2024-01-18 21:02:28 ¶ ● ⬈

cirrus-grey:

> I was scared, Darla. I was so scared. I was certain I’d been set up, that they wouldn’t be returning. I turned to leave, hoping I could get back to the TMA feed but then the program began to speak from where it was trapped in the computer.

> It was their voices. It was Jon and Martin's voices. I know you won’t believe me but they read the stories and I know it was their voices. I froze in place.

> They grew clearer, and as the distortion faded from the recording for a moment I could make out the mechanical tones, the off-putting cadence. They spoke slowly, intoning the incident reports with steady, measured voices. Something was speaking through them, from inside the machine.

> I said the only thing I could think: “Jon? Martin? Is that you?”

> And those voices I have loved for eight years answered: “Some of them.”

> And then they laughed.