Quoted By:
>LAST TIME ON DROWNED QUEST REDUX
Anthea Aves, the woman in the diving suit, tells Gil that she's chasing down Real Ellery-- who apparently has intentions to blow Headspace up and himself with it. She erroneously concludes that Charlotte must also be there to stop Ellery, but Gil sheepishly tells her that they're there to blow Headspace up themselves... but safely! And with an evacuation plan! Anthea is skeptical, but a sudden power outage encourages her to bring Gil along-- except Anthea would like to rescue the prisoners of the "Thinking Machine" first, while Gil would like to steal Casey's walkie-talkie. His daring attempt to do so is quickly aborted: Casey grabs him and threatens him with Friendification. Gil's effort to shoot an unsuspecting Casey in the face fails, and Casey does with him what he will.
Elsewhere, you are still under the powerful, Law-enhanced sway of the red stuff-- but Teddy intervenes, and you awaken mostly nude inside a blood-filled container. (While you were mucking around with the mystery sphere, Headspace claimed your abandoned body.) After escaping, you finangle your way onto an invisible roof, from which you can see Headspace's ever-shifting layout... including where Casey, Everard Kurz, and the still AWOL-Gil are. You leap at the chance to find your retainer and descend from the roof, only for a tour guide-ish Gil to open the door to your darkened room.
Hastily, you assume the persona of Claudia, who claims to Casey, Everard, and Gil that she saw Virginia's body melt. All of them accept this pretty blithely, including Gil, who is evidently under Casey's influence. Pissed, you ditch Claudia, let the red stuff overtake you again, and chase the trio down. Your attempt to physically reclaim Gil is halted when Casey electrocutes and Everard pins you, but you sneakily possess Everard to escape. Virginia's limp, mutated body is hauled off by Management, and you pick Everard's brain, learning that he doesn't know much about you, that he's heard all about Headspace's depravities (though not their motive for them), that Headspace is partnering with Ramsey to "back a winner," and that Ramsey and co. are located to the west of you, near the town Thatsall. Casey begins to give you the side-eye, but you threaten Everard into deflecting his suspicion. Safe in your disguise, you head off on the tour.
Meanwhile, Gil, trapped in his own mind, is aware, awake, and deeply guilty about "fucking things up" for Lottie. In his attempt to escape, he finds himself face-to-face with... himself. Other Gil is an abrasive prick who, confident that Gil will only make things worse, refuses to let him leave or wake up. After their confrontation gets personal-- and physical-- Gil concludes that "Other Gil" isn't another Gil at all, but actually, literally just himself, a manifestation of all the doubt, fear, and self-loathing that plagues his mind. It's a little embarrassing, but it does mean that Gil can just walk out, and he does.
(1/2)
