Chapter Text
“Fe! I’m sorry to bring you here so suddenly. I won’t keep you long, I just need your help for a moment.”
Felix blinked, his sense of balance adjusting to the new space quickly. “Yes? What is it?”
He had responded to Ty before even having assessed his environment. He cleared his throat while recalling his focus, glancing at the computers arranged within the small, white room. He was used to Ty needing his assistance all over the place on a whim, but usually he was courteous enough to give him notice a few moments in advance.
“I’ve been quite busy with unpacking,” Ty explained. “Most of it is already set up, we just have to make sure it’s working as it should.”
He adjusted the small metal pin he wore on his chest. It was meant to mimic the shape of a neuron, which had taken Felix several weeks to realise when had started wearing it. Not many Tys wore accessories, but Copper had always been particularly proud of his department. It didn’t help that he stuck out of the crowd by wearing contacts instead of glasses. When he had first switched to contacts, he’d used to have a habit of pushing up glasses that weren’t there.
Felix nodded slowly, still taking it all in. “Alright. What, uh… What is all this, anyway?”
Warily peering through the window in front of them revealed a large device in the centre of the adjacent room, which created an imposing first impression. The white tube-like structure in the middle resembled the Compound’s MRI machine in some ways, though this one took up a lot more space. There were several large components to it that struck Felix as unusual. The examination table in the middle looked larger than usual. The roughly human-shaped depression on its surface indicated that it could only be used head-first. Various complex structures surrounded the head end of the bed that Felix couldn’t even attempt to guess the function of.
Ty looked at him, momentarily distracted from his previous train of thought. “Have I not shown you yet?” There was a look of surprise on his face, which Felix wasn’t entirely sure was genuine.
Before his assistant could respond, he carried on, discontented. “Hmm. It would appear I have not. You never had the time to come see it.”
Felix disregarded his moping. “Yes, well, what do you need me to do?”
The corners of Ty’s mouth twitched with anticipation. “I could use a hand in keeping an eye on the first test run. I’ll need one of the Mikes for a few moments. Any will do, really. I just don’t know where they keep them nowadays…”
“You don’t—? Didn’t you receive the notice from Taupe?” Felix asked. “The residential cell blocks were moved to the back of the building. Mikeys in the northern sector, Michaels in the western sector.”
Ty tutted as he stared past his assistant, through the glass pane behind him. “Ah, that’s right. They’re not making the renovations very easy to follow, are they? Not everyone can spend hours every week reading update logs. I’m surprised that the coordinates to transport you here haven’t changed since yesterday. They’ve been altered twice just this week.”
“I read the logs every morning. It takes a few minutes.”
Ty smiled at him, his bottom eyelids hardly lifting. “Good thing I have you to keep me in the loop then, isn’t it? Now, we don’t have all day. Please do get moving.” He gestured towards the door.
“Right.” While nodding briefly and sighing quietly enough for Ty not to hear, Felix stepped outside of the room. The plain white walls didn’t make it easy for him to orientate himself, but he knew that Copper’s facility was one of many to be relocated closer to the back to allow for easier access to large numbers of various subjects.
Keeping an eye out for any new posters or photographs along the walls proved unrewarding. Typically, the regularly rotating pictures and other inoffensive décor helped keep the walks through the halls of the Compound at least somewhat exciting. This time, the walls were entirely blank. Fortunately, they would likely be returned once the revision of the Ty Betteridge wing was complete. One of the benefits of working for a time traveling company was a timeless interior design style that hadn’t changed since he’d first been employed here.
He scanned his ID on the card reader and input today’s code to gain access to the block’s symmetrically spaced hallways leading to the cells. Selecting the door of the first Mike that was available at the moment, he firmly knocked three times. After hearing an unintelligible muttering from the other side, which he interpreted as his cue to enter, Felix opened the door and stood in the doorway.
“Mikey? Ty would like to see you.”
Mikey was sitting cross-legged on his bed, his eyes glued to the undecorated wall in front of him before he finally turned his head to look at Felix. “What for?” he demanded.
“The usual,” Felix said. “It’ll take no more than an hour or two. Come on.” His voice had a distinct composure that he had always been aware of but focused on even more so ever since one of the Michaels told him that it was a welcome break from Ty’s rather artificial sound.
Mikey didn’t say anything, nor did he move.
“Mi— “
Sighing dramatically, Mikey lazily pushed himself off the bed. “Okay, okay. I’m coming.”
Felix secretly wished that he had chosen another Mike. This one looked like he’d much rather be alone right now, or at least not in the company of him or his boss. Mikey made his way over to him and he began showing him the way back to Ty.
“Ah, Mike, there you are!” Ty, who had been waiting in the small hallway in front of the machine’s room, smiled cheerfully.
“Mikey,” Mikey corrected.
“Hmm?”
“My name is Mikey, not Mike.” Despite his words, he didn’t sound offended. He spoke matter-of-factly, like it was part of his daily routine.
“Ah, right. I apologise, Mikey.” Ty was going to forget this within the next few moments and Mikey would give up correcting him.
Ty inhaled briefly before continuing. “Now, I’m going to prepare you for a quick brain scan. Nothing painful, I assure you. Have you ever gotten one done before?”
Mikey furrowed his brows for a few seconds to think, looking a little perplexed by the sudden question. “No.” He looked up at Ty. “Unless one of you did one while I wasn’t awake?”
“Alright then, I will explain the process to you shortly.” Ty shot him his best reassuring smile. “You don’t happen to have any metallic objects on you, do you? Not that you should have access to anything that is, but who knows what you’ve gotten up to.”
Mikey glimpsed the magnetic warning signs on the door of the room they were about to enter and grimaced. “No,” he responded flatly. “Not that I know of.”
Mikes didn’t do very well in enclosed spaces, judging by past visits to the MRI. Felix began feeling a little bad for Mikey. He didn’t get much time to consider this thought before Ty carried on, ushering Mikey through the next room. “Excellent. Right through there, please.”
He pressed his handheld intercom and a pen into Felix’s hands. “Could you keep an eye on these for me?” Ty flashed a smile and swiftly followed Mikey, not waiting for an answer. Before closing the door behind him, he signalled for Felix to return to the control room. After carefully clipping Ty’s handset to his belt and sliding the pen into his pocket, Felix complied.
He pressed a button on a nearby desk intercom station to hear their voices clearly, though he only paid attention to the conversation half-heartedly. After his years of working for the Compound, he had picked up a sixth sense for when his assistance was needed. Not that this Mikey was likely to cause much trouble anyways. Once they had adjusted to life in the Compound, they sometimes turned out to be pleasantly uncomplicated! Those kinds were never very high-spirited, but Felix didn’t blame them. Medical environments hardly inspired joviality.
Mikey calmly listened as Ty explained the electrodes and the magnets and the importance of keeping still and relaxing. He sat down on the bed and readily accepted the earplugs he was handed. He was shivering, but he didn’t complain.
While his boss spieled at Mikey and stuck some sort of wires to a hat on his head, Felix attempted to somewhat familiarise himself with the computer set ups in front of him. He would have preferred to get some time to do this before starting the procedure, but that just wasn’t Ty’s style. No one will tell you that there is no time as much as a time traveller.
The metal edge of the table felt cool underneath his forearms. Together with the gentle whirring of the air conditioning and Ty’s ambient one-sided banter, it was a surprisingly grounding environment. He hadn’t realized how much he had needed a moment to just sit down until now. For a second, he felt his focus drift. The all-encompassing white noise soaked into his mind until he no longer saw beyond it.
Starting, he finally caught himself zoning out. Ty was still trying to enthuse Mikey about the procedure. Mikey was now lying on the bed, still refusing to be enthused. Felix wouldn’t have expected anything else.
Only a few moments later, once Ty had finally moved the bed into the machine, he joined Felix in the control room. “We’re all set! Let’s begin. Please keep an eye on Mike. The process should be perfectly safe by now; however, it is the first time that we’re running it since moving it here. Usually, they start squirming and flailing about if something is wrong. This time, you’re here to catch it as soon as it happens!”
Felix got out of his chair with a small groan and approached the window to inspect Mikey’s composure for a moment. His fingers were twitching a little. “Don’t they usually get a panic button of some kind?”
Ty waved his hand dismissively. “No, no, I stopped doing that weeks ago. They kept pressing it after feeling just the slightest bit queasy and they always feel queasy. Overseeing these examinations all by myself hasn’t been easy, Fe. Not to worry, though! You’ll be his panic button this time.”
Felix decided against criticising that practice.
“Oh, and please do make sure that all the collected data is storing properly. There is going to be a lot of information being moved around rather crudely. Neurotechnology’s budget didn’t allow for anything more reliable. Minor losses are to be expected but notify me if anything goes too wrong. It would be a shame if the poor chap spent one hour in there just for the results to be corrupted.” He pointed at a nearby screen.
Noting the currently quiet tracing consoles, Felix nodded uncertainly. “These are… quite a few experimental measures you’ve put in place. It’s not just a regular MRI, is it?”
“Of course not,” Ty stated plainly as he focused on activating the machine and closely observing the screens on his desk. “It utilises some very similar technology, but there is a lot more at play here. Not to mention that the magnet inside is far stronger than ones you find in clinical MRIs. It’s more of an… ultra-high field magnetic and electric encephalic recording and radio-engineering system. U.H.F.M.E. … er, U.H.F.M.E.E.R.R.E.S... Uffmiers? For short?” The machine in the other room suddenly came to life, indicated by the screen in front of him beginning to track the system activity. Mostly muffled electrical sounds came from the other room.
Felix hesitated for a moment. “That’s, uh… It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it?”
Ty sighed dejectedly and loudly enough to make sure that Felix could hear it. “Yes, I just made that up. If you can come up with a better name, please do enlighten me.” His eyes were fixed to the screens in front of him.
Felix chuckled. “We can do some brainstorming later, yeah? I’m not too bad at coming up with names.” He smirked. “You know, it was actually Cole and I that ended up calling it the Dark… Uhm. Actually, I probably shouldn’t be telling you that.”
Ty didn’t respond, instead focusing on his work. Felix continued to stare through the window, making sure to occasionally cast a glance at the screen he was appointed to watch over. Mikey’s right foot twitched every time the intermittent sounds picked back up. Merely his head and the upper half of his torso were submerged. The things around his head were difficult to get a good look at from this angle. The only part he recognised was what he assumed to be the antenna gadget that he forgot the name of. It resembled a large plastic cage around his head; Ty had explained something about it receiving the signals that are used to make images last time. “You said that it was an engineering system.”
There was a moment of silence while Ty finished something on his computer. “Yes? What about it?” His voice was tinged with irritation at being distracted, which was ultimately overshadowed by his irresistible need to blather about his work.
“So, you’re telling me that this device… builds brains…?”
Ty laughed like Felix just said something incredibly endearing. “Oh, no, no! That would be impossible. You can’t simply construct a person from scratch. It’s a vastly different procedure.” He hesitated, thinking about how to explain it. “I’m sure you’ve heard of the ‘Stinky Device’ at this point? CANNONBALL had it at some point, Base played around with it a bit…”
“Yes, I’m very aware of the Stinky device.”
“Good. Unfortunately, I’ve never gotten the chance to see it in action myself. I read the reports though, and I was fascinated! Technology of that calibre would be absolutely groundbreaking for our research programs.”
“You’re trying to rebuild it?” Felix scanned his surroundings, not really impressed by the immense amount of hardware and power apparently required to emulate a pocket-sized gadget.
“Precisely. We never got hold of the device in the Compound, but I have managed to obtain some incomplete manuals from a timeline in which we did. I’m filling the gaps with some additional features. It took a lot of trial and error to get where we are now. It wasn’t cheap. Nor painless.” For the first time since starting up the machine, he looked up and gestured vaguely around the whole room. His gaze was solemn, although not to the extent of hiding his self-satisfied glee.
“Sounds like quite the achievement. I’m surprised that word of your editing tech hasn’t spread yet. I won’t divulge any details, but I know several Tys that would do anything to get their hands on something like that.”
“Well…” Ty’s voice trailed off, his eyes narrowing a little, possibly out of something akin to embarrassment. “You see, I’m not that far yet. Neuro-engineering, or ‘editing’ as you call it, is still in its premature stages and hasn’t gone through nearly as much rigorous testing as the recording equipment has. I have made some remarkable strides if I may say so myself, but it’s certainly not a reliable tool yet. I’d really rather keep the project under wraps until I’ve finished the development.”
Felix nodded, acknowledging that Ty was likely not certain that his idea was going to work out. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to resist making a huge deal about it. “Got it.”
The remaining time passed with little conversation exchanged between the two. It was rather unexciting. There was little to distract him from his slowly growing headache.
As much as it irked him to perform a task as uninvolved as just keeping a superficial eye on some procedure during these busy times, he trusted that Ty wouldn’t have brought him here if it wasn’t important. Besides, editing technology really did sound like a promising prospect for the organisation. Ever since the Stinky Device had been introduced, the overall mood in the Compound had shifted drastically. Felix had not seen the Tys so eager and inspired to try and take full advantage of a new discovery in years. Mint especially would be ecstatic to get his hands on a piece of tech like this.
However, along with the brimming excitement came jealousy and fear and mistrust, too. The overwhelming risk of rogues led to the executive decision to revise the entire Ty Betteridge wing in the end. Restructuring the building and realigning the workforce and everything.
Felix leaned back in his chair, trying to get comfortable. All of their office chairs had been replaced with a new model. It was near indistinguishable, but he didn’t appreciate that the back of this one was just a tad more flexible. He’d almost fallen while leaning back too far more times than he’d like to admit.
It looked as though Mikey had fallen asleep. His fingers had stopped twitching roughly two minutes ago. Had he even realised that his living quarters had been moved across the entire building?
Once Ty finally clapped his hands together and announced that the scan was finished, Felix held back a groan of relief. “Right, then. Everything went smoothly on my end. Final status report looks good, too. Did you get what you needed?”
As he spoke, Ty’s grin bled into his voice. “Yes, I believe so. That went delightfully, didn’t it? Please prepare for transporting Mike back to his quarters.”
Felix nodded briefly. “Will do.”
He was glad to see Copper in good spirits again. He had seemed so stressed the last few times he had passed by him in the halls. Putting all this together could not have been easy. All by himself, no less. Felix was relieved to be able to support him today. Usually, another Ty would have requested his assistance with a much more urgent task before he could have even gotten started on this one.
Selecting the coordinates for the transport, he watched Ty pull Mikey out of the machine and disconnect the wires from his head. Mikey looked exhausted and a bit unsteady on his feet, probably because he was woken up to the sight of Ty Betteridge. As soon as he was dismissed and Ty had left the room, Felix made sure that he had entered the correct, revised coordinates and initiated the transport.
“I’m off, then,” Felix muttered, leaving the control room and approaching Ty with his intercom and pen. “Another Ty wants to see me at some point today, so I better get that taken care of.”
Ty stared at him for a moment, his face blank.
“Did you need anything else?” Felix asked.
“Actually…” Ty began, his brows furrowing as if he was embarrassed to request more. “We know that the machine still works now, which is good. However… I am still lacking the material needed to progress further. Analyses of data from nothing but Mike Walters brains just aren’t efficacious.”
“Ah, I see. Do you want me to look for someone else to scan in storage?”
“Hah, well… I haven’t filled out the necessary forms for that. They’ve been awfully protective of storage specimens recently. Technically, I don’t even have official permission to work with Mikes. I was hoping that, uh, maybe, you…?”
“You… you want to scan my brain?” The question came out a little more exasperated than he meant it to sound. He just hadn’t expected to be on the receiving end of Ty’s medical scrutiny this time. Felix thought it was a tad presumptuous that Ty was even considering the idea.
“Precisely! This is important, Felix.” He paused, lowering his voice to a gentler tone as he took his belongings out of Felix’s hands and placed them on a small shelf next to them. “Besides, don’t you think that you deserve a little break from all this stressing and cleaning up everyone else’s messes? You’ve been taking on workloads for two people at once. You could even take a quick nap in there if you wanted to. Really, it’s very convenient for the both of us!”
“I don’t know, Ty… I can help you get clearance to work with one of the Christophers sometime next week. Those are simple to access.”
Ty was quiet for a moment, narrowing his eyes a tiny bit. “Really, Felix, I don’t know why you’re so hesitant. You do understand that this is not an experimental procedure, yes? You’ve gotten MRIs before? Like I told you, I just need more recordings to study. Recording the signals with minimal interference from one another is proving quite challenging. I assure you; it’s an entirely non-invasive process.”
“So… you’re not going to edit— uhm, engineer… me, are you?”
“Neuro-engineer. Nonsense. Why would I do that?”
Felix frowned. He had a very well-established role in the Compound. One that enjoyed a certain distance from its medical equipment. One that he didn’t like to step out of at a whim. “Well… if I’m in there, who will be my panic button?”
“I’ll provide you with an actual panic button. We still implement them, in fact there are protocols that force us to do so, we just don’t give them to Mikes. Even if we didn’t, you wouldn’t really need one, as we have now established that it runs perfectly fine after being moved.”
Ty exhaled and let his shoulders sink slightly as he continued. “Look, I don’t mean to pressure you. But there’s a deadline coming up really quite soon and I’m already on thin ice with management. If I don’t deliver the results they’re hoping for, they’ll cut my funding. They will not tolerate any stragglers during the revision. We just have to… adapt and overcome.” There was an intense look in his eyes as he said this.
Felix sniffled, still unsure. Getting to lay down for a little while sounded nice, but there were plenty of other tasks he had to wrap up today. Then again, maybe he owed it to Copper after leaving him hanging for so long. If there were pressing matters to attend to, the others would contact him, right?
Felix slowly raised his hands in defeat. “Alright. Okay.” Had he always been this easy to convince or did the bags under his eyes spare Ty the effort of wearing him out this time?
Grinning eagerly, Ty clasped his hands in excitement. “Wonderful! Thank you, Fe. I truly appreciate it. In that case, I’ll need you to take off anything metallic you have on you.”
Right. He forgot about that part. Felix begrudgingly handed over his handset, a watch, his phone, his keys, his wallet, and a small handgun with its holster and placed them next to Ty’s. “There,” he muttered, his apprehension about being leaving the items behind apparent in his voice.
“Any metal belt buckles, zippers, fibres…?”
“No, I believe I’m all set. I don’t wear those to work anymore just in case I’m needed in sectors like these.” He skimmed and signed a consent form that Ty conveniently already had in his pocket.
“So well-prepared! Right through there, then, please.” He gestured towards the same open door he had taken Mikey through.
Felix looked at Ty one last time before following his lead. “Just remember to let me know if someone tries to reach me about an emergency, yeah?”
“Of course!”
Inside was a short passage leading to the magnet room. It was completely empty, aside from two metallic poles, presumably metal detectors, protruding out of the wall. He passed through them without a hitch.
Cool air hit Felix as soon as he entered the magnet room. He wasn’t overly sensitive to the chill, but his arms instinctively crossed at the coldness that went beyond physical temperature. Thanks to the intense ventilation, the air was relatively fresh, even if he could still pick up the lingering scent of indeterminate medical substances.
It was noisier than he had anticipated. The strange, rhythmic chirping from the refrigeration pump was much louder up-close. Only now did he realise that he had never actually stepped foot inside one of these rooms, all he ever did was watch or transport the required subjects. It didn’t feel right to be here.
Ty entered shortly afterwards. “Please sit down. I’ll need to attach some electrodes to your head before we can begin.”
Hesitantly, Felix sat down on the hard, smooth plastic edge of the bed. It was tall enough for only his toes to reach the ground. He was a bit afraid to break something by accident, the whole structure was a lot more intricate now that he could see it in person.
Most of it looked like it was just meant to keep the subject still and comfortable. Or still and uncomfortable, he thought as he noted the large, padded polyester straps hanging off the edges of the bed in several places, most notably around the wrist, ankle, and abdomen areas. Had those always been there? He hadn’t seen Ty use them on Mikey earlier.
“Oh,” Ty, currently setting up a painfully bright lamp in front of him, followed his gaze. “You needn’t worry about those. They’re just a precaution for less inclined patients. Standard procedure for any full-body medical devices in the Compound! Not everyone is as keen on progressing medicine as we are.”
“I know that; I’ve read the protocols,” He huffed. He’d just rarely been this close to the restraints before.
“Of course. Straighten up.”
Felix sat up straight.
Ty placed a hand on top of Felix’s head to keep it still as he slowly began applying gel around different spots on his face, then wiping it off immediately afterwards. The fumes from the alcohol wipes stung in Felix’s eye for just a second or two. He wasn’t sure what Ty was doing and if he asked, he’d probably receive an explanation, but something compelled him to just sit there quietly.
The pump continued incessantly chirping in the background. Aside from it, all he could hear was the soft ruffling of Ty’s shirt, the clacking of his shoes against the tiled floor whenever he shifted his position while nudging Felix’s head to the side, and his own blood flow. Was he hearing his heart thumping or was he just feeling it? For a few moments, he began seriously questioning what the difference between those two sensations was.
Something new being held up in front of him distracted him again. Ty was fiddling with a small piece of plastic connected to a wire. He placed a small dot of gel in its middle and then attached it behind Felix’s ear with some sort of tape.
The pin on Ty’s chest looked strangely pristine. He had worn it for months; there’s no way that he hadn’t gotten a scratch on it yet. Had he iterated the pin from back when he bought it? Felix thought he’d be more sentimental. He’d been quite cross with him for misplacing it not too long ago.
Felix counted six electrodes in total. Two right behind his ears, three around his left eye and the last next to his right one. The adhesive pulled on his skin when Ty stepped out of the way and the stark light in front of him made his eyes squint.
Loosely wrapping measuring tape around Felix’s head, once horizontally and then vertically, Ty noted the correct size of cap he needed and grabbed it from a nearby cabinet. It had several dozens of neatly arranged openings on its surface, allowing for more electrodes to be attached. At least that’s how it worked with Mikey. “This may tousle your hair slightly. You can give it a quick rinse and dry afterwards if you’d like to.”
Mouth set in a hard line, Felix nodded. “Yup.”
Ty pulled the white elastic cap over his scalp. It was a little tight, however not painful. Once Ty had secured the chin strap, he pushed a finger between the band and Felix’s face to make sure it wasn’t too tight. His hand felt eerily cold, the skin leathery even against Felix’s stubble. This wasn’t surprising, but the clinical environment drained the contact of any emotional warmth that Ty’s hands usually held. Frankly, it was intimidating.
One last measurement on his forehead, and Ty appeared satisfied. “There we go,” he muttered under his breath.
Without turning his head, Felix strained his eyes to try and recognize what Ty was grabbing from a surface behind him. It rattled softly as it was brought over to him. More electrodes? That was the step that had come next when he had watched it on Mikey earlier. Ty didn’t bother to show them to him.
Because this Ty didn’t work with human subjects very often, handling people wasn’t exactly his strong suit. Particularly when it came to empathising with those who were less knowledgeable about his department. Not that this was unique behaviour for a Ty Betteridge. Felix was content to let it play out.
There were tips of fingers on his head again, keeping him steady, and making him aware of how much he unconsciously swayed while just sitting still. That wasn’t something that Ty had to do for Mikey. Mikey had kept remarkably still during his scan’s preparations.
The dull edge of something small lightly scraped at the back of his head through one of the cap’s holes, digging through thick curls to find the skin underneath. It would have been kind of relaxing, if Ty didn’t administer the uncomfortably cold gel right afterwards. He could feel it stick to his hair, tugging lightly at the strands when Ty pushed the electrode on top.
Then, the same few steps were repeated, next to the previous electrode. And then, again. And again. And again. Sixty-four times in total.
Ty worked quickly and professionally, without taking breaks or even hesitating. At the end, he gathered the loose wires and clipped them to the lower back of the cap. Other than a few reminders from Ty to stop wincing so much, the time passed by quicker than Felix would have thought. He wasn’t happy about having what felt like several pounds of slime in his hair, so he must have just zoned out. He could feel it squelch under Ty’s hands as he grabbed his head to check it from every angle.
Another, this time stretchier, rubber cap was pulled over his head. “Good to go! You can lie down now; Put in the earplugs and get comfortable. I’ll take care of the rest.” The corners of Ty’s mouth lifted, less than they usually did.
Felix scooted further onto bed, heaving himself into the soft hollow in the middle. Once he slid off his shoes, he swung his legs up and over the edge.
The gel cushioning wasn’t too bad. Without it being too soft, his body sunk into the malleable surface, almost like the shape of the bed was made specifically for his body. Some padding beneath his knees helped ease the dull ache in his lower spine he forgot he had.
After rolling up the earplugs Ty had given him and stuffing them inside his ears, the blood rushing through his head grew louder as they expanded. They worked better than the ones he used to sleep at night. Even though the pump in the room was hardly audible now, it was as if his heartbeat had synchronized with it. Surely, he was just imagining that.
It was an uncomfortable feeling, so he tried to just lie back and relax. While he leaned back, Ty quickly grabbed the wires hanging from Felix’s cap and passed them through a small opening in the head end of the bed.
The headrest of the bed was significantly less soft, presumably to keep the head in place properly. Ty put his hands around the top of his head and his chin to adjust his positioning and motioned for him to keep still.
Ty disappeared from Felix’s field of view for a few moments, returning with a u-shaped plastic frame around some sort of flexible mesh. He made another, this time undecipherable gesture with his hands before pulling the mesh over Felix’s face and fastening it to the table. He could breathe and see fine, but the stretchy and warm and wet material felt unpleasant on his skin. He shot Ty a wary glance. Ty returned his look with a cheerful thumbs up.
After Ty started to press the mesh into parts of his face, Felix realised that he was creating some sort of mould. He had heard about something like this being used in radiotherapy. Even though Ty was relatively gentle, he was working so quickly that Felix pressed his eyes shut in fear of having them poked out. Cooling packs were placed all over his face and he was instructed to hold still again.
As the mask gradually hardened, Felix noticed that it felt kind of tight around his upper neck. He considered giving some sort of signal to Ty.
The mould took several minutes to fully set. Felix couldn’t move his head or talk even if he wanted to now. It was hard to focus on anything else that was happening while trying to repress a slowly rising sense of claustrophobia. Headphones were placed over his ears; the pump now having gone completely quiet. A small plastic cage was positioned over him, making it hard to see much. A heavy vest over his chest and shoulders encouraged him not to move. A thin sheet of fabric was draped over the lower half of his body. He saw Ty mutter something while turning away, but he couldn’t hear him.
The last few steps of preparation were completed quickly. Before he knew it, the dark tunnel of the machine started enveloping him. Ty was gone. His hands felt around the bed, searching for a panic button that he might have received while not paying attention. There was nothing to be found.
For a few moments or maybe even minutes, nothing happened. He just felt cold and a little nervous.
His entire body seized up as a loud, grating buzzing shook the entire machine.
Felix had read some reports of noises that came with magnetic fields of some sorts before. Once or twice, he heard them himself through badly soundproofed walls. None of that prepared him for the horrible sounds this thing produced. The Compound had developed excellent noise-cancelling headphones ever since they wrecked the hearing of a few too many Mikes. Unfortunately, they didn’t help much with what felt like the headrest drilling into the back of his skull every time that banging picked up at unpredictable intervals.
It bordered on painful. It was hard to not lose his composure. Still, Felix figured that if he just endured it for a few more minutes, he would get used to it and calm down. He was probably making too big of a deal about it anyway. Mikey fell asleep in here, after all.
Clenching his hands into fists, Felix closed his eyes and inhaled through his nose, determined to power through and keep his nausea at bay.
He did get used to the awful feeling eventually, but at no point did he feel calm or comfortable. He worried that if he lost focus for just one moment, he would tear open the plastic that kept his face bolted to the table with his hands.
Felix had no idea how much time had passed when he suddenly heard a mechanical voice speak to him between all the noise.
“Nineteen, fifteen, thirteen, five.”
The sound probably came through his headphones.
“One, eighteen, two, nine, twenty, eighteen, one, eighteen, twenty-five.”
It spoke clearly, in a monotonous sort of way that you wouldn’t expect from modern artificial voice models.
“Fourteen, twenty-one, thirteen, two, five, eighteen, nineteen.”
It was a little unsettling.
“Fourteen.”
Felix coughed a little, his hands gripping the cold edge of the sink as he leaned over it.
“There, there. All better now?” Ty cooed, lingering nearby. He hesitated for a moment before awkwardly patting Felix’s shoulder.
Felix groaned.
“If it helps, I was able to salvage some incredibly helpful results from the scan. You have a very… vigorous brain!”
“Ty, Y-you told me the machine was safe,” Felix muttered while wiping vomit from his chin with a towel.
“I told you it runs as it should. And I was right. I wasn’t aware that it running as it should might lead to this, however. The Mikes have been fine during all the trials. But a very mild concussion is a small price to pay for…”
Ty’s smile faded and he averted his gaze as his sentence was cut short by Felix glaring at him.
“Thanks to the scan, I already know that there is no internal bleeding. Aside from that, how are you feeling?” Ty asked, his voice more sheepish than before.
Inhaling deeply, Felix continued to hold onto the sink for balance. His mind was still hazy, but at least throwing up had eased the intense dizziness. He stood upright, stumbling only for a split second in which he saw Ty’s hand jerk ever so slightly. “I think I’m alright. Could be worse.” His head didn’t hurt too badly, if anything it was how angry he was about the whole thing that upset him.
“Here, sit down. I’ll get you a glass of water so that you stop trying to drink from the tap like an animal.” He pushed a plastic chair into his direction and then rummaged through the cabinets.
“Have I been doing that?”
“Several times.” Ty grabbed a large glass from one of the cabinets and filled it up for him.
“Oh.” Felix settled onto the chair, accepted the glass and took a large swig. While running his hand through his hair absent-mindedly, he noticed the sticky residue of the gel in it. Ty must have taken the electrodes off and removed most of it. He took another sip. “Thanks.”
There was a moment of silence.
Felix looked up at Ty to see him watching him, a downcast look on his face. A look that could almost be mistaken for genuine remorse. It was a jarring sight on Ty Betteridge.
Ty cleared his throat and turned away, moving out of the magnet room. “Well, it looks like you’re in an alright condition. It’s rather late and I’m tired; I’ll transport you home. Get some rest.”
Felix stood up and soaked the towel with water. After dragging it over his face, he sluggishly approached a wall of the room. He stared at the reflective side of the large two-way mirror while standing there, waiting for Ty.
The intercom crackled slightly. “Are you ready?”
Felix nodded briefly.
More silence.
Felix looked around, a little confused. “I’m ready.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
Ty’s tone was so genuine that Felix almost had to take a step back. “I, u-uhm… that’s… that’s alright, Ty.”
“Alright.” He didn’t sound consoled at all. “Initiating transport in three, two, one…”
Vertigo momentarily took hold of Felix’s body, though he wasn’t sure whether that was from the transport, the concussion, Ty Betteridge apologising to him, or all three.
When looking around, his confusion was replaced by frustration once he realised that Copper Ty had dropped him off in front of the tracing department. Tracing wasn’t exactly near the staff residency block. Copper seriously had to consider a re-orientation course for the revision coordinates.
Trying to ignore the matter, Felix started making his way back towards the north side of the building. He couldn’t wait to go home and get some sleep. At least walking there would give him some time to think and adjust to the new layout.
The halls were quiet and still as bleak as when he went to get Mikey. Though, something about the silence didn’t sit right with him this time around. Everything felt a little off. Like he was forgetting something important.
He only got a few minutes to stew on the thought before almost bumping into Ty around a corner.
“Oh! Hello there.” Ty looked at Felix, a little confused.
Rolled up shirt sleeves. Silver tie clip placed oddly high. Felix smiled. “Good evening.”
“Did you forget something?” He looked him up and down, his brows pulling together.
A faint discolouration on his left upper arm that was only visible when his sleeve rode up his elbow. Not even Compound scar reduction methods could erase that mark entirely. This one was Ivory Ty. “No, nothing like that. I just, uh, I’m going to go lie down for a while. I’m not feeling very well,” Felix responded, trying to escape the interaction before Ivory remembered something urgent that he absolutely had to help him with.
Ivory Ty regarded him for several more moments. He smiled widely while staring, in a manner that was insincere even for Ty. “I see!”
Trying to avoid his sharp gaze, Felix glanced down at his wrist, checking his watch. At least this was where his watch would have been, had he not taken it off in Neurotechnology earlier. Felix frantically pawed at his hip a few times, realising that he had left all his belongs behind. “Oh, bloody hell…”
“Hmm?” Ty was still staring at him, even more curiously now. “What is it?”
“You were… you were right. I forgot something.” He lowered his voice a little, hoping that Ty wouldn’t hear but being too vexed to really care. “Ugh. Intercom and all…”
Ty’s eyebrows shot up a little. “You forgot your handset? You really are feeling ill!”
Felix nodded half-heartedly.
“Do feel better soon. I trust that you’ll be back on track tomorrow morning?”
“Yes, of course.” How long was the recovery time for a concussion again?
“Excellent. Off you go! Toodle-pip!”
“Yup. See you around.”
Uncomfortable, Felix turned, walking in the opposite direction of where he was going. He could feel Ty’s eyes burning holes into the back of his head. Felix chose to ignore it until Ty piped up again. “Fe, one last thing…”
“What?” Felix was trying his hardest to not sound annoyed. He’d really like to be in bed right now.
“I’m sorry, but the hair… whatever it is you’ve tried, it really doesn’t suit you.”
“Wh—” He ran a hand through his hair and let it slowly sink down to his side when feeling the sticky, half-dried gel on his fingers. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “Ah. Y-yeah. Right. I’ll… I’ll keep that in mind.”
Ty nodded with a delighted smile on his face and walked away.
After shaking his head to clear his mind, Felix went back on his way as well. At least Neurotechnology wasn’t too far from here. Good thing he memorised the rough layout when Taupe first released the plans.
All this walking made his feet ache. Many transport stations had been temporarily removed during the restructuring of the Compound. To inhibit the uncontrolled movement of Tys Betteridge. Something like that. He was surprised that Copper still had one. No one trusted Copper.
What Ty didn’t seem to realise is that the vast majority of Tys never left their departments and the one affected most by this would be Felix. Part of him was convinced that this was Lavender’s scheme. He had been lecturing him about his lack of exercise for the better part of five years now.
He continued sulking as he walked, his fingers combing his hair to look at least kind of presentable.
“Felix?” a voice from behind him called out. It sounded displeased.
Brilliant. Just brilliant. He turned around to see Scarlet Ty catch up to him. “Yes, Ty?”
“I’ve been trying to reach you for the past hour. Are you trying to ignore me on purpose?” Ty paused, narrowing his eyes. “What in God’s name happened to you?”
“There was a bit of a mishap in… well, there was a mishap. I’m on my way to get my belongings back right now.”
Ty tutted and crossed his arms. As the realignment officer, he had little patience for anyone. At least he was decent at keeping things orderly around here. “You better hurry, then. No wonder nothing is getting done around here. We have enough on our plate as it is, we don’t need you going around stirring up trouble as well. You’re not usually this careless.”
Taking a moment to repress a wave of irritation, Felix neatly folded his hands in front of him. “Yes, Ty. I’m sorry.”
“I digress. I don’t have time to deal with that right now. Look, I need to see you in my office, tomorrow morning, at seven sharp. We have to discuss something. You haven’t seen Copper around by any chance, have you?”
Felix froze up for a moment before immediately loosening up in an attempt to look less suspicious. “You know that I can’t exactly answer that question.”
Ty grumbled. “No. I suppose not.”
“Is there something you’d like me to tell him?”
Shaking his head slowly, Ty lowered his voice while talking urgently. “No. I am advising you to keep an eye out for him.”
“Ah… why is that?” Felix unconsciously started fidgeting with his fingers.
Scarlet raised up a hand, motioning for him to stop speaking. He walked straight past him. “There have been some… concerns about the use of Compound technology in his department,” he responded as he walked into another room, talking to Felix through the doorframe while slowly closing the door between them. “We’ll have to figure out what he’s done, who’s affected, and take care of it. Tomorrow, that is. For now, you get your things in order and get some sleep. You look dreadful.”
The door closed without awaiting any further responses. Felix stared at the white aluminium surface in front of him and considered calling out for Ty again but stopped himself. He looked downwards to observe his body. He slowly lifted his hands and turned them in the light. They looked like they always did.
On the way back to Neurotechnology, Felix kept fidgeting with his fingers. Copper Ty had gotten in trouble for irresponsible behaviour in the past. It was normal for other Tys to be mistrusting towards him. Scarlet was trained to be very thorough, however. He wouldn’t be suspecting Copper of something for no good reason.
He only hoped that Copper was being so secretive about his Neuro-Engineering project for good reason as well.
It was easy to get into Neurotechnology. There was practically no place in the Ty Betteridge wing that he didn’t have access to. Looking around, he concluded that Copper had already left. It was probably for the best. He quickly checked the shelf near the control room for the things he had left behind, only to find it empty. Christ. He absolutely needed to get his handset back first thing in the morning tomorrow. He wasn’t sure how long the Tys could survive without being able to contact him during the day.
His keys, too. How was he going to get back into his flat without his keys? Was the Compound lost and found even open at this hour? Maybe he would remember if his head didn’t hurt so much. He should go and check.
He definitely should go and check.
His gaze wandered towards the warning signs on the door leading to the magnet room. Copper wouldn’t put him into a machine that he knew was dangerous, right? The concussion was an accident. Nothing more than that.
Felix held his temples as he stepped into the control room. He rubbed his tired eyes as he booted up the computers and searched for any sort of logs in the incomprehensible user interface of the program Copper had written. He let out an anxious sigh as he pulled manuscripts and manuals out of the cabinets beside him.
The chair was too comfortable and the texts in front of him were too nonsensical for him to focus. He hardly noticed when he was eventually staring at the screens with his head lying on the table or when his consciousness slowly drifted away.
All he noticed was how much his head hurt and how strange he was feeling.