A day has passed since Four- Two has been gasping for air, smothered by a barn of dead leaves and wilted plants. Around their group of mind-diving clopies was a field of dead fauna, just floating in place, with no mass to sit on the travelers.

During the first hour of this torment, each looked for death. While going through the second hour they got used to it, the third hour brought back pieces of the concept of movement. The fifth hour, they floated a few centimeters next to each other. The eighth hour was spent cursing and wishing death upon Savan, who seemed to ignore their plight, keeping their eyes shut and standing still while the mass of dead flora slithered by them.

Four-Two was the first to remember the Guide’s advice and spent the tenth hour finding a place inside their mind. A field came into view- Billy and Semil were there, with a couple of white bags in each of their hands. Right, of course, how could they forget, they were supposed to gather the potatoes that day.

On the outside, Melina watched over them, silently and unflinching; which started to concern Vivar and Billy. The knight tried to act friendly around her, but in the end, he also had trouble dissociating the girl in front of him from the high operative of the Commune, who had more training instilled in her than an entire grunt corp.

Vivar -” So, heard the other one has been spending his time working on your farm?”, the knight asked out loud enough for Melina to hear.

Billy -” Fabius? Yes, he’s been…there. Does all I tell him to do and such”, replied the cyborg, with half a mouth, which Vivar noticed.

Vivar -” Hmm? Did something happen?”

Billy -” Well…it’s just that…he is just nice? Something about him eerily reminds me of Savan, but at the same time…he strikes me as a bit pushy?”

Out of nowhere, Melina appeared beside them, shamelessly intruding on their conversation- “ L- Father? Yeah, that sounds like him.”

Billy -”...But why?” asked a confused Billy, who explained that he didn’t know how to act around him. “ He is hardworking and a helpful hand, but at the same time he is…”

Melina -” Everywhere? I hear ya. That was one of his and M-Mother’s jobs, to always keep an eye on us. My guess is that he didn’t get out of that mindset and replaced Marcos with you.”

Billy -” So what do I do? How do I get him to stop?”

Melina shrugged as if she ever managed to solve that mystery. The two then turned towards Vivar, expecting him to impart some of his wisdom to them. In response, the cyborg shed metaphorical sweat and avoided eye contact.

Vivar -” Ugh…maybe talk with him about it?”, said the knight after a while. “ Maybe it’s just an impulse like the girl just said, and if you talk it out, he might understand that it’s bothering you?”

All three then hurdled around, caressing their chins and massaging their foreheads to incent the thinking juices into action.

…

In the meantime, the guidance proceeded as usual, with the group arriving at the point in the C.T.D’s life where the clopies were supposed to help them out by choosing the next, correct, ramification in their life.

Savan -” This choice was already made, we just have to help them remember it. Four-Two, how about you give it a try? You’ve spent a lot of time with the girl, talking about the farm.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

F.T. -” What?” the clopy replied a bit flustered. “ Me? I guess, if you ask, I could give it a try.” They then studied the scene in front of them- The child just stolen a seed from a stall, a seed brought back from the Playground by one of the workers assigned to a general building crew. She didn’t know what the seed was, just that it was valuable- The seller had two patrols following him day in and day out, the most expensive protection there was.

Still, she somehow snatched the little box with the seed inside of it; A little glimpse at the brown piece disappointed her, but the little thief knew that it held some kind of value. Now, though, she had to choose: Find a buyer on the upper levels or go for certain at the sleazy brokers from the lower levels. Or try the shady stalls from the villages.

F.T. -” Any advice?”, asked Four-Two after they racketed their head for a few minutes now. “ I feel that going to the surface would take longer, but it’s the safer option.”

Savan -” Maybe…but try to put yourself in her, eh missing, shoes. What would the girl do?” replied befuddled the Guide, who for a while now stopped paying their full attention to the guiding.

F.T. -” Uhm…what happens if we fail?”, to which Savan shrugged.

Savan -” Memory loss. We’ll either alter it or destroy it completely.”

F.T -” And won’t th-”

Savan -” Let’s deal with that if we’re ever going to get to it, ok?”

…

Another ten years later, Savan’s group was still walking around, aimlessly following a young woman, now just waiting for the moment she became a C.T.D. After the failed attempt at selling the seed, the girl was arrested and put into a labor camp, one where she was forced to dig for minerals. There, after entering in multiple scuffles she was scouted and moved to a training camp to be transformed into a local peacekeeper; a grunt-level officer, used mostly as a beating stick by the upper levels.

Multiple attempts to escape and dozens of cases of disrespecting her superiors brought her into the C.T.D. program. Her mind was broken through several procedures of removing unneeded limbs and other body parts- necessary material for reviving the fauna in the Playground.

Savan -” Not surprising”, they said, who was the only one who didn’t seem grossed out by the operation. “ At least this means that we are close to the end”. But then something astray came their way. It wasn’t weird for the patients to be able to interact with the divers, but something was different this time. An incorporeal voice rumbled from the shadows, echoing all over the place until it found the girl’s limbless body.

C.T.D -” So this is how you do it…”, said the memberless girl, cackling like a witch. “ I thought this would be just an information-gathering mission, but it seems that I have power here. Even as a copy, I still hold ownership over this mind, huh?.” The dead plants and cut limbs flew towards her, forming a twirl of dead mass around the woman. Her hands and limbs grew back while the mass formed into shapes of cannons, guns, and a heavily modified sniper rifle. Its barrel could bend and retract, while it floated around the user.

Savan -” RUN!” they screamed to the team, unsure of what was going on. “ For now go back into the previous memories!”

Before the others could even comprehend what was going on, the Guide used whatever tricks they learned to summon a larger version of Vivar’s shield to cover them from the rain of plant bullets the woman just launched. The shield handled the first few shots, but in a matter of moments, was torn to shreds.

The clopies ran like crazy, jumping from one backdrop to another, one memory to the next one. At some point, Savan noticed something that slipped by them. Some of the background characters were doing the same activities, in the same outfits during previous memories. It was an easy mistake to miss, especially since they had to do the guidance in terms of years, but still.

Savan -” Is this a manufactured mind? Or something stitched together?” The clopy then let out a frustrated yell, which scared the other clopies: ” I’m such a dumbass!” Savan then spawned some of Billy’s special grenades, which proved to be useless against the lord of this mind, except for the ones that smoke bombs. With this small distraction, the Guide quickly accessed some terminals, making some preparations: “ Four-Two, prepare for a forced ejection! I’ve already let the outside know that we need to shut her down!”

The clopy didn’t understand a thing of what they said but nodded nonetheless. Savan was the expert after all.

C.T.D -” Found ya!”, the woman screamed, while falling through some tiles, killing a lot of passersby and a younger version of herself as collateral as well. Her surprise attack worked against the intruders as well, though, as two of the clopies were skewered by the barrage of bullets. Their forms started to wither, then expand, changing mass, color, and height at random.

Before the woman could take her to shoot against the three clopies that remained, a lighting suddenly struck her, leaving her body catatonic. Next up, the worlds started to shine in a blue light and become smaller, and smaller- The forced expulsion had begun.

On the outside, Four-Two and the other remaining clopy hyperventilated, while their bodies trembled like crazy. Savan wasn’t in better shape, but they still managed to get on their feet. Melina grabbed them, thinking they might fall-

Vivar -” What the hell happened, Savan?”, asked a concerned Vivar who just checked the bodies of the two who were shot in the mindscape. “ Those two started convulsing and the C.T.D started moving like crazy, attacking everything around it like crazy!”

Savan looked around and noticed the signs of struggle. Then saw the cuts on Melina.

Savan -” A…trap. That wasn’t a real C.T.D. I think it was a mind made from the memories of multiple people. A trap, glued together to find out how we remove the C.T.Ds from their control.”

Vivar -” And…why did it-”

Savan -” She took the opportunity to destroy us since the Guidance wouldn’t have worked on her. I’m guessing she thought she could destroy our operators while also-” Then the clopy realized something. “They have a way to transmit information to the outside. Crap!”

Savan ran to the second C.T.D. and prepared the cables necessary to connect.