Night 65: X-Ray Room

[damned_intercom]

Once again, a couple of bursts of static greeted Link as he entered the room, but there was no audio message waiting for him. Strangely, the drawing from last night remained largely intact, as if it had been impossible for their captors to remove. The only thing different was that the vibrant glow from before had diminished, and the image was mostly reduced to a faint, green outline.

But more than that, a companion clue had apparently been set up for whoever entered here. This one required a flashlight to fully examine, but a well-aimed beam would illuminate a framed oil painting hanging from the wall. Beneath that were words written in the same green, glowing paint from last night:

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist

If that wasn't odd enough, though, whoever had arranged the clues also left a small pile of dried leaves beneath the painting. The leaves themselves were unremarkable, and were likely pulled from a common tree. Was it another message, perhaps?

Despite the cryptic clue, though, the person who had come before did not want the patients' troubles to go unrewarded. A first aid kit with these items was perched on the table in the center of the room.

Comments

[nobleman]

So they had a similar problem, which was that they couldn't speak with any confidence about Earth plants. Still, taking two of the leaves with them made sense to Guy, and it seemed like a fair compromise, so he nodded and then very carefully put the piece of plant life into his pocket.

"We can always let people know what we saw, too. Hopefully someone else will get more out of it than we did." Someone who knew more about this religion, maybe. Or more about artwork. Or more about plants. There was a lot going on here, and Guy felt lost about all of it. Seeing how he'd been pretty well-read back home, it was a frustrating feeling.

Still, best to focus on the next task. Anise and Luke would be counting on them, after all. "So, did you want to try out the X-ray machine again? If you show me how to use it, I should be able to scan you." Guy could understand why Claude might be nervous to see what was inside his own body, but it seemed important that they look just the same.

[earthling]

Claude, too, tucked the leaf into his jacket. "I'll bet you're right," he said with a nod. There were a lot of people from different backgrounds trapped here with them. Someone had to have some ideas.

When his friend reminded him of the X-Ray machine, Claude looked up at the device positioned on the room's ceiling. "Um, yeah, okay."

Guy was pretty proficient with machinery, so he had no doubt that he'd get the hang of it. To be perfectly honest, though, part of him was a bit apprehensive about taking a look for themselves. At least no one was in here. If they found anything troublesome, he and Guy could potentially keep it to themselves without any issue.

"Come on," he added as he motioned toward the operational room. "It shouldn't take long."

With that, he stood up from his crouch and began to walk toward their destination.

((To here.))