001 x Audio x Day 86

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Hmmm.

[The strange device around his wrist has been studied as thoroughly as he can manage. Figuring out its secrets is the first step, Robert feels sure, in understanding what happened. He knows this isn't Columbia, and it isn't New York, and it isn't the interim space.

He can actually feel the wind on his skin, the sun in his eyes, and just his own weight. It's the strangest sensation after four years of... nothing.

The thing around his wrist is important, he's sure of that. So is the lighthouse he's found his way to, ignoring all other buildings at first. He's still a few yards away from it, his attention going from the heavy object -- rather like a voxophone, he's discovered -- on him and the looming structure in front of him.]

This is a most curious effect. [The voice is a calm, rolling English accent.

After a certain point, even he hadn't understood what the implications of his work would be. He had known he had to return what was stolen, but he had only glimpsed what that would cause. Was this another layer of that? Wholly possible. But why was he alone? Because, he reminded himself, he had effectively undone everything. A harrowing realization.

Well. He may as well use the device if it's going to be attached to him. Of course, he has no idea that it transmits rather than simply recording.]

Unknown date. [Best to make note of everything for later scientific review.]

I have found myself in a strange place, alone. [A pause and a sound almost like a sigh. Then, he's all business again.]

Is this a sign of failure or success? What are the variables that make this world different? I suppose time will provide me answers.

Comments

[persolvo]

[ Well if it isn't his favourite enigma in the whole world. ]

I had a feeling you had somethin' to do with this.

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Mr. DeWitt.

[The sound of the man's voice surprises him, though it's very slight in his tone.

Still, that introduces some very interesting points about this strange device on his wrist. Perhaps it's a different kind of creation. One of Albert Fink's creations? Or is this a universe he stole from?]

I must admit, I didn't expect to hear from you again.

[Which raises all sorts of questions. Where is Elizabeth? How did this happen? Where are they? When are they? But if DeWitt heard something he didn't know was being shared, Robert is going to think twice before asking anything.]

oops video

[persolvo]

[ If he sounds impatient and a little angry, it's because he is. ] Don't expect you did. Where's your partner?

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[Well, as far as Robert's concerned... That's just DeWitt being DeWitt.]

Temporarily absent.

And your charge, Mister DeWitt? Have you been separated from her?

[If DeWitt dares to tell him that Comstock has her...

He never thought he'd feel so different. No omnipotence, no control over his placement, just... alive? At this point, it's very different.]

voice;

[enchangement]

Time will not help you as time is frozen in this state of not quite inertia. We are stopped in a stop-gap solution, trapped in a fishbowl, unable to budge or comply.

[persolvo]

That's a first. [ It's almost creepier without them finishing each other's sentences. ]

The girl's just fine. Don't suppose this was part of your plan, huh? Detour right into a trap?

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[Well, there's no point in claiming otherwise:]

This was completely unexpected. We rather thought--

[He just stops.

Seems Booker's not the only one used to someone else finishing Robert's sentences.]

voice;

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Rather fatalistic. [He sounds almost amused.]

Though-- [a pause] --so I suppose we'll just have to see.

( video )

[voliere]

[ She knows him - she's spoken with him once, she thinks, though it was brief. But she does know who he is, even if their talk had been for only a moment. That's where she had recognized him from - the books. Rosalind Lutece and her brother Robert, missing since four years prior, the greatest scientists of the time.

She, of course, is eager to speak with him, not only because of who he is but because he's from her world, something that isn't so common, here. She smiles warmly at him through the video function. ]

You aren't alone. There are plenty people here, Mr. Lutece, including those who would recognize you.

( video )

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[Ah, that voice. It's a relief to hear it. Alive and as well as can be expected. And she knows who he is.

Good, good.]

Two familiar voices.

[He might even be smiling just a little by his voice.

Because he doesn't know he could, if he looked at the thing on his wrist again, see her. Or that he can be seen.

After a beat, he says, as if speaking to someone else.]

Though most unusual.

[voliere]

This whole place is unusual. [ Elizabeth says, amused. She's not sure she's ever seen the two Luteces apart from each other; it's strange. ] People from all times and places seem to have been collected here. Are you alright? The city can be a little - fraught, with danger.

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It always begins with a lighthouse. [A beat.] Time will tell, I suppose.

[But, ah. She asked a question. Of course.]

I'm quite well. If a little... disoriented.

voice;

[enchangement]

No. Fatal implies the end.

Where does the möbius finish?

[voliere]

[ She's curious about the lighthouse, but she doesn't ask, for now. ] I was as well, when I first arrived. [ And she wilts a little. ] I've not found a way out. We seem to all be stuck here.

[persolvo]

[ He waits... and yeah, that is weird. ]

Thought what, exactly?

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[A pause.]

It would seem to be, yes.

[And back to Elizabeth.]

There's always a way out. Sometimes it just takes a little longer to find. We'll see what we can do, hm?

voice;

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Where it's cut, of course.

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[...Ah, that's right. Rosalind isn't here to say what he knows she would.]

It doesn't matter, Mister DeWitt.

Not at present, at least.

voice;

[enchangement]

Then it ceases to be a möbius at all.

So we are...in the loop, out of the loop, frozen and suspended. This is the theory, this is my theory.

What do you study and who do you experiment upon? Sound of a scientist in tone and presumption.

[persolvo]

Like hell it doesn't matter. You're the one that put me up to this damn job in the first place, so what did you think would happen?

voice;

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I'm a physicist. [A beat, as if he was letting someone else speak.] I experiment on space, not people.

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New York, in fact. [An entirely different New York, an Elizabeth completely free of Comstock's grasp.

He had not expected both of them to decide that Comstock needed to be stopped before he ever began...]

[persolvo]

... What about New York? [ He remembers that vision, dream, whatever it was. New York on fire. ]

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Our arrangement [a pause] was that you would bring the girl to New York. [Another.] It seems that didn't happen.

voice;

[enchangement]

Space contains people just as carbon atoms contain the basis of stars and the memories of stars long since exploded.

[ A murmur: ] We shall mind the gap.

[ And then back to her regular volume. ] Which of the seven paths of physical virtues? Particle, astro, theoretical, applied, mechanical, quantum or biological?