Chase returned to the kitchen to find three foes locked in the throes of vicious combat. Tom, Jessica, and the wall, all showing equal dogged determination not to be the first to blink. Truly, a battle for the ages that he promptly interrupted by slamming his notebook down on the table.
“What the hell dude? Gonna give me a heart attack at this rate.” Tom complained.
“Aren’t you on the crew team? Didn’t think your heart was that fragile.” Chase said.
“Doesn’t make me immune to jumpscares, bro.”
“What’s with the notebook? And the dramatic entrance, but mostly the notebook.” Jessica cut in.
“This!” Chase began grandly. “This is the solution to our woes of ignorance! We will be saved from our doubts by the power of the written word!”
Jessica leveled a flat look. “You want to write down what we’ve figured out.”
“And do this neat little thing called proposing an explanation based on our observations as a basis for further testing. Super hip new thing, I think it’s really gonna catch on. Pretty sure it was called a hypo thesis? Not sure on the pronunciation there.”
Jessica’s look somehow got flatter. “You are exhausting.”
“Agreed.” Tom chimed in.
“Philistines.” Chase snorted. “Anyway. Consider this notebook Exhibit A. I’ve been writing in it almost every night since this whole thing started. It’s the best we’ve got as a record of our time here, unless either of you were taking notes?”
Tom shook his head. “Been kinda wrapped up just processing it all and trying to help the maintenance guys keep things running.”
Jessica nodded. “I haven’t been keeping anything like a journal either. So, what does it say?”
Chase grinned. “First and most importantly, an observation.” He opened the notebook to the first page, revealing his uneven scrawl and pointing to it triumphantly. “It says anything at all. If everything was being reset every night, wouldn’t this just revert to a blank page?”
“Hey, yeah, that’s right. And I made a new playlist a bit after we got stuck here, trying to keep my spirits up, y’know? It’s still there, didn’t have to remake it or anything.” Tom said.
“See? Corroboration!” Chase leveled a fist at Tom that the larger man reluctantly bumped.
“So,” Jessica said. “Whatever effect is causing things to reset and restock, it’s selective? Maybe it just messes with basic supplies like food?”
“Definitely a possibility. I’ll write it down.” Chase reached for his pen, only to find it snatched away. His glare was not very effective in getting Jessica to give up her prize.
“I’ll write it down. We want people other than you to be able to decipher it, Chase.”
“Hey, that’s… honestly fair. I swear it comes in handy for writing unflattering notes without the person I’m interviewing picking up on it.”
“Truly a talent the world cannot live without.” Jessica riposted. Chase couldn’t help but grin a bit. How have we never hung out before, this is some quality banter! Jessica made a few notations on a new page before turning back to the two others at the table. “Okay, we’ve got this notebook and Tom’s playlist immune to being rewound, but bread and mac and cheese are apparently fair game. Anything else either of you have noticed?”
“Now that you mention it,” Tom began. “I’ve been helping out the maintenance folks here and there, yeah? Gotta pull my weight somehow, and I can handle myself with home repairs. Well, I remember them complaining that there would be so much laundry to do since no one’s got any spare clothes. Only, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve passed by the laundry room and seen it running.”
“Could there be other laundry rooms? Some bigger central one?” Jessica asked, eyes sharp.
Tom shrugged. “Maybe, but if they’re in the central areas no one but the senior staff and the researchers are getting in. Still a fair number of us left out here that would need clean sheets and clothes.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Huh, you’ve got a point.” Chase said. “I don’t think I’ve washed my sheets or clothes since we’ve been here. And judging by that pinched expression, Jess is realizing the same thing right about now.”
“Shut up.” Her face was conspiring to go both red in embarrassment and green in disgust at the same time, averaging out to a vaguely jaundiced pallor. “Writing it down. What else?”
“Water.” Chase said. “If we’re as cut off as we think we seem to be, there’s no way we’d still have running water after all this time, even with emergency supplies. But no one’s even brought up the idea of rationing and the showers still work just fine.”
Jessica frowned as she scribbled it down. “That feels like something different, something extra. There can’t have been that much water in the pipes, not enough to sustain all of us living on site. Do… do you think the water pipes are still somehow connected to the outside world, outside the sphere!?”
Chase sat bolt upright. “Holy shit. Could it really be something so obvious? Can we get a message out somehow?”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Tom interrupted. “But at the very least, it’s not that simple. Electricity’s in the same situation. I’m sure a place like this has backup generators, but I’ve seen the breaker room and I know it’s still working as normal.”
“So electricity and water are coming in somehow. But how?” Jessica made a new column and jotted down the two anomalies.
“Wastewater would have to be going out, too.” Tom added. “Could be worth looking into.”
The three students paused, considering the list they’d made. Honestly not much to go on, but I’ve pursued stories with less. It’s definitely strange though. Well, strange almost goes without saying, what with the mp3 visualizer sphere we’re trapped inside of. Focus. How would all of these factors coexist? I don’t think I know enough science to answer that question. Okay, then why would all of these factors coexist?
Chase went still. It wasn’t scientific, it didn’t explain any of the mechanisms that made their bizarre imprisonment possible. But it did explain motive, and the word imprisonment was key. If you wanted to keep prisoners alive, you had to provide for their needs of food, water, and basic utilities. Set up a nice little automated system to take care of all of that and let it run. Of course, it would still need time to run, so just pick a few minutes no one would miss in the middle of the night. As an added layer of security, you can make it almost unnoticeable! And of course you don’t reset the things your prisoners have been interacting with, that would clue them in. Just take care of the necessities and let everything else run its normal course.
It made sense. It made too much sense, to the point that Chase was almost afraid to put it into words. If these mystery jailors were listening in, he was sure they’d object to their scheme being out in the open. Chase did not want to know what form the objections of people who could clearly do the impossible would take. At the same time, he knew he couldn’t keep this a secret. It went against every journalistic instinct he had, and besides, this was not something he’d be able to deal with on his own.
“Hypothetically,” Chase began hesitantly, staring at the wall. “Let’s say you’re a zookeeper. You just received a new population of a rare animal with a very specific habitat and established habits. These animals are known for being naturally curious and skittish if they know they’re in captivity, being observed. Luckily, you have a great exhibit designed that’s just like a slice of home for them, and all you need to do is give them some kind of big, flashy distraction and take care of their basic needs. The little scamps probably won’t even notice you’re there, they’ll be so intent on figuring out how the puzzle works. You’ll just have to subtly take care of keeping them fed, watered, and clean and you’ll have it made. You’ll be happy, your zoo’s visitors will be happy, and even the animals will be happy.”
One look back to the table let Chase know that Tom and Jess had picked up on his not so subtle subtext. Tom’s fists were clenched tight and Jess had both hands clapped over her mouth, eyes wide in horror. Chase nodded grimly.
“It’s just a hypothesis. I’m no scientist, I have no idea how any of it could happen and could never figure it out, but I know stories, and people, and how to ask questions. Proving it,” Chase let out a gusty breath. “I don’t even know if we should, much less where to start.”
“We - we’re just lab rats.” Jess whispered. “How - why?”
Chase shook his head. “Impossible questions, at least for now. Like I said, it’s a hypothesis. I could be wrong. I hope I’m wrong. But it makes too much sense to dismiss it out of hand.”
“We have to tell them.” Tom gritted out through clenched teeth. “The researchers, the staff - everyone. They deserve to know.”
“I’m not disagreeing, but we need to be careful. For all we know, we could be a glorified bacterial culture in a Petri dish. Maybe that makes us below their notice, maybe the systems taking care of us are all automatic, but can we afford to take that chance?” Even as he cautioned against it, Chase felt a sudden urge. The French called it l’appel du vide, the call of the void. That impulsive, self-destructive urge to jump at the edge of a cliff or jerk the steering wheel into oncoming traffic. He could blame it on morbid curiosity, or a chance to immediately prove or disprove his zookeeper theory. Whatever the reason, he couldn’t resist as he dramatically rose to his feet and pointed at the ceiling.
“Hey you! Yeah, you! I know you’re there! Probably think you’re so clever, setting things up like this, keeping us all in the dark. Well guess what! We know you’re there! We know you’re watching! I see you, man behind the curtain!”
The ceiling did not reply.
“Huh. I really thought that would be more climactic.”
There was a lot of yelling after that.