The lobby of the archives building is clean and sleek. No decorations. Just a big desk at the center of the space, directly in front of the entrance.
I walk straight toward the main desk, where a very old lady with big, thick glasses sits and watches a hologram. I clear my throat.
"Ma'am," I whisper. She doesn't move.
"Ma'am!" I whisper, this time a little bit louder. Still, no movement.
"Excuse me, MA'AM," I say, as loud as I can while still sort of whispering.
At this, she looks up, visibly annoyed and puts her finger to her mouth and responds, "Shhhh." Then she points behind her.
I roll my eyes and sigh. She can't even say hello? Smile? Anything?
She goes back to being all-consumed by whatever it is that she's watching - it looks like a movie. So, I walk over to where she pointed, which is toward the elevator. It sits directly behind her.
As I approach the elevator, I notice that there's no button to call it. I see a small pad to the side of it and press it with my index finger. Nothing happens. Then, I try my thumb. Again, nothing happens. I look back at the lady watching her movie and feel frustrated that she's ignoring me. How am I supposed to know how to use this thing?
Then, I stick my entire hand, palm facing down, onto the pad, and the elevator doors swing open, ready to take me where I need to go. I step inside and again place my entire right hand, palm-down, on another black pad inside the elevator.
This time, I see two buttons, one labeled "L" and one labeled "M". I assume "L" is for lobby and "M" is for main? I keep my palm facing down on the pad and press the button labeled "M" at the same time.
The doors close and whisk me downward. When they open again, I'm staring into a dark room with rows and rows of skinny, metallic shelves. I step outside of the elevator and the doors snap shut behind me.
It is very dark and cold down here - like a cave. I smile to myself as I stand inside of it for the first time, thinking about what Rex said earlier. I wonder if I'll catch anyone "getting down and dirty" as Rex said. It's so cold! How could people even enjoy doing that in here?
There are very few lights. The glow of people's hologram tablets is what keeps the space from being pitch black. And I see only a couple of those in the distance. The space is mostly empty at the moment.
I walk up to one of the metallic shelves and notice that it is meticulously labeled and has outlets underneath each of the labels for me to plug-in my hologram tablet.
Each shelf has a black pad on it as well. I assume that in order to access any content, I must first be scanned, to ensure that anyone outside of the Squad is not trying to break-in and access information that they shouldn't be seeing.
The shelves are organized by people's last names, first - like a phonebook of sorts. There are so many people's memories in here!
I walk over to the "M" section and look for Malik - Zayn's last name. I can't help it - I want to see if I can find anything interesting about him.
I finally find Malik and sift through all of the names, until I find Zayn's name. There are other Zayns, but they're spelled differently. "Zain" and "Xain" and "Zane" - but only one name spelled Z-A-Y-N.
I grab my tablet and plug it in. It lights up, asking me if I want to access specific memories of Zayn's or download everything that's currently on file. I don't really have time to sift through everything, so I just push "Download All" and Zayn's memories begin downloading onto my tablet. I wonder what I'm going to find out, I think to myself.
After the chunk of memories is downloaded, I unplug my tablet. Next, I go to the section labeled "I" and search for "Ishma" - my last name. I search and search for Lola - my mother's name - and Kromo - my father's name - but I can't find either of them.
I'm crumple to the floor in the middle of an aisle, completely deflated.
Then, I notice a big black door in the corner of the room that says "Restricted" in faint, red lettering. There is a black pad next to it. I look around to make sure that no one's watching and then I tip-toe toward the door place my hand on the black pad, but it scans me and then says "Access Denied."
I wonder what's in there.
The door starts to open, and I jump behind a nearby shelf to hide. A shadowy figure, dressed in long, black robes and with long, blonde hair emerges. Pia. She looks around to ensure that no one sees her and then scurries off.
Just before the door shuts completely, I catch it with my foot. I, too, look around to see if anyone is watching me, and when I don't notice anyone, I slip inside.
I'm now in a room probably twice the size of the main room. The layout is similar, and the titles of the rows are still organized alphabetically, by last name.
I head toward the section titled "I" and again, search for Lola Ishma and Kromo Ishma.
I find both of them this time! I plug in my tablet and push the button to download all of my mom's memories, but an error message pops-up. I then try to download my dad's memories and again, an error message pops-up.
I wait a few more seconds and still, nothing happens. Just continuous error messages. Then I remember - I didn't scan my palm for this section.
I walk back over to the front of the shelf, but I notice two pads instead of one. I place both my hands down, one palm on each pad, and an alarm begins to ring.
"INTRUDER! INTRUDER! INTRUDER!" yells a robotic-sounding voice.
I panic. I'm not even supposed to be in here in the first place. I dash toward the door, but it begins to open before I reach it, so I hurl myself into the door to my right and lock the room. It's a VR booth.
The person who has just entered the restricted room turns the siren off. I can see a small light - most likely a flashlight - shining through the tiny space underneath the door.
"No one's here," I hear the voice say. "Must be a false alarm."
"Fine, thank you," says a voice on the other end of what I'm guessing is an arm device.
The person leaves. But I spend a few more minutes in the VR booth. I wonder why this is here. Is it possible to experience some of these memories through virtual reality? So that you are actually reliving the memory as if it's yours?
If that's possible, then wouldn't that cause some people to confuse which memories are theirs and which are other people's? What if people start to imagine past lives for themselves that aren't actually theirs? That's so whacky.
I look around to see if there's anywhere to plug my tablet in, but I can't find a space. Then, I notice that there is a tiny card sticking out of the side of the screen.
THUMP!
Something slams against the door. I freeze. Someone says, "Crap, let's go!"
I hear what I think is two sets of footsteps running out of the space.
When I think the space is completely empty, I grab the small card and put it in my pocket and then pop out of the VR booth and slink over to the door to exit the restricted area. I look around to make sure no one is watching and then carefully slide into the main area.
As I'm walking toward the elevator, I hear rustling and again, freeze, ducking behind a nearby shelf.
I peer over the edge and find Eva and Max with half of their clothes off, making-out. They don't even notice me.
What??! I am now officially completely confused. I was sure nothing was going on between them. They act like they're brother and sister. And - I'm not even totally sure that Max even likes girls! But then again, I'm not the best at detecting these sorts of things.
I tip-toe toward the elevator but on my way there see the stairs and decide to take the them instead of the elevator. When I enter the corridor, I notice that someone has just dashed through the door at the top of the staircase. Pia? I race up to see if I can catch who it is.
When I reach the door that leads to the lobby, I quickly, but quietly, open it and poke my head out. I see Pia's sinewy figure running across the lobby and out of the archives. I glance at the main desk - the old lady is no longer there. Odd. I wonder where she is.
I dash across the lobby after Pia and toward the door that leads out of the building. When I make it outside, I see that Pia's about to jump into a blue vehicle. I need to know where she's going. I follow behind her on foot as best as I can without being obvious. She looks back to make sure no one's watching her before she steps into the vehicle. I jump behind the nearest black car, hoping she doesn't notice me.
"Hello Ms. Ishma," a familiar voice says to me. "What are you doing?"
I look up. "Oliver!" I exclaim. "It's so great to see you!"
What are the odds!
"Can you do me a huge favor?" I ask.
"Sure," responds Oli.
"Can you stealthily follow that blue vehicle?" I ask.
Oliver looks at me a bit suspiciously but agrees to do so. "Hop in," he says.
I get into the car and stay low, so that I'm barely visible through the windows. I just need to be able to keep my eye on Pia's vehicle.
Carefully, Oliver follows Pia. Before I know it, he stops, and we are a few yards away from a massive building.
"Is this where you wanted to be taken?" asks Oli. "KORP's Headquarters?"
"This is perfect, Oli," I respond. "Thanks!"
I hop out of the car and slink behind a bush, still keeping my eye on Pia. I watch as Oli waves goodbye and drives off.
KORP HQ, I think to myself. Why is Pia coming here?
I put in the earpiece to my jumpsuit.
"Anika?" I say.
"Yes, dear," she responds. "What can I do ya for?"
"Will my invisible shield work, even though I'm not currently on a special mission?" I ask, hoping for the best.
"Mmm," she responds. "Technically, no. But I think I can buy you ten minutes, without anyone noticin' - cool?"
"Perfect," I respond.
"Okay, you good," Anika says. "Ten minutes."