Day 65: Sun Room

[fallenbeanpole]

His nurse had whisked him away from breakfast as soon as the intercom’s voice faded.  Surprisingly, she didn’t take him to the shower rooms, instead bringing him to the Sun Room (as she called it), explaining that since this was his first day he would be allowed to skip the showers.  Besides, it would be good to let his injuries heal a little more.

 

He’d passed through this room on the way to breakfast, but hadn’t really paid much attention to it the first time.  Now that he was standing here, the Once-ler understood why it was called the Sun Room.

 

Despite the fact that it was cloudy outside, there was still far more natural light coming in through the ceiling windows than he had seen in a long time.  The Once-ler stood still for a few moments, simply staring up.  It seemed almost like a dream, really.  The valley never got brighter than twilight, even at noon.  There was too much smog in the air to let any more light through.

 

After a few minutes, he shook his head.  Anybody who saw him just standing in the middle of the room would probably have questions about it, and he did not relish the thought of explaining himself to a stranger.  He glanced around the room itself, spotting the bulletin board Soma had talked about during breakfast.  The Once-ler decided that was a good place to start, and hobbled on over to get a closer look.

 

[For Nina, I believe?]

Comments

[dualistic]

It didn't take long for Harvey to figure out what had happened. Special Counseling was a common enough thing here that it was easy to identify, although he was more surprised by the knowledge that Zero had apparently reverted back into his proper body. That was something that Harvey almost wished he had seen for himself, if only because then he might be able to believe it a little better. Or at least he'd know what Zero really looked like. Still, the fact that there were other reploids around added to Zero's credibility.

This meant that the kid had run into a Special Counseling patient on his first night here -- and more than that, the brainwashed person had been someone he knew. That had to rank pretty high on the list of worst first nights, but Harvey didn't know if they really needed to make a contest out of that.

"Yeah, it's normal. Well... common, anyway." Harvey sighed, and the realization that the only reason he probably hadn't been wrangled into that yet was because the most dangerous thing he could do was shoot someone. Compared to what other patients could pull off, that wasn't particularly scary. "It only lasts for a night, but seeing how you'll attack just about anyone, yeah, it's not exactly pleasant. It's understood here that it isn't your fault if you get chosen for it, but that doesn't stop people from feeling guilty."

Of course, there were a few patients who had gloated and felt no remorse afterward, but even Harvey wasn't that far gone.

[lovesthepain]

So there was a precedent for this sort of thing? Apparently, it didn't just apply to reploids, then. Did that mean that humans were just as susceptible to whatever reprogramming methods had been used...? If that was the case, then that just puzzled him even more.

"It's certinaly not my intention to complain, but... why only one night?" He wondered aloud. It may not have been likely that a fellow patient would know that, but the inconsistency seemed too big for Harpuia to overlook. He'd always been of a pragmatic mindset -- discern what needs to be done, and cut right to it. Intentionally leaving room for error was just asking for your plans to come undone.

"The purpose of implanting us in these bodies and assigning us new names is to convince us we're somebody else, right? I've seen reploids reprogrammed to the point that they bear almost no resemblance to their former selves; I know such a thing isn't impossible to do, by any stretch of the imagination. If they want us to believe whatever they've decided we should believe, wouldn't it be far more efficient to simply rewrite us permanently, then?"

[dualistic]

It was a fair question to ask, and Harvey had a few guesses, even if he didn't necessarily have the true answer. They had been forced to assume so much in this place that he wasn't against tossing out his own theories. Not that he'd ever been against something like that. Soft-spoken was something that Harvey had never been.

"We can't know for sure. My guess at first was that they weren't able to hold the brainwashing for longer than a few hours, but... there are other examples that are more permanent." It wasn't something that anyone liked to think about, but with how many people he knew that had gone down that road, it was impossible to ignore. "Some people end up getting released from this place, and as far as we're aware, what happens is that they're brainwashed into believing the lie the nurses tell."

Harvey liked to think that a human couldn't be reprogrammed as easily as a robot, but there was proof that it really was that simple. It still didn't answer the Special Counseling question, but at this point he was willing to default to 'Landel does it for kicks.' But that was something that the kid could probably work out on his own.

[lovesthepain]

"Is that so...? I suppose we can't toss out the possibility that the brainwashing requires long-term exposure to set in on a permanent basis." Though... even then, that raised the question: why put the reploids in human bodies? It would save a lot of time and effort to simply alter their programming while they were still easily rewritten. Maybe the actual goal wasn't the brainwashing, then, but something else...? That, at least, would explain why he'd not only been allowed to keep his sense of identity unaltered, but he'd been placed in an environment where others could verify that he wasn't who the nurse wanted him to think he was.

Still, the whole idea seemed far too roundabout and inefficient. Harpuia simply couldn't understand the logic behind it in the slightest. If the information needed to draw a solid conclusion wasn't available, though, then it would just have to be a mystery that got moved to the back shelf. No point in leaping to baseless conclusions.

"I doubt that the patients are taking this treatment lying down, at any rate." It wouldn't be necessary to have brainwashed anyone into guard duty otherwise, would it? "I would prefer not to get shot again anytime soon if I can avoid it. Is there any way that I can arm myself in the future?" He wasn't holding his breath that he'd stumble onto any beam sabers, but at the very least, he'd feel much better with something a bit better than a flashlight to work with. "I would appreciate any other information you can provide that would boost my chances."

[dualistic]

A long-term exposure, huh? It wasn't the worst idea, but Harvey didn't know if it was actually right. That would imply that anyone who'd been released and brainwashed more completely had been under Special Counseling at one point, and he didn't know if that was true.

Still, it looked like at this point, the kid had decided to move on to a different set of questions, which probably meant that he'd realized there was no surefire way to figure out the truth. That was something Harvey had been forced to come to terms with a while ago, and the faster a new patient did it, the better.

As for the question, it was one that Harvey had actually helped Zero with the first night they met. It was kind of weird that he'd now be answering it for his not-friend, too. Not that he had any loyalties or any reason to keep the information to himself, since he was already armed. "There's a janitor's closet up on the second floor that has some odds and ends in it, including some metal pipes. Those seem to work pretty well, for a start." He still had his, after all.

Hello, my name is Hideously Late

[lovesthepain]

The second-floor janitor's closet. Harpuia filed that knowledge away for nightfall; while a pipe was by no means considered a sophisticated piece of weaponry, it'd be sturdy enough to serve the intended purpose. He'd rest much easier knowing he could defend himself properly, though he did stop to wonder exactly how he would go about concealing something that size from the nurses. A matter to consider later, perhaps; it obviously could be done, or there would have been no point to making the recommendation in the first place.

"Thank you. You've been extremely helpful. I'm sorry that I can't offer you anything useful in return, but I don't intend to forget the kindness you showed me." It was a bit... serious, as far as replies went, but that was just Harpuia's nature: he took things absolutely seriously.

That's all right! I'll go ahead and tie this up.

[dualistic]

Well, for as weird as the kid was, Harvey couldn't say that he had zero manners. Not that it really meant all that much, since words only got a person so far, but he figured it was better than someone being rude and taking him for granted. In the end, he only nodded in reply to the newcomer's words.

"There are obviously some more useful weapons out there, but getting them is a little trickier." Trying to explain Doyleton, let alone getting into the logistics of how difficult it was to go there at night, wasn't something he had time for, seeing how the nurses were starting to make the move to escort them elsewhere.

"Guess you'll have to figure that out on your own," he said as he stood. It might be for the best. It probably wasn't a good idea, telling a kid how to get a gun. "The name's Harvey, by the way." They hadn't actually exchanged names during this entire conversation. Better late than never, right?

\o/

[lovesthepain]

He saw no reason to further keep Harvey from whatever it was he'd been up to before Harpuia had beckoned him over. "Harpuia," he replied simply. "You've given me more than enough information to work with. I won't take up any more of your time."

A slightly less backalley choice of weapons would be a step in the right direction, yes, but for now, Harpuia's biggest priority was to just have something that could serve as a weapon. He could worry about upgrades once he was a little less of a sitting duck. It was enough to simply lay down a foundation for now; this didn't seem like the sort of place for reckless action.