#poorneil

Chapter 7:

"Another day, at least that’s what they say," Samuel sighed as his red hair gleamed in the sunlight coming from the window. "Laura, what do you think we should do while we wait for the system to calibrate the signal it received?" “Well, um…” Laura began to ponder. “Maybe we should all get to know each other a bit better, like in a round-table discussion or something…” “Good idea. Team! Gather around the West Wing! We’re having a partly recreational day.”

The 5 members of the Department of A.I.R. gathered around a table, sitting peacefully. All of them took a refreshing sip of coffee before the meeting began. “So, how’s everyone doing?” Samuel asked casually. “I’m doing fine, thanks,” Sarah and Laura said simultaneously. “Is it me or are you two ‘twinning’ today?” Asked Daniel, observing the girls. They both wore a similar work attire including matching ties of yellow, a ponytail, and even the same glasses with oval lenses. The only difference was that Sarah was shorter. The girls stared at each other. “It surely must be a coincidence,” Sarah chuckled, trying to hide her rosy red cheeks. Neil began to tap his foot on the ground in a slow, rhythmic pattern. “I’m just curious,” Laura began. “How tall are you, Sarah?” “About five-foot,” she responded. Neil began to tap faster now, but still never made a noticeable sound about it. “Wow, then how does your boyfriend hug you and stuff like that? Are you really that short?” Laura asked. Neil tapped even faster. “Well, at least compared to Neil over there…” Sarah began. “Where did he go…?” The chair where Neil sat was empty. “Hold on,” Daniel said, holding up his index finger. “I’ll get him.” He stood up and dashed away from the table.

"Neil, are you there?" Daniel began to call out. “Right here.” He turned around, only to find Neil with his glowing blue chip between his eyes. “Sarah’s boyfriend… He gave me these memories and techniques that I never discovered before…” Neil began. “He gave me the ability to phase through dimensions if I ever needed to…” “What?” “Let me demonstrate.” Neil began to become a static outline, almost blending in with the white background of the entire hallway. “And why would he grant this to you?” Daniel asked, tilting his head. “I don’t know, but he gave me one thing that I think is important, however.” Neil’s blue eyes glowed an even lighter hue of blue as he glared at the floor. As if his eyes were a projector, a few blue blurry holograms appeared on the ground. Two of them were laying down, on top of each other. The third stormed into a holographic door. “Buzz! What is the meaning of this?” The third hologram spoke. “I thought I could trust you, Laur- Buzz! And you, Mr. Buzz! You are fired! Buzz! Buzz! I knew something was up in that little perver- Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!” “I don’t think this is good, Daniel,” Neil spoke, canceling out the hologram with his own tears. “I’m not sure if this is part of the past or the future, Daniel. I’m scared…” “Don’t worry, Neil,” Daniel spoke. “I’m sure it’s just another one of those false memories…” “And I noticed one more thing!” Neil began to have an epiphany. “He had a chip on his scalp, similar to the size of yours. It had three chip-shaped ridges in there as well. Daniel patted his chip on his head. One by one, he tapped his finger on each ridge. One. Two. Three. There were three ridges.