Chapter Text
The cast all followed Kinger to the main common room. As they walked, Kinger explained a little more about what he was able to do and how it might work. Pomni didn’t pay to much attention though, she instead was looking at all of the red x’s marked on each door, imaging what they could possibly find out if they had access to their brain files.
“Do you think we should tell Caine about this? He might be able to help.” Ragatha asked Kinger.
“He might be able to, he was the one who first got access to our names and lives outside. I’m just worried about how he’ll react when I ask for a computer.”
They all realized what Kinger meant by that. Knowing Caine, if he sees another computer he’s gonna think that he’s gonna get deleted again.
“If we let Caine know what our plan is then he won’t think about it too much, right?”
“I hope so.”
Everyone agreed that they would instead head to the big tent that they made instead of the couches so Kinger has somewhere darker to work. One great thing about life in the circus so far is that Kinger has gained some sense of his mind back. He’s not always forgetting everything or getting scared by anyone, other than every once in a while of course, it’d be weird if he completely changed.
As they walked to the entrance of the tent Kinger paused to look at Pomni.
“Do you think you’re able to grab the same computer you found before. It worked great and I think it’d be very useful again.” Kinger asked and of course Pomni immediately agreed.
It’s not like she’d say no, they needed the computer if they wanted to continue with this plan. If having to go back through that exit door twice was already hard, what would having to go back a third time be like?
She pushed this thought away and walked to where she stood the very first time she found the door. Her first day at the circus. She didn’t even bother looking at herself in the mirror this time, it really wouldn’t do any good anyway.
She stood still and stared at the circus grounds in front of her. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and imagined the exit door appearing in front of her. She wasn’t too sure how she brought it back before, she thought she just got lucky, there’s no reason she couldn’t make it appear again.
She opened her eyes hoping to see the door only to find. Wait? Did I do it wrong? Where’s the door?
Pomni slightly panicked as she never had trouble making the door spawn before. She has to be doing it wrong.
She closed her eyes again and put all of her focus on that red exit door. She imagined it right in front of her and after taking one more deep breath she opened her eyes to see that it once again was not there.
‘No no! Please! What am I doing wrong?’ Pomni looked around, panicking a little more, ‘This is the right place, I'm sure, the monkeys, the mirror, what am I missing?’
She tried walking around and trying again in a new spot, holding her eyes closed for longer, she even tried chanting the exit door to spawn, nothing she did worked. Does Caine have something to do with this? At this point the others are probably wondering what’s taking her so long. She’s gonna have to tell everyone the bad news that she can’t find the door. This made Pomni severely mad, the others probably will be able to forget about this but not her. She has to find another way.
She made it back to the tent to find everyone sitting in a circle on some pillows.
“Hey Pomni, did you find it?” Ragatha stood up and walked over to her.
“No, I couldn’t find the door, or well—I couldn’t make it appear.” Pomni sat down next to Kinger disappointedly, “When I first found the computer it was easily able to make the door spawn, but now I can’t, I’m probably doing something wrong I just don’t know what.” Pomni placed her hands over her eyes, the obvious fear showed on her that she might have just messed up something else again.
“It’s ok Pomni,” Kinger placed his hand on her shoulder reassuringly, “I’m sure we—“
“Aha! There you all are!” Caine appeared in front of the draped curtains at the entrance of the tent. “I was looking through old junk I’ve collected over time in my office and I’ve found some random stuff I’m sure you all might like!”
Caine took off his hat and started grabbing stuff out of it. A teddy bear, a shovel, a microphone, a bugle, and a pair of roller skates. As he placed the objects on the floor, Caine looked around to see no one seemed to be in a good mood.
“Hey Caine, I have a question.” Pomni glanced his way, straightening herself up.
“Yyyyeeessss? If you don’t like what I found I’m sure I could find a way to combine them to make it some really cool wonky machine!”
“No, I was wondering, do you remember the exit door? Like—uh—the one I first saw before?”
Caine tapped his chin while he looked up, seemingly trying to remember what she was talking about. “Ah yes! That digital hallucination! I remember just how obsessed you were with it on your first day here. Is that the question or?”
“My question is,” Pomni spoke up to cut him off from rambling again, “what happened to it? It’s just, I haven’t seen it at all, and I’m just wondering if it’s still here or not?” Pomni tried to put on the best innocent looking face she could muster. But then again she apparently had the worst lying face and she wasn’t too sure she would get through to Caine.
“Well I’m about 78.57 percent sure I got rid of it. I mean I’m not too sure, but when yall started accepting the circus more and I heard you stop talking about wanting to leave I assumed I could just simply delete it.” Caine looked down to see Pomni, her fists were clenched as she tried not to react to what she just heard.
Everyone looked at each other, how were they supposed to do anything now?
Ragatha raised her hand slightly, “Are you able to add it back? Maybe?” Ragatha asked a little nervously, she wasn’t sure how to go about this question.
“Why would you all want the door back? I thought you all were fine here now?” Caine kept rambling about how his offers weren’t enough as everyone looked at each other horrified, they knew they should just tell him, but how would he react?
“Caine!” Zooble interrupted, “We don’t care about the door. We care about what we found inside the door, we need a computer system for what we were trying to do.”
“A..computer..” Caine stopped moving and just started forward.
“Not for what you think!” Ragatha spoke up, “It doesn’t involve you, we just wanted to—uh—“
“We want to view the files of those who’s abstracted.” Pomni took over from Ragatha, “We thought that if Kinger found a way to access them he could find a way to break through the corruption to view the data.”
Caine lowered himself down closer to the floor, still slightly floating above it, “Why the abstracted? Wouldn’t you rather view your files? I mean I thought I found enough information for you all but I understand if it wasn’t enough.”
“We want to know more about them I guess.” Pomni looked at everyone else as they nodded along. “It hurts to know that they weren’t able to know anything about their life outside. If they don’t get to know at least someone should, right?”
Caine took a moment to take this in. It’s never something that has been requested before. Then again, the circus has changed a lot. If Caine wants to fulfill his promise to make this place better for everyone he should go through with this last request.
“I understand your request.” Caine placed his hands together, shifting slightly back and forth, “I’m just not sure myself if it will work. I know I’m not the one with any knowledge of computer science, I was just created using it. Believe me, I have tried everything to bring back abstractions myself.”
“It’s alright if we can’t bring them back, I think we’ve all accepted that.” Zooble spoke up.
‘Not everyone..’ Pomni thought to herself.
“Do you have a computer system we can use Caine?” Kinger stood up, “You should have something close to one in your office for whenever you update.”
“Wait, Caine updates?” Ragatha asked. I guess he is an AI. It makes sense he probably can't work properly forever and needs to update his software.
“I haven’t used it in a while. Probably stored it away with all of my other wacky stuff. You all hang tight here while I go look for it! Give me about, let’s say, 10 minutes!” With that Caine snapped his fingers and disappeared most likely to his office.
“Well it’s great we have Caine on our side at least,” Ragatha encouraged, “I was really worried for a second he would get angry with our request.”
Pomni agreed with that. If Caine forbidden them access to any sort of computer she would have gone crazy. The more she thought about what they were gonna do, the more curious she became of other abstracted members. Sure, at first she just wanted to do this for Jax, but she really also wanted to learn about his past friends, and even Klinger's wife.
Everyone was quietly talking amongst themselves as they waited for Caine's return. Pomni quietly excused herself from the group, making some excuse that she was gonna grab something from her room, and excited the tent.
Pomni walked the opposite direction of the rooms instead. She knew where she was going, she didn't know why she couldn’t just tell the others, it’s not like they have never been here before.
Seeing as she made it to her destination, she pushed open the door in front of her that led to the loser lounge, which was now the aquarium where all of the abstracted stay.
At first, she visited this place multiple times a day, just staring at the array of colors swimming around in the waters in front of her. She never knew exactly which one was once the purple rabbit her mind can’t seem to forget about. Upon sitting down she looks around and just hopes that one of them gives her a sign of who they are.
“I wonder if you guys still have a mind of your own?”
“I’m sure they do.”
Pomni shrieked as Kinger suddenly spawned behind her. How does she never hear him coming?
“Kinger? What are you doing here? You scared the shit out of me!”
“I was planning on heading over here before Caine arrived, I wanted to visit my wife again.” Linger didn’t seem bothered by the fact that Pomni had lied to him about where she was heading.
“Hey, um, Kinger..” Pomni grabbed his attention as he turned to look at her, “Did you mean what you said? That they still have a mind of their own?”
“Oh that! Well there’s no way to fully be sure. Usually whenever I’m here though I can tell which one my wife is. She’s always the first one to say hi to me. Here watch this.” Kinger stood up and walked over to the glass, he placed his hand in front of him and leaned his forehead against the glass wall.
Pomni wasn’t to sure what was about to happen. Until suddenly, one abstraction came from up above and looked directly at Kinger.
“Look Pomni! There she is!” Kinger took his hand down and stared at his wife who seemed to be staring back. This really could be Queenie, Pomni believes it. They all look pretty similar, but no one else was going to the glass.
“Hello Queenie. Caine was going to find a computer system for us. I really do hope I can figure out a way to find all of the files. I’d love the rest of the members to learn just how wonderful you were.”
Oh god. This was gonna make Pomni tear up. Seeing how hopeful Kinger still is while he stands in front of his abstracted wife breaks her heart. She can’t even imagine how painful it must’ve been for him all of these years.
Longer turned back and waved for Pomni to come over. She got up and headed towards where Kinger stood. “Here is Pomni, I’ve told you about her before,” Pomni smiled and looked up at the ablation in front of her. Suddenly it moved away from linger and came to stare directly at her. Pomni was shocked by this and accidentally took a step back.
“She likes you. I can imagine, if she was still here, just how much you’d mean to her.”
Pomni looked up at Kinger, a small smile tugging on her face. Suddenly an idea came to her head. Could Jax know that she's here? He’s been in the aquarium for a bit now. After leaving him in the tent for a couple weeks, He would be asleep every time Pomni would come check up on him. She agreed at first when the others suggested putting him in the aquarium as well, so he could be with everyone else. Thinking back she realizes how much she regrets that decision. Sure, he’s with Ribbit and Kaufmo now. She just can never see him up close again.
“It’s been about 10 minutes now, I’m gonna head back and see if Caine is ready. You wanna come with me?” Kinger turned toward the exit and waited for her response.
“I’ll be there in a second.” Kinger nodded at this and made his way back to the tent.
‘Jax.. have you known all along it was me with you?’
Pomni placed her hand on the glass once more, with Kingers exit Queenie swam away as well. Should she call out for Jax? It would be pointless, wouldn’t it. She’s been here many times before and no abstraction has taken any notice of her.
“Jax. I’m not sure if you can hear me. But I’m here, I will be here at least, everyday.” Pomni took her hand off the glass, this is stupid. Each abstraction was doing their own thing, none were paying attention to her.
“I miss you..” Pomni said a little quieter. “I hate to imagine you're doing better now. But knowing just how much you were struggling before maybe it’s possible.”
Pomni backed away from the glass. Noticing how nothing new was happening she quickly headed back out to join everyone else in the tent.
Just as the door shut, one abstraction came up to the glass. It looked like it was looking for something, or someone. Noticing how no one was there anymore it swam away.
Pomni walked into the tent just in time to see Caine with his computer system. It definitely was more advanced than that old crappy one she found before. Maybe that means there's a better chance this plan could work. It was placed on a couple of cushions in the center of the tent. Kinger went up to it immediately, taking in the look of it and all of the controls connected to it.
“I hope this is what y’all has in mind. Took me a little while longer than I hoped for to find it. If you want I can leave you all alone while you start.”
“No, I think you should stay Caine.” Kinger looked up at him, “I know you mentioned having less power than before, but if I am able to figure anything out I want to see how it also affects you.”
Caine understood this and sat down on one of the pillow cushions a little further away. Everyone else gathered around Kinger as he turned on the computer.
“Hey Caine,” Ragatha turned around to face him, “How did you even gain access to our names? Or is that something you’ve always had.”
“I—uhh..” Caine stumbled on his words, unknowing how to go about it. “When you first arrive, yes, your real names are part of the brain copy and your file. I’m not sure why it’s something that is forgotten by you all but I’ve always had access to it.”
Everyone, except Kinger, stopped what they were doing and all looked at Caine. He’s always had access to our names.. He’s just been hiding them from us
“You mean to say you’ve purposely hid all of this information from us?” Zooble spoke up. Gangle touched their shoulders trying to calm them down. They know Caine was messed up, they’ve forgiven him and he knows himself that all along he was making this place terrible. Reminding him again wouldn’t do any better.
“It was pretty much my only purpose, to make sure you guys could survive here. I quickly learned just how much I failed when someone first abstracted. I thought if you knew who you were outside that would make you all want out even more. So I always kept that away. BUT! You all know and you’re still alright! Haha!”
Caine laughed loudly, clearly trying to change the subject. He was right, It’s not really a big deal any more. It’s still crazy to know that this wasn’t even locked up information. He’s just been hiding it away.
“So you’ve always had the information of those from the past? Don’t you remember any of it?” Zooble questioned.
“Well..Sadly not. Old, cruel me would just toss it aside. I’m a changed man now guys I promise!” Pomni could tell how hard Caine was trying to make himself not look bad anymore.
“It’s alright Caine,” Pomni reassured, “We already forgave you for how you were before. We won’t hang up on you again for it.”
“That’s great to hear! Gee, I was worried there for a sec.”
“I think I got something.” Everyone whipped their heads around to face Kinger. Did he find something? Everyone seemed to forget about what they were thinking about before as they stared at Kinger typing away expeditiously.
Pomni could barely tell what she herself was seeing on the screen in front of her. Different monochromatic colors of green filled the screen as new bars of codes appeared and disappeared. Text started flickering in and out of the screen as Kinger picked up his typing pace. Was this what it was like when they tried to fix Caine?
When the screen turned pitch black everyone mentally panicked. But then suddenly everything came back. Instead of a bunch of code now, multiple files were visible along the screen.
“No way..” Zooble gasped, “I can’t believe this worked.”
“I’m not done yet. These are our files, our names and past memories.” Kinger scrolled through each one. He was right. Pomni saw her name, her real name, Abigail Brooks, on one of the files. If he struggled that much just to find us, how possible is it to find the others?
Kinger tried opening up one of the files, but to his dismay it wouldn’t open. Caine floated above the group to get a closer look. Looking up at Caine, Pomni could tell he was thinking hard about something. Like he was trying to remember something important. He uses this computer system to update himself, could that be related to what they have to do?
Pomni looked up, “Caine. When you use this to update, how does it work?”
“Ah gee, it’s been a while. If I can remember though, the computer screen would just scan my face and I’d be all set to power down and update.”
A scanner. That makes a lot more sense. Maybe if this system can scan them they’ll be able to open each file.
“Can it scan me, maybe? Maybe if it scans my face it will open my file.”
“I don’t have any idea why it won’t work. Give it a try!” Caine and the others inched back away as Pomni sat in front of the screen. Caine came beside her and typed a few things into the computer.
“There, now sit still and look forward.” Caine backed away and made sure the others were not too close to the screen.
Looking at the screen, Pomni saw a red laser shoot out and quickly scan her face. She couldn’t tell if it actually came out of the screen or if she was just visualizing it did. A loading bar appeared and started to slowly move. Pomni was extremely curious as to what was about to happen. What is even contained in these files?
Just as her curiosity was about to get the best of her, her vision started to get blurry. She leaned forward trying to hold onto something but it was too late as she had already blacked out.