THUD. Where Mama? Why be me not go go body? Head no good feel, need help.

  BEEP BEEP THUNK.

  “Sir, the install has been loaded and is ready for the carrier. They just need to lie in the chair and verbally confirm they are willing to have the Infinity. Once confirmed, installation will begin. Don’t let them interrupt the install process. Many safety features must be hard-coded; otherwise, they will likely have a short, painful life.”

  Mama talk Phoenix System heal all.

  “Kathrine, we have done this six times already. You don’t have to warn me every time, after all, I am not likely to forget. Though you seem to forget I am the boss more often than you should.”

  Not Phoenix System, something else, why no thinking good?

  “Oh, please, you can’t replace me, and you know it. I am more reminding you to follow up with the carrier. There are internal videos of pretty disturbing stuff happening if the installation is interrupted. There was one test subject who clawed his own eyes out trying to remove the system. Are you sure you want to waste this opportunity for that orphan?”

  Danger Voice, stay still, who stay still? Where Grandma?

  “Diddle might not be the best we have, but they are growing the fastest into what we need. I have delved into his mind during our hypnosis sessions, and he is just after respect and has no resentment toward his mother. He is so pragmatic that I feel a bit paranoid thinking they might be resentful towards the Falcons.”

  Head no right. Drip Drip Drip, Time bad

  “Where is he? The chair is ready for him. I would have thought they would be desperate to go to Infinity.”

  Infinity mean thing. Try think, what be think?

  “You can call it one last test. I sent him across the city to get us lunch. I wanted to challenge him with my authority, even as he was on the verge of getting everything he had wanted. It looks like he passed. I am glad his loyalty is stronger than his pride. It is too bad, that means we will likely still need to wait an hour before he is back.”

  Infinity does best, Phoenix are less.

  “Fuck this then. I actually have a job to do upstairs. If you need help with anything, I will be upstairs doing the boring-ass job you make me do. You know how to contact me.”

  Hard ground bad, Voice leaving?

  “More Giovante’s for me, but yeah, nobody has a whole hour to waste.”

  Foot noise. Alone? Drip Drip bad. Need Infinity.

  Need move. Oh, already moving, who is moving? Me? I? Me? I? Me? I?

  Chair this? Who move? Who speak? Me speak? How me word talk? Tying

  “I… Iiii… Waaaaa… nnnnt … iiiiit”

  “Thank you for your confirmation. Please lay back and wait until the installation is complete. If there is an unexpected interruption to your installation Advent Systems takes no responsibility for any catastrophic outcomes.

  Body, no bad no more. Fix?

  What seeing, eye, no eye?

  Inside doing different

  Body blender, no no no

  Blender go different, please stop

  Oh, toilet time. Chair sucking pants, why want?

  Why body fill up?

  Tingles, Who tickling?

  Unblending body, worse

  “Might as well join me for a meal, you did go to all the trouble of getting this delicious food.”

  “With all due respect, Sir, I would prefer to get started as soon as possible.”

  “Well, it has been ready for hours. I am not sure why you took so long if you were that impatient to go to Infinity.”

  “While it is not my top priority, it is near it. I would much rather get the Infinity System as soon as possible so I can start working towards my new potential as soon as possible.”

  Voices no good, get up time. Where hide?

  I Dead, be dead

  “You know the way. Make sure to strip naked beforehand. The installation is designed to be done without any clothing.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Same position, think so, now be deadest

  “Wait, hold on, this was not what we were seeing on the screen before. Diddle, call Kathrine down here. We need her to check this out before you mess something up by trying to install it.”

  “Going, but please stop calling me that. You know I hate it.”

  Why Red, like blue more?

  Blue back, counting?

  Lots words, blue nice

  “What did you do? Did you interrupt the install? This is bad. Get back into the chair before the System Analysis starts.”

  Why head lightning?

  “No one has started the install; my assistant just got back from getting the food. This is how we found the screens when we came in here to do the install.”

  “Well, then, some dead man walking came in here while you were not looking and installed the Infinity System intended for your assistant while you were not looking.”

  “Fuck Yeah, they are a dead man walking. Make the call, guard the entrance, no one gets in or out of the building without getting IDed. Whoever came in here to make a fool of me is going to pay. I am going to rip their arms off and beat them to death with them.”

  “Wow, that is graphic, but that is not why I said they are a dead man walking. Have you ever wondered why the Infinity System limits the number of skills that you can acquire to 10? It is because the pain inhibitor that is installed with the system can no longer mask the pain that is created with any skill past 10. It will get worse and worse the more skills acquired until the pain is so bad that they die from a heart attack or end their own life.”

  “This is why allowing the install to complete is so important. The limiters that are installed near the end are what stands between you and a prolonged, painful death. Whoever tried to escape before they could finish the installation is going to suffer incredible pain for the rest of their life.”

  Tingle is no good. Go away, brain tickler.

  “We still need to find this thief. Even if they are going to die a horrible death eventually, that does not mean that they will not be able to fuck us in the short run. Whoever it is, they have to be a member of the Falcons. There is no way someone from the outside would know which day we would do the next install. Diddle, considering this install was intended for you, I am going to put you in charge of finding whoever it was. If you want to have another go at this in the future, I need to see some results. Once you find them, you to bring them to me.”

  “Yes, Sir. I am going to make them pay for taking the system that was intended for me. They are going to regret this day for the rest of their sorry life. Do you want me to take out the trash before I start looking through the building camera recordings?”

  “Kathrine, this is the type of reliability that I need for me to consider bringing someone to Infinity. Taking care of the trash before there is even a stink. I wish all of the Falcons were such capable people. Now I hope he can give me results instead of just talking.”

  “Domingo, I know you have a soft spot for some of the Time Out kids, but what you are doing is playing with fire. Eventually, you are going to get burned.”

  “Maybe, but today is not that day. How hard would it be to accelerate … ”

  Hands grab, no move, be dead

  Brain stabbing mean

  “Fuck you. Did you have to shit yourself after you died? Whatever, at least you are small and light.”

  Fold body wrong pain

  “I thought I was going to be done with this fucking grunt work as of today, but some fuck fucked my whole fucking plan up. I was supposed to become a god today, but now I am hauling a shit-covered kid to the incinerator because Domingo is too paranoid to have some proper lowlife know where his secret base is. I am going to make, whoever stole this out from under me, eat one of their own balls, then beg me to feed them the other one.”

  Heavy crush, need air. Twist slow

  “I wonder if they are ever going to tell your brother what happened to you. Probably not, he seems like the type to care. I don’t give a fucking shit what happened to my family; that is why they trust me. Caring is a death sentence around here.”

  Roll roll roll, it dark

  BING

  BING

  “Oh, is the construction still happening on the 60th floor? I would have thought that would have been finished by now, considering how long it has been going on.”

  “Sorry, we have been causing you trouble. Unfortunately, the plans have changed several times, so we have had to rip it out and start from scratch too many times now.”

  “It is no bother, I just feel for you. I hope this is the last time you will have to redo your work.”

  “Me too.”

  BING

  “This is me.”

  BING

  Roll roll roll, no roll?

  THUNK

  “UGH, FUCK, There. Who would have thought throwing a bunch of rubble on top of a dead kid would make this trash can so heavy. Whatever, I will deal with you later. I really need to find that thief before they get too far away. Don’t go anywhere. Haha”

  THUNK

  Silent? I am alone. It is still heavy. It is hard to move. I can twist. I will keep twisting. Things are stabbing me. They are sharp. I need to twist away. Now that side is sharp. Keep twisting. There is light. I will reach. I have grabbed the edge. Pull. Pull harder.

  I was in a trash can with a bunch of dusty concrete and broken wood planks. In a van. I don’t like vans. There is a door, it is opening. I am outside the van. Where do I go? There is more light. I will go to the light. Walking, Walking, Walking.

  My head is hurting so much. What is happening?