[PMDU]Intermission: The Spark (page 1)

The dreams kept coming back, every night now. Curie had hoped the dream would change again, give her more information, but no such luck. It was still the exact same story, the same branches she had to dodge, the same figure chasing her, the same fear, the same light, the same everything.

It only took her a few days to lose interest again.

"He has arrived."

That new addition, the few last seconds that were added years after the dreams started were so boring now, they might as well have been there all along. She looked over her shoulder, involuntarily, and there her pursuer was again. Big surprise, except not. If only it'd tell her who had arrived, that'd be a big help. Did Thomas mean the shadowy stalker dude from the dreams? Maybe it was Morgan? That line was added only days after he busted through the fog, into Andalusst... Or maybe it was King Egg Salad. The golurk had threatened her the second time they met. This wasn't just paranoia, that creep wanted something from her. Probably Thomas. She couldn't blame him.

"My knowledge cannot fall into Dextera's hands."

Whoa, hold on. She hadn't been paying attention. It had changed after all. Focus now, she thought to herself. You need to remember this.

The figure was catching up to her. She ducked to the left, under another crooked branch, but couldn't shake it so easily. The corners of her vision were still clouded by that yellow haze, but she could barely tell it was still there, running alongside her... But she wasn't dead yet. Whatever this shadow wanted of her, it wasn't her life. Then, a tree swung down and hit her in the face.

"Without us, the Order fell apart."

She woke up, and instantly dove for the nearest pen. She flipped open her book, immediately found the right page, and started writing. Her dream was still changing, she just had to be patient. If this continued at the rate it was going, she'd figure out what happened in no time. Dextera, the Order... Remember the details, write down everything even if it doesn't seem important...

--- --- ---

Alexander carefully laid out the pieces across his desk, making sure they remained in the right order. Taking something apart was easy, putting it back together was a different story. Favours for favours though; Morgan had helped him out with his research, now it was Alexander's turn to prove himself useful. And the metang had his own problems, apparently. Some of which he might have the solution to. He walked over to Morgan.
"And you haven't been able to repair it yourself?" He asked, carefully pulling out a few wires from Morgan's left eye socket.
"I've attempted to correct the flaw in post-processing as well, but with similar results," Morgan answered. "Normally, I could easily recalibrate, or even repair it if it was beyond its functional state. I've done so before, but my efforts have been in vain lately."

"Odd... Odd indeed." Alexander crossed two wires.
Sparks flew, and Morgan's working eye shut down for a brief moment.
"Whoops, sorry." He carefully placed the wires in their original position. "At least it's not a power issue."
"Perhaps the problem lies in the sensor itself," Morgan proposed. "Could you try something there?"
Alexander nodded, and walked back to his desk. He nimbly reassembled the eye, and hooked it up to a small chargestone. A circular red light blinked to life.
"That's... a bit disturbing," he mumbled.