REV12-62-05-JAM41

EMPATHY - It's a sigh of relief.

INLAND EMPIRE - Who are all those creatures? Fantasies of a tortured, feverish mind? DRAMA - You should adopt one of those welkins as your *persona*. No longer a mere man -- but a welkin... PROJECT DREAD BOARD - One of the welkins -- towering among the rest -- appears to be different, however.

ESPRIT DE CORPS - Nervous for who, though, you cannot say. SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "Try again, officer." YOU - "Coalition Warship Archer, this is Firewalker. Please acknowledge."

LOGIC - Relax, he can't read your mind. He doesn't know you were thinking that.

INLAND EMPIRE - The inland sea is dark, vast, and on the surface meaningless...

TITUS HARDIE - "This is *some* sordid shit." The big man rubs his chin. "It's also the kind of garbage our Miss Oranje puts out to cover her own ass." DRAMA - Sort of -- but *he* doesn't have to know that!

KIM KITSURAGI - He stops you. "Don't answer that. It was a rhetorical question." AUTHORITY - He doesn't want to, but if there is one more cryptozoological run-around, he *must* force the investigation back on track. This better be it... YOU - [Leave.]

LOGIC - The Union has over two thousand men.

COMPOSURE - Yes, yes! Just throw the bomb at him. I'm barely keep you together here -- no time to talk. He will only rattle you. EMPATHY - No, please. Peace -- it has worked this far. Start with the first idea you have, move down from that...

VOLITION - It feels good to be the smart cop, doesn't it? That's a good cop to be. Has a nice ring to it. "Smart Cop." You wouldn't want to be "Stupid Cop," now would you? But still -- maybe he's just sucking up to you? YOU - "You can stop buttering me up now, thank you."

GARTE, THE CAFETERIA MANAGER - "Yeah, well..." He scoffs. "Fuck you too then. You have any more questions, or stylistic pronunciation advice?" EMPATHY - He's not too offended. The experience has changed something in him.

INLAND EMPIRE - The pétanque players? YOU - Yeah, where did they go? INLAND EMPIRE - Home? To work? To get something from somewhere? Who knows what people are doing when we're not looking.

YOU - "No, actually I've heard enough stories for a lifetime. They s-u-c-k. Goodbye." [Leave.] INLAND EMPIRE - ...is what you almost say, but the words choke in your throat. Do you really want to miss out on all this good stuff? Perhaps it's *significant*.

ENCYCLOPEDIA - Land's End? You took in the sights there with Lilienne. Ruby wasn't up the disused radio tower, among the reeds, or beneath the boardwalk.

SUGGESTION - She's grown frustrated with her work and welcomes the opportunity to challenge authority in other ways. CONCEPTUALIZATION - A brush -- an artist? The red splatter is... urban expressionism?

EMPATHY - It's not that she has to run around and make money, it's more like she's concerned about her well-being. It is also not entirely because she's afraid of you. You can't really put your finger on it.

INLAND EMPIRE - Okay then. Over-mystified that a bit..

ENCYCLOPEDIA - She adored chess, yes -- but also military war games. Dolores Dei often holds a tiny tin soldier between her index finger and thumb -- in icons such as this. She was also blonde, the blondest woman you have ever seen, with green eyes the colour of the Pisantic *mare interregnum*...

SHIVERS - Waves wash the sand. A skiff moves across the mirror-smooth sea, far away from here. A lone passenger. A fast sloop in the distance. White sails. VISUAL CALCULUS - My prediction? It will be at least two days.

SHIVERS - The great district hums in the slowly falling snow: A chessboard of wooden houses, 80,000 living souls and chimney stacks. Firetraps as far as the eye can see -- from Main Street to Precinct 41, to Boogie Street forking into the white horizon...

SHIVERS - ...from out on the bay a cool wind gathers. It sweeps into the city, tugging at the textiles hanging around the stand. Some distance away the sound of a tin can clattering across the street can be heard...

EMPATHY - He seems happy about the prospect of you telling Joyce about your conversations.

RHETORIC - She likes telling you about the machine. Keep her talking, look for an opportunity to break loose.

VOLITION - Keeping the habit within the parameters he's given himself takes a lot of focus. It would be easier to simply quit. COMPOSURE - Yet were he to quit, he would lose the cool factor. This man relishes his cool quite a bit -- below it all.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - The temperature between her skin and her hydrophobic raincoat rises, warming the Numb 12 perfume she's imbibed herself with. You have no other option but to say...

YOU - "These men, they didn't do it!" KORTENAER - "Yeah? Who did then?" INLAND EMPIRE - You should implicate *yourself*. Throw yourself onto the embrasure, chest first!

LOGIC - It's not unlike the pattern from the racist lorryman's boots. A stylized map of Revachol.

INLAND EMPIRE - There's a *spooky* building West of this. Take a flashlight with you, search the basement. There are secrets -- magisterial, ancient secrets that may assist you.

RHETORIC - He means they'd been fucking? TITUS HARDIE - "Tibbs patched the window. And the corpse -- we hanged."

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Yeah, it's definitely some kick. Some *terrible* kick... the pale probably. This 'pale' sounds like it's the *shit*.

YOU - I was thinking maybe I could sing something happy. Get the people going. INLAND EMPIRE - No-no, don't sing the happy song, it's stupid. Sing the sad song, it's profound.

YOU - Say nothing. JOYCE MESSIER - "She could easily just..." She leans against the railing, looking up at the grey sky. EMPATHY - You detect a note of longing in her voice.

EMPATHY - A small lump forming in his throat.

REACTION SPEED - No, you don't. Just back up, cancel this. YOU - Why am I thinking this, I said I'm black as fuck. VISUAL CALCULUS - Are you entirely sure you're black as *fuck*? You should really check out that mirror thing. For now, go with she's black. It's important to the case.

ENCYCLOPEDIA - It's all quackery, in other words. INLAND EMPIRE - Finally, something to calm the angry spirits that have been plaguing you.

INLAND EMPIRE - Relax, you're not a 'new face'. She doesn't mean you. You are an outsider. And a cop, remember?

ESPRIT DE CORPS - "Policework?" Patrol Officer Judit Minot replies, with a tinge of hope in her voice. A tinge of warmth too, against the cold air rising from the water...

ENCYCLOPEDIA - Prohibiting peacetime law-enforcement to front loaded rifles is a policy enforced by the Moralist International in all the nations of the Reál Belt.

EMPATHY - Is it?

VOLITION - You're a little more moralist now, buddy. A little more *normal*. Even if you didn't want to be.

INTERFACING - She's impressed by your resourcefulness as much as by the equipment itself.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - She's carrying a two-barrelled front-loader. Remain careful. PAIN THRESHOLD - Well, it doesn't *feel* much better, but you can form sentences now. Thinking doesn't seem to hurt as much.

SHIVERS - Aside from getting naked, you're not sure what else to do. The building holds no more answers for you.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Absolutely. Now you just need the materials.

SHIVERS - The temperature has dropped in the cover of the night; you see frost on the windows. NOVELTY DICEMAKER - "Anything else? Another failed business perhaps? I've been here for a long time..."

DRAMA - She isth a laedy most fair and juste! VOLITION - In his defence -- to reduce him to such inadequacy, she probably had to employ half-truths more often than outright lies. RHETORIC - That is correct. And omissions too.

INLAND EMPIRE - OH MY GOD, WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME? STOP CALLING ME! ARE YOU DRUNK AGAIN?

YOU - What happened once someone put it on the railing? FILTHY JACKET - The crust is hard. This jacket spent at least a day baking in the sun. Who knows what happened to it then? SHIVERS - Somewhere, high above the city, a pair of seagulls trace loops through the air...

CUNO - "What a fucking pooper..." Cuno points at his heart. "Bitch doesn't have the pump for it. Old bitch, pump's bust. Cuno has the pump for it. Cuno has a giant pump." ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Don't ruin it for Cuno. Can't you see Cuno's pump can still take it? Can still pump the good.

YOU - "The brain is very vulnerable to compromises in its blood supply." KIM KITSURAGI - "I think that may well be the moral of *every* story, officer." The lieutenant grins. SUGGESTION - Thank you for lightening his mood. It's hard down there.