I was startled awake by a cascade of messages and pings, rapidly populating my HUD. I nearly jumped out of my skin by the noise of the stacking “Ding's!” that rang out in my head.

  I began to close the notifications, but was only halfway done by the time Alex began to hoist me up. We all dusted ourselves off as we approached the surface, ready to get the hell out of this place. Max hopped on both of his legs to limber up, and James was tapping the back of his head against the wall of the elevator.

  “I can't believe this. We spent all day on that elevator... It's been seven hours at least”, James said, near to tears, before continuing, “I can't believe I missed every movie.... Even 'Hell Demons From Planet X.' Cowabummer.”

  “Well, James”, Max sad cheerfully, “We could have been on the elevator for a couple of days. We didn't bring any extra food, so that would have been killer.”

  James groaned, before slamming his fist into the side of the elevator in anger.

  “Most of these messages were questions from Daniels. Well that's not good. Omni-Corp Pharmaceuticals probably wasn't happy to see us leave the network. We need to head back to HQ now to try and debrief from this.”, Alex said, giving us a through-line for getting off of shift.

  The elevator finally reached the top of the shaft, and came to a halt. The door opened with zero fanfare, and we stepped out into the warehouse. Each forklift robot was surrounding the elevator exit, creating a single exit lane. We followed the pathway, more forklifts lining both sides until we hit the exit and one following us from behind. Next to the door was a trash can to put our care packages, and on the door itself was a poster with a cartoon forklift in the same color scheme as our friends around us, except it had fun googly eyes.

  The sign read, “Oliver the O.A. Labs Forklift says, 'Remember, kids! If anyone asks if you got any assistance here, no you didn't!'”

  Throwing away our boxes, we stepped back into the lobby, and more importantly, back into reality. Stepping back into the lobby after the “high-octane elevator action” that filled our afternoon , I was hit with a rush of the freshest air I'd breathed in days. After taking in the fresh city air, I joined the others outside.

  Outside, the four of us saw a black police cruiser parked at the gates. Two officers stepped out of the front seats. They started to walk to us and we met near to the gates. My HUD must have been acting up, because their names and badge numbers hadn't popped up. I paid it no mind.

  “Good evening, officers. Don't worry about your squad car, its been take back to HQ hours ago. We just called in for another car to take y'all back.

  We let out a collective groan at knowing we had to go to headquarters. Alex pulled out a cigarette case, and from it, pulled a pencil out. He snapped it in frustration. He put the pieces back into the case, and deposited it back into his jacket.

  Over the next few minutes we all slowly came to realize the same thing... These officers were taking us in. We stood in that lot for another twenty minutes before a second cruiser arrived. The officers asked us to go two to a car. I went to the closest vehicle, with Max joining me. Once we were locked in, the two officers assigned to take us to HQ hopped back in, and we got underway.

  Before too long, curiosity reared its head, and one of the officers turned back, asking, “Officer Clarke, Officer Sanford, where were you guys? Back at HQ, people have been going nuts because four officers, you, went dark. Doubly so with you four coming back online.”

  The man had an expectant look on his face.

  “We got locked in an elevator investigating that building”, Max lied.

  “What? No fire marshals were called in, so who let you out?”, The officer pressed Max on his ridiculous statement.

  “An automated system got us out. It got the elevator moving for us”, I answered.

  Our drivers gave each other a look, absolutely not believing us, before they turned back forward. The rest of the ride back was quiet, the suburbs gave way to the glowing towers of downtown. In the darkness below, we arrived back in the garage.

  As we pulled in, I saw Daniels, and beside him, stood an older gentleman.

  “Oh fuck. You guys must have kicked the hornets nest. The Chief is here. Best of luck to you, and I hope you four make it out okay”, the driver said to us, clearly nervous of that man.

  “What do you mean?”, I asked.

  “He means that this will be more than an ass chewing”, Max answered with grim determination.

  The two officers up front exited the vehicle, then opened the doors to let us out. I walked around to the other side of the vehicle, where I got a better look at the older man. He stood about 170 cm tall, and was wearing a tan suit and a rich, purple shirt. The man had grey hair, and an aged face, bereft of wrinkles. When the four of us were around, he finally smiled, but it never once could it be seen in his eyes.

  “Good evening, Officers. I do hope your day wasn't too terrible”, He said, sparking a twinge of anger inside of me, “I am Michael Pollock, the VP of Corporate Security at Omni-Corp Pharmaceuticals. You may call me Mr. Pollock, or 'The Chief.' Please, come with me.”

  Mr. Pollock began to lead us out of the garage, and with no hesitation, we followed closely behind. From the garage we took stairs up toward the main lobby, where we quickly were taken through to yet another elevator.

  We once more were lifted upward, but this time instead of a long, painful journey back to the surface, we arrived to the upper floors where department heads ruled over their domains. The floors where these castles lay were in the middle of the large transparent video displays hanging from the tower. Once we stepped past the long empty front desk for Mr. Pollock's secretary, we entered his office. It was paneled with white marble on all surfaces and was bathed in the blue glow of OCP's logo hanging just outside. A black marble desk sat in the center of the room, chairs on either side. Warm, golden lights automatically turned on when Mr. Pollock entered the room, but they failed to overpower the blue glow.

  Mr. Pollock sat behind his stone desk, and offered each one of us a seat. He seemed amused by us deciding to stand.

  “Fine, stand. You four are a tough team, after all. Isn't that right, Officer Duvall?”, Mr. Pollock asked with a sickening smile, before continuing, “All the same, I'm sure you are wondering why you are here. You four disappeared for a little under 7 hours of time. We sent you to where the three men you took into custody said they originated from, and I suspect you found it. What exactly is it that you saw?”

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  “Just some robots and shelves.”, James blurted out.

  The Chief's eyes darted to meet Alex, and a sinister smile crept up his face. This was the one time Mr. Pollock's eyes ever met his smile.

  “Officer Sidorkin, please. If you want to speak, then speak. Please don't try to keep secrets here, Officer Sidorkin, because there are none. Anyway, please continue Officer.”, Said Mr. Pollock, looking us over.

  For once, Alex was flustered. He couldn't quite recover after Mr. Pollock got one over him.

  After taking a moment to clear his throat, he spoke, “As my fellow officer was trying to say, Mr. Pollock, was that we had arrived to the warehouse near eleven in the morning. We made our ingress by breaking the lock on the gate of the warehouse. Inside the compound, we went inside the building, where we found a large amount of robotic forklifts. No signs of people anywhere.”

  “Oh?”, Mr. Pollock's face betrayed no emotion with this news, “Please officer, do go on.”

  Alex was sweating bullets as he continued, “Well, after our infiltration into the building proper, we saw the forklifts entering and exiting from a series of doors. Two on for coming; two for going.”

  Mr. Pollock nodded along as Alex was speaking.

  “We followed one of the forklifts into the elevator, and that's when the day went wild. We were stuck on it a little over three and a half hours, continuously going down. Down below, we exited into another, larger warehouse, where the logistics robots seemed more organized. We were spotted by one of the bots when down there, at which point we were shoo'd away and sent back up.

  “Yes... Yes I see that, now. The recordings from each of you have finally uploaded, and you weren't kidding...”, Mr Pollock said, his voice drifting for a moment as he watched, “Gosh, that wall is gorgeous. How much water do you think it takes to grow that many flowers?”

  We sat there in silence. I was too afraid to answer. Hell, this man scared me enough that, for a few fleeting moments, I had reached a state of zen and couldn't think.

  “What a cute poster. Ah, well.. That's all the time I have for that.”, Mr. Pollock said, bringing his full attention to bare once more, “If given an opportunity to get any PHD, what would you get?”

  We were all frozen for a moment, none of us dared to speak. You could hear a clock tick tick ticking behind us.

  “Don't all speak up at once”, Mr. Pollock said, before turning his attention to me, “Officer Sanford. You were in college before. I know you would enjoy a degree, and I merely wish to know which kind you would like”

  I began to speak before I could register what I was saying, “Electrical Engineering, Chief.”

  “Oh, very good. A wonderful choice I'm sure you will enjoy. Officer Clarke, how about you?”

  “Biology, Chief.”

  “Officer Sidorkin?”

  “Computer Science, Chief.”

  “Officer Duvall?”

  “Microbiology, Chief.”

  “Very good. Well, I have everything I need, and soon, so shall you four. Well, for now, I bid you all adieu.”

  Mr. Pollock raised his right hand, and snapped his fingers. My vision and hearing went out, creating not blindness nor deafness, but rather, a lack of senses. It was if I were shut down. Weirdly, through it all, I kept access to my HUD, yet couldn't manipulate it. My newfound world with a lack of seeing and a lack of hearing, caused a few strange happenings.

  Within the first few days of this new... Reality. This lack of existence that I'd found myself in... A noise, one fake as can be, began to play in my head.

  Tick... Tick... Tick...

  The sound of clockwork. I don't think it was a perfect second, but I'm no chronographer. It was maddening and off tempo of the internal clock I had This tick-tick-ticking dragged on through until what a little under a week had passed. That's when the nightmare had truly begun.

  My vision returned. Fleeting, shifting dreams in the endless expanse of my mind. Slowly, from the corners of my eyes, the forms began to take shape. I could never get a perfect focus, but the visions were always there.

  I felt constantly late. I felt immensely busy, but I couldn't fix it. The feelings tugging at me pulled me in every direction. I was paralyzed from something I couldn't register, but the feelings stayed with me. Something kept knock-knock-knocking on the back of my mind. It was some important information I couldn't quite bring to the forefront of my mind's eye, but the information was seared into my brain all the same.

  In the endless darkness I saw two people. They had kind, older faces who's embrace was a warmth in the hellish cold I found myself in. They came in for a hug, and wished me good luck. As they pulled away, I saw their names.

  Were these my parents? Were they someone else's? I couldn't quite say, but they seemed important to me somehow. They were my warmth and had kept me safe Regardless, time kept tick-tick-ticking onward. Soon, like all other comforts, they too, were ripped away from me.

  By the time another week had passed, the nightmares and anxieties that plagued me had begun to change. No longer were these somewhat friendly dreams, or as friendly as they could have been. Things grew more malignant as the time I spent under grew.

  I felt heat under the skin. Not the same as the warmth of the body as it burns calories, but instead, a more intense, electrical feeling. It was the feeling of touching an un-shielded piece of electronics under a heavy load. That unnaturally warm sensation and it kept growing in intensity. I was soon burning up. The fired radiated from my arm, inward, spiking in temperature near my heart.

  These nightmares grew ever more intense three weeks in. Ants began to tear me apart, piece by piece. I was dragged, a bloody, oily mess. The reformed me in their image, and I joined them in their work. Cybernetic pheromones sent me instructions I couldn't help but follow.

  After a month or so, I blinked, and I was in a prison cell. I felt myself move without any effort. The roughly hewn stones hurt my feet to stand on. I turned and beheld a blinding light. I walked to it, and stepped through the blinding white light and entered a tunnel.

  For the first time since going under, that ever tick-tick-ticking noise subsided, and was slowly replaced by the ever growing sound of singing. I reached the end of the tunnel, only to find I'd been imprisoned in an endless, circular pit. A piece of sheet music was on the ground. I was to become part of a chorus of voices surrounding a central spire. A panopticon of music, growing in intensity, now shaking my atoms apart with it's volume.

  Mechanical tendrils shot out from the central spire, taking people with it. I couldn't tell if it was an escape or a death that was set before me. I didn't want this.... No, I felt the need to be chosen by the tendrils. I stepped forward, and let my voice join the chorus.