[Tick, tick, tick goes the diagnostic, running remotely in some peripheral of his awareness. There's some dual not-memory there under the report feedback: the touch of a hand and the right voice asking him where to go and some battered unbroken memory roiling to the surface under that sizzling, terrifying touch.
This isn't like that even where it is. He watches the diagnostic unrolling inside him and thinks he should be mortified to see it happening without his input. But somewhere - where is confused, a scattering sensory feedback loop - there is touch and it is cool, a soft spinning gold, a humming steady vibrance. Markus, is that you? he thinks or says, before realizing they've already determined that.
He's confused, thinks a remote part of him capable of looking down at himself and the diagnostic reading and the timer blinking down. But that makes sense. He shot himself in the head, didn't he? It's the first clear thought he's had, buried in the literal warm sensation of Markus' attention. It's like being reminded - you are a person.
The second clear thought is:]
They're leaving? Why? [The diagnostic has finished and the sensation with it and that's fine until the spatial readings on Markus' voice say moving away. The fear is strangling and flattening.] Markus? Where are you going?
no subject
This isn't like that even where it is. He watches the diagnostic unrolling inside him and thinks he should be mortified to see it happening without his input. But somewhere - where is confused, a scattering sensory feedback loop - there is touch and it is cool, a soft spinning gold, a humming steady vibrance. Markus, is that you? he thinks or says, before realizing they've already determined that.
He's confused, thinks a remote part of him capable of looking down at himself and the diagnostic reading and the timer blinking down. But that makes sense. He shot himself in the head, didn't he? It's the first clear thought he's had, buried in the literal warm sensation of Markus' attention. It's like being reminded - you are a person.
The second clear thought is:]
They're leaving? Why? [The diagnostic has finished and the sensation with it and that's fine until the spatial readings on Markus' voice say moving away. The fear is strangling and flattening.] Markus? Where are you going?