"Activate [Clone Telepathy]."
...
Strange. It's not working. I know the old man's there.
A tinge of his perspective still ringed mine, so I knew he was still in the room.
He should have come off cooldown...
Should have...
Damnit.
I made several more attempts, all in vain. Although I still don't fully understand why all clone communications abruptly ended every hour, and in some cases even less, this phenomena did not appear to be the reason. Assuming it to be something beyond my control or ability to comprehend, I had abandoned the matter long ago in favor of practical experience, which I don't regret as it gave me a better grasp of my clones. And, since I've been using them for a while, I felt reasonably sure I knew something about them. But despite my best efforts, it took one crooked piece to topple the card-house of truths I had so painstakingly assembled.
For the first time since my dissection, I felt agitated. Panicked. Above all, I no longer felt the long melancholy I endured until now.
He has it.
That phrase wouldn't stop coiling about my little litany of thoughts. There wasn't any evidence, but I knew that a part of me is in him. I couldn't begin to fathom how or why, not under the immense malaise I had fallen under.
He has it.
Room, altar, old man. I may not be able to get back to you now, but believe me when I say that I won't stop trying, from somewhere else...
"Activate [Clone Telepathy]."
One by one, I began to scour every clone for that one chance.
Useless. I can't see anything.
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"Activate [Clone Telepathy]."
Nothing of note.
"..tivate [Clone Telepathy]."
Murky, can't see.
"...[Clone Telepathy]."
Just one. Anywhere. Somewhere that I'm not fully contained. One little crack I can wriggle through.
Before long, I soon lost cognizance of my cell. I don't believe I took even a second away from my efforts if not to redouble them out of utter desperation. Whatever I did in there, whatever I ate or expunged from my body, drowned amidst the cacophony of [Clone Telepathy].
Hmm? A plan? What a silly idea. I had none. Not the kind of proper plan that inestimable patience would produce. One tossed as dust in the wind felt more appropriate considering the impossibility I chased. I didn't have the faintest clue of what I'd do after attaining a short-lived freedom. It's a start, and that's all that mattered in the moment.
And then, after a countless few seconds passed, something stirred. I barely noticed the slight change in sensory input in my haste. Fortunately the exact set of sensations was so well engrained in me that I instinctively knew to stop.
I'm inside something alive. This is an intestinal wall.
Remarkably, I once again found myself deep in the digestive tract of an organism. After what happened, It came as surprise that one brick wasn't enough for a Sisyphean's skull, and a blessing that they were foolish enough to try it again. Seeing as how I haven't lost my mind ever since then, maybe they were feeling lucky. Well, they weren't the only ones lucky that day.
It's simple what I had to do. I hadn't tried using skills through a clone before, but was better late then never I suppose.
"...[Predate]"
I expanded along the inner lining of my victim's innards. All was going well, until [Predate] started to take hold.
[Warning: Acute dissociative tendencies detected in host.]
What?
With alarming speed, the flesh around me started to liquify to a ruddy paste. In like manner, my perception arced about in involuntary spasms. Something else had control over the clone.
[Notice: Attempting to override manual control... Failed, unable to maintain existing override on host. Closing telepathic connection.]
As the last of my red effused world evaporated into the metal walls of my cell, I tore into the monster in front of me in a rather horrifying display of frustration.
"...[Clone Telepathy]..?!"
I stopped midway through [Predate] on a rather foul, two-legged creature and another invocation of my only way out to focus on a faint rumble emanating from below. Sporadic, sharp clanging, crumbling vibrations tingled my sense of touch.
Strange... that's new.
I waited, and noticed its growth in intensity and frequency. Even a few staccatos that reminded me of... explosions? Crackling, popping, voluminous expansions from deep below the floor I sat, devouring my prey.
All the stimulus finally wrenched me from my mindless consumption, and I took my first look around the cell for who knows how long. The first thing that came to mind was: why are those armored doors open?