "what" does not?

Such a thing was not meant to be.

It "must" not rather than cannot.

But They did not care about such things. Rather, they even questioned themselves how they even met "it". Knowing all that could have happened of such a meeting, too many things could have gone wrong, but it did not matter to them.

To them, what did matter was the results of catching a glimpse of its existence. It was what had enabled them to continue down the road of hearing so many discouraging words day in, day out.

What happened to it was of little concern to them. Few would have been able to comprehend what its existence possibilitates, and would be more focused in keeping a so-called balance of sorts than consider its being.

If it existed, then, to Them, one day there would be more of them. That very thought was what gave Them hope in their experiment.

But They digressed. Now, it was not time for such metaphysical question. A time would come for them to discuss it.

"Director."

See? It was time. Time was such a finicky thing. There seemed to be time for everything, but at the same time, there was never time for anything.

"What is the problem now?"

Now, it was time to start it all over again. To hear a never-ending list of problems. To hear the word "failure" over and over again.

"There was a problem during the test."

"A problem?"

This was new.

They had never had "problems" during the Test. Also, who was it that was speaking again? They never cared who, they were always A.I. of some sort. This one, though? It was too human. Try as they might, They could feel the tension on their voice. The Tension that only Humans had so well mastered so far.

"What problem? Also, who is this?"

"The subject is missing. And this is Trish. Head of the Division, Director."

The subject is missing… Missing… First, what did that mean? Other questions could be answered after that.

"Missing how?"

"They can't be found in the Area. Also, there is something strange happening there. You should come here and see it."

"Go and see it? What happened to remote monitoring?"

"I can't access the system any more, I'm afraid. My permission was revoked along with what happened."

"I'm on my way."

The day wouldn't be so uninteresting, after all.

TsumiHokiro

I do not know how you prefer to read this. In bigger chapters or in smaller scenes, which is how I write.

Some scenes can be very small, as in the prologue and this one. A few paragraphs long. Others are like other novels and can have quite a bit of "content".

If you would like to give your opinion, leave a comment or come and talk to me. Until then, I will be releasing how I think it works best.

There will be a longer scene released after this chapter.

(2023/12/18: Minor edition of English.)