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"I thought it might try to kill the rest of me, so I hid in my manse. I couldn't see what it was doing to me from in there, but it didn't notice I was gone. I called for help."
"You did do that, Rudy. What then?"
"Then it left. I woke up on my bed. It'd only been a minute or two."
"Are you sure it left? It could've gone into hiding again."
"I'm sure. I could feel it before, even when it was hiding. I don't think it wanted me to notice, and that's why it attacked me and stole my body. If it could've hidden better, it would've."
"And you don't feel it now?"
"I don't feel anything. I feel like myself."
Virginia's tape recorder hums along. She crosses one leg over the other. "That's very interesting, because I hear you were scanned, and the scans detected something hiding in your mind. Do you have any idea what that could be?"
"I have no idea."
"Are you sure? You work inside M.A.N.S.E.s quite a bit, from what I've heard. There's nothing that could've tagged along—"
"It's been weeks since I've worked on a M.A.N.S.E. directly. I've been involved with the big project. I didn't notice anything before today."
"Fair enough," Virginia says lightly. "I'm sure we'll find out more. Thank you for your trust in me, I really appreciate it. One last thing before we go deeper— did you notice anything about this attacker that could identify it?"
"I don't know. It never showed itself or... it tried to speak through my mouth, but I stopped it. Then it attacked me."
"It tried to speak through your mouth? In your voice?"
"In somebody else's voice. I think it was high. High-pitched. But I didn't let it speak to me, so I can't tell you what it would've said."
"That's alright, Rudy," says Virginia. "That's very interesting. A high-pitched voice. Thank you for remembering that for me. Now, I'd like to help you walk deeper into your own mind. This is very important, because if something is hiding in you, it's hiding there. We are not interested in violating your privacy or harvesting secrets from you. We are interested in helping you uncover this nasty thing inside you, which is in your benefit. So there's no need to feel ashamed, defensive, or threatened. All you need to do is open your mind. Can you do that for me?"
"Yes," you say.
"Good. Now, what you are experiencing right now is a close approximation of your dreaming mind. Your dreaming mind is like your waking mind, except it is less likely to question the reality of what it is being told. Your dreaming mind can go to places your waking mind is barred from. That is where we are going now, Rudy." She takes a breath. "Please relax your body. Imagine you are moving downward in some way. This can be any way you want. You could be walking down stairs, you could be falling gently, you could—"
You are on an elevator. Only you are on it. The mirrored walls reflect your face in all directions. There is only one button.
"Have you found a way? Tell me what it is."
(4/5)
