The Light of Day

There are labs all around you, with strange and obscure names: geotechnical research, structural dynamics, automation and intelligent systems. You feel like a lab rat in a maze, too. A prod here, a reward here, and you run, run, run. Will you ever escape this labyrinth?

This morning, the Watcher texted you a single sentence: “This is a very old game, we’re playing.” At first you thought it might just be another taunt – but it seems like everything he says, everything he does, means something. Means too much.

A very old game? You rack your brain for everything you know about old games – chess, senet, go – before you think of something else and begin to laugh. Surely it couldn’t be that simple?

But there it is, in a display case full of old Nintendos. The next red envelope. Like an old hand, you pick the lock, grab the envelope, and reveal its contents.

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